Training Log Archive: bl

Event: NEOC: Townsend State Forest
 

NEOC Townsend meet. Old foe-friend, last there 11/8/2014 and see that we finished in the same Dudley Rd. parking which I don't recall.

What a contrast to Harris Center, maybe equally hard for different reasons. Brown, 3.2k. Had a good walk-jog, maybe even give it an A. No mistakes. On #5, I was maybe 40m to right of it contours being vague, saw some boulders to my left and then realized exactly where they were/I was. The legs looked easy for most part but visibility is reduced in TSF and so some needed contours were not so visible. Also there were some open, really neat stretches.

Seems I neglected to record the split at #8.
Hamstring help up sufficiently. The 300m run in was walk-jog as I couldn't keep in motion.

A very nice 2 day local meet weekend. I was on the fence about both days but the hamstring wasn't so bad after Saturday & Ernst's idea of the pot luck at Compass Point (indeed a Shangri La) made immersion in the weekend compelling.

Brown - Splits

UNO Harris Center meet thanks to Alar and Eva. Cool enough, partly sunny.
Brown. Did the first 9 w/o much time lost but lost 10' on #10. After, again was pretty clean. Other than #10, <1' lost, I'd guess. In retrospect, it seems I mistook a reentrant and features did not match when I got to top of climb. Saw the marsh(s), but failed to properly ID where I was and fumbled around, in part because there were 4 others in that period, distractability rearing its ugly self. Peter Goodwin was the first searching and I pointed it out to him after those wasted 10'.

No gps, length is course length.

An animated walk, the hamstring was complaining but going along anyway.

Had a nice conversation with PG whom I had not seen probably since the last corn O I attended which has been a few years.

15 of us had a pot luck at Compass Point and some 7 spent the night there.
We camped on a grassy spot. Stars & crescent moon, morning mist on the pond, lots of dew.

Brown - Splits

Stopped at Pawtuckaway on my way back from working on the boat. Headed off into the woods around 4:10. Had planned to get on the mega course further north but I could see it was going to take too long as I gave myself only an hour for this visit. At one point in time I was actually unable to find myself on the map, ie, lost somewhat. Eventually there were 2 east-west linked ponds I should have been able to find but could not. At the end of this wet area, I came upon the small path I’d been on previously. It was then I was able to see that the linked ponds were an east-west marsh that had filled in, completely changing its appearance. Headed back to the car, taking 75' to complete the loop.

Right buttock was OK in the woods walking but a toothache in the car while driving. Did not take any time to stretch.

Elliptical. Also spent a good bit of time stretching the hamstring.

Received my refurbished Garmin 310XT, new to me ($89). Still am puzzled as to what happened to the previous one as well as the 305 both which I haven't seen since May. A few possibilities but puzzling still. Maybe they will reappear someday.

Event: NEOC: Great Brook Farm & Youth Series #3
 

Event: 30 Years of Pond Mt
 

30 years @ Pond Mt., 1 day A meet, brown. Cool, early fall day. First 5 points were good, never found the 6th and then was OK with the rest. The right hamstring got wrenched before 6 and when I gave up on 6, adrenaline ebbed away and negative hamstring feedback was stronger. Pushed about as hard as I could for the final points, though, as I was interested in comparison splits. Energy-wise and valve and right leg-wise I felt OK but for the next issue, that of an ailing hamstring.

Turned the map over & thought something like "Oh, my, work right from the start". Off into the really nice woods with a pledge to keep map contact.

