Training Log Archive: CleverSkyIn the 31 days ending May 31, 2014:
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Saturday May 31, 2014 #
11 AM
orienteering race 1:14:20 [2] *** 6.41 km (11:36 / km) +270m 9:35 / km
spiked:6/10c shoes: VJ Integrator #3
Northfield Mountain, Red, first half of the Little Troll Cup. I swear, I used to be able to do this. Now I'm slow, dumb, blind, and I fall down and run into things and it hurts. I'll facetiously blame control #1 on a distraction*, and maybe the ones in the middle were because the rain hit and I had not prepped my glasses, so they fogged up. (Really, it's just the slow, dumb, etc.) How come I can go for a run and actually run, but when I do something like this, I'm trudging.
*So, as I was approaching the control I encountered a guy who I think was on Green, and, he said, "Jean?". I looked at him, and there was recognition, but I had to do a context switch because he clearly knew me from a non-orienteering context, and not a recent one. I managed to put it together: I met him at science summer camp in 1978 (he was also in my class in college, but I saw him only infrequently then, and not since).
*So, as I was approaching the control I encountered a guy who I think was on Green, and, he said, "Jean?". I looked at him, and there was recognition, but I had to do a context switch because he clearly knew me from a non-orienteering context, and not a recent one. I managed to put it together: I met him at science summer camp in 1978 (he was also in my class in college, but I saw him only infrequently then, and not since).
orienteering race 34:16 [3] *** 3.88 km (8:50 / km) +134m 7:32 / km
spiked:6/7c shoes: VJ Integrator #3
Northfield Mountain, Red, chase start. Well, this was an improvement. Tim and Glen were way out in front and were faster than me, but I think I came in third (some people didn't run the second race). My one mistake was when I was low on #4, and spotted another control down below that I (punched and) checked first. Not so easy to read this multigenerational photocopy of a map, but it is what it is.
2 PM
orienteering (course setting) 43:07 [1] *** 2.5 km (17:15 / km)
spiked:2/2c shoes: VJ Integrator #3
Picked up a couple of controls up the hill, walking.
Friday May 30, 2014 #
7 PM
running (trails) 47:46 [2] 5.98 km (7:59 / km) +110m 7:19 / km
shoes: Inov-8 Oroc 280 #1 (blue)
Cruising around Willard Brook with Marcello, on a variant of my SW loop, to give him a look at the terrain, in case it's a candidate for an upcoming mapping project. Not sure why my watch stopped a little early (we were heading straight back to the car at that point).
Monday May 26, 2014 #
5 PM
running (trails) 1:10:37 [3] 10.17 km (6:57 / km) +194m 6:20 / km
shoes: Inov-8 Oroc 280 #1 (blue)
Daisy-chained my two Willard Brook routes together, with an extra excursion up the hill. Kind of humid; a pack probably would have been annoying. Something longer would have been nice, but this is what I managed to get done, no complaints.
Found this in the woods:
although none of the surrounding trees were very big, which is as you'd expect.
A lot of pollen in the air, I think. No itchy eyes or wheezing, but the air felt abrasive on my eyes and respiratory system.
Found this in the woods:
although none of the surrounding trees were very big, which is as you'd expect.
A lot of pollen in the air, I think. No itchy eyes or wheezing, but the air felt abrasive on my eyes and respiratory system.
Sunday May 25, 2014 #
11 AM
Note
First stationary tick of the season -- felt something on my neck while driving, asked Nancy what it was, she said it was a tick and pulled it off. Came off easily, so it must have just grabbed in. I was hoping this would be a light year for ticks, but it's not looking great. I don't think it's GPS that's going to kill orienteering, it's poison ivy and ticks.
