Training Log Archive: JanetT

Event: EMPO - Five Rivers Environmental Education Center
 

Green course, 5.6 km straight line

Oooof--that was hard. Five Rivers is relatively flat and I was expecting a lot of running around on the trails. But Phil H-T (course designer) set a tough course that made the most of the physical challenges, including thickish summer vegetation.

I managed to punch the wrong control (#4), an avoidable lapse if I'd been checking codes. Apparently my X was farther along (~100m?) the ridge past the pipe/boundary marker where I did punch. Never noticed I hadn't gone far enough.

Good through 10, though it was very hard to wade the waist-high rough open field and I did that very slowly. Mis-read map and thought 11 was revisiting 3 and was almost back to 3 before I corrected--d'oh! At least I did find #2, which gave some folks a lot more grief than it did me.

UPDATED: FR added (borrowed from Glen, as I forgot mine but he had his backup 205 along with his 305 which he used).

C • course 3

Using exercise balls. Still feeling some ab muscles from Tuesday's class so it must have been good. :-)

Feet tolerated this today (some tingling last 5 minutes or so), and it felt good to do the whole 45-minutes. 2.08mi

Plus adductors (75+70x12) and pulldowns (10@68.75#)

I just noticed I rank #14 on discussion posts. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Charlie's a spot or two higher.

And it looks like tRicky is trying to threaten Bash for the 'title' but has a long way to go. :-)

C • posts 1

No step, no weights, but a good workout anyway. Someone arrived early enough to start up the small window A/C unit and some fans to circulate the air or it would have been much harder.

Something else I noticed on the drive down Monday (and not before? I wonder why not) -- a small sumac (about a foot or so tall?) growing out of someone's chimney. (!)

No tools. I modified the tricep pushups, only dipping a few inches. No reverse planks either.

Planned to do intervals, but my right foot was killing me after .35 mi. Toughed it out for 1/2 mi then decided to look for something else to do. One of the two erg machines was broken, the other occupied.

Did pulldowns (10@68.75#) and adductors (12@75, 12@70#)

Decided I'd see how walking felt. Track is more padded than treadmill, and walking's different enough from running.

13:58 for a mile, then I jogged a mile (separate entry), then walked another 1/2 mile, 7:44

And the jog, during which my foot felt okay.

As usual. A 5-5-5(x2) session again, which seemed hard given the weekend's activities.

AOWN: A bunny on the drive to Chatham; and three families of Canada geese by one pond, joined (again! -- I saw him/her there last week too) by what looks to be a domestic goose (gray feathers and orange bill). Maybe he's been adopted?

Or maybe it's a hybrid.

C • hybrid 1

After dropping Glen off to run up the mountain and back down again, I drove up to the top of the ridge in Pittsfield State Forest (Cascade Road area) and parked near Berry Mountain for a hike. I wanted to go as far as Tower Mountain and back, so figured I'd better jog on the downhills and flats so I'd be back down the hill to meet up with Glen at the appointed time +/-.

Beautiful day, mid 70s and mostly sunny with lower humidity -- better enjoy it while it's here (hotter and humid forecast for mid-week)...

Started out on the path through the Azalea Fields, but they were past bloom. Saw a dragonfly at the first trail junction (a good omen; my favorite insect). :-) There was some orange hawkweed nearby too.

From Miscellaneous

Parked along road just below where it says Berry Hill and went counterclockwise. Saw hawkweed and a dragonfly at the trail junction just west of there. Stopped to look west at the overlook after I rejoined the road, but it was rather hazy and not worth a photo. Continued on toward Tower Mountain, which was an interesting trail with ups and downs. At the SE corner of Tilden Swamp (the pond east of Tower Mtn), I was confronted by a higher-than-expected water level and a well-engineered beaver dam (complete with a curve to hold back the water, like the Hoover Dam). Having never been there before I wasn't sure whether I'd be able to cross the Parker Brook (pond outflow), but it must have been like that for awhile because there was a bridge.

I had a map with me (thankfully!) so I could tell how far I needed to go, and how to get there. I wanted to go east around Berry Pond and come out onto the Boy Scout Trail to return to the car, but wasn't sure there was a trail all the way around... and there wasn't, so a little bit of bushwhacking was called for. Turned out well, and I found the trail (though not sure which way to turn but figured it out). Missed Glen here by about 10 minutes; i.e., it I'd been there 10-12 minutes earlier we would have met, as he visited the car then headed down the BST to the Turner Trail.