Training Log Archive: PG

Charlie's loop at McLeans on the way home. Had thoughts of a fast run, including a bunch of short hard efforts, until I stepped out of the car and the legs again felt like crap.

Started off anyway. Got up the first little hill, breathing too hard, stopped at the top for a moment to reevaluate things. Out with plan A. Out with plan B too, which was to turn around and head right back to the car. Onward with plan C, take the loop in the reverse direction, at a mellow pace, so all the hills would be in different places and the newness would make it less unpleasant.

After a mile or two the legs loosened up, and the pace increased a bit, and I'd gotten up all the hills so far without any distress. And so plan D, run the rest hard and see what happens. So a good effort for the last 20 minutes, the last mile certainly more up than down, and the legs held up pretty well. So close to what I had hoped for originally and a good rescue of the workout.

And the usual treat of a Snickers after a post-Litchfield run… :-)

And another good week of training.

Event: WCOC Sessions Woods Meet
 

Somewhat recovered from yesterday. Took a while yesterday evening before I could start refueling, but then drank and ate a bunch, plus a 3 am snack, plus a good breakfast.

And so off to the WCOC meet at Sessions. Wouldn't have gone except that Gail wanted to go. Wasn't sure what I would do, if anything. A little bit of walking felt OK. but a very little bit of running felt like already too much.

Western Mass rules -- note that those three words describe both a method of meet organization and a complete sentence about the state of the world. Regarding the former, 18 controls, get them all or get some subset (5, or 9, or 12, or 15). Nine seemed like more than enough challenge. So off I went for what I assumed would be mostly a walk.

And there was certainly a good bit of walking. But I also discovered that just sort of shuffling along seemed quite tolerable, so I shuffled a fair bit unless things went uphill too much or the woods were uninviting. The legs still felt dead, but way better than the really really dead that I was expecting.

Got my nine controls done, 48-34-32-30-31-35-33-38-41, and I must have miscounted because I then headed off to 42 instead of back to the finish. And at some point around then I looked at my watch, and thought about how I was doing (much better than expected), and decided I might as well shuffle around to a few more, and maybe even all of them.

So then 37-36-44-46-43-40 and pretty close to the finish, but there were still two left. I certainly had as much energy as I had when I started, more if anything, so might as well. So off to get 47 and 45 and then in.

Can't imagine that was the optimum route.

Only screw-up was on the way from 45 to the finish. Ended up on the main E/W trail instead of the one going by 48. Not pretty.

Nice day, fun outing, credits to Charlie and Bill for hosting.

And now, still feeling rather beat, time for a nap.

Bleh. Felt a little tired to start. Started to feel beat about 8. Started to walk about 12. Would have probably been useful to have some fluids, was down about 6 pounds at the end. And then GI distress afterwards. As I said, bleh.

At some point I am going to be really hungry. But not yet.

Didn't feel up for a long run today, so a short one it was.

And got tickets to go to 10-mila, finally. Leaving in just two weeks. Looking forward to it, especially running the anchor leg for our CSU team. I think I am the oldest on the team by about a generation and a half. :-)

Late afternoon run for a change (it's April 16 and my schedule is changing dramatically, but still a bunch of things at work to take care of). Did take care of a bunch of amended returns, plus give notice.

Felt neither zippy nor enthusiastic for the first few miles until, strangely, I headed uphill, and then things kicked into gear and I was moving along much better, and could happily have gone on for a while. Or maybe even, after a 5-mile warm-up, put out a decent effort at a 3K. Not that that was going to happen, but at least i was thinking about it.

Plan is 18 sometime this week, depends on the weather, and I don't mean golf. Though it is time to dig the clubs out too.

C • plus give notice 3

Up in the hills. Rain, somewhat hard at times, gusty wind out of the south, but temps were in the upper 50s and I was comfortable the whole time -- soaking wet, but comfortable.

Interesting run. Roads that I was somewhat familiar before, but obviously not totally familiar with. When I turned west off the Shelburne Colrain road, the turn was in the correct place, just past the town line, but then it didn't behave like my quick glance at a map before the run had me believing it would.

Kept going, up and down, up and down. Kept expecting to be able to take another left, but no such thing. Was trying to remember the macro lay of the land -- what the major bounds were (ridges, rivers, bigger roads), trying to think if there was any way I could end up seriously different than where I hoped.

And of course the only indication of direction on a heavily overcast day was the wind direction, and it was pretty variable because of the terrain.

About 5 miles in I decided that plan B -- turn around and go back the way I'd come -- was coming pretty close to being put into action, but thought I'd give it another half mile. And fortunately in another half mile I came to an intersection I recognized. And only a couple of miles to the car instead of another five and a half.

The funny thing was that I'd almost bagged the run. While I was changing into running clothes it started raining harder and harder and my will power was slipping away. But then there was a lull and I managed to get myself out the door, for a couple a couple of miles at least.

But once you get going, and get wet, it's no big deal, as long as your temperature control is OK. And really rather enjoyable.

And now, afterwards, looking at the map, I went exactly where I planned to go.... :-)

No energy today, either the warm day (mid-70s) or tired from the weekend, so just plodded along. I'd much rather run in cold weather than warm, but usually you don't have a choice.