Training Log Archive: bl

To Kulish Ledges at Harris Center with Beth. New place, nice hike with a few good views. Met one person with two dogs.

After at Harris Center, getting a rock fix via random map walk.

Acquired a prepatellar bursitis, seems from staining on the roof yesterday.
Did do some kneeling - didn't think much of it but after a dog walk & NHH visit this AM, it just appeared unannounced. After today's activities, it is fairly stiff and with effusion. Ibuprofen, ice & time will tell.

The trail description said this stove dates from the early 20th century (so maybe 100 years) - on a 10' by 12' flat surface described as a hunter's or logger's cabin site. It might make another 100 years.

Sorry to see April go.

April lifts her skirts and runs away. Along comes May but she won’t stay. Soon there’ll be June but who knows her tune.

-- the "distaff" months, perhaps the fairest in the year.

Parked on Fifth District Rd - had not visited it & its possibilities in a long time & it fit my frame of mind. Started along, came upon a new path crossing the road & heading toward Carter Hill Orchard, took that, climbing a fairly long hill, became too OOB, stopped to check the pulse, and ended up at my doctor's office in search of a fib & an explanation for quite a bit of SOB w/ exertion in setting of irregular pulse. No a fib, same abnormal EKG as before - but some new info. Will have to return to wander in the 5th district area soon. A relief to have no A meet this weekend.

The day my heart murmur was pointed out to me.

SPS campus, incl a mile along Turkey Pond's very rooty & wet-in-places shoreline.

Nottingcook wander, fine April afternoon. Saw one person.

Had BHS track in mind after Y & work but got on wrong side of town on an errand & came straight home, resolving to do better tomorrow. A gray, cold wet day. Fired up the wood stove.

Map walk on Surebridge Mt. from Tiorati Circle/Arden Valley Rd. Had circled some features at some time in the past & elected to use these when we could not park near one of the camps for doing a prior course. Found two new streamers that must have been put on features by an orienteer - one was tied to a stick leaning against a 1m boulder, the other at a rock face base - same streamer material & tie style, no numbers though.

Woods still look so early spring (dull greens, browns, grays) and are so very open, grassy in places. Was on AT briefly, thought of Fred P, Tony F and countless others who passed/will pass that very same stretch - and what it might be like to tackle a 2200 mi hike.

Twas a long way back home…West Point, Tiorati to Hanson, MA, with one stop in Cold Spring. Passed right by Gilbert Hills SF on the way to Hanson. Beth made a deposit on a ’04 Volvo softtop convertible with 24k mi on the odometer. Then home on 93, doing well with rush hour traffic.

HSH, 35 or so years of arriving in the drive from O or boat, car a mess & regrouping begins. M had a long drink at the stream.

AT above Tiorati

Brown "long", 3.3k - green was 6.2, would not have been up for that.
Good run except for #7. I was straight on the route but the contours were hard to read due to waist hi veg. Came upon George Hawes and a flag at a boulder and for the life of me, could not figure out where it was. Steve came along (unbeknownst, started 2' behind). I was baffled and not confident - followed him 40m to a reentrant, not the correct one. Meanwhile, George had figured it out. I was third to punch but got to #8 ahead of Steve & did not see him again but was about a minute behind in the end. #9 was not a good feature choice, too vague, almost a bit bingo given vegetation, much or most unmapped. Rest of points were pretty good. Could not run in the chute w/o stopping to walk, however briefly, several times.

Turned out the "boulder" was a red course dot knoll. It looked like a boulder exclusively but was not able to return to see. It is under the downstroke of the 7 in the photo (hard to see). A "dumb" distraction on my part. Reconsidering I like the left-hand route to the point. I went around the north end of the large cliffs.

Nice weekend, excellent weather. Except for the control description problem in the middle, I really had no issues tho there were some.

We had no plans after the meet (except not to drive home & possibly Surebridge tomorrow) and wandered back to the Highland Falls McDonalds. We ended up at a motel in Highland Falls. I drove thru the WP campus, a fine spring day for that kind of thing. A large campus-reservation, I saw parts I'd not seen before (that I could remember anyway). Also saw two control points by the multi-use stadium but no orienteers/runners in sight anywhere.