Leg detail
1. Straight, read everything, kept in contact tho at very end was wondering - the wall faced away
2. Also straight, below rocky stuff, could see the knoll then stone pile/flag
3. Long leg - I chose straight tho one might have followed the blue drainage a good bit. Contoured around the first reentrant, contouring out of it after the intermittent stream was tiring. Then across the path & down to the ruined wall. Didn’t see the wall split off to the N. Was a bit confused but stuck with the WSW wall, noted it climbing, & finally got back in confident contact when I came to the path. Straight from there, in control with map reading.
4. Pretty much straight, read everything
5. Same
6. Never found it! Shortest leg, too. Gave up after some 15+’ - had no more ideas, was annoyed and that was that. Passed by the boulder maybe 1.5 contours above about 1/3 rd of the way. Saw the 4-5 cliffs <100m before the flag. Went below them & then angled up. Got on stoney ground field and went up. Expected to see a cliff (2m) or maybe even a flag before the cliff. Just saw jumbled gray rock. Went up & up and then thought “stop, you’ll go too high”. There was a cadet there also looking but no dice immediately. I started back toward the previous point. Went almost to where I could see the boulder then returned above the cliffs this time. This route took me higher. I could again see what appeared to be larger cliffs still higher and made my way toward them. No flag. After some more circling, I’d had it. There was another runner there as well (again). No more ides to act upon. In retrospect, one misread was likely the cliff with 2 boulder triangles 2 contours up. I now think I mistook this for the lower ones. Still I canvassed the rocky ground area several contours up & down.
7. Went back to compass course from the vicinity of 6. Hard to get down the rocky stuff. When I got to the big reentrant and started up the other side, I could see the biggish cliff on the knoll for a place check & then read to the flag.
8. Straight, and thru the cliffs which was work. Flag visible when I got thru
9. Paralleled the field edge in woods Tired and hamstring wanted out!
10. Got more to R than I realized with the green on the spur. Crossed a low wall covered in green…oh, this wall. Went up some to hill top and the point was finally visible. Along field’s edge and in. Right leg had had it but it was not the claudication issue of before.

Disappointing for the DNF, inability to find 6 and then intensify the hamstring issue which goes back to 2011 but w/o any issues til a month ago on BHS track. I should learn from Charlie & Glen's perseverence.

Hadn't planned on a second day but spending time in WCOC land is its own reward.

Course

C • #6 4

On the way home we stopped at the Corn Maze. Beth didn't get out of the car. It was busy, busy. I had a copy of the classic course & walked most of it w/o much difficulty. The corn was dry, had thinned, and had seen some abuse. There were a lot of would be pirates looking for chests etc! Didn't seem the maze in the maze was there.

This pirate ship maze was in the local paper today. Too simple for orienteering.

What a week. 4 days NYC/Brooklyn. Sights & sounds to distraction. Then out by more of same, Queens, and the Bronx. Then, in need of gas, we find ourselves all the way over to Mamaroneck. So why not Harrison? Past the very aged Carvel I went to in early-60s. Then Halstead Ave and finally Harrison town. So why not Danner & Hess and the neighborhood. Then I saw someone going into 15 Danner from some 75 yds away so why not the door bell? The lady of the house answered and invited us in. Walked around the first floor, a flood of memories, going back 55 or so years. Looked around the yard, too. Past & present mixed tightly, at least in my mind. The owner was most curious what I recalled about the layout etc from the 50s & 60s. Three fairly tall trees that had grown since and the pear & maple were long gone. Hedges mostly gone, too. A subsequent garage addition looking old. A yard can change a lot in 50 years. Nearly all of the houses in the neighborhood are still there. Mostly more landscaping & plantings.

Then to HHS & on to Kent/Fuller Pond Rd where we set up a tent around dark with a menagerie of livestock for company (as well as Greg Alswede), a world apart from the zoo of 53 Jay street. Warmed up this AM on the edge of the ’99 BG map and stood in the center of the start triangle, unchanged from 4/11/99. And, on the way home, Siri led us out of the woods, so to speak by leading us right by Barkhampstead Reservoir. The last time I saw that lovely body of water was 2004, leaving Charlies’s house. West CT is so lovely. Little Kent-like schools are in a Shangri La, setting-wise at least. Finally, the Corn Maze & then we were very ready to head home.

Brown - Splits

From 53 Jay into Dumbo away from the Greenbelt, by an electrical substation that was fascinating with all its complex apparati. Past old, dilapidated 3 floor housing units. Got to the old Brooklyn Navy Yard property behind construction fences. Thought I might be able to get around it but then focused on the fact that it went to the water. Came back pretty much the same way.

Earlier walking in Battery Park and the financial district/Wall St area for a world apart — concrete canyons where volumes of money run through.

