Training Log Archive: bl

Stretch & some weights. back is quite sore.

Last day of April...

Long brown at Camp Shea. Good enough run other than disaster on # 1. Read everything on a more or less straight route and expected the cliff & flag but no dice. Spent too much time relocating. I was so sure I'd come to the right place but was at the cliffs to the south & not figuring that out. Marsh was not particularly distinct but finally went to its north end, confirmed the rock face on the knoll/spur just to the north & then climbed the contours to the point. A tiring leg.

Went directly to all the others tho momentary confusion on 8 and 9..."that better be the knoll" which it was. Getting to the road thru the green was a pick & choose - will have to compare splits.

A good weekend - glad to see I could compete well enough. The long first point was the low point. 2 nights at Fairbridge in south Highland Falls and two dinners in town there. West Point impresses and the Cadets do a good job, especially given their short tenures there. Spent Sunday night in Norwalk and arrived home Monday PM, 40 or so years of emptying out and straightening up the car etc. in the drive after an O meet. But no dog(s) jumping out first. No camping either. It was too cold and no room to spread stuff out. A lot of back stiffness. Actually took 3 hot showers for back flexibility on Saturday: first thing, after the middle (some hours standing in cold) and after the sprint - as well as regular ibuprofen. Changing times.

Long - Brown - Splits

Event: 40th Annual West Point National Meet
 

Middle, Victor Constant Ski Slope, Brown Y, 0815 start turned out to be OK since sky was blue and mostly sunny first thing. It did show itself to be a cold, windy day though as the morning proceeded. About a B + run tho off to a bad start by neglecting to punch at the start triangle. Leaving 1, that thought took form which distracted in the sense of possible mp. Maybe bit slow on 1, 2 OK, three distracted as I ran within sight of the start triangle, which I could see I did not punch. So on the way to 3, went a bit beyond the indistinct trail turnoff, lost maybe 50”. 4 was a very OOB climb. Dumb route choice to 7, mostly straight. Fell a few times, muddying back/rear and bloodying hands & map. How clever to bail out to the road, run downhill and see the flag from the road! Wet feet going straight to 8. Time wise, the distraction on 3 and RC to 7 cost a couple of minutes.

Pleased to see no mp, had a time of 34:12. I thought about it. Start was 0815 but punch at triangle would have been 0818+ - think that's right. So I figured something like 31:12 but what to do. My 310 said 33:20 for the run. I’d started it 2’ early at the control description point, getting that part of behind me early. It was suggested I mention it to Val & she came up with 2.5’ and changed it. Would be easier to do it correctly in the first place. Mentally rusty.

PM sprint on campus around Trophy Point. Windy, chilly, rain for some. Turned big map (1/4000) over, took a while to find the start triangle. 2.1k 18c. Good run, no big mistakes, careful to check codes. #5 lost maybe 45”, 10 maybe 20”, poor route to 16 and some shenanigans just before might have been worth 45” to a minute. Initially confusing see the final part enter a building, which put us on a track for the final 60m,quite novel. It was nice to have such big, not cold or windy space, the Gills Field House, to socialize after finishing. Distance a guess. Didn’t start the 310 so no gpx. First in M70 which was rewarding.

Middle - BrownY - Splits

Sprint - Brown - Splits

Drive to West Point. Rained really hard at times. Stopped to visit Ed Hicks and buy an SI card at his place in Somers. Spring green all about around here, so lovely. Then to Highland Falls & WP Visitor Center for meet packet and a look at start venues for Sat before dinner in Highland Falls. My first WP meet was 41 years ago at Black Rock Forest. Past and present compete for focus at the same time.

Chadwick easement boundary walk with Ken. Had a visit to track in mind but legs were tired. Fine late April day. 310 battery low then quit.

Had to think where I wanted to go for a 'run'. Settled on Audubon parking on a most pleasant April afternoon. To SPS campus and back. The passage under 89 said “Closed” in no uncertain terms as the bridge was being restored. Saw no one & could see no obstruction so made my way thru unnoticed & skedaddled. Was not acceptable to go back the way I came. On the SPS side there was no such sign. Pleased to have gone further.

Nottingcook, cool & gray. Nice to be using old haunts. Covered 2.3 mi, stopped at 0.5mi to remove shirt, being too hot. Then nonstop the rest of the way. I don't think I've jogged more than 3/8ths mile in 2+ yrs - combination of post-op surgeries, an accompanying psyche and few miles begets fewer miles, and more begets more, to a point. Without much jogging/running, I don't see as much of the routes within 5 miles of the house - reminded when driving by or near.

Backache days - did nothing I'm aware of. Time, exercise & occasional nsaid
are the lot of it.

