Training Log Archive: PG

Event: WOC 2015 & Scottish 6 days
 

A fine day spent meandering around Skye with a little of everythinging, both referring to the sights and to the weather. Continuing my excellent taper.

And then in the evening a first-class dinner -- the food was OK, nothing special, it was the company that turned out to be the star. We chatted up the couple sitting next to us in the pub, and one thing just led to another. Gail got a taste of his haggis (that seemed enough to last the rest of her life), we found out about here career as a professional singer, the conversation overall was excellent. And then I popped to big question to him -- do you like whisky?

So first we got his favorites, he seemed particularly happy curling up with a 15-year-old Glenfiddich. And then his drinking habits (very very slowly, enjoying the aroma as much as the taste). And then we determined that it was time for me to step up, so both of us up to the bar, where we found out that they were out of his favorite, and didn't carry his runner-up (Glengarioch), so after a bit of consultation I opted for Glen Moray, which happened to be the special of the month and a mere three quid. Have to start somewhere.

And it seemed rather tasty. :-)

Very light and fresh, in fact. A hint of a nutty aroma. Generally well balanced with subtle overtones of oak, walnut, and citrus sponge. All in all, seemed like a nice introduction to the world of single malts.

Who knew? And nice at such an old age to have new pleasures to look forward to.

Moving on, heading north, I remembered at some point that I had heard folks rave about something called "single malts," and I had no idea what they were talking about.

A little general research had identified them as a form of booze, therefore the popularity, also that each single malt was a unique taste. I clearly needed to know more. Obviously a distillery visit (or two, or three) was called for, but first some more education so I wouldn't appear so stupid.

It so happened, a little after noon, that we stopped for a wee bit to eat and drink at an inn well along on the road to Skye. The food and drink was more than adequate, but the significance of the stop was a discovery I made up at the bar of a little pamphlet describing all the single malts this place had to offer.

And what a collection. And here I'm referring not to the single malts themselves, but to the verbiage used to describe them. At which point, time for the photos.

Exhibit number one is part of one page (there were five or six pages overall). First impression was the flowery language. Who makes this stuff up? Second impression was noting the price of the first item (and I'm assuming this is for an ounce or two of the stuff). Must be really special.



Exhibit number two put number one to shame -- a sip or two of a 1969 Glenlochy for a hundred quid. Certainly better than the Highland Park from Isles that ends up tasting like wood shavings.



That last bit led me to further investigate the Islay region, and I found this --



Note the last sentence. "Its single malts are noted for their sea-weedy, iodine-like, phenolic character."

As Gail remarked, it would take a very special man to drink some of that.

I immediate thought she must be referring to Clem, both for the ability to drink the stuff and the style in penning the write-ups, but on reflection I am pretty sure Clem has higher standards for what he drinks, and his prose is certainly more obtuse. But he is still a very special man.

Though why is he not in Scotland?

C • Whisk(e)y 12

C • Why not in Scotland? 5

And then in the evening, a pre-birthday celebration for Gail, her last day at 66, at a very fine fish restaurant in Portlee. I was accused of dreaming up this "pre-birthday" notion to cover my butt in case I forget tomorrow that it is her birthday.

She may have a point there... :-)

Looks awful good for 66.

C • Joyful 3

A proper day of tapering.

A little more in Edinburgh, mostly a really fine visit to the Museum of Modern Art (where "modern" usually means 20th century, so not really modern). But the stuff I grew up with. Spent several hours there.

Then a drive-by of the new parliament and the nearby royal residence. Maybe we'll find time to visit them before heading home, maybe not.

Then off to Sterling to visit its castle, also pretty cool, and we were greeted by the Waddingtons plus Izzy. Mike was amazingly cheerful for being lame (and he seemed sober). They gave us a copy of the castle O map, excellent.

Off to Skye in the morning.

Oh, almost forgot, weather is beautiful today, mixed sun and clouds, 70F. So we won't get 14 days of rain Maybe 13? :-)

C • Peat bogs in Skye 3

So two days of playing tourist -- castles, museums, etc. -- well, pictures of castles and museums are a dime a dozen. So all I will offer are the following. First, for just 250 quid a person, WCOC could upgrade to a really fine club outfit, and that price includes all 11 pieces. Think about it George....



But maybe that's not the look you want. So here is another option, a more traditional look. Note that this is only a small part of the outfit, but it was a public place so I passed on getting into the tights (and fancy shoes, and ruffled shirt, and codpiece one presumes). What think thee, George?



And then one artsy photo, just because modern sculpture is so often really cool....



Now off to Skye. Beautiful morning out. This is Scotland so rain gear will be close at hand.

C • Suits you! 3

Made it to Edinburg with little stress, having a nice cup of tea in the castle.

Supposed to go orienteering on Sunday, guess it's time to taper. :-)

C • So jealous! 3

I forgot that it's hard to taper when you're not doing any training in the first place. So I went for the other end of the spectrum, over-distance, though cleverly broken up into two pieces so my body could handle it.

This was part one, a pleasant jog over to the Scottish Museum of Modern Art just to see what it looked like. Found a nice route over, partly along the "Water of Leith Way" (strange names for things here, though I guess the feeling is mutual when they visit the USA).

Spent a few minutes admiring some outdoor sculptures -- we'll have to make a proper visit tomorrow before heading north.

And then back on a longer route just for variety. Back was starting to ache so glad I wasn't going any farther. And, needless to say, not much energy.

Took a few photos, but can't seem to upload them. Maybe tomorrow.

Leverett loop clockwise, put out a good effort.

