Training Log Archive: bl

Event: Georgia Navigator Cup 2011
 

AM DP, hard to know what to call. Drove up to & under PL. Walked 250m with boots & skis to what was an almost excellent 300m up to 3 days ago. Yesterday's wind put a lot of small debris on the surface but still went thru the motions of skate, back & forth for 10' or so, occ. slowing on a leaf etc but for most part a decent crust. Spring starts tomorrow and the moon is full today or tomorrow. Harks back to first day of winter, full moon as well as eclipse, some 90 days ago.

C • End of ski... 4

Black Brook/Purgatory Brook loop, 39F at noon, bright. Alternating warm to cold & back depending on wind & shadow. This loop is tiring tho nice. On a few hills, I felt I'd passed Purgatory which was true, come to think. Lots of running water and bare slopes to south. Climb copped out, not sure why - more than 84m.... HRM not cooperating either. Need to see if battery is indeed functioning. By coincidence, did this the equivalent Saturday a year ago.

Road side curiosity



March blue, another photo from approximately the same vantage



Saturday, March 20, 2010

Firefox crashed 3 times uploading 305 data.... Not a clue why it finally will upload.

Mouse Chronicles: Mouse Freedom Day!

The Comfort Inn closed for the season after some 100 days of ace hospitality. One guest gave me a parting shot and then, when I wasn't looking, climbed 12" of vertical glass so as to continue living in the larger Comfort Inn at large. Beth, to her credit, never minds my silliness or incompetence re keeping these agile creatures under wraps. The acquiescing pal went to the drop off where life begins anew. The current freeloader will undoubtedly repeat the same mistake that led to a winter's hospitality & then will join his pal. And a babyless winter, no fun:(

A wee creature


Close to being a maus in a haus

PM jog to stay loose. Rest day from running. Temp made it to hi 60s, saw a shirtless jogger in the neighborhood. Windy, windy, sunny. Tried 'pick up stix' briefly this am but snow is too deep, at least 12" - needed SS and wasn't interested. In Concord, a short distance away, there is considerable bare ground.

At the sweatshop where the steady whirring of "wheels" led to thinking of
labor abuse/hard work, spinning machines.

Lovely day inspired a run home, new route. Must have been mid-50s even at 1630. West on Clinton was noisy & directly into sun. Then quiet Albin (have not run on it for years), then briefly Logging Hill & then beginning of hills to Woodhill. First time ever direction of approach to home on foot from work. Perfect temp, cool hollows, sun and shadow, a big moon visible through eastern haze, an occasional zephyr, a Heartbreak hill-length hill & a cold Coke at the end.

Route

Currently prone to looking at last-year-same-month AP log (used to never go bk to archives) - how many road miles for base, any 4 to 5 intensity, snow/any flowers. Should I think to think analytical, there is information for comparison/improvement - but not enough of the analytical stuff. A photo or two for imagery/helping memory works. Beth does not indulge in this mentality. Perusing the past in many ways is a pastime, much less so for her.

1:15 escape into a moderate rain. Drove to SPS so as to not contend w/ traffic. Ran down to the boat house, paused under shelter & returned. 33F and more rain than possibly could be enjoyable - also an inch of slush for wet feet quickly. But broke the day into pieces.

Had brought skis to work noting that a 500m stretch of White Farm nordic looked just fine yesterday and maybe rain would hold off til the pm but was not to be.

Copped out on gym.

PM DP, gray drear but no precipitation. Took the skis, boots, poles out of car for dogs. Got on other side of PL to discover mostly clean, packed snow (300m or more worth) that would have been fine for the skis now in the garage. Feel like winter ended like a light switching off (actually a light came on with winter's demise) & did not get to contemplate end of nordic effort. Plenty of skiing at Great Glen this past weekend.

DP, misty/foggy. Dogs could walk anywhere with supporting crust or nearly bare ground. Mocha generally hard to find at departure time....

1pm Water Tower loop, lovely blue day for a change. Tried to get the HRM to record but couldn't. Assumed battery was present & functioning. Confirmed its presence when I got back and found some spare change. Moved the monitor all over & did all suggested but nothing. Interesting trace saying 6.2 mi. I'm sure I turned it off at 4.6 (at end of run) when the pace drops off the cliff but it goes on to indicate another 1.6 mi, mostly in a bldg where it cannot receive sat signals & if it could, it was not moving about as indicated! Maybe the monitor was in unrecordable afib the whole time....

At least the 305 uploaded quickly - by "killing" history I'm guessing. Sunday's SS trace froze Firefox twice for reasons unclear. Not the first time, maybe was the third.

C • HRM 5

Run home from work, gray, 40F. Unsure about it after yesterday - goal was to do it, & maybe under an hour. Stopped at the end of each of first few splits - was overdressed. Last run home was 10/28. Only 2.5 wks to first A meet - need more miles, good or not so good, just do. Also, time for HRM.

