Training Log Archive: PG

Fine outing up Quandary Peak with Stan. Beautiful morning, clear and 45F, on the trail before 7 am. Stan disappeared immediately (i.e. he was going faster than I was capable of). I set what seemed like a decent pace for myself, obviously a little slower towards the top as the air got thinner. 1:40 to the top, no altitude issues other than deep breathing, and also not pushing the pace. I'd guess if I'd been here a few days more, then it would have been a little quicker, but these days there's only so much the legs can do.

A few minutes on top, taking in the views in all directions and for a substantial distance. A little cool and windy but not enough to warrant putting on jacket. Shorts and t-shirt was just fine.

And then back down, being rather careful the first couple thousand feet, and then the trail got a good bit better (fewer rocks) so ran the rest at a nice pace. 60 minutes to come down.

Overall, 6.3 miles, 3,400' climb, very enjoyable, and no ailments.

C • yay! 1

Mushroom hunting with Stan and Gail. They were successful, I wasn't.

Day 4 of Quandary training. Hike up east peak of Twin Sisters just south of Estes Park, jogged down. Top a little over 11,000. Got progressively rockier as I went up, so the jogging down was a challenge, but made it with no falls. Though I was pretty wiped out by the end.

And then a mellow lunch, and a little exploring around the area, and a very leisurely stroll around Bear Lake with Gail.

And got to use my free pass to all National Paks/Forests/Monuments. Which, though different (one saves you money, the other time), is a similar good feeling to using the transponder to skip the lines getting on and off various tollroads in the Northeast.

Tomorrow is Day 5, most important, taper. :-)

Day 3 of my Quandary training. Found a really nice trail (Timber Trail) in Lory SP just west of Fort Collins, using the criteria that if it is open to bikers, than it can't be too steep. Ran/walked going up, but actually ran more than I thought I would, and then a pleasant jog down. Air a little thin, and warm (upper 80s), but cloud cover so it didn't feel so bad.

Same as yesterday, a little more effort.

The thing is, I'm supposed to be going up a 14,000-footer on Saturday and somehow I think any training is going to make a difference. Hah.

C • I LUV PG 15

Hike up Mt. Toby, run back. Seemed very humid, I was sweating a lot and not feeling too zippy.

Picking up the maze controls. And then it took about the same amount of time to disassemble and pack everything away (though I was trying to be much more conscientious than I usually am.

The maze was beautiful this morning. And the corn looked no worse for wear from our activities yesterday. Bravo!

Event: US Corn Maze Orienteering Champs (classic, relay, party, night)
 

A good hard run around the Classic Champs course, partly to make sure the control numbers were what they were supposed to be, partly just because corn maze O' is fun. Didn't miss more than 20 or 30 seconds.

And then just enough time to do Relay leg 2 too, although skipped going to where the last control would eventually be. Excellent training.

And then the rest of the day enjoying the competition. Couldn't have gone better from my perspective. And seemed like a lot of happy faces, especially after the night-O'.

C • Thanks for a brilliant afte... 13

Putting out controls for the corn maze, a little over half done. Map is just fine.

And putting out the rest of the controls (almost), including a while looking for (and finding) an e-box I dropped the first time out. Thought it would probably be at a control, but it was just lying along the route, glad I remembered how I had gone, not easy trying to retrace a route.

I need to go see Mike in the morning to see if there are any outside lights he can turn on for the start/finish. Hadn't thought about that.

And I think the start for the night-O' will need to be about 8:10 or 8:15. I got out of the maze at 8:10, had no light, could still just barely read the map. Certainly couldn't at 8:15.

C • lights 2

Back roads in Whately and Deerfield. No energy.

Old Deerfield - River Road loop.

Testing out a possible classic course for the corn maze champs on Saturday. Seemed just fine. And my orienteering was pretty good, no mistakes of any significance.

This may be really good sprint training, though it verges on being too difficult. I figure I was having to make decisions (left, right, straight) about every 3 or 4 seconds, plus overall route choice decisions. Hard to keep the speed up. I'd love to see someone really good have a go.

I thought about borrowing Gail's trekking poles, just to be on the safe side, but managed to make it the whole way without any falls, or even close calls. My new balance exercises must be helping.

Now if my ribs would just calm down. They seem to be getting worse each day. So far a little vitamin I has been keeping them mellow, but forgot that this afternoon, and they were really hurting.

C • cmmtbo 15

Loop at Earl's Trails. Pretty warm, but made it around without being tempted to walk. And not as slow as I thought. And no falls.

Forgot, last night coming home late, surprised three raccoons in the driveway.

And took my glasses in to get the frame straightened after falling at Wildcat. Seems there was a good scratch in one lens too. But also seems I bought them 14 months ago and they have a two-year warranty, so will get a replacement pair of lenses for free. :-)

C • raccoon 1

A scientific experiment today, which falls under the heading of "When in Rome, do as the Romans do."