12 PM
orienteering race 1:29:25 [3] *** 8.87 km (10:05 / km) +184m 9:08 / km
spiked:7/12c shoes: Inov-8 Oroc 280 #1 (blue)
Ansonia, Red, 6.23 km. Arrived late, but Jim and Rich were accommodating and let us go out anyway. Embarrassed to be the last one back. Pretty pathetic from a navigational perspective, and a bit hot as well. Screwed up #2 horribly, including one point when I was probably looking right at it and decided I was probably somewhere else and went wandering for a while. Got passed by the Ukrainian guy when I stopped to take a leak on the way to #3, and saw him a number of times after that -- he was faster and woudl rush off ahead, then I'd make a mistake, and he'd catch up (yes, that's exactly what I mean). #4 was quite a bit lower than the circle, but I found it no trouble. Botched #5, though I probably could have seen it if I had looked to my left.#8 seemed a little sout of where I expected, but I had no trouble. Last saw the Ukranian as I was approaching #9 and he was heading in an odd direction. Stuffed up #10 and #11 despite being quite close. Furtunately, I'm quite capable of enjoying myself even when bumbling around, and it's hard to not have a good time at Ansonia.
New shoes, which seemed quite satisfactory.
New shoes, which seemed quite satisfactory.
5 PM
hiking (beach) 1:30:00 [1] 6.6 km (13:38 / km)
shoes: Saucony Grid Adapt
From Iranistan Ave. in Bridgeport CT out to Fayerweather Island with Nancy. Bridgeport has quite a beautiful park right on the sound. Some of this was with my shoes off, on the sand and in the water.
Saturday May 24, 2014 #
Note
Thought about going out for a run, but then a flying opportunity came up, so my exercise was limilted to carrying my glider a couple of hundred meters on level ground. This is my very lightweight glider, carrying it is a piece of cake. But the other pilots were either using a cart, or driving to the other location to set up, or offering to get an ATV to help me out. Jeez Louise, these people are lazy.
Sunday May 18, 2014 #
10 AM
orienteering race 1:36:21 [3] *** 9.41 km (10:15 / km) +404m 8:26 / km
spiked:10/17c shoes: VJ Integrator #3
Earl's Trails, Red. Not a very impressive showing, either physically or navigationally. No huge errors, but quite a few moderate ones. But because it was a last-minute decision to come to this meet at all (I had been planning on going flying), I'm not complaining. It was a nice time out in the woods on a beautiful day.
2 PM
Note
The reason I decided to go to Earl's was because I realized that I could fly at Skinner when I was done. But after consulting who was going where, I decided to go to North Adams instead. Maybe the right choice, maybe not. I stayed in the air longer (1:52) than I did in the woods, so that's a win in both regards. Rather boisterous air, though.
Saturday May 17, 2014 #
12 PM
orienteering race 1:14:43 [0] *** 9.02 km (8:17 / km) +193m 7:29 / km
spiked:12/14c shoes: VJ Integrator #3
Gay City, Advanced Long (i.e. Red). Moving okay, though not breaking any records, navigating decently except for two controls near the end (off to the left on #12, and overran #14 -- I blame the map in both cases. :-) Split analysis shows four other errors, but that seems harsh. Beautiful day, nice course, and nice to spend it with Nancy.
Wednesday May 14, 2014 #
10 PM
running (woods, night) 46:32 [3] 6.34 km (7:21 / km) +101m 6:48 / km
shoes: GoLite Blaze Lite
Why waste valuable daylight on running when you can spend it doing something productive, and then go out for exercise after it's solid dark? Nice that this no longer requires bundling up, just regular O clothes (and a headlamp). Felt great, so I modified my original plan of doing Shorter, and did the whole loop instead. Climbs seemed to top out very easily, and I had no trouble following the incredibly faint rat trails that this consists of. And the time wasn't bad at all, especially considering it was at night. Got one wet foot crossing the Mulpus.
Sunday May 11, 2014 #
orienteering (course setting) 1:00:00 [1]
shoes: Saucony Grid Adapt
No idea how much time I spent doing stuff today, but I was on my feet for a lot of hours (mostly standing around), and my shins are really achy now. Went in to put another couple of gallons at #13 (glad I did, as Ian said when he picked it up there was less than a gallon left), then hung the three remaining White controls, the last two Goat controls and the finish stuff, and afterwards I picked up eight controls -- thanks to Alex getting the five in the middle of the map, Ian getting the southern eight, Phil getting six up north, and Tim fetching the rest, control retrieval was pretty smooth and painless. Using a tiny map helps in that regard.