Poor shoes upped & died long ago - need to invest in better cushioning.

Faraway series, photos from elsewhere, #57
A lone gun still (1989) looks seaward from Red Beach, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, the site of a famous WWII battle in 1942

Granite State SS champs. Not that I noticed the event but Diane planted a seed just yesterday &, I, not having reviewed Pragmatism 101, bought some idea or fantasy lock, stock & barrel. Besides all the second thoughting, I paused for at least a minute in the drive, thinking "Bob, you can run 10.3 mi in South Bow on the Purgatory Brook loop & GSD (get stuff done) as well." But, something made me push that blatant fact aside in pursuit of the manufacture of enthusiasm...that I'd get busy on as soon as I headed north, a long way north and that was part of my problem.

But Jenn's & Gil's coming separately yesterday for Beth's surprise 70th from Burlington, VT, arriving at 4p & heading back to Burlington around 8:30 gave me pause (300miRT). Also, once Gil got here, after picking up Janelle in Tilton, she said "HBD, Grandma" & he then dropped her off in Lexington for an 18 year-old's BP & returned, before returning to B'ton. And, this was the weekend I was to drive to the Snowgaine in Winona SF north of Syracuse if I could find a fellow enthusiast - that would have been 700 mi RT. So, that diminished the problem but did not really remove it.

Something about northern NH that I don't find appealing - largely, an immense amount of honkey tonk, ticky tack by the roadside. Routes 104/Meredith, 25 & 16 feature garrish billboards that seriously detract from NH's natural appeal. Driving to Burlington, Vt is entirely different. But, in some respects, this is the ticky-tack, free-market, live-free-or-die state. Sigh, a Republican state, crassly commercial. And this the time of year with dirty snow and the aforementioned, well, a bit depressing. But there would be the beauty of white snow (there was plenty), some running in the woods etc. And maybe the sun would smile upon Mt. Washington Valley.

I arrived at 10:05, an easy drive on a Sunday am, faster than Mapquest. 113 mi, 133', plenty of time. Diane & Brian were there as well as Tony Federer & some of his family: Kris & Andy & children. I stood on that start line with ambivalence about the 6 mi race soon to begin. Off we went, Brain (who I've finished ahead of twice & alongside once or twice) pulled away. Then not a lot of company...but who should come alongside at 2.4 mi (on the 305) but my buddy Diane! (check pulse, a fib?:). Diane pulls ahead & not much later I realize TF is slowly catching. We pass back thru the start (first part Gt. Glen nordic trails) and begin single track climbing (& it was indeed freshly-made, scooped-sided, post-hole potential, very single). Diane, dealing with her phobia about downs, was reeled in. TF caught up & I let him by telling him his competition was about 75 yds ahead. Maybe 2' later, I could see him on the ground under a fallen tree trunk (maybe 5.5' above snow?) with 2 runners helping him up. First thought was a weak/dizzy event but when I got there I could see considerable blood on the snow from where he beaned the tree, distracted by the women's letting him pass. He pointed put the efficacy (and inconvenience) of aspirin in rendering his clotting system less than optimal - quite a few splotches of bright red on snow white. It seemed prudent that he return safe & sound so we both turned around. Some time with firm pressure applied solved his problem. I'm still wondering what was the source of mine. It must have had to do with the power of negative thinking - was well enough rested etc.

Stopped the watch where TF hit the trunk & walked back. Had gotten down to Tee- shirt & rolled-up leggings, 40F proving hot until the slow down - but a short return.

Seems strange to have been all the way up to the Mt. Washington auto road/Glen house & back, lickety split. So many memories up there & that was one reason why going back was a mixed message. Can recall two nights sleeping in a car in the Glen House parking lot. One with Beth on the night of the (near full? )moon rise in December, in '82. We hiked up the auto road. She to tree line, me to the top. Twinkling stars gave way to moonlight on a calm evening. Maybe 8 years ago, Peter Andersen & I slept in cars in the same parking lot to get up at 0330 or so & hike up the auto road - Sat. before Easter Sunday. We were at the top by 0800. Peter called Martha - I was impressed as cells were not something I'd been acquainted with. There were 2 Mt. Washington road races, '77 & '78 as well as some winter hiking/climbing. And there these same mountains were across the road today, covered with cloud, looking down right unattainable should one be so inclined. And the snow-covered road had the sign: Closed til mid-May.

And then away, did not se Diane, spoke with Brian. Long before then TF's bloody face was cleaned up.

So be the day.As one reason to go, I maintained that if I went, I'd remember it more than "getting stuff done" at home. And that seems to be the truth. And yet, I did get some stuff done at home...and an extra hour of pm daylight helped. And the pulse, I'm wondering about that, too - since I've had PAC's which can palpate the same. Tomorrow will tell.

Ice fishing under Mt. Chocorua's watchful eye

C • Kudos 4