Training Log Archive: PG

Boulder Dash, day 2. Another ok run, just missed one control, about 75 meters to the right, corrected pretty quickly. But was feeling very tired right from the start. A struggle to keep going, especially at the end.

Still good enough to get some scalps (Balter, again!), but Sam got me today by a minute. But to keep things in perspective, best time on the course was 47, by Martin Ward of the UK in M40. He would have won M21 if he had been running the Blue course.

I really enjoyed the orienteering, though perhaps some others didn't (too hard, or maybe too hard to read all the details on the map?). Felt like I knew where I was just about all the time. But that's a lot easier if you just go slow enough. Also, think I managed to get through the weekend with no major damage. Does that mean I'm ready for the Highlander next weekend?

I'll post the maps in a little while.

A very nice trip up and back with Charlie. Stopped on the way back for more rogaine practice. Unbelievably beautiful late afternoon. AOWN highlight was a flock of 27 turkeys at the 6th tee, only some of which are shown here --

Red course day 1 and day 2.

Red Day 2 - Splits

Event: Boulder Dash 2007
 

Boulder Dash, day 1, Bow, NH.

Good run. No problems finding the controls. Running wasn't too bad, pretty slow but reasonable energy, so at least I kept moving along. Third on the Red course, 4 scalps (Pavlina, both Saeger sisters, plus the great Balter!), not so bad!

Followed that up with a couple of hours of rogaine practice with Charlie. It's hard work but have to keep doing it -- worlds champs in Estonia are only 50 weeks off.

Meanwhile, Gail has provided the latest from the home front: "The fox story for the day. We were on the 2nd T when I looked to the
side and saw the fox cross the 1st green, beautiful in the sunlight.
It then went just beyond the green in the little hollow where I
couldn't see it. The next group on 1 was ready to hit to the green
and at first waited, then went ahead and hit. The very proper fox,
after waiting for them, then trotted by them heading towards 14 or
16. Never saw it again."

And I've been doing a little research, using just two words for a Google search -- "fox" and "pet". Which generated the following page. For those too busy to check it out, I'll quote a couple of key points --

"Because of their size, their relation to dogs, and their somewhat exotic nature, foxes are sometimes sought out as pets. This is almost universally a bad idea."

It goes on to list various problems, and then follows up with a suggestion, just in case you really do get a fox as a pet:

"When your animal is old enough, have it neutered. You've already ruined any chance it might have at a fulfilling life from its point of view; neutering will make it calmer and happier, therefore making you happier."

Hmm, may have to rethink my plans of a mellow old age with my pet fox....

C • foxes -on-strings; sure they can be pets! 1

Red Day 1 - Splits

So today my friend Mr. Fox was hanging out on the 17th, seemingly not a worry in the world other than what appeared to be a massive case of fleas in need of regular scratching. And there was a fresh foxhole in the trap on 16.



Charlie thinks he didn't look like a real healthy animal, if for no other reason than all the scratching.

Gail thinks he may be a young one.

Charlie thought he had big feet.

Gail didn't think he was particularly dangerous.

Nobody pulled out a sand wedge for self-defense.

Though Gail reports that there is one woman who won't go out by herself (even in a cart) because she is afraid of the fox.

And that's pretty much all of today's news....

C • fox 1

Another wild evening in Sunderland -- everyone is sitting around reading AttackPoint....

Thursday evening track group. Plan was 2 x 800 on a 4:15 cycle (so if you took 3:10 for the 800, you got 1:05 rest), 2 x 1600 on a 8:30 cycle, and then 2 x 800 on a 4:15 cycle. Warm and very humid.

Did ok -- 3:11, 3:10, 6:30, 6:30, 3:10, and then skipped the last 800, just felt like I had done enough.

I was thinking at the end that part of the benefit of doing these workouts was getting the body used to moving faster, and part of the benefit was remembering how to suffer. It sure seemed like intervals used to hurt more than they do now. Just not pushing myself as much. That will come if I keep at it. I'm serious about that -- it takes confidence to really push yourself, confidence that you will survive, confidence that you can keep going, confidence that you will recover quickly. Get that confidence and then it's easier to go deeper in the red.

So this was progress.

Another rendezvous with Mr. Fox today. Photo coming, I think.

Warmup.

So my friend the fox seems to be establishing residency in the trap on the 16th --



And tame seems to be too mild a word, only after someone getting very close did Mr. Fox stand up, but run off? No way.



It may have something to do with the appearance of a rather large hole just under the lip of the bunker. A foxhole, I believe it is called.

It is all quite weird....

C • perhaps... 4

Ok, it's 4:30 in the morning and I'm up because I have a bad headache and it's better if I do something.....

I spent a bunch of time at this time last year putting together a proposal for a coach for the senior team, including a detailed job description, and making a presentation to the USOF Board in November. I had been advised by the USOF powers that the Board was prioritizing juniors, so it would be better to make it a junior/senior coach, not just a senior coach, so that was done. And the Board actually approved the money, $6,600, but it was clear that it favored it going toward junior development. And it put the money in the budget as a separate item under the control of the USOF VP for competition.

