Training Log Archive: PG

Event: Blue Hills Traverse
 

Blue Hills Traverse. A good run, though I got awful tired the last 30 minutes or so.

Had the distinct pleasure of beating William (aka "feet" these days) to the first control (thanks, Joe for leading the way while others were higher up and to the west). And then a repeated distinct pleasure to beat William, again just barely, to #5. When I inquired what he'd been doing to be as slow as I was, he muttered something about not being able to remember the last time he had missed 5 controls in a row.

Saw quite a bit of Pavlina (who is getting faster!) and Samantha (ditto!) and Ross (who is getting slower now that he a real job) and Joe B (who claimed to be tired from some unexplained activities the night before that I assume involved an excess of booze) and John F (who came trotting by on the way to 8, saying he was "just chilling" when I asked why he was going so slow, and came by again on the way to 23 and very kindly offered to escort me in but I sent him on his way, though it must have frazzled me in some way because I blew the last 2 controls and finished 3 minutes after him) and even a glimpse of Ernst and Tim Parson (the right kind of glimpse, they were heading into 16 while I was on my way out, the roughly 6 minutes I had for an advantage being just enough to hold them off at the end).

A nice social run in other words. And one of my better ones in recent years, though I would have been happier if 15 had been the last control and the finish had been at the ski lodge. That way my energy and the course would have expired at roughly the same time.

Routes/comments.

C • 2

Traverse - Splits

More flat training today. Got all call this morning summoning me to the golf course, not the usual one since it's closed for the year, but The Meadows, a little 9-hole affair with the vertical difference between high and low point on the course of about 10 feet. Unfortunately the course sits right at the junction of the Connecticut and Deerfield rivers, and it was flooded pretty badly last month. Closed for a while, 2 holes are still closed. So we played 14 holes, temperature in the 30s, had the course to ourselves. Another solid no-hills workout. Now all I have to do is find some snakes to help me practice cardiac arrest and I'll be ready.

Starting my flat training for Florida with a run on the Montague Plain, meandering along the variety of old woods roads and power line cuts. Would have been completely flat except I ran a bit on the east side of Wills Hill, up in the area I often run in the winter. Nice day, but no wildlife except for a few chickadees, despite the fact that it is a "wildlife management area."

C • 2

Same route as yesterday, though wetter after heavy rain overnight, but also much cooler, so i felt better. No trouble keeping up with Phil on the climb, then dropped him pretty quickly on the descent. Steady pace, harder the last 10-15 minutes.

I suppose I should point out that Phil was only present in a philosophical sense, but I dusted him anyway.... :-)

C • 8

With Phil on Mt. Toby. Mid-60s, strong southerly winds. Warmer than expected, sweating and feeling crappy all the way up the south mountain climb, better but not great thereafter only because there were no more long hills (and the long-sleeve shirt was wrapped around my waist). Pleasantly non-compeitive, which is how I will describe the run, ignoring the fact that I couldn't keep up on the long climb.... :-)

C • 3

Over to South Sugarloaf (14:58), up (9:08), down (6:51), back home (14:17). Better than I expected after the weekend.