Training Log Archive: CleverSky

I've never seen the Mulpus at flood stage, so I pulled on a ratty pair of mismatched O shoes and went into the woods. I expected a slushy, icy, sloppy mess, and I wasn't disappointed. The brook wasn't as high as it could have been (probably crested earlier in the day), but it was still higher than I've ever seen it. The wettest place was where the Lane trail goes through the marsh, it was ankle-deep. I managed to get across the Mulpus on logs. At the end, I ventured up on the hillside to see if I could guess where the skinny bit of town-owned land is on the back end (no luck this time, too high up).

Yesterday was nice, but I was being productive doing non-exercise stuff, and today was wet, but not actually raining when I went out (high 30s, O-pants, long-sleeve top, gloves but no hat). Stayed on pavement because this weather has turned every intermittent stream into a torrent, and the woods are sure to be really sloppy. The yard is about half melted out now, with a lot of what's left being ice, and I think I can turn the car around in the driveway now so I don't have to back out into the street.

As I got home, I saw the only animal I'm afraid of stroll across my yard and disappear under the shed. Wonderful.

Just a jaunt in the fading light to get GPS tracks for some of the trails in the Lane property and Town Forest that I didn't have, for the presentation to the Finance Committee. Specifically, the Horse trail, Powerline trail, and Enigma Road. I had to come back up the Mulpus for a way to find a place where I could cross, and I narrowly missed getting my feet wet on some collapsing snow bridges. Somehow managed to cross the main backbone trail after leaving the brook, and ended up much too high om the hillside, where I had never been. Some would have been lost in this situation, no big deal for me, ended up above the HR machinery. Spikes would have been a much better idea, as there was a lot of ice, especially on the Powerline trail.

South on the Midstate Trail from Watatic. Missed the turnoff and stayed on the unplowed road, and did some exploring there. Found the turn coming back, which I had thought might be packed down, but it wasn't. Old foot traffic in some places, and in others it was absolutely untracked, and the only way to find the trail through open woods was the blazes. Pretty firm snow, a little softer on south slopes and on the way back, but there were only a few spots where I wasn't staying on top. Temp in the high 30s, wore O-pants, T-shirt and jacket, hat and gloves (and they stayed on this time), plus the pack for practice. Ate a gel at the turnaround. Felt better at the end than I did two weeks ago, after spending a little more time today, but a little less distance and more climb, cooler day with a firmer surface, hard to compare the two. I slipped at one point and nailed my calf with the other foot, just a couple of scratches and I was glad I wasn't wearing old-style spikes. Nice to run this area and not come back with ticks crawling on me.

I had plans of getting out for a run, but the day was consumed by a funeral and the gathering afterwards. Not a tragedy, the deceased was an elderly gentleman who had led a long and interesting life, and whose story had come to a conclusion. But sometimes the best final thing one can do in this life is to create a reason for old friends to gather together. It was a truly enjoyable day with wonderful company, and no tears, just nice memories. Not that it will matter to me when it happens, but I like the thought that there might be a swell party for my remaining friends when my own time comes to an end.

C • Nicely said. 2

In The Dim, after work but without needing a light (I had one in my pocket but didn't have to pull it out). Still 15-20 cm of snow in the woods, not too mushy in most places, a few spots of ice, a few of bare ground. Temp in the high 30s, wore T-shirt and jacket, O-pants, light gloves, and no hat. Crossed the Mulpus on a different log than usual, and ended up following my own single snowshoe tracks from a couple of weeks ago to the Enigma Road. When I got to the Hickory Hill section, the Smobile trail looked to be solid ice, so I followed some snowshoe tracks and ended up on LSwamp. As I approached the esker, I got some avian inquiries about my culinary staff. Very bumpy and irregular footing, good training for orienteering.

Decided to get some practice wearing a hydration pack, because that's what I'm planning to use in SD. North on the Wapack (the first part of which was reeeeeeeally icy, and I was glad for the spikes) on pretty well-packed snow. After the dirt road, when I got to the skinny bridges, the snowmobiles had to turn around, and it was just footprints and less appealing, so I took the "winter-only" route as far as it went. On the way back I took a side trail to add more distance, then went up the mountain. I had been worried about being overdressed (a little below freezing, 3/4 tights and O-pants, thermal top and light jacket, fleece beanie and light gloves), but it was absolutely fine, though I did eventually take off the hat and gloves. Quite windy. Right calf was still a tiny bit tight, but it didn't bother me at all, nothing like yesterday.

Yesterday I had a headache before I went out to run, hoped running would help make it go away, but it didn't, and I spent a while lying down when I got done. But at least I wasn't running a marathon+ with a headache.

Mysteriously, the toenails on the second toes on both feet hurt right now. They're properly trimmed, they are not odd colors, and neither shows any sign of lifting or other deformity. Yet they're both tender. Strange. I don't recall any trauma to them.

It almost looked like there might be skateable ice on some of the lakes I drove by today. The one that I ran on had too many rough patches, and it was a windy enough day that I don't think skating would actually have been much fun.

C • A couple vitamin I, a glass... 2

I had always pictured this as too long a loop to be practical, and with the sections on Rtes 2A and 13 not that appealing, but I measured iit the other night and saw that it was completely reasonable, so I figured it was a good choice for a day when the woods were going to be a slushy mess. Nice and warm, low 50s, short sleeve T-shirt. Started out mostly sunny with the kind of clouds that look perfect for flying, but gusty enough that it woud not have been fun. And while I was on Rte. 13, I was running in unforecasted rain. Right calf was tight from the outset, and never improved much.

