Training Log Archive: PG

Leverett loop clockwise. Breeze out of the south, seemed to help more than it hurt. Warm and humid but legs felt OK. Wish I could say the same for my back.

Head off for a ride and it didn't take long to realize that I had no energy and my back was a little unhappy. And a little more thought, and then a u-turn, and then pretty soon I was done.... :-)

Event: NEOC: Townsend State Forest
 

Off to Townsend for some orienteering. Some good and some bad.

The good --

A beautiful day.

Nice company on the drive over back from Phil (and our house is mostly hidden from the road, so neighbors couldn't tell we had a "clean diesel" car parked in the driveway).

And nice company on the drive back.

Oh, and I did some decent orienteering, all at a walk. Red course, 6.3 km beeline.

The not so good --

Spent about three minutes at the NW end of the field on the way to #4 being lectured by the landowner about all the terrible things I was doing by going on his land. He said for the first guy or two he had tried to be nice, now he was just pissed. What can you do other than just say you're sorry, didn't know it was private land? And again and again and again. No big deal, but could have done without it.

Took a fall just before #5, wrenched my back, hurt the rest of the way. Had been doing not so bad, though of course I was just walking.

Blew off about 5 minutes looking for #10, wasn't anywhere near where it was supposed to be. No big deal.

So overall not all that satisfying. Last orienteering of the year?

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One of the benefits, or perhaps drawbacks(?), of just walking is that you get to look at the map a little more carefully. And that map makes me wonder. There is what seems to be a wonderful set of contours, looks like the kind of terrain I shouldn't have the slightest problem keeping track of where I am. And yet I was having trouble. Couldn't figure out why. And even though I was walking, I didn't want to waste any time to really figure out why I was having trouble.

But on reflection, there were several places where I just didn't agree with the map, in all cases feeling that the area was "overmapped," meaning that either a contour feature on the map didn't exist in the terrain, or it existed but much less distinctly.

For example --

Control #2, I think the control was in the correct place, but there was no reentrant.

Control #5, on the map it looks like a nice reentrant, small but well defined. In the terrain, nothing. Control description should have been "in the woods."

Control #9, or rather just before it, the form-line knoll about 100 meters before it just to the south of the line does not exist. It is just a flat area.

Control #12, the boulder is OK, but the high ground you cross just before it, well, heading due west from the trail, you climb up one line onto the high ground, expecting another little knoll just before the control, and there is none.

Minor stuff, perhaps. The map is what it is and that is mostly very good. But the one thing it says to me is that if you are course setter there, picking distinct points in the terrain is even more important than it usually is.

Especially when you are using a fine collection of vintage (and therefore faded) control flags... :-)

My route, click on map for a larger image. Note that I didn't show all the circling looking for the non-existant #10 --

C • Townsend 2

C • Townsend 19

red - Splits

Old Deerfield - River Road. Good hard effort. Breeze out of the NE.

Might even go orienteering tomorrow?

Very pleasant ride with Walter, chatting away. Included a couple of miles of dirt road. Hardest part was getting up his driveway at the end.

Whately and South Deerfield, mostly a gentle pace.

River Road - Old Deerfield loop. Beautiful day, moderate effort, breeze out of the north, seemed more often against me than with me. I suppose the only way to check is to go ride the loop in the other direction right away, but that's not going to happen.

C • wind 2

Another short run. And a another PT visit earlier in the day. Neither put a smile on my face....

Shutesbury - Lake Wyola loop. Nice cool day, about 70F and dry. Put out a good effort. 24:55 up the Shutesbury hill.

I seem to have missed the Classic Champs this year, going on this weekend in the Tahoe area. I think it's the first one I've missed since I started orienteering -- I started just after the 1973-74 champs were held at Quantico in October 1973, first one I went to was the 74-75 champs in Carbondale, IL, in February, 1975. I always enjoyed the event, but this year both Gail and I are ailing, so it made no sense to go.

Up until 5 or 10 years ago (?) it was the main event on the calendar. Well, maybe I've got that wrong, maybe it was up to 15 years ago (?). At various points other champs got added, a short or a middle or a long or a sprint or an ultralong. Life was simpler way back when. Everyone knew what the main event was, and most everyone showed up.

