Training Log Archive: bl

Similar to yesterday - got there late, just after 7p. Silken eve, fitting for the last of May.

At BHS track around 5p - hazy, warm. 100s & 200s around 8' pace, 2 400s same pace. All work but good work. Have an echocardiogram Wed am, a catch up assessment of the ticker which I'm looking forward to.

No jog-walk yesterday - painted the bottom (for the last time?) and finished off the bright work I'd heated & scraped to bare wood. Left me pretty tired. Then went to S. Dartmouth for dinner with Jim & Colleen. It rained so hard this morning that it was hard to have a conversation at times under the cover. A tropical depression moving along the coast. Some sun by the time we got to NH.

In Mattapoisett, from Triad. Extremely hot at home & in Boston area- saw 95F on car thermometer on Rte 128. But 78F on North St. in Mattapoisett -- some sea breeze from Buzzards as well as proximity to water. But it was hot working under the cover. If only sweating only was training.

After had only energy for a walk & focused on the cemetery outside Triad. Usual peace & quiet and natural beauty - incl. a few huge rhododendron trees.

Can't keep up an every -day run regimen. Some is willpower but 2.5 hours in the car played a role too. Also days doing extra duty at work until end of June which incl. Sat. rounding for Matt's originally scheduled Memorial Day weekend. With aging comes hedging, or something like that.

First time since 5/7. Shouldn't be skimping, one can see oneself 'fading away'.

Nottingcook late, finished at 7:50. Still seemed hot & was as buggy as can be. Mosquitoes hovered more than bit, however. Nice to get out of the dark woods, to arrive into power line openness & see the big red ball of a sun disappear. Saw one peculiar animal - like a cat, doubt a bobcat but did not seem domestic. It quickly disappeared. Hard to believe it's Memorial Day weekend already.

BHS around 10:30, still cool enough with a breeze. Evolved into walk 100, run 200 a bit over 8' pace. First mile around 15:45, second was 13:05.

Plan was to return which I did around 5:30, some rain clouds & good breeze. Pretty much same as the morning, 2 miles, walk 100, run 200. 14:28, 12:42.
Iced the knee after both. Starting up the first lap made me wonder if I could get in gear which I did by the end of the first 400. Not a pace to cause injury but got the breathing going some.

SPS, hot this afternoon, near 90F. Shady but steamy. Down to the boat house & then found myself at the track on the other side of the campus. Lots of kids crewing and a baseball game just starting. I admired how those young kids can fire a ball from the outfield, even all the way to the home plate. Body parts that work so marvellously! By the time I was done, so was the sun, behind cloud.

Kimball Pond around noon, grey & cool. Rained hard this morning.
No one there. Only living things I took note of were several frogs and a small toad. Slo going, more concerned with tripping on a root as well as just slow. Green as can be. Took two side trails. The first was something I had not seen before & was a distinct cart track with promise but ended anyway. The second would have taken me to Kimball Pond Rd I thought but was not in a frame of mind for the unknown taking me wherever .

Two days ago out back


which prompted this addition to the spring Bow Open Spaces newsletter:

Bears, moose and coyotes in Bow

This picture was taken May 22. We have lived on Allen Road for 20 years and over that period of time, have had moose and bears in the yard and coyotes audible in Nottingcook forest. I haven’t seen a moose in quite some time but have seen prints & droppings in the snow in recent winters. We’ve never seen a mother bear & cubs until now. We took in the suet about two weeks ago after a visit but evidently should have taken in bird seed, too. Which led us to wonder what do bears look for for food at this greening time of year? The deer used to love our hostas until I discovered “Liquid Fence” deer repellent. But the bears - what do they eat now? Are they extra hungry, between winter hibernation and the growth of summer’s food crop? How can such a large creature sustain itself on such meagre & literally tiny pickings as well as feed its young for a while, too? With the housing developments of Parsons, Peasley, Crescent and the Hooksett development at the end of Merrill Crossing in SE Bow, I count approx 60-70 new houses already built or in plans within a 1.5 mile radius from the center of Nottingcook. Upon reflection, it seems amazing (and pleasing, too) that a mother bear and cubs can still exist in Nottingcook and its environs given these incursions into their habitat. What provisions are there for the bears and the moose and coyotes (haven’t heard any in a few years). Or will they all become “bothersome” by an eventual majority and disappear?

