Training Log Archive: CleverSky

Woke up pretty early to change the snow tires on my former car back to summer tires, which turned out to be something of an ordeal because even though I could get the lug nuts off, the wheels were stuck. I eventually managed.

Then after work I dropped it off in Ayer and took the scenic route back to Nancy's house to retrieve my current car. Ancient bike shoes disintegrated in the process, and the sole basically fell off of one of them when I was done.

Yeah, a day off today.

So, I obviously need to do something differently with this Garmin watch. Over the course of the weekend, I missed 21 control splits. I don't think I've missed that many total since I started wearing a Casio back in 1990. I must be not pressing the button hard enough or something. It's hard to imagine that I'm just failing to press it, given my history. I do recall times when I've pressed it and I didn't hear it beep, but I was writing that off to my hearing getting bad.

West Point middle distance at West Point Post, M35 Red (4.5 km, 180m). The first part of the course was nice, and I proceeded to screw up several controls, notably #4 and #5. The rest wasn't bad (my navigation, that is -- the course was fairly awful), and it didn't hurt that I had Brian Graham and Anna Shafer-Skelton in my vicinity most of the time. Slightly better result.

West Point sprint at Trophy Point, M35 Red (2.4 km, 115m). Screwed up #2 and #3 by being lured off by nearby controls (on fairly similar-looking features. Picked a good route from #5 to what I thought was #6, and was almost to #7 before I noticed that there was another circle between them. The numeral 6 was reasonably close to the circle for #7, and the circle for #6 and the numeral 7 were both in busy areas that camouflaged them (and 5-6-7 were in a dead-straight line). Doubling back cost me a bit. I also lost time on #11, by picking the staircase route, which turned out to have a lot more flights of stairs than I was anticipating. Very difficult to assess that sort of thing, when the staircases are all stacked on top of one another, and the nearby contours all disappear into various buildings and walls. Whatever. Another shabby performance. Good thing I stepped down to M35, but it didn't really help all that much.

West Point, middle distance at Lake Popolopen, M35 Red (4.3 km, 430 m). Lost a few moments on #1 because it clearly wasn't on the feature that the cluesheet mentioned (no boulder), and I was thinking, man, they sure put two controls close together, because the boulder should be right... um... wtf... head back to look at the one on the breadbox-sized rock, and it was mine. But the big time loss was on #3, where I just completely blew the route and went through the middle of the green swamp, which cost me a bunch of minutes (I also was certain where I was when I popped out on the other side). Add in being old and slow and the bottom line was a pretty pathetic result.

C • middle of the green swamp 1

West Point sprint at Camp Buckner, M35 Red (2.8 km, 70m). Fishhooked #2, hesitated on #4 tring to decide whether to go down through the green (I decided to go all the way around on the pavement), went around teh tennis courts on #6 because I couldn't tell whether there was a mapped opening on the far end, my route choice on #10 might have been a few seconds slow (past the Reg building), and on #11 I stood still for what seemed like forever looking around for the damn pit that I was practically on top of. Another slow and pathetic run.

Carrying the boat from the parking lot to the water.

Shakedown cruise to get the hang of this kayaking thing. Orange boat. Up the Nashua from Rte 225 to the mouth of the Squannacook and back. Starting upstream was wise, and there was a decent amount of current, which I didn't realize until I was on the water (my speed increased noticeably after turning around, despite the fact that I was tiring). I used the rudder, which is going to take a bit of getting used to, since it sort of works backwards from some other familiar steering devices: to turn left, you push the left pedal forward. I think that's how the rudder pedals work in an airplane, but it's been many years since I flew a plane, so I'm not positive.

An estimate on the time, just like the hike in was. This is not the smartest place to launch a boat, because you have to carry it a fair distance, but it was the right thing for today.

Mystery Blazes. That's all. Wore the ankle brace, turned in a decent time, considering.

Some stupid stuff going on in the Rules Committee these days. IMHO.