The Classic seems like it will slowly fade away. I think it's an age thing, though not entirely. I always loved it because nothing was decided until after the second day.

It was a different mind game than what the SML offers. The appeal of the SML ought to be that it offers quite different challenges in each event, and therefore folks have a chance to do well in the event(s) that suit them. Though I happen to think that the appeal is that you get three fresh starts in one weekend. Screw up the one race, the slate is wiped clean for the next one.

Or maybe people like it because there are three times as many medals handed out?

I don't dislike the SML, it's fine. But when we had the two-day Classic, and just the two-day Classic for the year, that really got the nerves on edge, you really got to see what you were made of. That was really fine.

=======

By the way, if the SML really is the top dog, as it seems destined to be, then it really should be reflected as such in the history books. By history books, meaning in this day and age, on the internet, namely, the OUSA website.

Right now, for the Classic champs there are records showing where the event was held and who all the age-group winners were. Seems proper. For the SML champs, all that's listed is who the M21 and F21 champs were, no indication where the event was held, and no age-group winners. You would think we could do better than that.

C • OUSA champions 6

C • Streak 4

Two and one-third times up South Sugarloaf. The plan was something more than once, and no more than three times, see how I felt. It's 0.85 miles up, 450' climb.

First time was in second gear (9:52). OK, but pretty tired by the top. Time was best this year, others were 11:00 and about 10:10, but I think maybe 8-8:30(?) a long time ago. I assume a good climber would be 4 minutes or so?

Coasted down, figured I used up my good effort, so put it in first gear this time and started off at a relaxed pace. There are two brief flattish spots on the way up; at the first one I was already 30 seconds slower, so the pace went up a bit, matched the first trip pretty much the rest of the way (10:28). So maybe the gear doesn't matter?

Coasted down, didn't have the willpower to do a third time, but then I had the idea to try the first section in third gear, just for a change. So did that, 150' climb, 3:08. Not bad.

Coasted down, decided that was enough and gently headed home.

Thought I'd see if I remembered how to run....

Back neither great nor terrible. Felt zero energy to start, but managed to shuffle up the few hills, so not so bad.

Corn ride, different place, "JJ's Super Sweet Corn" the sign says. Used to go there regularly but at some point we decided we could do better, and did. But Gail was going by JJ's a couple of days ago and picked some up, and it was very tasty. So maybe we're switching back, as it's a mile and a three-quarters closer.

Easy pace, breeze out of the south.

Also, first of a few PT sessions to see if the back will respond to a little treatment. Would be nice. It's way better than 6 weeks ago, but not yet ready to head back to the golf course. Some running might be possible, but for the time being I'm enjoying the biking.

Though, regarding running, I did sign up for the Boston Marathon last night. I'd guess the odds of actually starting are 5% or less. But if I didn't sign up, and it had to be done now, the odds would be 0%. And this year was quite the experience.

We will see.

I'd been thinking about doing the Mt. Greylock climb for a while, and then I happened to see the results from the annual time trial up to the top, which was held last Saturday, and that added to the motivation. And then I needed to go to Litchfield today, and Greylock is virtually on the way, so today it was, even if it was a bit warmer than I cared for.

It's 9 miles, roughly 2,750' climb, a couple of those miles are wasted (ie. flat), but the rest are between 6 and 10%, with a few (much) steeper pitches thrown in just to test character.

Goal #1 was to make it without getting off the bike.

Did that. :-)

Goal #2, well, it didn't matter so much how quickly I went up, really, think about it, who cares, but it's easier if you have some sort of time in mind, gives a little motivation to keep at it. So goal #2 was to do it in 81 minutes. Not so much a goal, but what I thought I was capable of doing, where the 81 minutes came from simple formula, 3 minutes per 100 feet of climb, and I'd thought the climb was 2,700'.

And actually did that too, just, 80:45 roughly. :-)

Though, of course, if you look at the results, a reality check comes quickly -- the best guy took 37 minutes, a guy in the 60-64 took 44 minutes -- and reinforces my own assessment that I am just painfully slow.

But, on the other hand, having reached the top and then having another 25 miles to ponder the meaning of what I had just done, and having concluded it wasn't much to brag about because, had I been in the race, I would have finished dead last, DFL is the proper term. Well, what can you do...