You don't have to be especially perceptive out on the golf course to notice that the beverage cart -- now there's something that we could use in O' -- offers a variety of refreshments, including an assortment of beers. You also don't need to be especially perceptive to notice that a fair bit of beer gets consumed. And yet, in all my times chasing the little white ball over the years, I have always been sober.

The perceptive reader may have guessed where this is going....

So this morning, at some point mid-round there was a discussion about the possible pros and cons of a beer or two (or three or more). On the plus side, less tension, and that in itself should be a big plus, and maybe a much smoother swing. On the minus side, well, you might fall over and/or miss the ball entirely.

And then when we were on the 12th tee the beverage cart showed up, driven by the usual young babe in short shorts (no dummies, they know what maximizes their tips). And, with my game the usual mediocre mess it has been recently, the time seemed ripe for a beer, and then to see if things got better or worse.

The beer was gone by the time we reached the 12th green. I was already feeling a little wobbly (even more so than usual), understand that it doesn't take much for me to start feeling it, small body mass and all. But the 12th was played in par, very nice.

The 13th, definitely not feeling my usual self, a drive in the bushes to start, three putts to finish, double bogey, maybe this was not a good idea.

The 14th, and before we could tee off, here comes the beverage cart again, and what the hell, might as well make this a proper experiment, another beer procured, and down the hatch with it by the 15th tee. In the meantime, the 14th, a long par 5, played beautifully except for the one ball laced over the railroad tracks and out of bounds. Another double bogey.

Definitely feeling loose by now, though there was still some tension, mainly along the lines of not wanting to make a total fool of myself.

15th, tough uphill par 3, very smooth tee shot, two putts, par. This game is easy. And I still haven't fallen down even once. Not really even come close.

16th, drive way to the right so the next shot had to go over a stand of white pines, which it did, though not on the green. But a chip and a putt and another par. Best putt I hit all day.

17th, solid drive, but the second was a little weak and right, a chip and a couple putts this time. Not so bad, and showing very good judgment despite my condition, when the beverage cart showed up again -- that's what happens when you give them good tips -- I passed.

And the 18th, not a bad drive but in the tall grass, but a good iron shot and two putts and it was a par to finish.

So overall it was inconclusive. My game was no better, no worse, just the usual -- as the saying goes, you've got all the shots, straight, right, left, high, low, you just don't know which one is coming next. On the other hand, the company and the conversation were even better than usual, lots of laughs (and actually a good bit of serious "life" discussion too), so maybe that swings the balance in favor of playing semi-soused.

Perhaps more experiments are called for.

C • Indeed. Much more study required. 5

Short and flat ride, was supposed to be low effort too, but failed a bit on that. Legs (quads) actually not sore at all from yesterday, nor is my neck, but ribs are slowly getting worse and triceps are trashed. Obviously landed differently yesterday than I recalled.

Regarding balance, it seems clearly the worst when I am going up. That was definitely true yesterday, is also true at home when, if I am not holding on to the bannister, I rarely make it up the stairs from the garage without bouncing off one wall or the other, or both.

C • Balance 7

An interesting day, in many ways very fine, in others quite depressing.

With Fred Pilon up to the White Mountains for the day. The plan was to do the Wildcat Ridge trail, picking up a couple more peaks in a silly but harmless pursuit of all the 4000-footers in New Hampshire.

It turned out to be a fine adventure, certainly much better with company, many good memories of bygone years resurrected often to our great amusement. Including one outing many decades ago on Vermont's Long Trail, on a slightly uphill section of that endlessly rocky trail, when Fred pulled out his state of the art Casio digital watch with a game on it, one where numbers would keep appearing on one side of the screen and you had to kill them before they reached the other side.

Now it was Fred's watch, so he'd had ample opportunity to practice, and he'd gotten through several levels of the game and had a quite impressive PR. I had tried it out just a little and had a much more modest PR. But this was a lengthy run we were on, plenty of time to get in some quality practice.

So we took turns playing. Remember, all the time we were running at a much better pace than anything we could do now-a-days, on a very rocky trail, while trying to press the right buttons on the watch to keep up with the little numbers streaming across the screen.

And we were really good. I PR'd easily, since I was starting from a low standard, and then PR'd again and again. As did Fred, surpassing anything he had done while standing still. It was quite awesome. And perhaps a harbinger of -- and really good training for? -- a lifetime of orienteering brilliance?

Many other stories, of course, plenty of time for them, 3.5 hours in the car each way plus 4+ hours on the trail. He'd remember stuff I'd forgotten, I'd remember stuff he'd forgotten. Doing the first world rogaine champs in Australia, out the full 24 hours, all on 6 PowerBars and a little hard candy. The time Fred, just as an experiment, prepped for a trail marathon by fasting for the previous 2 days (it was not a good idea). Tales from his days in high finance during the dot-com bubble. Such a fine day.