Long - Brown - Splits

Event: West Point National Meet
 

West Point middle on Deep Hollow map. A B/B- run, 3-3.5' errors. First point was ok and really pretty easy once on the indistinct path. There was a big rs just before and, though warned about not counting on them, it bolstered me for the next point which was a RF on a slope among quite a few, 5-6, depending on how one might choose to map. I did not note the 3 mapped (small, c. 1m) boulders and rs on the slope before for more accuracy - got to the cliffs, went down a contour and then beyond & then saw the damn point around 3 contours up. Missed three by a bit, revisited on the way back to road after finishing & decided it was on an unmapped RF about 40 NW.

#4 continued with ambiguous map feedback - depended on seeing/passing a large boulder, Kadley pointed out it was a buildg (a circle with the tiniest of corners) & Steve noted it was a ruin of a bldg - not much above ground & why I did not note looking for a big bldr? Finally got near, did not cross the wide/deep stream (Steve did) - wandered up stream nearly 50m, noted a bridge (apparently mapped in wrong place). Made my way to my point to see others there confused - I was at the bldr in the circle but the code was not right.

#5 in my circle was a lone bldr - my description on my bib said it was a RS, I think the # was right. Punched and moved on. I think the next three all had codes that did not agree but were what was in the center of my circle. I had 9 points on the clue sheet, only 8 points on the map - so I was quite confused but felt I'd gone to all.

When I finished the cadet did not ask for my map & I could see that the long return offered the option of revisiting #3 then #2. That's when I saw 3 was clearly on the wrong Rf and #2 was not the best site for a point, unless perhaps if coming from above as Ken W did. It never occurred to me to look at the clue sheet on the map - which was correct & obviously quite different from what i was relying on. I haven't relied on a map clue sheets in years...never say never though.

Forest was lovely, courses not particularly challenging, map in need of more detail (and more accuracy) I'd say. Cadets were lucky the weather was reasonable early as they wanted the clothes drop to be at Rte 293. The start was 4-500 m ahead, and as it turned out, was right on the very same road - there were vehicles there. So had it been cold-rainy the solution would have been easy but insight seemed to be lacking. Eventually turned in to a lovely day.

Night at Round Pond. It started raining steadily around 10p and cont'd much of the night. It was warm, dry & cozy in the tent but the rain right above, beating on the rain fly, made for light sleep. Virtually no one there. Jim A and the Bundschuhs - we and the latter being Jim's guests.

C • #2 2

Sprint at Camp Natural Bridge. Good enough run, lost time by not knowing exactly where #12 was - between buildings & in a side niche at that. The rest (16 others) I went straight enough to - a few route choices that could have been better. In talking splits with Steve, after the first few, he was 15" or so seconds faster most legs. Didn't know it then, but that was MVR affecting endurance.

Middle - Brown - Splits

Sprint - Brown - Splits

200s & 8 400s @ BHS, got the HR up, 3-4 effort. Bright, breezy, cool.

The trail description said this stove dates from the early 20th century (so maybe 100 years) - on a 10' by 12' flat surface described as a hunter's or logger's cabin site. It might make another 100 years.

Sorry to see April go.

April lifts her skirts and runs away. Along comes May but she won’t stay. Soon there’ll be June but who knows her tune.

-- the "distaff" months, perhaps the fairest in the year.

200s, 400, one 800 all 3-4 effort at SPS track. The kids came for bball and track, time to go. Stopped at BHS, even busier (was after work). Called it a day.

To SPS track from parking.

Marathon Monday

How many random memories might come to fore - 48 yrs from my first; bill rogers’ '75 2:09.27, stopping to tie a shoe lace; ’76 95F; johnny kelly in latter years still out in the dark; rosie ruiz "subbing it", newton-wellesley internship/fire station/turn right to Heartbreak; Sara Mae this weekend at High Rock and many yesterdays ago at Boston; evolving from b&w to vivid color; 2013 blast; no wind, tail wind, head wind, motorcycles and helicopters announcing the head of the pack; disability classes; ’77 when hamstrung, I raced the 4th woman to the finish around 2:57 (with a qual of 2:44); last turn to Copley; now security check points; but mostly the competition-endeavor; and legions of people participating/contributing in one manner or another, even "street" musicians, magicians, panhandlers - all adding to an anthropological panoply. How could I forget Amby Burfoot, '68 winner.

