Training Log Archive: bl

SPS with dogs after NHH. A spring break ghost town. Crust from mediocre (like a 'beach' of frozen footprints) to smooth/excellent. A bit hard on the skis on a road crossing twice. Missed a field but had to go.

Luit loop at noon. Bright, cold. Calf cramp at 47', jogged/walked rest of
way. Rather displeasing & a bit discouraging. Walking on a T mill could be a compromise.

Noon from work - need to make a habit even with the different time arrangement as it gives the day a break & shoos away droopy pm eyelids. South, Ironworks, Clinton. Two fellow roadside travelers commented on its being chilly (& gray) to which I agreed but was appreciating that chill by the end.

Stopped at BHS on the way to work to sample athletic field (clean surface) crust around 8a. Decided no poles for the brief visit...no poles can equal 'wobbly' for me, esp on crust. Reinforced that crust skiing is so time sensitive - & neat! Possibilities are there for the finding as the skate season dwindles.

Tony M starting Australia

Gallery

Cannon's cannons (mid-January, 2013)

Patch-Rollins Hopkinton loop after work. Brisk, lovely March day. Start thinking chilly, finish feeling invigorating - meantime shed a layer. Slo Go but no calf problem. Will likely write it off by end of week.

Snow has receded quickly - TRT fields are now corn husks & feeble snow.

No matter. 'Patience' puts everything in perspective:-).

Went to BHS around 3p - had started to rain steadily but always sounds worse on the windshield when driving. Goal was to run one lap w/o any neg feedback from the calf which was accomplished.

Otherwise, a miserable gray day with rain, fog & March snowbank mist - a good day to read a book.

TRT around 9:45, good to excellent crust for 30' - could ski most anywhere! Between corn row stubble whatever - on the baseball field, track etc. Maybe 4-6" underneath. Yesterday's pm slush tracks on the ungroomed trails were full of somewhat hard ridges & not so usable. One other fellow at first - he left w/ classic, came back in 3' to get skate skis . Had a small white dog who chased him across the "prairie" like the superwound up toy that it was. A good skater, too with giant glides.

Skating seems akin to a dolphin propelling itself forward - a seemingly insignificant and simple motion, well done, works wonders.

Met a woman in the parking lot who was ecstatic re the possibility of skiing freely across the cornfields...get out of a rut...? But the bands of bare are growing.

C • Dolphin propelling it self forward 2

Skate at TRT. Had an hour flexibility fm DST - was still pretty crusty, T38F. Forgot ski poles (upsetting habit, they were removed from the car yesterday & not returned). So had rare opportunity to make do without which, of course, was most useful/helpful. Crust off trail was supportive - it was possible to ski most anywhere across corn fields - just gentle ups & downs and a bit more effort to get an edge - but improving as the sun warmed. Surprise encounter: Tom Meehan & Diedre ? - hard to place people I've seen only at work + her sunglasses + slight cataract fuzziness. Seldom see a familiar face there anyway.

Waxless classic ski 'walk' from Parson's. Had dogs but post holing wasn't so frequent that I had to feel guilty about them. Z got somewhat stuck in a brook when the snow roof caved in - benefitted from an assist. Sun was the compass - strange how 'vaguely familiar' often works wonders. Terrain is a rather amorphous conglomeration of woods, marshes, a few streams, clearings from recent logging, hills and some give-a-way boulders near S/F.
Lovely pre-spring day and start of 'longer daylight' season.

Saw the (?) mallard pair in the stream crossing the front property - they come every year. Three dogs within 200' is distracting one would think.