Training Log Archive: PG

Event: Hudson Highlander
 

Hudson Highlander. Here are the maps --

1. Pole Brook (O' section 1, the contours are quite light, but that's the way they are on the map).
2. Sebago (trail run plus O' section 2).
3. Sebago (O' section 3).

A very brief report is all I can manage this evening (got the maps posted, that's all that really matters).

Lowlights --

The 5 hours and 37 minutes I spent on the course. I figured breaking 6 hours was about all I was capable of, so I suppose I should be pleased with the result, but it was mostly just drudgery. Tired and frail the whole time. I remember saying to Peggy early on the last loop that at the rate I was going, it might not be much longer before I said good-bye to orienteering.

The drive down listening to Phil cough about every 30 seconds for 3 hours.

Highlights --

The drive back. Phil wasn't coughing quite as much, plus I'd gotten used to it. And we had a nice chat about various things. Friends are good.

Nice post-race karma got me out of my funk almost immediately. Lots of smiling faces. Lots of nice people. And some news, were I still in my former role as NGPC, that I would have celebrated, not that that stopped me from celebrating it anyway.

And on the little things that are nice, Neil Dobbs came up to me before the race and introduced himself. I think I'd met him once, briefly, at a Billygoat a bunch of years ago. But he's living here now (he's Irish), and a star, and while I like to keep in touch with the young hotshots, I was quite hesitant to approach him. Thanks, Neil.

I think I only fell about 4 times. I don't know why.

C • the privilege... 3

Highlander - Splits

Over to the gate, down to the river, and back via Gunn Farm. Such a nice loop, interesting but not too difficult and really pretty. A few puddles and lots of wet leaves so took it a bit careful.

Saw an owl, a barred owl I'm pretty sure. They're rather common, but usually I hear them at night, less often see one flying. This one I scared up when it was right next to me, I mean right next to me, on the ground and just to my side. It flew right up in front of me and landed on a branch just ahead of me (maybe 10 feet?) and maybe 10 feet up in the air. I looked up briefly, still have this image of it perched right there, felt like I could just about reach out and touch it. Put the brakes on and a foot down, looked back behind me and it was already gone. When they fly they are so quiet that you don't hear a thing. Really cool, best look I've ever had at one, even if it was just for an instant.

From the gate, running over to the start of the Power Line Power Climb, then hike up it, then ran back down, via the Robert Frost trail at the end. Light rain, sweating a lot, the usual combination of hard work and slow speed. But the legs mostly survived.

18:02 up the power line. Getting slower and slower. Of course if I trained a little....

Legs are very sore from yesterday, mostly the quads. They had mostly forgotten what running is all about.

Let's see, 26.2 km at 15 min/km is about 6 and a half hours. Yesterday was an hour and a half. So I just have to keep going for an extra 5 hours?

C • 26.2km 3

And here's a fine photo from yesterday at Paugusset -- Ali, Dr. Dan (just got his phD in astronomy this summer), and Gail. I'm pretty sure Dan is all set to open the Far West chapter of WCOC (he's moving from the Twin Cities to Seattle this week).

He also made great progress on his own quest for 2,000 controls, roughly doubling his count is just one day. Awesome.

Had a very fine trip down and back with them, other than the fact that the car was quite unbalanced, the average IQ in the back seat being so much higher than in the front seat. Hmm, but it drove OK. I guess the disparity in age between the front and the back must have just about exactly offset the difference in brain power.

Several excuses not to go out today. Legs were very sore, it was raining, and I had jury duty. But jury duty was a bust (all the cases on today's docket got settled before going to trial, so the jury pool got dismissed after sitting and doing nothing for two hours, and that takes care of jury duty for at least the next 3 years).

And the sore legs, well, that was a reason to go do a little something. And the rain, well, I figured I needed to see what it was like on the mountain bike in the rain.

But trying not to be excessively stupid, headed over to the Montague plains, mostly dead flat, sandy soil, lots of jeep roads criss-crossing the area, plus a hill on the north end. Just sprinkling and low 60s when I started, raining quite steadily by the time I finished, but quite a pleasant outing. And if I had some proper clothing....

Just one fall, while bushwhacking around a fallen tree, no damage done.

And did my best when I got home to clean up the bike, washed it off with the hose and dried it off best as I could. I'm trying.