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Beth and I drove along Peasley last night, 22 homes (c.4000 sq ft with fairway lawns) and counting. Once upon a time (as recently as 2011 or so) it was a quiet forest backwater with nice contours.

C • Cute! 4

Started at Swope parking on Long Pond & took a new trail over to 5th District & back to car. Predominantly hardwood which is refreshing with its bright green leaves and clean forest floor. Seemed hot around 3pm & was dragging.
Probably 10-12 ticks on me so far this spring, one just now after a walk with Beth and M on OJR. At least half are in the "ticks tickle" stage, so easy to detect & be rid of.

To Parsons & along paths, quiet time of day. Had Gt. Brook and Boojum Rock maps for company. Right thigh gets weak after a mile or so. Maybe knee-associated but certainly not clear why. Knee was warm today. No pain, progress hard to judge, however.

Drove back from Mattapoisett early this morning, thru Boston. Would have liked stopping but the high rises of the city came & went. Said I’d fill in for Matt at work. It was refreshing to drive w/o stop & go.

From Triad - took the old road thru the woods that went on for quite a while, toward 195. It ended in a T jct, with a big marsh straight ahead & somewhat swampy in both directions. I went left, it dried out fairly quickly and ended up near the 195 on/off ramp. Then along North to the waterfront & return via the usual roads. Stopped at a bronze plaque pointing out Mattapoisett’s shipbuilding history in the early 19th century, its numerous whaling vessels sailing from nearby New Bedford, incl. of Moby Dick fame, and Nantucket.


Drove down Friday right after work using 495 which moved ok.

From NHH at noon. First time in several years. Feels good to be out at noon hour, even if I leave at 2:15. Stayed in motion more than yesterday.

From Knox Road parking into the forest, to the PL and back thru woods to Meadow (stirring up sleeping dogs). Covered that particular section maybe 5 yrs ago. The knee is swollen but doesn't hurt. The legs seem to wonder what "running" is about.

Stopped at BHS track - not a soul in sight which seemed surprising given that it is May. Covered 1200m, walk & jog at 8' pace. Also stopped by Turee to see how it looked, given the pre-rain dark sky. Almost always an interesting mood-view.

First jog (why do I dislike that word...) in some time. Jog is an admission that "training" is no longer "running" some of the time.

Maybe it's time to return to regular efforts. Will give it a go for a few miles every day. The knee seems pretty normal. Went back to the place where I took M for a walk this am. I found a small, streamered path & returned to see where it went - but it did not go very far before it emptied into the snowmobile track. Took paths to Parsons, back on Allen. May is well-attired now - even "dressed' in mosquitoes.

Drive back from Mattapoisett. We passed the High Rock area at 495/95 around 5pm. I had planned to stop but by that time was just plain tired & more interested in getting home. A woods fix would have been nice but it was too late in the day.

Did get some scraping, standing, bleaching & varnishing of teak done. It wasn't easy not using my right knee - which is certainly improving. I think the bursa was indeed infected from a superficial, amount-to-nothing scratch from orienteering w/o leg cover. It improved quite nicely with antibiotics either because they were effective or the inflammatory process, from minor trauma, had pretty much run its course. Without an aspiration of fluid it remains a guess.

Walk from Triad to the Mattapoisett after getting some boat work done. Had 2 High Rock maps (1 middle, one long) from the recent A meet. Certainly simple in their route choice propositions, esp the shorter middle.

Beth passed in the car, stopped & suggested I take Mocha along for the walk which seemed like a perfect idea. After about 200 yds, M refused to go any further, sitting, then lying on the road. The second time she got out of her collar, she proceeded to jog back toward the boat yard where, presumably, she expected to find the car. She stopped at the next intersection, in the middle of it, & seemed like she wanted to get in a pickup truck that had stopped for her. I had to call Beth to come pick her up.

