Training Log Archive: Charlie

From PV, doing the little lollipop heading south on arte 8 and up the hill to Robertsville Road and down to the bridge and Riverton rd. Hadn’t been on Robertsville in at least a few years because the pavement had been so bumpy. Looks like they repaired it but now it is starting to get some holes in it again. So maybe I missed the best time for it.

In the gym with Eric. Much the same as Tuesday. I'm finding the back squats most salutary, and did a little better with them today, doing sets of 7 as opposed to the sets of 5 from Tuesday.

With Rhonda and Sassy at the lake. Included some stick throwing.

Looking over the estimable accomplishments of Phil and Ken got me to thinking about my various rogaine activities, all well in the past. Maybe an incomplete list, and certainly the time frames are elusive.

First one, probably around 1989 or '90. Someplace in the Adirondacks. Maybe 4 hours, maybe 6, with Rhonda. Two memories in particular. One is that she drank all her water and all mine. The other is going to a control at the top of a large hill, when she asked how we would find it. She was particularly pleased at my response: "Just put your head down and climb."

Probably 1992. Fred and I traveled way up in Quebec for a 36 hour team event. Not precisely a rogaine, but teams of 3, 36 hour time limit, maybe 6 controls well spaced out. Our 3rd teammate had travel problems and we showed up without him. We inherited a young fellow who was surplus on a Canadian military team. He was toast within a few hours. We found the first control, then decided to head back since he was pretty helpless. So maybe 8 hours out, 8 hours back, arriving just before torrential rains.

Mid-1990s, 24 hour with Stan at Drummond Island. My bag didn't make it and all I had was sandals. Borrowed some really old spiked shoes from Al Newman, and my feet were pretty miserable, particularly because the course involved large expanses of bare rock. We went back to the hotel in the evening so I could change into my sandals, but then I couldn't get Stan back out of bed!

Mid-1990s, 12 hour with John Maier near the Mexican border in AZ. Started in the pre-dawn with javelinas scurrying around in the brush. John was a much stronger runner. He had the punchcard, and didn't bring his hearing aid. There were a few times he ran by a control and I had to grit my teeth and run him down to get him back to it, because he couldn't hear me yelling at him. However, we cleaned the course in 10 hours and won! At one point near the end we got passed by Ron Hudson and his partner. I was physically pretty spent, and it was killing John who could easily have kept up or beaten them, but then they made a serious navigational error and we cruised in, 5 or 10 minutes ahead of them.

Mid-90s or a bit later, 24 hour with John Potter in AZ. John thrashed me royally for about 10 hours, then bonked. We went back to the hash house for a one hour nap, but I couldn't get John out of the tent for about six hours. Last two hours were excellent, though, and we picked off a lot of nearby points. Noteworthy because we had borrowed John's father's car instead of renting one, and it got seriously muddy. Ran it through the carwash three time, but pretty embarrassing returning it in that condition. Rhonda was also along on this trip, partnering with Gail, but Rhonda turned an ankle in the first hour and had to retire from the fray.

A bit later, probably early 2000s, 24 hour w Bob Lux, somewhere in AZ. I wore o-shoes. Serious mistake and I got some serious blisters. Bob thrashed me for about 12 hours, then bonked and I had to encourage him around the second part of the course. Pretty successful outing as I recall, although the DOMS was excruciating afterwards.

6 hour at Great Mt Forest with Bob Lux, maybe 2005 or so? Opted for the 6 hour instead of something longer because I was flying out to the US champs in Oregon the next day. Once again, could barely keep Bob in sight for the first half, had to offer him a lot of encouragement on the second half.

24 hour with J-J in NW Pennsylvania. Not sure when, but his brother Alan was still living in or near Buffalo because we stopped there after. J-J and I were pretty compatible at the time in terms of approach to the race and general physical condition. Our biggest problem was that none of the stuff we brought to munch on tasted any good to us after a while. Around daybreak J-J suggested we head in, which I hadn't even considered. It sounded good to me at the time though. Only problem was that we were about as far away from the finish as you could get, so it took a really long time to get there.

8 hours at the Big Muddy in Oregon with Rhonda and John Potter. Generally successful, although John needed a lot of encouragement over the last few hours. Maybe around 2008 or so. Hard to remember.

C • Great experiences! 5

With Rhonda and the dog. Rhonda is only authorized for walking this week and next, so there will be a lot of it.

Easy outing, late. Consciously tried to just go slow. Jan Tanner passed me with a small group. Said hi, but didn't even think about giving chase.

In the gym with Eric, usual sort of stuff then DLs, several sets with 140#, back squats, several sets with 85#. Very satisfactory.

No time for driving someplace, and I've been thinking about this loop for a while. First time this year up the devil's elbow. Way too hot for this, and the route is deficient in shade as compared to the leafy environs of the Farmington River where we usually go. Thought I could make it up the elbow in my 3rd smallest gear, but I was defeated about 80% of the way up, and had to drop down all the way gasping.

So a fine workout. I learned a bit more about my 235. I was wondering how to do splits, and I found out by accident when the workout screen disappeared and I pushed the wrong button several time, apparently getting a bunch of closely spaced split time.

In NYC early this morning, arriving at 7. Went to Cooper’s art class, where there was a lot of painting going on.

Good legs today. Strongest outing since we got back from Europe. Up Sandy brook and to the Mass line.

Headed out the other way into the cove. Very tranquil, no other people, but several attractive kingfishers.