Training Log Archive: PG

Event: Crandalls Park Sprints
 

Warm-up, legs ok, just no energy.

Woke up too early again, but once the mind warms it, it's clear sleep is done for so might as well get up.

Went to a WCOC meet at Crandall's in Tolland, CT. First of two sprints. New "map in progress" by Clint Morse. Very fine area. No, make that very, very fine. Clint suggested it was ok to run in shorts, and I thought, great, it's warm, I'll put on shorts, most of the course will be on trails or through open areas.

So it turned out most of the course was just through the woods, but I have hardly a scratch on my legs. I wasn't running aggressively, but still, that's quite something for summertime in New England. It's not like the forest was totally clean, but it sure was clean enough to make running a pleasure.

I think I was feeling the recent lack of sleep, especially on the brain. (I was feeling real drowsy on the drive over, if it had been another 15 minutes I think I would have had to pull over for a nap.) A couple of dumb mistakes (wrong turn going to #2, what's this big open area..., then only off about 45 degrees on the approach to 5), both at least corrected quickly, plus several times not spotting the control right away. plus running cautiously, but it still felt pretty good. No, I can do better than that, it felt great!

Legs were tired, fell once, stumbled a couple of times, but hamstring seemed fine.

Sprint A map.

Took about a 10-minute break, and then headed off on sprint B. The brain was apparently still in another time zone, and the legs checked out on me energy-wise towards the end, but still, no injuries. Excellent.

Forest again nice, I was still in shorts, still no scratches. I've marked on the map (short dark blue cross lines on my route) places where I stopped, not knowing for sure where I was, probably stood for 10-15 seconds each time, then got going again whether I'd figured out anything or not. I count about 6 times, including once about 15' from the flag at #6, just didn't see it. Yikes. So the time was pretty slow. But that's fine, the main thing was the legs were still ok.

Sprint B map.

I wanted to take a look at the upper part of the map, but didn't have the energy to run the green course (plus there was a strong feeling to quit while i was ahead). So I just headed off on a brisk stroll, checking out the terrain. Really fine! And there's a lot more terrain Clint hasn't started mapping yet.

Then drove home, drowsy again towards the end, and took a much-needed nap....

Rest of map.

Sprint B - Splits

Sprint A - Splits

Feeling depleted and sleepy, so two breakfasts and a nap before we head off to visit with Charlie and Rhonda for the day.

Got my tent back, thanks to Jerry Rhodes of CROC. And pad, and sleeping bag, and pillow, and towel, and pants. :-)

And said farewell to one toenail, and most of the skin around it (that's enough details).

Ooooh, and the really big coup -- I happened to look at the date as I was about to post this and it was June 9th. June 9th? Yeah, June 9th! Anniversary #34. And the big deal is we've both been up a while and I was the first to remember, usually Gail's the one. So I go find her and give her a big hug and we laugh.

I think one year it was quite late in the day before either remembered.

We got married the day Secretariat won the Triple Crown at Belmont. Pulled out the TV during the reception, much to Gail's grandmother's dismay, because everyone wanted to watch. So now when I see something in the papers talking about it being time for the Belmont Stakes again, it reminds me that another anniversary is coming....

C • anniversary 4

Up too early, as usual. And 129? Feeling very dehydrated, sweated off 4 pounds on yesterday evening's outing and obviously didn't replace it all.

Direct route to the top is pink, round-about route back via the S curves is blue (where different).

Hamstring not too bad. And the evening outings are fun. At least for now. Not looking forward to the arrival of the first FDFs....

C • While the G seems to continue ... 1

Leverett loop, clockwise. Was going to be an intensity 2 ride, if that, I was feeling beat after a round of rogaine practice on a hot and steamy day. So I started out a little slower than usual, and felt lousy, but after about 15 minutes and a few hills the legs seem to get a little life, and I kept up a decent pace and effort the rest of the way. Pleasant surprise, although not totally unexpected, as today had already been dubbed "Feeling Young, Feeling Good Day."

"Feeling Young" because at some point out on the links it occurred to me that there were a whole lot of other men out there who either were old, or sure looked old (and fat, too), and compared to them, I was looking pretty young. And I was certainly looking as young as I am ever going to look again, barring some major cosmetic surgery. So I decided that I ought to enjoy being young, and today ought to be "Feeling Young Day." And it is quite possible that this is also "Feeling Young Week," and though I don't want to look too far ahead, quite possible "Feeling Young Month," as well.

