Training Log Archive: Charlie

Event: UNO Wolfeboro O'Ringen
 

Walking around this morning with the dog, I went to check on an area that Zack and I had talked about clearing mountain laurel from. Got there, and a little disconcerting because there was way less mountain laurel than I remembered. Then I saw the clues, the tire imprints, the aggregation of chips. Turns out Zack went out last night at midnight cut a path in and chipped away in the tractor's overhead work lights. Amazing.

C • Time zone adaptation 6

Weight workout in the gym. Pretty good, but felt a little strain in the L pectoral doing knees-to-elbows, so cut things a bit short. DLs (140#), box step-ups with 25# DBs, 3x10 each side, K2E, 2x5 and stopped, GH raises with 12# DB 1 set, did the rest without, pull downs at 8, back squats 65# 3x10. 2 minute plank.

An hour of laurel wrangling, building a pile to chip when it stops raining. Not raining hard enough to make it unpleasant, but best if I keep these sessions to no more than an hour anyway.

Zack is back and we spent a good part of the day with the chipper. I knew he would like it. So maybe a good 4 hours of cutting and chipping, including knocking off the big pile I had left from the last two days, and then some tractor maintenance while Zack cut the grass and opened up a path to get the chipper to a stand of laurel I would like to have disappear. And then a lot of butt rolling to try to get my back gentled down, and various neck and upper back exercises that needed doing.

Dropped Rhonda off at the airport at 5, then home to sleep another hour and a half. Eric was under the weather today, so I did my gym workout on my own, and it went quite well. Started with a bunch of stretching and rolling, then moved on to 5 sets of DLs., working up to 135#. Then alternated box step-ups with 2 25# dumbbells and knees-to-elbows. 3x8 for step-ups, 3x5 for K2E. Then 3x10 with 2 25 dumbbells, alternating squats and bench presses, then back squats with just the bar alternating with 8 BOSU pushups, then 3x10 alternating GH raises and pull-downs on the machine at 9. Finished up with a 2 minute plank. Nice. Much like what I do with Eric, but a little more.

Another hour of laurel wrangling. Saving the chipping for when Zack is here tomorrow.

PT session for my recalcitrant neck and shoulder. Seems that the issue is scar tissue from some old injury in my trapezius, that then radiates everywhere. Some massage, some exercises.

Out to route 8 from PV and back. I had ideas of a longer ride and maybe someplace else, but the day got away from me. It was already 6:30 when I started, so pushed the pace to get back.

Second trip to the airport today, 18 hours apart. Makes for a long day. Went to get Zack, who is back in CT for a couple of weeks.

Laurel wrangling. About 1:30 cutting and then another 1:10 dragging it to a staging area where I can chip it. Pretty good-sized pile. Achy afterward. That is about enough for one day.

In the gym with Eric. Stiff, but improving a lot after I had dug into my R upper glute area with the lacrosse ball. Deadlifts had a little snag, some low back pain with 135#, so stretched a bit and dropped down to 115# for the rest of the sets. Bench stepups with 2 20-lb dumbbells alternating with TRX rowing, then squats with the 2 dumbbells at my shoulders alternating with bent over 1 arm rowing with a 35# dumbbell. And all the usual stretching and rolling, planks.

With Rhonda from PV.

Plenty sore today. Had some trouble last night when I got in bed, kept getting up to stretch cramping adductors, but it all calmed down eventually.

Nice phoebes this morning perched on the deck and on branches outside the office window.

At the lake with R&S. Tired legs, tender back. Included a stop to throw sticks for the dog, who loves swimming out to get them.

Up E River rd from PV, back W River, with Rhonda, very easy pace. Just fine.

Event: 2018 Billygoat XL
 

Billygoat! Blue Mountain in Peekskill, site of the 2002 BG. Rode down with J-J, Ken, Jeff and Erik, back with all but Erik who was on his way to New York and thence to JFK to Stockholm.

2018 map quite a bit harder to read than the 2002 version. Much darker, denser looking.

Map

Pretty good result, under 3 hours and ran more than I expected to. Pretty sore in the low back during and after, but no damage done.