Nothing in the way of exercise today. Spent close to 3 hours staining a side of the house, working on the roof - which is what led to my knee issue 15 days ago. Made sure I did not kneel (kneel on a knee - don’t think I’ve noted the obvious before). The staining project is getting harder and harder as it is now high & getting higher. Obstinacy interferes with common sense - which says it’s time for a professional painter. I looked around for one last fall but it was easier just to start then. 45% of the house was within reach of the ground or a 3 rung step ladder. But that was fall. Now, the possibility of another version of the word “fall” comes to fore. My knee did not care for the motionless standing despite sufficient ibuprofen.

A fine May day. Had quite a few open windows & the chickadee melodies were too close to ignore within. I was sure one was in the house &, easy to find, it was in a small tree in the bedroom. At one time the escape hatch was front & center but it flew in the opposite direction. When I eventually opened a 4’ by 5.5’ window, it saw the light. From whence came “birdbrain” perhaps. They also fly into our windows occasionally, deceived by reflections.

Missed this chance

C • Our life list of birds insi... 5

C • Ladders 5

@ SPS after work - making progress. Quite hypoglycemic feeling by the time I got back to the car. Stopped for a nap at the town pond. Came home to a call from a sham Dept of the Treasury threatening to arrest us if we don't get right back to them re unpaid taxes. Things like that plus the private callers and out of area callers make the ringing phone more & more an object of loathing instead of an object 'opening doors' as it was in the past.

C • Phones 11

Trophic "training" walking M off Stoneybrook. Knee working better though. Moving around enough to invite trouble.

Went kayaking with Beth this morning on Turee. It had been awhile - we were skimpy last summer. Pleased to get the tandem kayak on top of the car as readily as we did. Turee was placid, much birdsong on the shores. Read the paper & enjoyed the morning stillness.

at SPS with the BG map I got from Ernst this morning. We met at Bow Mobil,
a perfect intersection: I was going to work, he was going to the woods in Lebanon for NAOC vetting.

If only route choice assessment capability was the same in the actual carrying out of things vs walking on a quiet, grassy field.... Lots of kids doing their spring sports but was able to find a field to myself. Bought a TED for RLE edema which has been creeping up & now being addressed.

OLLI Nottingcook walk, perfect wx. Ice, nsaid, abx and maybe some subsequent expectation have made things better.

Watered down in that nothing for knees but need to fight off a feeling of stagnation.

Knee was big time stiff this morning, red/warm too. Tried the PCPs office late Am & then put myself on cephalexin, hedging bets when I did not connect with the office. The "event" is 9 days old & quite "angry". I did have an O scratch from WP over the knee cap. OLLI walk in Nottingcook tomorrow must happen, too.

This runner lightens things up. Remembered some of his feats but not his name.

Event: Billygoat 2016
 

Event: NEOC: Beaver Brook North
 

No BG or even the Pygmy tomorrow. Bummed about the knee which did not put up with Thursday’s 32’ of running on the flat, smooth track. MSK issues often come out of nowhere or, if there is a known inciting event, it often seems so frustratingly innocuous in retrospect (and thus unavoidable).

On another note, we went to a Concord Community Music School concert last night. A highly accomplished Concord resident played the last two of the 32 Beethoven piano sonatas. Three years ago, he began a series of 9 concerts with the goal of playing & generally mastering all 32. The performance was in their small, i.e., intimate auditorium. A local music school is a gem of a thing to have. The last one I took advantage of was in Chicago in the early 70s. We don’t use this one enough. I should return for guitar lessons, perhaps with kids under 20, maybe even younger, to learn something other than classical. They might be impressed with my using a guitar I bought 45 years ago -- or that I wanted music lessons.

BHS track late in PM. Chilly, gray. Mixture of walk-run, 200s & 300s.

Nice enough walk to the slough with Mocha earlier thru alot of thick white pine new growth. Some places I no longer recognize after 6-7 yrs of new veg changes. Makes one feel displaced.

Nottingcook walk in preparation for Tuesday's OLLI hike, showing 13 a good time. Dreary, rain but most everything looks good in May.

Pygmy if I get to the BG. Knee & DOE mainly, are the driving forces, slowing things down. This easy 4 mi palpably added fluid to the knee cap.

Using the injured flag helps keep track but just don't seem to get around to it, even though it's useful.

Not up to jogging but knee has improved considerably since Sunday morning.

A stiff, swollen not working knee. Can't imagine running the BG like this a week away but entered tonight, in case. So insidious a presentation.