Training Log Archive: Charlie

Rhonda's good idea to go hike the Tunxis trail loop. First time in a while. I was a bit surprised by the amount of mud and standing water, given how dry it seems otherwise. I did a lot of rolling first, trying to quiet my butt and ITBs. The dog had a fine time. We had a brief encounter with our former neighbor Stuart, who moved away last year but was driving nearby and stopped for a walk on Doyle Road for old times' sake.

Long Brown course at West Point. Very sore and stiff to start and feeling vulnerable. Not my best navigation, either. On the way to 1 there was a sea of green pointy stuff, wandering this way and that to get through with as little damage as possible, I ended up way off to the right, just left of the big patch of bare rock and cliffs, then pulled up short and looked pretty hard at some other dot knolls along the way. Must have lost at least 3 minutes with that foolishness. Then I intended to go south to the trail and around to 2, but another sea of green and I found myself angling uphill to get away from it, finally crossed the power line and came over the top. Not much difficulty finding it, but a very slow route, so maybe another 2 minutes. Then 3 was not too bad, especially once I realized I had to go past the power line first. 4 was fine, a couple of extra cliffs along the way, but basically right on line. It was along the way to 4 when I looked at my watch and saw the dreaded 00:00:00. Sometimes I punch it to start and it beeps, but doesn't actually start. Not the first time this has happened. I really need to watch it to confirm that it is actually starting. So I missed the first 17 minutes or so of the course with my track. Then 5 was more or less ok. I was a line low coming to it, and it looked more like a cliff than a dot knoll to me, but it had a flag on it, so I had to go punch it. 6 was fine. I found the slot in the big cliff and followed it up all the way and in. Now I understand what happened at 7. I was heading south to get around the big cliffs halfway, found a place to climb up and thought I was going straight east and into it, but with all the up and down I got off to the south. Well off, halfway to 8. Saw the people heading south and had to go back north a fair amount. 8 should have been easy, and it wasn't too bad, but I did end up having to hook around back into it. 9 was just a mystery. I thought I had come right into it, came over a knoll and into a rocky area at the foot, looking just like the map, but no control. So I decided to wander N a bit and found it. Didn't look quite as convincing as the first place I found, but it did have a flag. 10 was pretty much a disaster. Headed for 7, but then I didn't actually find 7 the second time. Then I thought the giant cliff between 10 and 11 was the cliff with bare rocks near 10, so that led to all kinds of unhappiness, before I figured out I was too far East and got over to the right area. Then swapping leads with Janet Findlay for a while. 11 was fine, 12 was fine, although I had trouble getting out of 12 and ended up going back north to the trail instead of having the discipline to fight out east or south. I saw Boris sitting by 13, who encouraged me on my power walking up the hill. Nice, but I had thought I was running.

Now that I am home, the level of soreness and fatigue is calling into grave question my plan to run (or walk) the Billygoat in 2 weeks. If I can't find someone to ride with, it may just all be too much.

Brown Long Map.

Long - Brown - Splits

Event: West Point National Meet
 

Middle distance Brown course at West Point. Back is pretty sore, certainly more of a struggle than last month in California. Started slowly to 1. Somehow it seemed farther than I was expecting, so I was just looking around a lot on the way, but saw the big rootstock in front of the control. Then 2 was a pretty nice leg, pretty straight, coming between the two knolls just above it and straight in. Fine to 3, except I didn't look far enough around the cliff to see the control, so reluctantly went down and checked the next cliff, mapped as bare rock on the edge of the circle, and then doubled back for it. Then down to the intersection at the water stop and S on the trail thinking I would go off the boulder 50M south, but no boulder there, and now that I look at it the symbol is a building, but no building there either. No harm done, because the spot was obvious. Wormed my way between the green and somewhat reluctantly crossed the stream. Up to my waist! And hard to get out on the steep bank on the other side. It wasn't until I was on the way to 5 that I saw there was a bridge a bit farther up. Anyway, once I was across, pretty easy to find #4, and there were a few folks there, anyway. Then I got a bit off to the right on the way to 5, near the stream, and past the bridge, but no troublefinding the control, going up the little streamlet ditch to it. Started back toward the bridge, but found a place to cross the stream on rocks, and headed uphill. Eventually I came out on the E/W trail, but a bit confused, and it seemed like climbing up on the N side of the stream was helpful, so it ended up a bit of a circuitous route. I saw a 4 meter boulder across the stream and thought that it would have to be on the map, but then I saw that the clue was 4 M boulder, so all set. The last few were trivial.

Brown Middle Map.

The walk back from the finish was pretty painful, basically as long as the walk to the start plus half the course, and over rocky sidehill much of it. Joe was apparently clever enough to figure out a way to get across the swamp on a beaver dam. Very tiring, and perhaps not optimal course planning.

C • perhaps not optimal course ... 4

Brown Sprint at West Point. Easier than the morning, but still sore and hobbled. Maybe lost a bit of time here and there, including going almost to 3 on the way from 6 to 7, and getting past 14 and then cutting back in to it, but the only real error was 15, where I drifted below the lower big cliff and had to think about it a while before I climbed up, maybe a minute or a minute and a half lost there. Just for perspective, I saw 8 right away leaving 7, more or less ran to it as fast as I could. Andis passed me, probably doing the leg in half the time it took me or maybe even less.

Brown Sprint Map.

Middle - Brown - Splits

Sprint - Brown - Splits

8 ring pullups.

I had to drop the car off for a bit in Collinsville, so I walked up Sweetheart Mtn a bit to kill half an hour. I got a nasty hot spot under my heel on the way down. Not a favorable development the day before an o-meet.

Resuming the weekly sessions with Eric. He always does me a lot of good. My back continues to be quite sore, but maybe a little better today than the last couple of days.

5 full hang ring pullups. Interesting. The limitation seems to be initiating the pullup from the bottom, which draws on some forearm strength. The left is not strong enough right now, so there is a little imbalance in the first part of the movement, as I am mostly starting the pull on the right.

This is the best thing I seem to do for my back, and right now is the best it has felt since I got home from Italy.

Had a nice visit with walk this morning. He dropped off some maps on his way over to Peoples State Forest, stayed to chat a while. Very pleasant.

With Rhonda. I was feeling pretty sore and limited this morning, and this walk is the best thing I seem to be able to do for myself, especially the steepest of the uphill sections.

I have a couple of spine appointments set up, one for next week and one for the week following. Maybe I'll know more after that.

With Rhonda. No track, as Garmin was misbehaving. The excellent customer support people got it working again promptly when I got home. This included a stop to chat up our neighbor Shannon, and I found a bag along the road and filled it up with various submoron detritus, including the inevitable twinkling Bud Light cans.

C • Roadside trash 10

I needed to go to AAA, and Zack suggested I ride there and he would pick me up. An easy ride in that direction. The back is rather more sore than it has been lately. Maybe it is the residue of having seen my MRI.