All in all it seems to have been rather successful. The hot weather took its toll, such that the winning time was about 10 minutes slower than I had been hoping, and coming in on time was a struggle for quite a few people. Looks like Valeriy tied Bob Lehman's record for closest heartbreak (3 seconds over), and we may have a new record for closest nailbiter, I'll have to look at the splits when they come out. Most people seemed to be not too angry, only one person told me that I had joined the Jeff Schapiro course setting club. But the winning time was not as long as that one, and was only a couple of minutes slower than Gay City or Huntington. I certainly am glad that I shortened it, though, and that I put out extra water.
All in all it seems to have been rather successful. The hot weather took its toll, such that the winning time was about 10 minutes slower than I had been hoping, and coming in on time was a struggle for quite a few people. Looks like Valeriy tied Bob Lehman's record for closest heartbreak (3 seconds over), and we may have a new record for closest nailbiter, I'll have to look at the splits when they come out. Most people seemed to be not too angry, only one person told me that I had joined the Jeff Schapiro course setting club. But the winning time was not as long as that one, and was only a couple of minutes slower than Gay City or Huntington. I certainly am glad that I shortened it, though, and that I put out extra water.
Note
I think I may have gotten pretty sunburned (arms, and probably face). Oops.
Saturday May 10, 2014 #
orienteering (course setting) 2:10:00 [1]
shoes: GoLite Blaze Lite
Hanging most of the White and Yellow controls, and six of the remaining Billygoat controls, plus putting out some extra water. Visibility is still good, blackflies are emerging (but not yet biting), and I found two ticks crawling afterwards. Low energy today, and I was pretty sleepy this morning. Just a few easy control placements inn the morning, set up the finish, and we should be good to go.
Friday May 9, 2014 #
Note
Registration has closed, and we have 74 people signed up for the Billygoat, the smallest field since 1986 (although the PygmyGoat has probably drawn away some people who might otherwise have started the Billygoat intending to not finish). And that's fine. Looks like the shirts will work out, too, with no margin to spare on the timing, and the numbers will be okay provided at least one person who requested a Large is either a no-show, or goes overtime or DNFs, or is willing to accept a medium or XL.
Thursday May 8, 2014 #
orienteering (course setting) 2:05:01 [2] 7.27 km (17:12 / km)
shoes: GoLite Blaze Lite
Setting out six more controls, in the heart of the map, two of which were water stops. Just as well that I didn't have the GPS watch, because I really don't want to know about the wandering route that I took to one of them, while carrying four gallons and three control stands. I got back to the car at 8:24, and grabbed three more controls and stands, but before I got to the first one, I realized that it was doo dark to read the codes on the control descriptions, so I turned around. I'll have 14 relatively close ones to put out on Saturday (including White and Yellow) and seven visible ones Sunday morning. Should be fine.
Tuesday May 6, 2014 #
orienteering (course setting) 1:30:51 [2] *** 4.73 km (19:12 / km)
spiked:8/8c shoes: GoLite Blaze Lite
Scoped out the one extra control location to make the shorter routing work (it's fine), then hung the first batch of controls for the Billygoat and put out one water stop. Distance is measured straight line between controls. Managed to keep my feet dry with a bit of effort. A couple of map tweaks, and I'll be sending out the print order tonight. Effort alternated between hustling along to try and beat the fading daylight, and standing still to set up control stands. Got back to the car at 8:10, which was okay, but I wouldn't want to push it much beyond that unless I were just heading back to the car on a trail. Thursday night's batch will be a little more constrained, but more strenuous as well, but with everything properly staged in the car before I start, I shouldn't have trouble (might even be able to do a few extras to save myself work on Saturday).