There was the hike of course. Up and over the five Wildcat summits, then back to the top of the Wildcat ski area, down the ski slopes to the bottom, along the road back to Pinkham Notch and then a last little bit along a trail and the return wade across the Ellis River. Mission accomplished. And a beautiful day to boot, no bugs, lots of sun, cool air, low humidity.

The downer, well there were two, a major and a minor. The minor one was the only crash of the day, that was by me, half a mile before the end, tripped on a root, the recovery foot caught another root, my hands didn't get down quick enough as I did a face plant, and therefore it really was a face plant, the only saving grace that for some reason I turned my face a touch and therefore took the main blow on my right cheek and didn't lose any teeth or rearrange any nasal bones. So hopefully just a sore neck and a minor rib job.

The major downer, of which the minor was just one example, was the appalling lack of coordination, agility, and balance throughout the outing. Always missing my intended foot plants, always teetering much more than I cared as I tried to keep my balance, always feeling really unstable. It was really depressing.

There is certainly the realization that I am (we are) old, that doing this stuff at this point in life is not normal behavior, and being able to do such a hike in any form or fashion is something to be grateful for. That is certainly true. But it is also impossible to ignore the direction this is all going, and the increased speed with which it is moving. One doesn't stop trying, of course, but the realization that it is a losing battle, now not just in the long run but also in the short run -- well, you can know something is coming, but that doesn't make it any easier to accept when it arrives.

C • The major downer 24

Another short run, supposed to be on trail, but the trail turned into a subdivision road. Oh, well.

A short jog to give the quads a chance to complain about yesterday's steep downhill, and complain they did. But their memory is short and in a day or two they won't remember a thing.

My 305 was having one of those days when it is determined to prove that it is not 100% accurate -- 1.00 miles going out, 1.05 coming back -- and that spurred me to do a little looking as to what folks might claim the accuracy really is. Found this interesting test. Seems like within 2 or 3% is a reasonable expectation, but in woods with lots of turns maybe even 5% is too much to ask.

The only thing that seems quite foolish is believing that the thing is 100% accurate, just because it gives the distance to 1/100th of a mile/km.

C • FR 28

Hike from the gate to the top of Toby, run back down. Slower than ever, I think.

I was thinking yesterday out on the bike that I need to do something a little different, otherwise the days just all blend together, and one thing that popped into my mind was that it's time to finish up doing all the 4,000-footers in NH, since I only have about 4 to go. And if I put it off much longer, then I'll no long be able to get myself up and down them.

And that led to the thought that it might be a good idea to do a little up and down around home, just to remind the legs a little what it feels like.

It was quite depressing going up today. Slower than ever, as I said. But then on the way down it occurred to me that a couple more round-trips on Toby would total up to about what's needed for one of the Whites. And so maybe things weren't as hopeless as I imagined.

Not that I was about to do two more round-trips today.... :-)

So it's possible, the forecast for later this week being excellent, that I might head north for a day. I now feel quite well prepared. The question will be Cabot, or Owl's Head, or whichever of the Wildcats count, since I think that's all I'm missing. A rather unappealing lot. But the possibility for a different from normal day.

C • Whites 4

Conway, then Ashfield-Williamsburg Road and back via Whately. Beautiful day, nice to put in a few miles.

Decided it was time for a little real exercise again, so out on what has become my standard loop, River Road and Old Deerfield, which is a mix of flat and gently rolling a a few short hills. All made more enjoyable today by deciding in advance that the heart rate was going to go no higher than 140, so had to take it easy on the hills.

Didn't quite stay at 140, but it still make it more fun.

One of these days I'll have to try running again, but just haven't felt like it.

Sure is a lot easier to ride when the rear brake isn't grabbing the wheel. Wish I'd thought about that possibility yesterday. Idiot. No wonder it felt so hard to go a lot slower than normal.

Old Deerfield - River Road loop. Good steady effort. Lovely day.

Back from Litchfield earlier in the day. Mom sure is fading.

Legs were dead, and the wind seemed to be in my face most of the time, so I quit and came home.

Trying out the maze -- it's awesome! The faster you try and go the easier it is to screw up.

Made up a course without giving it any thought (so it would seem new when I was doing). 19 points, but no actual controls obviously. I think I screwed up about 4 or 5 times, once reasonably substantially (a couple of minutes?), another when I thought I was in the right spot but realized as I was leaving that I wasn't. So maybe 20 minutes would be a good time. So I have lots of space to work with.

Night O' is going to be something else.

Turners Falls - Millers Falls, early afternoon. Not that hot, but I was dragging by the end, glad I wasn't going longer.

Conway-Whately loop before it got warmer, rather pleasant.

And then home just in time to enjoy the news from Cali.

River road, lower road, checking out the I-91 bridge construction. It's not moving real fast. Nor was I.