Expected to f/u this up with outside cardio but after work, was tired & didn't get around to it.

UNO BB local meet. Ugh, a rainy day, quite so at times, but a very good turnout considering. Runners generally satisfied with courses/control placement etc. Tired by the time I got home, after the final foray for collecting a few of the farther points and then some closer ones. Alex Jospe was desirous of more training & retrieved the 3 furthest. Hadn't the least interest in returning to them for the third time. Got home, took 800mg ibuprofen & a nap.

There were some nice moments at the end of the day - the work was essentially done & I slowed/stopped to appreciate some of the control locations & environs. Pondered a return visit to one particular flag location each month of the year to photo document seasonal change.

Faces that surprised were Carl Underwood, Clint Morse, Marty Hawkes-Teeter (works in Boston). Nice to see two reps from the Newton/Boston contingent, Alex and David Yee. Phil came. He has a high tolerance for long drives. He went home to regroup before continuing on to New Haven. Ernst, Jim, Darrell, JJ & Nancy added to the mix. So did Jim Crawford, from so far back. Where is Sharon? Also fun to see new faces making their discovery - that O can be quite enticing, even in rain.

Thanks to all those who validated all the required work. Good collaboration with Steve. We go back “to the beginning”. Betsy & Beth helped with registration. Pete & Lex saved the day with the UNO West rain/shade canopy. It poured for a long time on one occasion. Faye helped all around and took the equipment off my hands.

C • Glass half full/empty 2

Bear Brook, more points. Showers were forecast but it was fairly sunny, and certainly warm. “Agonized” re hanging flags/epunches on vulnerable points, eg, one on a bend of a well-used MTB trail on an early Friday PM. How much concern (w/ costly e-punch) is justifiable at a place like BB where users are likely to respect others’ activities when "too few, too little time" - as is often the case with O meets? Hid a few flags & punches to simplify return tomorrow.

Had my second positive interaction with the 25 year park manager, Christina Barton. Among other things, I learned that the 4 H camp by Bear Hill Pond is being renovated and this fall, will begin by-reservation use of the cabins, with a plan for year-round usage in the future. It would be a great venue site for foot O, making the most remote parts of the park out the 'front door'.

Bear Brook, put out the 6 farthest controls & epunches. Took a bit more than 2 hrs & was more than 5 mi, the distance surprised me. I had Beth’s bike (mobilized after 7 years of ceiling suspension in the basement) which made all the difference. The furthest point was a water stop. Even a gallon in a backpack is heavy these days. Gray, somber, quiet, trails & woods to myself except at the very end, there were 2 mtb’ers in Hayes and a few more in parking.

The strings of 4 flags were hopelessly tangled. Untied 2 punches from their cords to be able to pull thru and cut the ends of 2 smaller lines. Putting equipment away properly is important yet meet staff could very well be too tired to do it.

Glad to be on my way home at 7pm as drizzle took over.

Spent 3 hours with Steve Tarry in Windham reviewing map & courses for Saturday. We go back to the summer of '76 when he introduced me to orienteering...at Bear Brook.

Walker TF around 5:15. End of a breezy, cool day. Parked at Hammond, took the scout trail for first time which was quite nice, much in large hemlocks. Then the Eagle Tr and stumbled on a smaller, unnamed one. It took me to a dead end, high on a spur in woods. 4 deer raced away below. Back tracked, found the missed turn, continued. Was pretty sure it would have taken me to the trail Beth & I blazed about a year and a half ago. Turned around as I was running out of time. WTF is so nice for its big contours, hemlock, and water features - not much rock. .

Boston marathon day, #123. Fcst was rain & doom & gloom but no rain fell until late. There was a fair amount of sun, with reasonable temps. At one point our raincoats and umbrellas seemed quite superfluous but it did rain somewhat hard several times, starting maybe 2pm. Usual fine spring flowers and colors around the Commons & Gardens tho a bit behind other mid-Aprils.

We spent most of our time on Hereford St. I spent close to an hour at the corner of Comm Ave & Hereford. Caught sight of Ernst there. The BAA app gave notice but still his one face briefly in a sea of faces & then he was by & gone, on the way to a 3:08. We spent close to an hour with a 51 y/o woman from FL (ex-Canada…didn’t like the winter cold) whose 67 y/o husband was running his first Boston. He qualified 5 yrs ago but then was found to have stage 3 colo-rectal ca. He spent 4 yrs fighting it with surgeries & chemo, re-qualified and now was on pace for about a 4 hr run. He had a goal of running the 6 prestigious marathons: Boston, Chicago, Berlin, NYC, Tokyo, and London. He’d now completed the first 3 and has entered NYC this fall.

