Training Log Archive: JanetT

Hiked at Sam's Point Preserve west of New Paltz, visiting Sam's Point overlook, Ice Caves, and the Verkeerder Kill waterfall. Will download the watch later and add more. About 4.5 hours of walking, at least half of it on uneven rocky trails (the rest was wide carriage roads).

Some photos from the hike:

Eastern towhee singing from atop a dwarf pine. Water in background (off to the northeast from our location) was either Mud Pond or Lake Awosting

Exit of the first ice cave. No ice here, just a nice coolness. Glen is downhill from me at the cave exit, near where I found the deceased rodent.

Verkeerder Kill falls

View of the trail. Most of the footing was as shown in the foreground of this pic; the areas of peat were few and far between, and the blueberry bushes hemmed in the trail.

Sheep laurel was mixed in with the blueberry, and had a small pink flower that looks a lot like the mountain laurel blossom.

C • Nice! 3

Edited distance (to be more in keeping with what Glen's watch reflected). I kept losing satellite signal in the ice caves (duh!).

Hiked at Sam's Point Preserve in the Shawangunks, southern New York. Temps in the 70s to low 80s, mostly sunny with some cloudy breaks which felt great and a slight breeze on the ridge. This area was more open (less shaded) than I had expected, with ridgetop dwarf pines and scrub oaks mixed with a LOT of lowbush and highbush blueberry bushes and mountain laurel. A few of the lowbush blueberry bushes on the falls trail had edible berries, maybe a couple dozen at most. The highbush bushes still had small green berries so they should be ripe in 2-3 weeks, I'd guess.

Footing as far as the Ice Caves loop trail was carriage roads with gravel or partially paved surfaces. On the Ice Caves loop there were rocks, roots, ladders, and slippery passages through some of the caves, with one small stretch on actual ice coming out of the last cave. Neat area. AOWN: a dead small critter (vole or shrew ?) near a cave exit which could conceivably have plunged a good 60' (or more?) to its death off the cliff above.

Once we got on the trail to the Verkeerder Kill falls, the footing was much more uneven, with chunks of the limestone and conglomerate rocks all over. The narrow trail was hemmed in by the blueberry and pines so it was difficult to avoid stepping on and around the rocks in the trail. My ankles and knees got a real workout there, and I took it slow so as not to twist anything too much. No major climbs either up or down on this trail, just a gentle slope. The falls were interesting, with some water cascading down a good drop, though I suspect it could be quite impressive during snowmelt periods.

Anyway, a nice hike, and a good day for it. Dinner after at the Gilded Otter in New Paltz where the food and beer are adequate.

With bands, which we guessed on the drive to the Y.

Just in case I don't get any other aerobic training later in the day. We have a lot of errands to do this afternoon.

Pulldowns: 10@68.75#
Adductors: 2*12@75#
Stretching legs some more

AOWN note from Tuesday: didn't see much at Dyken Pond, but on the drive home had to swerve to avoid hitting a determined mother duck and her brood of six(?) or so crossing a busy road. Truck behind me did stop to let her finish the crossing.

"Make way for ducklings!"

C • Make way 1

Humid day. Abs are sore from yesterday. All I can figure is the extra weight (8 vs 4 lbs) on my hips during shoulder bridges. I don't remember anything else I might have done differently. It's all good.

National Geographic photo contest entries

I must say, I like the first one best but several others intrigued me too like the Baja desert river shot, and the over/underwater shot.

The rice terraces at sunset are striking too.

Another set of contest photos

Pretty intense on the lower legs today, or was that just because my quads are still recovering from Saturday's race? Light and heavy weights used for various other exercises.

Pulldowns (11@68.75) and a dozen adductors@75# (because we had done some in class).

Plan is to go hiking/running at Dyken Pond this afternoon but we'll wait for the expected showers to pass by. They came a bit later than Intellicast predicted (who said they'd be outta here by noon). Hope the sky clears in the next hour.

Interesting hike--while Glen ran--at Dyken Pond Preserve in the wilds of the Rensselaer Plateau (south of Grafton, north of Pineridge, and east of Troy), 2.5 miles down a dirt road off several miles of town road. Pretty area with a neat trail network but a bit hard to get to. This would make a nice place for a snowshoe race, but 1) I'm not sure they plow the road in the winter and 2) not much parking. The trails were a bit rooty or rocky but nothing unusual about that; better than paved trails. A taste of the Adirondacks without driving that far, and less climb.

We'd been here at least once before but I think the kids were young then, so maybe 20+ years ago? Perhaps even pre-O. We'd probably stop in more often if it were a bit easier to drive to.

Very cool erratics close to the trail, one (named Grandfather Rock) that was about 3-4m high. There was another area called Ring Rock but which was actually a ring of rocks; think circular stone wall 15-20 m across, big enough to contain two smallish boulders. I should have taken a picture there.

The photo below shows a grouping of large erratics named The Sentinals (click photo for larger view):

I could really feel my quads during hamstring curls, and I took advantage of the stretching portion. Decent low impact workout.

These bring back fun memories. :-)

Event: HVO Eagle Rock
 

Green course at Eagle Rock Reservation, SL 5.08 km. Temps in the 70s and just slightly humid made it a bit uncomfortable but not too-too hot at all. Courses by Nadia P with help from Kseniya and Sergei Z.

Nice course with lots of changes of direction. The Red course had many of my legs in reverse, and I was helped on at least some of them by people at the control (but who headed out in a different direction). 2nd overall of about 8; 1st place 28 minutes ahead was a young girl (Ursula Haldi). So yay, I beat all the guys who did Green.

Visiting the kids and grandkid who live close by (main justification for driving 2-1/2 hours for a local O event). The boys (click for larger photo; sorry about your expression, Greg!):

Green - Splits