So imagine my surprise to fire up the laptop and check the results after the fact and find out I would have been quicker than 8 people. Son of a gun! And even more, first in the 70-74 age group. (So what if there was no one else in the group, so what if a guy 70-75 did it in 60 minutes....)

Not so bad... :-)

Rest of the ride was fine, long downhill down the south side, not as steep as the north side, then back through Adams to my car.

(I'd biked up Greylock once before, up the south side and down the north side, maybe 10 years ago, part of the Greylock century, 10,000' feet of climb to go with the 100 miles. Made it around that course in about 7:30 or so, a fair bit of suffering, but then isn't that how you get the best memories?)

========

Now in Litchfield, a note on things here before I forget. Mom often has conversations with friends/family who are long since gone, mom taking care of both sides of the conversation. This one, as related by Lina, was with my dad, Mort was a very good friend of my mom's for maybe 30 years --

(mom as mom) So who did you love more, me or your mistress?

(mom as dad) Oh, about the same. And do you love Mort more than me?

(mom as mom) I loved Mort, he's my good friend, but I loved you more, you are my husband. I always loved you.

C • It would probably be more f... 2

Had thought about a longer ride, but decided to save it for another day.

River Road - Old Deerfield loop. Slowly getting a little stronger.

One of Gail's regular routes, up along the river and back. Gusty WNW wind, 15-20. Legs much better.

Slow, flat, very easy just to stretch out the body parts. Felt OK.

Really enjoyed yesterday.

Up at 4 am, a good breakfast, then off to Middlebury, VT, for the Kelly Brush Foundation charity ride. Hoped to do 100 miles. Last year I'd done almost no biking and struggled to make 50. This year, what with no running and a back that seemed to tolerate biking but not much else in the way of exercise, I figured the 100 ought to be doable. I mean, it's a lot easier biking that distance than running it....

A perfect day. Absolutely perfect. Mid-50s, clear, and calm when I got there about 7:30. Got organized and headed off just after 8. The course starts and finishes on top of a hill, and I shivered mightily on the first couple of downhills, but after a couple of miles I was warm enough. It slowly warmed up, but clouds started to move in mid-morning, blocking the sun for the most part, temperature maxed out about 75. And no wind. Well, maybe one or two mph every once in a while, but the flags were all just hanging there. Just perfect.

The route meanders through rolling farmland and a bit of forest between Lake Champlain and the Green Mountains. Lots of little ups and downs and a couple of sections (50-60 and 85-95) with somewhat bigger ups and downs, but no serious hills, nothing more than a mile or so.Almost all back roads, good pavement, little traffic. Cops at all the major intersections in the bigger towns and crossing route 7, holding up the cars so the bikers could cross without slowing down. How cool is that. Every one got a sincere Thank you.

The first 10 miles seemed harder than I expected or hoped, my pulse was certainly higher than I wanted. The latter was true the whole time, but the legs felt good so I just kept cranking along, get it in a gear that seemed to give the best ratio of speed vs. work. In training in the last month I'd picked up at least one gear, maybe a gear and a half, meaning I could do a grade a gear or gear and a half higher than a month earlier with no perceived extra effort. And this was more of the same.

And the miles just kept going by. Lots of people, I think they had about 800 riders split between the 25, 50, and 100. I passed a bunch, and got passed by a bunch. A couple of groups said to hop on, but they were going a little too fast. Rode with one woman for maybe 5 miles talking about running and biking. Those miles certainly passed quicker mentally, but I felt like I wasn't paying attention enough to my own riding. So most of the way I rode by myself, even though it is easier with company.

I assumed I would finish. I've done 3 organized centuries plus several just on my own, best I think was about 6:30 or so. So the hope this time was no more than 7 hours or so, which is 4:12 pace per mile. But without really trying a lot of miles kept going by at 3:30-3:45. Can't not enjoy that, just you wonder how long it can last. And it lasted and lasted and lasted. Final time, 6:26 for 100.6 miles is net time, stopped my watch at the aid stations, gross time was 6:36.