From Jay St. along the East River early enough for decent yellow light. Lots to look at, dog walkers & joggers galore. Impressive Manhattan skyline of block buildings reflecting the morning sun. Lots of stops for photos and poster reading. One lady just off the ferry from Manhattan asked me where the nearest hotel was...@ 0730. Told her I was only on my second day in Brooklyn and that she should ask her phone. At 3rd fl level, a man directly across the street from our B&B got out of bed stark naked (in the 3-4 BR loft residencies w/ walls of windows), off for a pee.

Walk-jog still. Right buttock lets me know it's there.

City walking some with luggage. Car ended up 3 levels below the street, the B&B 3 above. Brooklyn and Manhattan are so much about people, faces, situations. A bit overwhelming. People are as trees in a forest - no shortage.
Subway negotiation, Times Sq twice - midday lights were defiantly bright & colorful.

Brookyn, of all places. Never been here before. Drove down with Beth, took about 5 hours, needed to get some physical activity and fresh air. Walked from motel to East River & return. Phone was low on power & I needed it in addition to gps fxn so shut Strava off at the halfway point.

Event: NEOC: Earl's Trails CANCELLED !
 

Pawtuckaway rerun of last Sunday's brown. Start around 4:40p. Moderately dark in the woods in places. Accurate, goal was to beat 40'. Picked a few different routes, no time lost except for #4 when I just went left & left looking for a reasonable place to cross the wet marsh. On the way to #4, I had to make a stretch-jump to keep the feet reasonably dry & it made the right hamstring act up, not bad but a reminder that such was not a good thing to be doing. Not really OOB or tired. Ran in cut off shorts, no shirt & proper shoes. Can't seem to get two complete lists of stuff to bring along (boat & O)
simultaneously.

Quick dip in the lake & home by 6p. Virtually no one at group camping.
Fine day finally and lots of families camping by the water.

Started the day with boat work, a drive to S. Berwick. Got 4.5 hrs in there and then drove to Pawtuckawy, a bit stiff and not really in the right frame of mind. The boat area is a shedin the open - no trees near, no green and the boat being made of fiberglass, teak & SS. P'way was yellow, green, blue and a world apart. It was very nice being in the woods at that time of day.

Mocha departed for ‘happy hunting ground’ yesterday around 6p when the vet & assistant came to the house to euthanize her. She was close to 16 yrs 2 mos...a very long, good life. She’d become mostly unstable in gait, falling occasionally. Her vision and hearing were diminished as expected. It was better to be a few weeks ahead of total demise and have it done the way it was. She slipped away so peacefully, amidst a loving, gentle presence.

She was the least gray dog I've seen for age. The photo is from Thursday, one day before. It belies her age.

C • Sorry for your loss 4

C • sorry to hear 3

Nottingcook around 6p. Day started gloomy & ended blue-sunny. Heard what sounded like heavy machinery in the forest, then a chain saw then recognized it for what it was, a noisy dirt bike. Passed ahead of me about 100m but came back about 5' later. Passed me at speed. I could have touched this kid. Got a blurred photo but probably not good enough for BPD. Motorized vehicles are not allowed & it's well posted.

Got my second head lamp in as many weeks, clones of one another.
Bright & inexpensive (about $22 average for the 2). Boxes are virtually the same, one has the brand name Boruit & the other just "High Power Headlamp" under where a brand name might have been. No matter, being cheap no complaints , tho construction doesn't really look cheap. It is a power trip having such brightness for 'all things night'. Had my first one for maybe 5 years. I think it's still usable. Need to make a new battery case and wire in the chip board from the old one.

Worked in yard. Decided Sunday am when I took M for a walk by the stream that much needed to be done in the yard and was of more benefit than a session at the Y. Ended up a rainy, dark day.

Right hamstring has settled in to a buttock ache, mostly exacerbated by sitting in a seat, esp the car seat. The running over the weekend made it no worse, maybe a bit stiffer Sunday & Monday mornings. Track workouts seem a no no but exercise like on the weekend's uneven surface not so likely to agitate it. It mostly boils down to stretching, ibuprofen, when I think of it, and avoidance of obvious abuse and the time it takes to resolve itself.

Sunday brown. Cool with little sun. I'd give this about a B vs yesterday's about an A. A bit shorter than I would have liked but this weekend was a look-see into what's working.