1. Big group headed out to the R, but I could see the big trail to the left better and went that way, and followed a big pack in that direction. Trying to stay clear of Jim Crawford, who was swinging his hiking poles pretty aggressively, and trying to hang on to Ken, not at all easy. On the trail to opposite the pond, where Ken cut in by the stream and I went on one more hill before cutting in. Steve Tarry was in the area, too. Crossed the stonewall and headed down, pretty good crowd at the control.
2. Across the power lines, across the road W of the bend, up along the edge of the marshes under the hill, and up and in. Still trailing Ken and others.
3. Mostly straight, using the stone walls and coming up from below on the W.
4. First error. Got way too high and too far N, figured out it was wrong and started heading S, saw Ken coming back at me and eventually got there with Steve T.
5. Following Steve around the cliff and down the slope seeing the boulder from a distance.
6. Trying not to lose too much height on the side slope. Steve was a little higher, but I got there first and cut around the corner and in.
7. Plan was to head to 8 and go from there (or maybe even skip 7), but 7 was so short from 8 that seemed better to save it. A little bobble in the circle, too far right, but not much lost. Got together with the Pauls and Eric. Paul Bennett, Paul Regan, Paul Bisset and Eric Smith.
8. Back to 8, straightforward and glad to have already checked it out once. 9. Then Paul Bennett was leading our group and I was trying mightily to hang onto the back. Now I think 9 may have been the best skip, but I wasn't considering it. Instead I was looking at 13, 17 and 19. Anyway, hanging onto the little pack, saw the little pond and took an easy way down the hill, still running last in the group.
10. More or less on compass, picked up some trail near the pond for a bit but resisted going down to the pond, just up and over the hills and in.
11. Out to the trail and back down the way we had come to 1.
12. Through the finish and to the tree.
13. Decided with the group that we would skip 17, so off we went to 13. Easy navigation, but nasty footing following the stone wall across the marsh. Paul Bennett still leading our parade.
14. Along the marsh to the trail, saw a bunch of folks on their way from 17 to 18, including J-J and Kristin. On the trail E then around the hill and up the reentrant, but ran by the flag and lost my group momentarily, but lucky enough to pick up Earl.
15. Struggling to get back, Paul ran the pack ahead into the marsh and had to back up and go around, which allowed me and Earl to catch up. Over a few more bumps and then could see the flag. Earl was a bit left and further ahead, but came back and joined up for a bit.
16. Going well to this one until I hallucinated a flag up in the reentrant to the right. Went up to check, so lost a bit of time before correcting over. At this point we parted ways with Eric, who was resolved to get them all. and we headed more or less south toward 18.
17. SKIP
18. Somewhere in there we saw the last of Earl. Saw Susie coming the other way, in the direction of 15. She said "I'm Pygmy", but in my addled state and with my always questionable hearing, what I heard was "I'm pregnant". Took me aback a bit, but after a few more steps I figured it out. Out to the trail across from the smaller trail that we were looking for, and headed down that. Seemed like it took a really long time. Eventually the hill on the right and cut in just past that, got into some really gloppy marshy stuff and had to fight our way down toward the stream where the control was. Not so pleasant, and can't say this was a useful skip.
19. SW to the road, get to a more or less reasonable entry spot and up and it. Not quite as high up as I had thought it would be.
20. By now Paul is getting a bit tired of leading and I'm getting a little sparkier, so I lead for a while up to the ring trail and straight past to the upper trail, R toward the E/W stone wall and along that, counting off features. Went one hill early, figuring we'd go around and have a straight shot up and in, but the marsh was a little bigger than we thought so a little bit of extra climb to get over that hill. No difficulty finding the control.
21. Figured on trail route to the left and executed it well. Down L of the pond, out to the trail corner. Left a bit to the small trail and followed it all the way to the large E W trail. R on that for a bit, cutting in before the pond and then up the hill and in. I had been leading but was a little too high and left and Paul found it.
22. Down the hill, on compass, just pick the right rocky knoll. A little tentative, stopping to look around a bit early, but OK.
23. Left side, although now that I look at it there is a perfectly fine trail route to the R side. Aimed for the pair of larger marshes and hit between them just fine, but it was slow getting there, with lots of marshes and some intricate footwork. Once out to the trail, just stayed with it until the sharp bend and in from there.
24. I got hung up going around the marsh and lost a bit of ground to the others who had gone straighter, to the stonewall and back down the trail we had followed earlier from 19 to 20. Ring road around the bend then up the reentrant and right to it. Turned and headed south with a bit of a head of steam.
25. Easy
F.

Very satisfactory. A good nap on the way home. Thanks to J-J and Jeff for driving!

C • Sounded fun 4

Billy Goat - Splits