So that was part 1. And part 2 was when we were standing on the 17th tee and I had the honor but we were still waiting to hit, and one of the guys looks in my direction says something like, "Well, the guy with the funny shaped head is up." Well, I didn't hesitate a moment before I responded, "Which one of us 4 guys with funny shaped heads are you talking about?" and a third guy says, "Boy you sure got that right," and we're all laughing. And there have been many times, given that I have in fact had a funny shaped head all my life, that such a comment would have been hard to swallow. I think I'm making progress. Therefore "Feeling Good Day" and let's hope at least "Feeling Good Week."

So anyway, one thing is sure -- after another of Gail's fine dinners that I am about to sit down to (fish, snow peas, big salad), I am then planning to venture out to a local establishment called Sugarloaf Frostee for one, or possibly two, chocolate milkshakes. Or something equally good. All in celebration of FYFG Day.

Ooooh, just one, but it was good.

C • yum! 7

Decided it was time to make some progress on my course setting duties for the US Relay Champs, so I headed down to Osbournedale to take a look around. I had a few vague ideas for the courses, but nothing even close to specific, just mainly wanted to see what it was like when the vegatation was up, and also to look at the possibilities for course flow (how to route courses out, in, and through the start/finish area).

So I walked around a while, partly just looking at the possibilities, partly doing some field corrections that were minor in scope but significant in terms of course setting -- like where you have a band of thick stuff on the edge between field and good forest, you have to get the gaps mapped right. trying to do what they did so well at Fair Hill down in DVOA-land. I won't come close to there precision, the goal is to come close enough to make the orienteering fair.

And then I sat for a while and drew up some possibilities, again just flow in and out of the S/F area, and then I walked a bunch more doing some more corrections, seeing if some possible legs made sense.

And finally more sitting, perched on a low wall where an announcer might be, checking the sight lines to various possible spectator controls, thinking about where people would be and how they would be moving, trying to visualize how it would look on the day. And I quite liked what I had come up with.

Now I'll put it away for a couple of days, then take another look and probably make a lot of changes.

A bunch more trips needed, but at least I got started, and felt like i made progress.

Beautiful day, nice drive down thinking of past glories/failures in a variety of running events, thinking of meet notes for the relay on the way back, interupted by a short visit to the Tradition in Windsor for a pleasant 9.

C • Corrections 14

Another good dinner, finish watching the usual depressing news, then on with the pack again, except this time I added one of Gail's 5-pound ankle weights. Oof. And of again vowing not to push it, but then of course I did as it got steeper, even a little quicker than last time, why is this necessary? But still very enjoyable. And sweating away and huffing and puffing at the top. Oof, again. Pulse 175+.

And somewhere on the way up I decide I really ought to run back the round-about way, because the hamstring is doing better so I might as well test it again.

As I start out on the way down I think back to the spring of 1981, 6 months after I had the plastic joint put in my big toe, and I was still struggling with the recovery, still wondering if I'd done the right thing, and one day out on a lengthy trail run I kicked a rock head on, and the toe, oh, it hurt, and I thought, there goes another month to recover from this, but 2 or 3 days later it was much better, and then a couple weeks later I kicked another rock real bad, and this time it was better in a day, and it was the first time I allowed myself to think, it's going to be ok.

So the hamstring seemd sore yesterday, good today, so maybe it's really on the mend. And about when I was thinking this I clipped a rock and went sprawling, oof, but no damage done. Though i did trip a bunch more times, whether it was the growing darkness or just picking my feet up less with the pack, who knows, but I think I may well be sore again in the morning. But hopefully not too bad, nor for too long.

And in the meantime, a pretty good workout for the feet, and the shoulders, and the back, and even the legs and the lungs. Only other complainer was the toenail on the little toe of my right foot, which is in the process of declaring independence from the rest of the foot.

Got out late in the afternoon for a bike ride after several hours of quite skilled rogaine practice, not even spoiled by the fact that I was giving so many strokes, one a hole to one of the guys, that the day turned out slightly on the negative side financially.