#3 lost maybe 20" going one way then the other deciding where to cross a narrow part of swamp and another 20" balancing on a small log etc; #4 from the boulder in the marsh, I could see a reentrant, one not mapped, went to it, no flag. The flag was about 30m to the N in the mapped reentrant. Maybe 30" lost. #5 did not keep in contact with the map along the marshes - stopped too early, investigated a knoll with no flag. Allowed loss of map contact. Maybe 1.5' lost; #7, the last control - went to the AP of two boulders. Was not deliberate enough & went to the base of the lower contour. No reentrant with depression. Went back to the two boulders & took a bearing & that got me there, having lost maybe 75". Stopped there on my way back from picking up a few flags and a water stop. From the two boulders, the map was fine. I could even see the boulder next to the flag. Slow and deliberate when called for (often) gets one home faster. With this weekend, I felt like I returned to competitive orienteering, though behind the eight ball.

Another camping weekend well done by hardworking UNO troopers. I wasn't of much help for a number of reasons. This meet may be 20+ yrs old by Darrell's estimate. Popular and in need of help all the while.

Course

No GPS watch currently.

C • hardworking UNO troopers 2

Brown - Splits

Event: UNO Camping Weekend
 

Pawtuckaway camping weekend, brown. On the cool side. Was careful, accurate, kept good map contact for most part. 2-5 involved a fair amount of logged forest with all the debris underneath. No mistakes, some hesitations & minor misreadings. Flags were hung high or at least quite visible. Right upper hamstring did not surface but was sore an hour or so after. Still tomorrow should be OK. Night O would have been too much - as well as Mocha sitting w/ Beth in Vt and unexpected call, tonight only. There were days when I'd finagle the latter.

Course

Brown - Splits

Nottingcook around 5pm. Had a hard rain about 90' before. On the dark side & buggy. Right hamstring makes itself known but nothing more. Being cautious.
Stopped by the old target range, dumping site - nothing new on the ground there. A mattress near the entrance getting on to 3 yrs and one large shot-up appliance in the weeds.

Around the main 3 Sisters island on Squam Lake. Visit with Roger M, a college classmate I last visited maybe 20 yrs ago in Norwich, Vt. Other than that, had not seen him since college, so 50 years. His wife's family bought this 3 ac island in 1950. Summer house built late 1800s, no electricity, graciously wide porches, an abundance of shade trees, grand views and loons for background "music". Calm as could be today. Roger, a talented and still a bit driven runner, held the college 880 record for some 20yrs at 1:53.xx. He still runs regularly but when on the island, swims around it once or twice a day. So we did that once, stopping now & then at little beaches or on isolated rocks. Got me OOB a # of times.

Boat day, not exactly rest but nothing conventional in the way of training.
IS 95 was already slow go with Labor Day traffic heading home at 1015 near Portsmouth. Returned 4/9/202 to avoid it at the end of the day. T close to 90F.

Met a hunter at Nottingcook this morn while I was "walking" Mocha. He had a pistol on his hip and a rifle in his back pack, was dressed in fatigues, wore a full beard, was maybe in his early 30s, from Manchester. We were certainly of a different stripe but had a pleasant near 15' conversation. He perked up with the concept of orienteering. He'd done triangulation from the air for designated ground points when in the civil air service. He knew Nottingcook in his way as I knew it in mine. He kept track of all the hunters' stands as a territorial consideration. He was out to shoot any coyotes he found. He spoke of 12 hrs in a deer stand in the fall awaiting that "coveted moment", very cold at first.

C • cold 2

Event: 2018 CMOUSA Corn Maze Champs
 

With Janelle on Kimball Pond, early.

From bottom to top at Peter's place at Merrymeeting. More enjoyable than stairs inside at a place like the Y.

@ Merrymeeting, decent upper body effort.

Bear Brook - drove to entrance to 4H camp, walked thru it to the end of Bear Hill Pond & then into the woods, the very SW part of the map. Some very nice woods, some really quite open. Don't get that far from Hayes very often so it felt refreshing. Near the end, met one fellow in on a path carrying a large ice chest & fishing rod who wanted to know where BHP was, still close to 500m. His load looked pretty awkward.

The 4 H camp is showing signs of life: road & some cabin improvements, some rental cabins available.

Bear Hill Pond on a Sept. 1st