Training Log Archive: PG

Covid-Goat at Mountain Lakes.

I hadn't been sure I'd wanted to do this. Last orienteering was in the winter, and my left calf had gone bad on me then, so no running for a long time. I had no interest in just walking the CG, so over the last month I've done little bits of running to try to gauge what was possible.

It was certainly better than when I started up with a little running last fall. At that point running for a minute without walking was a challenge. I think it's helped that I purposely do a lot of riding out of the saddle. It has at least a little relevance to running, whereas riding in the saddle has none. When I realized earlier this week that the course was only going to be up a little longer, I figured it was this weekend or never.

Wednesday was a test. Ran for just over a mile, made it the whole way without having to walk, so that was a clear success. So it was a go.

On my way a little before 6 am. Fog much of the down there, WTF. Temperature upper 60s. No fog at Mountain Lakes, but as I pulled into my VIP parking spot 10 yards from the start/finish, an equal distance from the loo, it started to rain, WTF again. Forecast had been for low 70s and sunny. Reminded me of Lincoln Gap, forecast was sunny and pleasant, got rained on for the first 45 minutes of my ride. Well, handled that, could handle this.

On my way a little after 8. I'd looked at the map some in advance, mainly looking to see if I could see a way to get some water part way around the course as I wasn't keen of carrying. Lo and behold, there was a nice route to 12 that went right by the S/F. So I left a bottle outside the car, and a Cliff Bar in case I needed it, and headed off.

Basically a good run. Best thing was probably my energy, just kept plugging away, walked when it went up, jogged when it went down, jogged in bits and pieces when it was flat. Kept that up the whole way. Glad it was over when it was, but if it been a BG instead of a CG, 3 or 4 km longer, I felt like I could have managed to keep going. The ups were never long enough or steep enough to really toast me.

What did toast me was the humidity. Dew point must have been in the upper 60s. Before long I was sweating profusely and then soaking wet. No big deal other than for my glasses, fogging up big time. It was pretty aggravating. My vision is bad enough already. Today it really sucked. I could read the map just by taking the glasses off, but my vision on the move was shaky, especially when running.

Fell once, not good, hopefully not bad. Wrenched my lower right back somewhat. Not so much that I noticed it when on the course, that's a good sign, but then I noticed it right away when I stopped. Hmmm.

Navigating? Got off to a bad start, wandered in the vicinity of #1 for a while. The rest was fine, nothing more than a slight bobble on 8. Routes were generally trying to go as straight as possible.

Glad I went. I have the feeling that I'd like to keep doing some orienteering, but not too much. It is hard on the body. But a little bit, even at the speed I'm going now where it's a different sport than it used to be, a little bit is just fine.

DIY Goat - Splits

With Gail, flats south of town, except for the "wall" which she negotiated with some trepidation in advance but no difficulty in the actual doing. Sort of like Phil yesterday. We'll have to see if, like Phil and his wall, she'll opt out of ever going there again. It is true that some things are clearly worth doing once, and common sense would say that once is enough. Like Lincoln Gap.

A nice little loop, beginning of North Mountain and the single-track.

With C&R, and then a visit at Ratlum Mountain. Fine day!

Ride with Phil from his place, out to Westhampton and back. He proposed doing the climb out of Williamsburg up 143, non-trivial, said it was the only local climb he hadn't done this year. Though after a bit of discussion, it turned out he had not done The Wall this year; in fact, he had never done it. Well, that settled where we were going.

Nice day if a bit windy, in our face going out, not as much help coming back as I hoped, though often on such things there is a sizable gap between perception and reality. But none of that mattered. The Wall was what mattered. Time to take care of something he has been avoiding for a long time.

It may be steep (and it's not really that steep, I had a gear to spare) but it sure is short, and in a minute we were up, heart rates certainly not in the red zone.

That taken care of successfully, the ride back was satisfyingly mellow.

With Gail, out to the rail trail bridge and back. NW wind, 15 or so, so a lot slower going out. Legs tired, but managed to keep up.

South Deerfield and Whately. Wind seemed to vary from NW to NE, gusty at times. Mid 50s and sunny.

On Mt. Toby from top of Claybrook.

Afternoon ride to Leverett and Montague Center. Sunny, light breeze, low 60s. I started with my arm warmers on, figured I'd take them off after a couple miles when the hills started, but they stayed on the whole time.

I'd noticed Phil had recently done a section of uphill in Montague Center, Court Street and Taylor Hill Road, that I've run up many times and walked up a few times with Gail, but if I've ever biked up it, I don't remember.

So the plan was to do it. But as I was getting near Montague Center the alternate route, down to and along the river, very gently rolling, seemed so much more appealing. So I decided to go down to the river. But when I got to where I'd have to turn left to go up, all of a sudden the bike just turned left. What could I do? Let it go and walk home?

So up I went, a nice little climb in two parts. Croaked a little towards the end of each part, but not too bad, don't have enough endurance when climbing out of the saddle. But it was over quickly, leaving just a nice downhill and a little more along the river. In retrospect, the choice was just right.

With Gail. We drove north a bit and then rode up into Vermont on the west side of the river. Wind from the north, low 60s, definitely felt like fall. Went by Vernon Green nursing home, I think it was Kissy's grandparents that owned/founded it??, looked nice and well taken care of. Also by the now closed nuclear plant. A few more hills than we usually do, which elicited a complaint or two from Gail, though she seemed to get up them just fine.

And both bikes fit in the back of her car with no disassembly required. :-)

C • Vernon Green 2