Which reminds me, the guy getting 18 strokes is 89 years old, still plays ok if he can keep from choking towards the end, but is also getting pretty down about how frail he is getting and how his game is slowly fading. And the other guy I play with often, Bob, about my age, very friendly, real nice person to play with, and he makes a point every so often of giving the old guy a little pep talk, as opposed to the mindless harrassing chatter you normally hear. Now we are all playing against each other, and yet Bob's helping the guy. And every time I see that I'm in admiration of his generosity. Something to work on for myself....

Anyway, no thunderstorms to run from today, just very windy, as it was on the bike. Swirling, gusty, one moment you're floating, the next moment it feels like your pedaling in mud. Good exercise, I suppose, also just general good practice for dealing with adversity. And that's good practice to have, because Mother Nature isn't always always benign.

The ride was one of my usual loops, up River Road just across the river, a few hills, then back via Old Deerfield, pretty flat. Old Deerfield is were Deerfield Academy is and they were setting up for either graduation or alumni weekend. That's where Phil's daughter goes, 11th grade, next year she'll be graduating. Like her dad, she's very smart.

A poignant and very sweet day on the personal side, some very nice e-mail traffic.

And, people, it looks like I may have totally SCORED on the rogaine partner front.

And finally, just in case Boris does a Swampfox and blows up his own training log, I want to save a comment I put there a couple of days ago:

Hey, no fair, that was what I was going to write. Well, sort of....

I agree, it's really cool, thank you, Kenny. I've been afraid that the various added clusters would somehow make it less useful or appealing, but that hasn't happened. And with any luck, Kenny's Google payments are larger every month, and pretty soon will be large enough that he can quit work, hire a nanny for Samantha, do some good training, and have a chance once again to excel at O' events that don't involve beer.

I use it for several reasons: to keep in touch with friends, to motivate myself to train, to have fun, and, and Barb says, to keep a diary about more than just training, or just orienteering. The latter is quite weird. I think diaries are supposed to be private, though maybe that is an old-fashioned concept. Much of what I write is not of a particularly personal nature, but some is. And sometimes it's a bit scary just putting stuff out there, opening yourself up to who knows might come reading.

But then it's there, in black and white (well, maybe white and black) and there are two great joys -- one is the various feedback you get, sometimes flippant, sometimes hilarious, sometimes serious and thought-provoking, always supportive. The other is the chance to go back in time, to see what I was thinking and doing, sometimes just to see specifically how I prepared for an event, sometimes to see more generally what I was doing and thinking. And that is the greatest pleasure. And the more I have written, and the more openly I have written about what I am thinking and doing and feeling, the greater the pleasure it is. And as I get older and remember even less, that will be even more true.

C • so tempting, leave comment or ... 1

Definitely a step backward for the hamstring, some soreness, not terrible, but damn. At least that's damn with a small d for now.

Lay in bed awake for a long time, much too early, feeling very melancholy. A couple of tax clients died this week, both guys in their early 70s, not close friends at all but I knew enough about them to know they were good people, both leave widows behind. What was striking in both cases was the change in the last year or two, as if in a short period of time they had aged a decade or more. One of them knew he was dying soon when I saw him a couple of months ago, we had a long talk, tried to take care of some things so his wife wouldn't have to next year, all just very sad.

And that got me thinking about my own family, and my own parents, and all the issues that were never resolved with my dad, nor ever will be with my mother, and the choices you make at various times in your life, and never knowing if they are the right ones, and always thinking I could have or should have done things differently.

Nothing resolved of course, but it's not really so bad to do the thinking, because there are still many choices ahead, choices to try and get right. Though I will still always be unsure about everything, it's just the way I am. (As opposed to my dad, who was absolutely sure that whatever he did or said was right -- boy, that must make things easy! -- or my mom, well, I've never known what she was really thinking and never will, after my dad died and I was asking her about him and all I could get from her was a totally non-emotional, "He had a good life and it was time to go." Said with the implicit message, this is making me very uncomfortable, I don't want to talk about this, or anything else of substance.)

Well, eventually I get up, maybe about 5:30, and go and pee and then weigh myself, and now it's Damn with a big D because the G is heading back up. Well, not really Damn, half a pound won't kill me. Mainly I just laugh and think how many smiles the G (and its various appearances in various places on AP) has brought me since it was discoverd about a year and a half ago by MW, the musician formerly known as Swampfox.

Well. it turned out to be a fine day after all.