Sunday May 4, 2014 #
3 PM
running 2:33:49 [3] *** 16.55 km (9:18 / km) +446m 8:11 / km
spiked:20/23c shoes: VJ Integrator #3
Billygoat test run. Time includes a few mistakes, and a little bopping around in one area where I realized that some minor map updating is needed (rerouted trail). I did skip one control, a reasonable one to skip, that was comparatively uninteresting, and that set up a more interesting approach to the next control. All by myself, which has its disadvantages, but knowing where everything was and having routes in mind helped (I didn't look at the map all that much). Maybe 8 minutes in mistakes (2, 4, and 2 minutes) and another couple of minutes investigating the changed trail. Still, the time is a bit longer than my recent Billygoat times, so I need to think a bit more about whether to shorten it up a little bit. If I scale my time today by my ratio to the winner in Delaware, I get 1:43, which is more than the 1:30 - 1:35 that I'd like. I'm leaning toward going shorter, I think. It would also avoid an area that's a little thick, and the map update would be unnecessary. It means using a control location that I haven't looked at yet, though I could check it out Tuesday evening.
Saturday May 3, 2014 #
Note
UNANIMOUS!
The first bunch of articles on the warrant sailed through, then when it came to the property acquisition, the moderator said "Well, I suppose you've all come here for discussion on something, and I suppose this is it". Brandon, the de facto head of our committee asked if there was anyone in the audience who was unfamiliar with the Lane Property issue (nobody raised a hand), and he went through the presentation (which might have gone on a bit longer than necessary, but whatever). Then we were prepared to hear whatever questions there might be from the people opposed to spending money on anything, and address them, and hope that more people spoke up to support the purchase. The moderator asked if anyone was interested in any discussion, and nobody stepped forward (I think there was a little bit of murmuring at this point). So he asked for "all in favor" and there was a vigorous "AYE!", and "all opposed" and nothing (I thought I heard one "no", but he didn't), so it easily made the required 2/3 majority. And that got a vigorous round of applause, the only one of the meeting. And about 25% of the people then got up and left, apparently having showed up just to support that article (or else they wanted to get home to watch the hockey game).
(I stuck around for the budget discussion, which devolved into people arguing whether the remaining $27K gap should land on schools or paving, but got myself out of there before they started discussing the medical marijuana dispensary.)
The first bunch of articles on the warrant sailed through, then when it came to the property acquisition, the moderator said "Well, I suppose you've all come here for discussion on something, and I suppose this is it". Brandon, the de facto head of our committee asked if there was anyone in the audience who was unfamiliar with the Lane Property issue (nobody raised a hand), and he went through the presentation (which might have gone on a bit longer than necessary, but whatever). Then we were prepared to hear whatever questions there might be from the people opposed to spending money on anything, and address them, and hope that more people spoke up to support the purchase. The moderator asked if anyone was interested in any discussion, and nobody stepped forward (I think there was a little bit of murmuring at this point). So he asked for "all in favor" and there was a vigorous "AYE!", and "all opposed" and nothing (I thought I heard one "no", but he didn't), so it easily made the required 2/3 majority. And that got a vigorous round of applause, the only one of the meeting. And about 25% of the people then got up and left, apparently having showed up just to support that article (or else they wanted to get home to watch the hockey game).
(I stuck around for the budget discussion, which devolved into people arguing whether the remaining $27K gap should land on schools or paving, but got myself out of there before they started discussing the medical marijuana dispensary.)
Friday May 2, 2014 #
7 PM
running (woods) 46:38 [3] 6.63 km (7:02 / km) +104m 6:31 / km
shoes: GoLite Blaze Lite
Everything was wetter than I expected due to the rain this week -- Waterline trail flooded and the Mulpus was difficult to cross. I anticipated feeling great out there, and I actually felt less than great, but I got out and got some exercise. The Town Meeting vote on purchasing this property is tomorrow, we've done what we can, now we just have to hope the people at the meeting see this for the incredible bargain that it is.