And there it has sat for 10 months. I have inquired more than once as to what was going on, including the following in May:

"Hi Clare,

The Board approved some money in the 2007 budget for coaching for the junior and senior teams. Some of the money, roughly 3K I think, was for Bob Turbyfill?s program, though I am not sure he will use it all, and the rest, roughly 6K I think, was put under your control.

At the Board meeting when this was approved, most of the comments seemed to favor spending money on the juniors rather than the seniors, so I haven?t been trying to claim part of it. Has anything been done? Have the juniors already spent the money? Is there anything in the works? Or is it just sitting there?

Just wondering....

Peter"

---------------------------------------------

It seems like it has been sitting there. Because I had absolutely no reply to any of my inquiries. But, good news! I just got a copy of the following e-mail from our new USOF Prez (formerly the VP for Competition), addressed to our new USOF V-Prez for Competition:

"Bob,

Last year we got about $6,000 approved in the budget for a Jr./Sr. Team
Coach or coaching support of some sort. This has not yet come to
fruition. The money was approved in the general budget and does not
automatically carry over to next year. It needs to be spent or else it
needs to be rebudgeted for next year. I recommend that you start working
with the teams to spend what you can of it and come up with a decent
budget proposal related to this for next year. The budget meeting is
coming up.

Clare"

-----------------------

Yup, we better hurry up and do something because the year is drawing to a close and the budget for next year needs to be done. So I'm going to work up another plan and get support for it and go to a Board meeting and get it approved, and then have it sat on again for, well, it's now been 10 months? Right.

It's too bad. I was feeling so positive about things. I recall working with Don Davis and his team selection committee to get the 2007 team chosen before the first of the year, and Don did a great job and we were all set to announce it last week of December, except it needed the approval of the VP Competition, and that came almost right away, first week of February.... :-)

More positive vibes when WCOC stepped up to offer to hold the Relay Champs this year when no one else was interested, and George got all the sanctioning stuff done in November and the bid was submitted to the Board, and we got that approval in just 3 months, even though they never actually told us, we had to find out via the grapevine.... :-)

I may have to think a while to put some positive spin on the latest. Though perhaps there is some good news. When there is a change in personnel, it's usually nice to have some continuity -- particularly for us old folks, we have a hard time dealing with change -- and we seem to be getting that continuity. Our new VP-Comp has been in office for a month and a half and so far not a word, nothing about the Team, nothing about the Relay Champs, nothing about the fact that we have no Relay Champs or Middle Champs or Classic Champs scheduled for next year. Can someone down in the Lone Star state check to see if there is a pulse?

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

C • team coach 8

Reference my AOWN report of last Friday, 9/21, yesterday I was ready for Mr. Fox when it snuck up close to me on the 18th. My partners were telling me to draw a weapon -- sand wedge again perhaps as I had not yet procured a 9mm -- as Mr. Fox was acting unnaturally friendly and getting very close (10 yards), but instead I pulled out my camera. The light was bad, the sun reflected off the screen and I couldn't see anything, but I pressed what seems to have been the right button and aimed more or less in the right direction, and so I present Mr. Fox ---



You have to look closely, but it definitely is a fox. Not a big one. Not very threatening. I think it just wanted to be friends....

C • Blam blam! 5

C • aown 1

Dave was coming by in the late afternoon to run (he sometimes parks and starts from here, just for a change of scenery), and I figured the only way I'd get out the door was to go with him. It turned out he was going to run some on the trails on Toby, so I thought it would be a nice slow pace, because he always was an extremely cautious trail runner.

But it's been a long time since I ran trails with him, and he's gotten a lot better. Or maybe I was just tired. Whatever, it seemed like hard work, cerainly harder than I expected, except for the downhills where he is still a little careful. But it was nice to have company.

Power line (18:14 -- I started really slow, figuring that would suit him, little did I know), over to the gate (39:10), down to the river and back along Falls Road. Not breathing particularly hard, but legs felt stressed.

Feeling quite wiped today, maybe it was the 36 holes of rogaine practice, the first round starting not much after dawn with my regular old guys group, the second with Gail, and a fine round that was, 75, had thoughts for quite a while that it might be par or better but it was not to be....

But also feeling totally satisfied with the weekend, and that is such a fine feeling, and one that will last for a long, long time.

I'm in the process of writing up something about why the relay courses were set the way they were, may take a couple of days to finish.

And then need to figure out if there is a future for the Sprint Series in 2008.

And if there will be a Relay Champs in 2008.

C • Should there be a ***** in 2008? 8

The WCOC crew (PG, Sandy, Valerie, Jim, Lyn, George, Joe, Rick, Susie) --



Photo by Speedy, click on photo for a larger image (also for more relay photos)