So many people, faces, up and downs, inspirational examples and nonstop cheering of the crowds for each & every runner. We walked down the middle of Newbury St on the way back to the car, savoring sights all directions.

I thought of marathons past: ’67,” of "K. Switzer” the first woman to run & finish with a # and her run in with Jock Semple; ’68 when Amby Burfoot, first college student, from Wesleyan won; ’75 when Bill Rogers (Burfoot’s Wesleyan classmate) won in 2:09.27, stopping to tie a shoe lace; ’76 when the temp was around 94F; ’78 my third & last time; Rosie Ruiz, briefly the winner, doing the unimaginable subway "assist" in ’80; the ’82 epic Beardsley-Salazar race; the 2013 bombing that occurred about 90’ after we’d left that pretty much exact site; Johnny Kelly who completed his last Boston at age 84 and lived til 97. And on & on that reading a review would bring back to the fingertips.

I reckon we’ll be back next year. A wonderful way to spend a day in city that’s hard to beat.

C • You saw me! 3

BB, last of pre-meet map work. Many a chorus of peepers, a single mosquito, T in 70s. I "toggled" back & forth from 2011 & 2013 to the present. BB is indeed a large forest with varied terrain. I've known it since '78. The first map edition was printed in 1975 for the NAOC (the 1st?), in the early days of mapping. I have one dtd 9/23/78, a NEOC local meet - blue course, 10.1k, 9 controls, 1/15, first finisher PG.

C • Bear Brook 4

UNO BB local meet. Ugh, a rainy day, quite so at times, but a good turnout. Runners generally satisfied with courses/control placement etc. Tired by the time I got home, after the final foray for collecting a few of the farther points and then some closer ones. Alex Jospe was desirous of more training & retrieved the 3 furthest. Got home, took 800mg ibuprofen & a nap.

There were some nice moments at the end of the day - the work was generally done & I stopped to appreciate some of the control locations & environs. Pondered a return visit to one particular one each month of the year to document seasonal change.

Faces that surprised were Carl Underwood, Clint Morse, Marty Hawkes-Teeter (works in Boston). Nice to see two reps from the Newton/Boston contingent, Alex and David Yee. Phil came. He has a high tolerance for long drives. Then he went home to regroup before continuing on to New Haven. JJ & Nancy added to the mix.. Also fun to see new faces making their discovery - that O can be quite enticing, even in rain. Good collaboration with Steve. We go back “to the beginning”. Betsy & Beth helped with registration. Pete & Lex saved the day with the UNO West rain/shade canopy. It poured on one occasion. Faye helped all around and took the equipment off my hands.

Bear Brook, 6 more far-flung points that req'd more than 2 hours car to car.
Stiil gray & cold but no precipitation. Woods to myself.

Checking points for UNO meet 4/20. Started at 9a., done by noon. Was grey & chilly today. Left as drizzle set in. Ended up a snowy afternoon. Went to Exeter after for club meet equipment.

Inside type of day, even freezing rain.

Bear Brook, put out the 6 farthest controls & epunches. Took a bit more than 2 hrs & was a bit more than 5 mi, the distance surprised me. I had Beth’s bike (mobilized after 7 years of ceiling suspension in the basement) which made all the difference. The furthest point was a water stop. Even a gallon in a backpack is heavy these days. Gray, somber, quiet, trails & woods to myself except at the very end, there were 2 mtb’ers in Hayes and a few more in parking.

The strings of 4 flags were hopelessly tangled. Untied 2 punches from their cords to be able to pull thru and cut the ends of 2 smaller lines. Putting equipment away properly is important yet meet staff could very well be too tired to do it. Glad to be on my way home at 7pm.

Nottingcook O walk thru areas I’ve not seen in years. Interesting & tiring. Nice day. Beth dropped me off at S. Bow kiosk. Nice forest, maybe consider remapping the central, best part of it for a future A meet, 1 of 2 days type of thing. Could do better with rock features, too.

Kimball Pond, breezy, bright, blue, March-like. Windy around Kimball but much quieter on East Loop. The dam was certainly flooded. Had to ratchet up some "courage" to get across it. Did not wish to go back the way I'd come.

Walk on Stoneybrook to end of Arnold and a side of Chadwick easement. Mild but impressively windy.

Bear Brook map walk looking over woods/prospective points for upcoming meet. Met park ranger as well. Pleasant & sunny & to myself. Woods mostly clear.

Enjoyed the photos. It appears CC was the place to be last weekend. AR-O ie, some guess work, in fun terrain in early spring is compelling. Maybe next year!