Five aid stations, 16-27-52-76-88. I like to get in and out quickly, so each was just fill up the water bottle, drink a cup of Gatorade, take a little food, and move on. Five stops, 10 minutes total, one was slightly longer, #3, drank more there just to be sure I was taking in enough. Probably overall drank about 6 bottles, had about 1,000-1,500 calories, weight when I got home was fine.

Energy was good throughout, though it probably flagged a bit the last 20 or 30, seemed like I was wanting to be a half gear lower. So I didn't fight that, just did it.

Up the last long hill a guy was closing on me slowly, as he pulled alongside we exchanged a couple of comments, I said it sure would be nice to have younger legs. If you don't mind, he said, can I ask how old you are. 70, I said. He passed on some admiration and then obviously felt he best get going. So he moved on ahead. But he wasn't moving that much faster. My competitive nature almost got the best of me, I thought, I can hang with him, but then common sense won out and I just kept my own pace. He had me by maybe 150 yards at the top, and then over the rolling 5 miles that were left, every time I'd come to the top of a rise, there he was on the next rise. And looking back. So I'm pretty sure the juices were flowing. Came in about 45 seconds after him, we had a nice chat, lots of laughs, he looked about 40 (losing his hair), turned out he was 29... :-)

Delighted to have finished. And nothing hurt. Chatted with my cousins, Kelly is the poster girl, totally amazing, Zeke runs the foundation and it's doing great, his mom and dad were just helping, along with probably a couple hundred volunteers. Wonderful event, even better cause.

And then back in the car, heading home. The clouds were getting thicker but still no wind. By Rutland it was raining, by the time I got back to Greenfield it was pouring. How lucky can you get. A side trip up the Shelburne Falls, met Gail there, opening of an art show she has a couple of paintings in. And then home after a while, sound asleep before long.

Such a good day.

And perhaps in 20 years, when most of my mind has left me, I will be asking to be driven up to Middlebury, just to relive the memory?

C • Nice pace! 4

C • Youngsters ... 2

Seemed to make it around without doing any damage to myself or others. Beautiful day, beautiful route, great event.

No ailments while riding, but I will be sore tomorrow.

Visiting mom in Litchfield. She's just skin and bones, but we can still have conversations. She also still goes to New York City weekly, with Lina's daughter Leondina doing the driving.

It's all about the memories. Though much of her mind has long since gone AWOL, she still remembers things long ago, and going to the city seems to trigger them.

So I asked what she did in the city. By the time we were done, the list for this trip included --

- Visting her grandparents.
- Going to the movies with her old friend Toto.
- Playing tennis with the pro (Mr. Ellis).
- Going roller skating with her brother Larry and a couple of friends.
- Going to the top of the Empire State Building with a bunch of friends.
- And going shopping at Brooks Brothers with her stepfather.

And about my dad, who had a mistress for the last 30 years of his life, she says, I always loved him.

I hadn't really thought about this much, but how nice that the memories she has all seem to be good memories. She doesn't complain. I ask her if she's happy, she says, Very happy. I ask her if she has had a good life, she says, I've had a wonderful life.

I've often looked at her current circumstances and thought things were rather bleak, that how would you want to live like that. Perhaps I've had it all wrong.

C • New York City 8

Old Deerfield - River Road loop. Rather hot so didn't push it. Now a couple days off and then see if I have a 100 in me on Saturday.

C • good luck 2

Late afternoon short ride, Whately and South Deerfield. Supposed to be hot, but a lot more pleasant than middle of the day would have been.

Bike ride up to Wendell and back. Felt OK, ankle is fine on the bike since there is no twisting.

Don't know if I'll still be alive a year from now, but might as well save the date.... :-)

Nice ride down the river, up the other side, very easy pace, trying to go with the least effort possible. Pulse mostly in the teens.

Stopped at the beginning at Mike's, nice chat with him, he's certainly happy having us there. Good way to wrap up the event.

Except I once again am an idiot. When I got there, he wasn't around, but there were a couple of women working on painting the big murals. They said Mike had gone to get them some cold drinks and would be right back. Cool, I'll wait.

Circled around the parking lot at about 0.1 mph, looking over at the maze, not paying any attention, hit a patch of sand, wheels went right out from under me, no time/talent to unclip the right foot, hit the dirt.