C • Some stupid stuff going on ... 4

Not training, but at least a little bit of exercise -- there was a long-running dispute between my parents and the woman who lived next door after her husband passed away a number of years ago. He and my father had for decades maintained a ditch between the two properties in order to keep the water flowing so that it wouldn't pool up and create a swampy breeding ground for mosquitoes. But the woman, for reasons that nobody ever understood, started doing weird stuff once she was on her own. She dumped all kinds of yard waste down the banking toward my parents' property, and set about actively filling in the ditch and diverting water into their back yard. After my father died, my mother was at wit's end, and I took her to the conservation commission, where we explained the situation, and they agreed with us and sent their agent to have a talk with the neighbor, the outcome of which was that I was allowed to do the work (on her property) to open up the ditch with the agent observing. That was fine, but as soon as the coast was clear, the neighbor filled it in again. I think the last conversation I ever had with her was when I moved a rock that she had put in the ditch to divert the water, and she yelled at me to put it back, and I told her that I would not. She passed away a couple of months ago, and the house is goimg to be sold. Her daughter (who cuts my hair) concurs that the water should flow down the ditch as our fathers intended. So last night I went out with rakes and shovels and cleared out the critical sections of the ditch, filled in the secondary swale that had formed leading toward my mother's back yard, and did some rock lifting, to partially reconstruct the stone wall that the neighbor had knocked down to block the water. There's still more work to be done, but the situation is improved.

And then I went home and crashed.

Just got home and crashed.

Rest day, yeah, I'll take one. Back a little sore, ankle fine.

Billygoat, Earl's Trails. A fine event, and I did fine, loos like 28th place, behind only one girl. #1 was a classic case of lost contact due to crowd following, though I don't think I lost much time, and paying more attention early on may have wasted more time than I would have saved. 90% of the way there I wasn't sure where I was, but I spotted #10 down below and was fine from there. The other goof was on #19, where I was again 90% of the way there, and then couldn't find a place on the map that looked like what I was seeing. Just a case of foggy brain, and I tagged along with the next group and was fine after that. Considered various skips, especially in the 15-19 zigzags, but ultimately went for #22, which I think was fine.

My first time using the GPS watch for a forest orienteering course. Looks like I missed six splits, in two groups of three. Doesn't help that I can't hear the split sound that the watch makes very well.

Circumstances being what they were, it looks like I've moved into sole possession of fifth place on the all-time shirts list. But it's a long gap between fifth and fourth, and it will take many years to move up another spot (if ever).

Picked up the White course (except for #1, which I guess somebody else had already gotten) plus #8 and #9 from the Billygoat, and went by #22 to take a peek.

Actual taper part 2, aka going to work on a Saturday, then driving down to see Rachel's dance show and back.

Actual taper part 1, aka going to work, then driving up to see Nicole's dance show and back.

I was hoping to get out for a run, but I was thwarted by things that kept coming up at work, causing me to leave almost two hours later than I was thinking I might.

HAH!

No, I wasn't thwarted. On the drive home, it occurred to me that although it might be late, it wasn't cold, and if I just waited until it was dark enough, I could go out anyway. So I charged up the hatlamp and did it. I was thinking I might just do the Mulpus Loop or go to the Powerline Trail and then cut back to the esker, but once I was out there I decided to keep going and do the whole thing. Some delays due to uncertainty in following the very faint trails, but I figured I'd be happy with anything under an hour, and I got it. There were a few tricky places that turned out to have reflective thumbtacks blazing the way (not noticeable in daylight). A couple of those had been stuck into things that had fallen, but they glinted in the leaf litter, so I stopped and stuck them into more solid wood.

Wore the magic Active Ankle again, no problems. Still seems to be a pace that would translate to a ~2-hour Billygoat...

Intended to do some exercises, but fell asleep...

Across Holman/Mulpus Loop. Light enough when I got home (worked only eight hours today) to go for a little run, with the objective of trying out a run with my reconstituted Active Ankle. Seemed to work acceptably, I had a few footfalls that I suspect would have been nasty if I hadn't had it, and suffered no ill effects, coming through the run unscathed, if not very fast. No particular chafing or anything, either, so I should be good to wear it on Sunday.

A couple of piles of snow left down by the bridge. And a few places where the trails are kind of obscured by fallen limbs and such. But I'm not looking for a trail run, just a route in the woods that I can do in a reasonably predictable manner. No trail maintenance required (and on the loops I do, the majority is on things that most people would not recognize as any sort of trail at all.

Let's see, the Billygoat is 2.6 times as long as this run, let's add... I don't know, 30% to compensate for the straight-line distance and the climb and the fact that I'll be getting tired. That would give me a time of 1:55. Fat chance. Breaking 2:28 (even without taking phone calls) might be a reasonable goal. I'll actually be happy if I can just stay ahead of Charlie and Phil.

As of right now, the most notable absences from the registration list are Paul Bennett, Rob Freeberg, Joe Mokszycki, Steve Dentino (been a while for him), Joe Brautigam, and Bob Bullions.