There was a woman with “Heart” artfully painted on her right cheek. She was using an iPhone with a shattered screen so "broken heart” came to mind. I wanted to take a photo but the press of people & rubbing of elbows proved too much. Flags from all countries, many we could not make out. A downtown breeze that revved to chilly as the 2 runners I spoke to told me the course was hot. Times reflected that. How long a thin line trickled in initially and even an unfamiliar quiet spell when little happened. We left before the real show, the peoples’ story. We had Mocha in the car in the Commons garage. She’d already had 2 nights in the back and we’d had our time on the road with the A meet and boatyard. With marathon memories bolstering, it was time to leave Boston and this lovely but brief marathon day. Though as I put our Commons garage ticket in the meter, I held back. It was hard to leave such a splendid April moment behind - they come once a year and are now gone - again. But still some more await ahead.

Sunday Classic long, 4k. One bonafide mistake approaching #8 that cost approx a minute and several other small issues - total lost may have been 2.5’. Tops for me around 48.5’. Steve Tarry was the fastest Brown Y all three days. He's got more fuel in his tank. Ken Walker & I were close in Saturday middle final and Sunday long runs.

It’s both pleasing and important to perform to capability at these meets. I don’t always do it but pretty much did so this weekend. No mp’s and no significant loss of map contact are starting points. And w/o loss of map contact, there should be no mistakes to speak of.

A really fine weekend. Beth walked Mocha both days in the park & put in some see-how-it-goes miles for summer UK hiking with sciatica. We spent Sat & Sun night aboard the boat in Mattapoisett, and visited with Jim & Colleen in S. Dartmouth Sunday eve.

Classic Brown Y - Splits

Event: 2016 NEOC Troll Cup: High Rock
 

NEOC Troll Cup at Gilbert Hills SF aka High Rock. Perfect weather - bright sunshine both days yet cool. Prelim Brown Y, clean run - somewhat pedantic, and usual Metro Boston vegetation for the most part to scratch & slow one down. A tiny map/course - 9 points in about 4 "squinches" (square inches).

Middle final, 1.8k. Went directly to all points. Definite concern at the first, a pit.
Maybe 2 legs for better route choice - other than that, needed more hustle.

Middle Prelim Brown Y - Splits

Middle Final Brown Y - Splits

Rollins-Patch cw. Another fine day. Note that right thigh gets fatigued, slightly knotted after "too much" use. Seems "deterioration" is doing more than looking over my shoulder. Walked the big hills. Can't believe I covered 29 (pedestrian) mi in past 7 days - had to go back & look.

Bog loop - perfect day weatherize, as fine a day as a year can offer. Tired, walked a lot of hills. Had WP maps from 4/82, Lake Stillwell and 2 from Oct., ’98, Long Mt. & Bull Pond, 1/15. Cause for pause, esp. the Stillwell maps, 34 yrs past. Could not recall any of the actual points. Stopped to read as well as read notes. Peepers were deafening at one point.

Pawtuckaway O, taken slow. Waited for skies to clear but they did not until I was leaving. No rain, anyway but drippy boughs. Took an old course available from the entrance. Whenever taking it slow there, I see contour deficiencies but given canopy cover over so much, as well as terrain complexity, that’s par for the course. Lots of streamers and blue dots on tree trunks, evidently slated for the chopping block with some logging I understand that will take place. . What will that part look like from an O point of view after....

Called Garmin to see if data could be downloaded from the 310 w/o the ANT stick. Answer was no - the cable (w/ 2 contacts) is only for charging, unlike the 305. They have since rectified that design flaw. And generously offered to send me another ANT stick for free. I was most impressed w/ no wait time on the call & the degree of response. The ant stick should be larger as well as most carefully kept track of...thought I was doing that but it disappeared between cracks.

Back to lot.

Whiling away time

To start point.

Waiting for 3pm meeting at MCSB. Poked around in the bank neighborhood, namely along the top of the deep, wide ravine that is an old river bed from another age. Time and distance from history on the 310, a seek and one will find approach for time being.

After MCSB meeting - chilly, grey and pleasant enough again.

Event: NEOC/WCOC: Cemetery Hill
 

BHS & CHS tracks, walk & run alt. sections. Brisk again.

Putney Pond visit. Bright, chill - perfect April day. Did not find pond at first, finally a trail & then revisited interconnecting fields. Reminded myself of end of Hunter Dr. & the peculiar lot that seems to have had some prior unique history - tennis court remnant and stone pillars at drive entrance but no big house.