Mostly just dirt up and down my right side, but also an unhappy right ankle, it got yanked a way it's not supposed to be yanked, hurting on the outside just below the ankle bone.

Mike showed up in a couple minutes, we did our thing, then he was off to deliver the drinks. And I got back on the bike, pedaling seemed OK as I was just pressing straight down/up/whatever, no twisting. So I did the ride, just noticed it a few times.

But back home, it's not real happy.

I suppose the saving grace is that I'm not doing any orienteering or running or even strenuous walking right now. Or planning to in the near future. Because if I was, well, scratch that. Just hobbling around the house now....

Such a fucking idiot.

C • Ouch 2

Event: 2015 Corn Maze Champs
 

Corn maze champs. A full day. Things were nicely under control until about 3 pm, meaning a leisurely time in the morning setting out controls and getting things organized. Low stress, everything cool.

And then the rest of the time, well, everything went fine, mostly, but a little more stress than I'd hoped. Mainly, I think, because we had more people than last year and I didn't factor that into planning. Just always a little less time and a little more to do.

And also a little because I had 5 controls for the trail O instead of three, which meant the scoring took longer. So I was always a little behind.

But at least everything worked. Like the e-punch. You hope it works but you never know. This time no problems. No mistakes putting out controls, no bad screw-ups.

And the stress notwithstanding, I actually really enjoyed the afternoon/evening, lots of laughs. It's just that things were (a lot) closer to the edge than I really wanted.

Got home afterwards (such a nice drive, just over a mile), nice visit from Kseniya and Nadia. Did a little bit of work but just really tired. So the usual stuff you hope to get done that evening, posting all results and maps, didn't get done until the next morning.

Getting old, clearly slipping....

Corn ride. Nice afternoon. And looks like weather tomorrow afternoon and evening will be excellent. :-)

More good progress --

Had a nice chat with Mike down at the maze. It's quite something how the place goes from pure chaos to shipshape in a few days. I think he really does like having us a week before the season opens, gives him a deadline to get the place organized, and then another week to fine-tune things.

As I left he was chatting with a woman, Virginia, I hadn't met her before, about processing credit cards and on-line tickets sales and other such matters. I interrupted to ask a couple more questions. The first was where he wanted us to park, as the usual spot was now covered with greenery about 3 feet high. Usual place, he said with a smile, that's all being mowed tonight. And the second was, given the conversation with Virginia, was I still going to be able to settle up with him in cash. Oh, yeah, he said with a big smile. He's very cool.

Got the maps drawn and copied, one more thing done, then thought I might as well go and see about balloons. Got 5 very fine ones, now floating in the back of my Subaru. And decided, in the interest of more efficiency during the event, that there was no reason I couldn't pre-hang the balloons out in the maze, that would make it easier to get them out after the sprint. Just have to pre-hang them in the wrong places.... :-)

So stress level is still low. :-)

Talk about how to relieve stress. One of my worries is what if the e-punch system crashes, what then? Well, Giovanni is bringing along his display system, so there'll be a back-up, not to mention a real nice display. Sweet.

In the hills to the west -- Conway, Ashfield, Shelburne Falls, Conway, and home. Warm day, lots of hills, quite wasted by the end.

Made an art stop in Shelburne Falls, Gail has a couple of paintings in a new show at McCusker's, had to check them out. Looked good!

On schedule so far, and not stressed... :-)

Monday: Checked all the points, for all four events, plus where the temporary fences will go. I think the courses are all set, but will ponder them a little more the next couple of days. Still to do -- unpack the computer stuff and set up the software, input all the entries.

Tuesday: Do entry lists, e-mail to entrants (have to make up the master e-mail list) plus info about the event, FAQ format? Not that the ones who really need to read it actually will.

Wednesday: Long bike ride (no, not in the maze).

Thursday: Draw final copies of courses, get copies made.

Friday: Procure needed equipment (balloons, refreshments). Copies of start lists, meet info, etc. Sync controls.

Saturday morning: Put out controls, fences.

Saturday afternoon/evening: Have fun. :-)

Down along the east side river to Northampton, back on the west side, virtually flat, no wind. Just steady work, slowly getting better.