The town has a P&S agreement (maybe not signed yet) for a big ol' chunk of forest near my house (including most of where I usually go running), and an agreed price per acre, but the exact area isn't known yet because part of the agreed boundary for subdividing the property is an unsurveyed watercourse. I volunteered to go out and get a GPS track of the streams, and late in the evening I finally motivated myself to put on my waterproof socks and go out there.

Road running down to the bridge, then postholing both sides of the streams in question, then road running home. The woods was mostly knee-deep snow with a soft crust, sometimes shallower, sometimes thigh-deep with water at the bottom. At the upstream end, I tried crossing on what looked like a skimpy beaver dam, and ended up punching through into the brook a few times. Shortly after getting to the other side and turning around, I found the elaborate footbridge (there's a bit of a gap on the side I was coming from, hard to spot from that direction if you're not expecting it). On the downstream end, I pretty much crawled across an ice-covered fallen tree. I can't think of many people who would have enjoyed accompanying me on this trip. But I had fun.

Woke up this morning, and between the run on Saturday, smashing my finger, walking into my roof rack yesterday morning and ending up flat on my back in a parking lot (leaving a visible injury on my forehead), flying, and then getting home just after midnight, I'm a complete wreck. Everything that hurts has something else hurting to distract from the pain. A pretty great weekend!

Flew (at Ellenville) for almost as long as I ran yesterday, and I could easily have stayed up for the extra seven minutes or so if I had cared to. It's not proper exercise, but it certainly is tiring.

Thermometer said something like 48F when I left the house, so I picked a place that I figured would be packed by snowmobiles (the car thermometer said 39F when I got there). This trail is a bit nicer with snow than it is in the summer, because the railroad ties are covered. The first little stretch had only one track, but the rest was pretty well packed. Conditions were a little soft, I was sinking in probably 2-4 cm, though as the day went on, it got mushier and I was doing more sinking and sliding around. I had some thoughts that maybe I should have brought skis, but it's running that I want to train for, and I did encounter one skier, a guy probably 25 years younger than me, but I passed him and left him in my dust. I also encountered seven snowmobiles and two horseback riders (and man, the horses really churn up the trail). I was glad that it was all uphill on the way north, and very disappointed when I turned around and saw that it was all uphill on the way back, too. I was concerned that when I got back to my car, I'd be several hundred feet above it with no way down. At the end, I definitely felt like I'd had enough for today.

C • Esscher 3

C • Nice... been feeling a bit... 2

I did definitely do one bit of damage today. After running, I stopped by Mom's house and brought the last of the firewood in. In the process, I was slinging a piece behind me and didn't realize how close the other pieces were, and smashed the last joint of my right middle finger, like hitting it with a hammer. This made me say a bad word. At this point, it hurts (typing with it is unpleasant), there's noticeable swelling, and some discoloration of the fingernail. Pretty sure the bone is unaffected, but I'll have to wait and see how the nail fares.

Unrelated: looking at how far I went today, I'm definitely interested in doing a one-way run on the Wapack Trail, tentatively from Watatic to Windblown, doing the self-retrieve by bicycle. Sometime after the snow melts out, maybe timed so that it's not at the height of bug season.

Got home after 11 PM and the temp was in the single digits, so I just wasn't feeling it.

One of those nights when I get home from the ConComm meeting and am tired enough that I just lie down to take a rest and I'm out for the night.

The physical effort of doing this is dwarfed by the mental effort that it takes to get dressed and push myself out the door. The main thing I have going for me is the prospect of sitting through yet another hour of Crimea on the radio.

Upon arriving home, I noticed a box sitting off to the side of my front door, which was apparently there yesterday, but I didn't notice it. It contained the new wallet that I ordered. You might think that would be an easy thing to overlook. But no, the box is 16"x12"x5". And it contained a wallet and a piece of paper. That's it. No packing material. Maybe this is some minimum size to make sure UPS doesn't lose it, but jeez, it's essentially a big empty box that got shipped across the country.

PowerlineTrail-Esker loop, and then around the Mulpus Brook loop on the way back. Just as I was getting ready to go out, the radio announcer said it was going to be frigid tonight, and I checked the thermometer and saw that it had just dropped into single digits. No problem when dressed appropriately, which, for future reference, means heavy tights and O-pants, a long-sleeve synthetic shirt, a fleece vest, and a lightweight cycling jacket, fleece beanie, fuzzy Hotfingers gloves, and smartwool socks. Just a bit cool for the first few minutes, and then later my hands occasionally feel very slightly sweaty. Surprising that this is almost exactly the same distance as Saturday, and quite a bit quicker.

The opposite approach from last night: spikes, and I stayed in the packed trench. More than 20 degrees warmer, and I wore correspondingly lighter clothing. Footing was quite good, and I only sank in a little a few times, and I was a lot quieter. The brook was crossable on the ice again. I had considered trying a mountain bike ride in the daylight, but wans't sure how that would go, however, north of the power line trail I saw some treadmarks, so somebody tried it (probably the guy I met last week). They were able to ride both in the packed area and across the untracked snow, but it looked like they might have been running wider tires than I have ("fat bike").