Odd how this visit repeated last time without my really recalling what was coming ahead.

Used the old 305 which proved a surprise. Took it from the drawer to remove the bottom to begin process of getting a new battery, and maybe having a second watch. Watch popped on - took a look at battery charge which said about full although it had sat in a drawer for months (& was replaced best I can recall for a weak/old battery). It lasted the visit to Putney. At home, it was very hard to get it to parse, only w/ Safari (but that was not a surprise) but it froze Safari first about 3 times, refused to parse. finally i tried a different charging cradle & it worked. Had 310 on the other wrist & 305 was slower to catch sats & so a bit less on distance.

From house to/up OJR to an SVT but not to the power line intersection. Finally got to the PL, dodging wet areas/swamps and finally, finally to Dicandra Dr., then across to WH and home thru the woods.

Misplaced or lost the ANT stick for time being so g-maps approximation it is. Chilly/breezy but fine in woods. 310Xt had this wander for 6.00mi so this is a good reproduction.

Encountered this encampment today. Looked like a one day stand, reachable by 4 WD. Also this solar light on a tree opposite. I need to return for some scavenging/recycling. How stupid, simple, wasteful people can be.

At Y after work, hard rain but not cold but didn't care to run in it. I saw plenty of youngsters out & about, including a Concord girls' XC team, some in shorts, none with head cover, running thru town.

Finally got plane tickets for Sweden via the UK and Oslo. Tickets add concrete to plans.

C • Sweden 4

Y after running did not pan out. Something off radar zapped energy.
Two sub-10 deg days behind, rain ahead. From blue to gray today
which added some appeal to being inside. But got the last burn piled done.

Rest day - work plus BOS mtg plus mostly poor sleep. AM was too hurried & so sampled the BHS fields for skate on the way home but by 2:30, it was too late even in what passed for shade. Surprised to see that the track was completely clear of snow by then, with the T not getting much above 30F. Bright blue & windy fun anyway.

C • Too late 1

Bog loop, up Allen, left on WH & back thru Nottingcook. Snowing pretty hard, maybe 3" on the ground. Wintry day, don't think the temp got to hi 20s.

Had a visit from Peter & grandkids. Beth, Mocha, myself and the youngsters traced the brook over to the brush dump road as part of entertainment. Dylan needed a coat, hat and scarf - left his warm stuff home for whatever reason. Glad to see them & relieved to see them go, such is the “inquisition” and nonstop display of energy & curiosity.

After made my own "adventure" on a local route, emerging at end of Arnold. Managed a genuine faceplant on a root - had gloves on which saved the palms. Face just about "supplicated" the Earth. The day, which began with snow-laced branches and white ground, was notable for the wind & chill. Tough on the plants trying out April.

Adventure is everywhere

BHS track, gray, cool, about right. Walk 100, run 100 for a mi, then walk 100, run 200 for same & finally walk 100 run 300 for a mile. Reasonable workout. Got HR up satisfactorily for me. Got out 310 HRM for first time - seems to need a fresh battery. 25 mi for the week beats quite a few preceding weeks.

Granite Road: Beth and Mocha at Hogencamp, 2011. What rock(y) wonder visits to Pound Ridge, Harriman and West Point can produce.

Not sure what I'd do with this Flying Pig leg - perhaps the terrain was talking out loud to the runner.

From house to/up OJR to an SVT but not to the power line intersection. Finally got to the PL, dodging wet areas/swamps and finally, finally to Dicandra Dr., then across to WH and home thru the woods.

Misplaced or lost the ANT stick for time being so g-maps approximation it is. Chilly/breezy but fine in woods. 310Xt had this wander for 6.00mi so this is a good reproduction.

Encountered this encampment today. Looked like a one day stand, reachable by 4 WD. Also this solar light on a tree opposite.
I need to return for some scavenging/recycling. How stupid, simple, wasteful people can be.

Parked at Winant Hill parking, up the hill but not to the top. Hit a myriad of paths, most old and faint. There were a few serpentine path systems that appeared to have been leaf blown, perhaps for MTB - they took me nowhere. One doubled back, passing within 10' of itself. Finally came out on Thackerway threading between houses on a blazed trail. Was very hypoglycemic-feeling, dead all over kind of thing. Bought a sandwich at Cimo's after. Breezy, temp in lo 70s. Followed by T showers.