Back continues sore but better than a couple of days ago. I'm supposed to be doing some orienteering in another week, will have to see if it is up to the task. Just as good I have no ambitions.

Corn maze O' is a go. Info is here.

Nice, well, mostly nice trip to Litchfield yesterday. Went because mom's doctor, actually I think she's a nurse practitioner, was making a house call to see how mom was doing. When's the last time a doctor made a house call? 50 years ago?

So that was worth being there for, had a nice chat with the nurse. And so far so good with mom. She's just skin and bones, but still eating well and seems quite happy.

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On the way down I spent some time ruminating on life, giving some thought to what I should be doing with my remaining years. I am lazy by nature, so there is a lot of appeal to not having responsibilities. But there also is appeal to doing something useful or productive with my time, not just letting it waste away.

Not that I came up with any answers. I'm certainly not eager to dive back into something as intense as the tax business. But there needs to be something to give a little more purpose to the passing days and months.

At some point it did occur to me that I should at least give myself some credit for the last 5 years of dealing with mom. Unexpected, certainly unplanned, certainly something I was totally unprepared for. Often I am very hard on myself, so sometimes it is good to just allow oneself some satisfaction for something done reasonably well. I beat myself up enough as it is.

Though, of course, snapping back to reality, this 5-year journey still has a ways to run, and who knows how it will play out. Definitely keeping my fingers crossed.

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And then, on the way home, a reminder for those times when you don't feel happy about things, when the day hasn't gone so well, that there is probably someone out there having a worse day. Past the airport, got onto 91 north and boom, traffic stopped dead. The phone showed bad traffic for a mile. Called up Gail, said I'd be later than planned for dinner, and then waited. And waited. And waited.

It took about an hour and a quarter to move that mile. At some point I could see enough ahead to realize that there was a semi that did not seem to be lined up the right way --



And closer, yes, for sure, the driver was definitely not having a good day. How he ended up there I have no idea.





Finally past it, a wide open 91, 3 lanes, not much traffic. It took a moment to realize that this was the most dangerous time -- everyone was late, everyone was pissed, and everyone was driving like a bat out of hell. And I was feeling quite fortunate, no place I had to be at a certain time, no schedule screwed up, just mozy on home where a fine dinner was waiting for me whenever I happened to get there. :-)

C • Thanks 2

Leverett loop counterclockwise. Lower humidity and a little cooler made this a lot more pleasant.

Short ride to Montague. Back is still not good, just a spot lower right that is tight, won't loosen up. Hurts pretty good at times, not at all much of the time.

C • Back 2

Back roads in Deerfield and Whately. As usual, not a whole lot of energy.

Standard loop on a warm and muggy day. Sweating a lot but not moving too fast. Back is still sore, but getting better.

Short easy ride. Back has been bad since Monday, but a little better today. Hopefully it is on the mend.

A long (for me, currently) ride on a hot afternoon, doing penance.

Late afternoon ride in Deerfield, effort was not too hard, not too easy, just right.

Tromping around Mt. Tom's northeast kingdom hanging streamers for Alex and Phil for some training tomorrow. Warm afternoon, glad I was happy just walking.

Lots of smiles today.

The catalyst was the NY Times article about Tierrry Gueorgiou, a fine story and some totally deserved recognition for one of the best athletes on the planet. I knew a story was in the works -- a guy had been at the Troll Cup last fall doing video interviews -- but had forgotten about it.

And part of the story was the video, also fine, and there were Alex and yours truly in starring roles. And not even embarrassing starring roles. :-)

I happened to be in Litchfield visiting mom, various other family members there, so a chance to show off in a very mild way, oh, here I am in the Times today....

That would have been more than enough to make a fine day.

But not much later up pops a tweet from the man himself, mister TG --

Changed my breakfast diet right after seeing @PeterGagarin ad, hopefully soon enough before WOC... #nytimes pic.twitter.com/p1hvxYPnRl

— Thierry GUEORGIOU (@tgueorgiou) July 9, 2015

More smiles.

And that requires a response, of course --

@tgueorgiou HaHa, just need to work on the beard too and you will be all set. The original story 30 years ago -- http://t.co/Ko6JAZSLFA

— Peter Gagarin (@PeterGagarin) July 9, 2015

And then the final iten, an e-mail from the Great One --

"Now, I understand why you are so skilled at bowling!
All the best,
Thierry"

Lots more laughs, from Gail too.

And the back story has two parts, one revealed by the last line of this story and a careful look at the Wheaties box, the other by this report on AP of an evening's entertainment when Thierry first visited the USA.

C • Great stories! 6

Bikes trails on North Sugarloaf, inner loop clockwise. Tolerable.

Short ride up to Montague and back. Warmer out than I would wish.

Time to try running again. Did the trail loop on Mt. Warner, very pleasant as Phil had said. Very humid, dewpoint over 70, soaking wet in 25 minutes.

Legs seemed to survive. A couple of times I had my doubts, but it seems like no harm done. Guess that means no more excuses not to train, at least until the next thing goes wrong.

Lake Wyola - Shutesbury loop. Warm day, and even a slow pace didn't keep keep me from running on empty the last few miles.

Back on the bike. Warm afternoon, but stayed mostly on the flats at a moderate effort, so OK.

Leverett loop, counterclockwise. Enough little hills to work up a good sweat.

Time to start doing a (very) little bit of running.

River Road - Old Deerfield loop. Pleasant afternoon, enjoyable ride. Even got the heart rate monitor out to see if it works, and it does. :-)