C • Stay ahead of Charlie and Phil 4

Umm... tapering? It's a real challenge to taper when your baseline is essentially zilch. (But I was at work for about 12 hours.)

C • tapering 2

Nothing to report but the purchase of a PFD (and one for Nancy). And with what I expect to be going on at work this week, it ain't looking good for spare time to exercise.

No exercise, though I did repair my Active Ankle (I think I have another one around somewhere, but I haven't located it), and I got the roof rack situation pretty much straightened out for carrying two kayaks at once on the car. Took a spin around the block to make sure it worked okay, seemed mostly fine, will just require a couple of very small tweaks. One hang glider doesn't clobber my fuel economy too badly, two or three is more noticeable. At some point we'll see what a pair of boats does.

Still busy, still tired, early to bed again.

A lot going on at work this week. Tired when I got home.

Drove to the concert, drove to Ratlum right after, and immediately went to sleep.

Couldn't find my pedals. Looked in all of the typical places where I could think I might have put them, but no luck. So I found my other old pair of bike shoes, which had the associated pedals with them, and I was good to go. Just as well, maybe, because my regular bike shoes are really too small, and the old cleats/pedals are worn out, so I ought to ditch them and replace them.

Wasn't sure where I wanted to go, but when I was getting near Old City Road it occurred to me that a loop around the lake would be a fine thing, and probably just about right in terms of distance. This did not bother my ankle in the slightest. Getting pretty dim by the time I got home. Spring peepers out and extremely loud. One little patch of snow left next to the garage door, about the size of a dinner plate. The neighbor does still have a bunch of white stuff.

Such a nice day that I had to go do something outside, and I thought I'd give my ankle some more rest by running on the smooth roads, but changed my mind and opted for the soft forest. That was fine until I crested the ridge before the power line trail, and one funny step make my ankle once again go
OW OW OW!
Dang it, I thought it would be better by now. This is an unusual injury for me, as the problem seems to be when my foot pronates rather than supinates, and the ankle hurts on the outside. I think I got that right. It's my right ankle, and it's worst when I'm sidehilling and uphill to to my right. I kept going, and of course it kept getting worse, to the point where my left-foot stride was probably twice as long as the right. About every 10th step landed in a way that it was uncomfortable, and maybe every 50th was very painful. As soon as I got back, I stuffed a pack of frozen blue goo into my sock. I think the next steps are going to be use of a bicycle, and a search for my Active Ankle.

Snow is almost gone, the most significant remaining parts were in the hemlock grove at the base of the last climb (partially packed to ice by snowmobiles), and that won't last the week. My yard may be clear by now other than a small heap next to the driveway, and the neighbor out back probably still has some on his lawn.

No exercise again. Took the whole weekend off. Ankle still feels funny. Also saw the movie "Olympus Has Fallen" with Stephen as Nancy. Stephen thought it was great, Nancy didn't like it too much, and I really didn't care for it at all, though I did like going out to the movies with those guys. Mostly the movie just made me tense and rarely made me happy. First time I've been to that cinema since they upgraded to have cushy reclining seats (I mean like La-Z-Boy/Barcalounger style seats). Quite a few trailers before the film. I'm looking forward to seeing "42".

No exercise, but I bought some pieces for the roof rack for my car, which will enable me to carry two boats at once and will facilitate future exercise.

At Leda Lanes with Stephen and Nancy. 76-81-89-83 (not sure about that last score). Nancy won the first two games by several pins each, and I edged her out by a single pin in the third. Stephen's 400 mph delivery hasn't abated, but his accuracy is improving, so he makes contact about half the time and gets a lot of pin action. Nancy's hand was hurting, so she sat out the last string, and Stephen and I alternated taking her frames, bowling left-handed. I think that game ended up with a 45. If I'm remembering right, I had two spares and one strike, and inadvertantly bowled one practice frame before I realized that we had to press a button to start the scoring thing.

Back has improved considerably, but I spent most of the day schlepping the shaker around the parking lot at work, which has left my ankle rather tender. Decided that it was wise to skip the exercises again.

My ankle started feeling a little tender again today, and then shortly before I left work I got a muscle spasm in my back. Tonights exercise session consists of lying on a hot water bottle.

2x50 situps. Decided to give my shoulders and ankles another day off.

Rest day, aka got home from work and basically fell asleep as soon as I laid down to take a rest.