Actually got some work done this morning, then headed out for some rogaine practice but had to beat a hasty retreat after 12 holes when a thunderstorm got way too close. So I went over to the office to take care of a couple of loose ends, only to find out that one of my newly-minted widows had called in a state of panic.

So I rang her up. She was really in a tizzy, understand now that she really loved her husband and he had been dead about 3 days (cancer, hospice, they knew it was coming), but now almost the first thing out of her mouth was, "I am so mad at him!" Wow....

Because, and I sort of knew this, he kept all the books, took care of everything to do with finances, not just their investments, but also the numbers from her business (selling wigs, mostly to cancer patients). So she had no idea what was going on with the numbers. And there were various dates circled on the calendar with "pay taxes" scrawled by them. And she had no idea what to do.

So we talk. And I am good at this. Do this, forget that, keep this, throw that out, here's a list of exactly what I need from your business, here's a list of everything else you need to save for me. And one of my ladies will find someone to do a little very part-time bookkeeping for her. And after 15 or 20 minutes she was almost mellow.

And after a while I'm done with the other stuff and I head home, and get my bike shorts on and am about to head out when I see there are more thunderstorms building, so I think, fine, I'll take the day off, and I get a little more done, and take careof some MW business, and read a little more from this book about bicycling across Siberia, which I first read many years ago, and then it's time for dinner, another delicious production by Gail, and then I actually....

C • Siberian biking 2

... decide that I'm going for a mellow hike after dinner, something I've never done (who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?). Grab the pack, take the headlamp just in case, and I'm off, full stomach and all, direct route to the top of Toby. And it's a nice fast stroll up to the power line, and then straight up the direct trail, and I get into it and I'm going quick as I can even though I'm still walking, and partway up I check my pulse and it's 150, and then it gets still steeper and I'm really working, staggering a bit right at the top, and when I touch the fence around the tower on top and check my pulse it is now 175-180, almost on the verge of too fast to count. Excellent. The last 650' vertically in 12:20, excellent.

C • Vertically 3

The trip back down, very pleasant except for rolling my right ankle near the bottom of the first steep pitch, neither trivial (you forget about it within 100 meters) nor serious, but it took a few minutes to calm down so it will probably bother me for a few days. Getting quite dark at the end, especially in our patch of hemlocks just up the hill. Lots of birds, geese overhead, no big scary creatures. And a lot of good thinking going on.

C • I'm curious how the hamstring ... 2

Just a touch of soreness in the hamstring this morning. So I have a mix of pleasure at how things survived yesterday and anxiety that there are still problems ahead. We shall see.

Looks like rain all day. A zillion things to get done, I've been slacking off recently. It would be nice to make some significant progress. And maybe get out for a hike.

C • Go for the hike! 1

So Wyatt says get out and hike, so I get out and hike, within 10 minutes I'm out the door. It also helps that there is a lull in the rain. (Was Wyatt a drill sergeant in an earlier life, the type that when he says, "Jump," all you can answer is, "How High?" And in some future life will he have enough pain tolerance that a mile in under 5 minutes is not a big deal?)

Figuring that at some point I will again go rogaining, I pulled out the Camelback, filled it up with water to get at least a little weight, and headed out, after a few minutes to get into it I was walking as fast as I could. And certainly breathing hard on the uphills. Long route up to the top of Toby, I remember it taking right about an hour when I used to do this for training for 100-milers, so this was an ok time.

And very pleasant mentally, daydreaming away, lots of old memories being resurrected.

And then jogging back the same way, very carefully, not so bad a cadence but a short stride. Rain picked up and it was coming down pretty hard towards the end, but it didn't seem to bother me at all. In fact I was thinking, need to do this more often, an outing just like this on the days when it's wet, when golf or biking are pretty unappealing. Just grab a pack for a little extra weight, a little extra clothing if you get cold, and head out for a while. I was feeling quite mellow.

Except for the last 100 meters, when I scared up a deer which had been lying right by the little path that connects the trails on the mountain to our house. It jumpd up with a start, no more than 20 meters from me, I shrieked, it snorted a few times (I didn't) and then went tearing back and forth and then out of sight over a little rise in the woods. And then a moment later as I reached the corner of the house, there it was dashing across the driveway. Pretty cool.

Except I'm pretty sure this is the guy that's been eating Gail's flowers.... :-(