Training Log Archive: PG

There will be another Wednesday evening O' training, this time at Earl's Trails, starting from the end of Chmura Road.

Meant to go longer but seemed to be lacking in energy, enthusiasm. So cut it short. See, I'm not always stupid. :-)

Not really sore after yesterday, just tired. Heel is still tender, but no worse. So time to start running again, at least modestly. And then hope for cool weather on the 25th.

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And in the meantime, a trip to DC for my OCS (Officer Candidate School in combat engineering) reunion, 46 years after the fact. In relation to which, I got a small package in the mail a while ago, thought it was some token with regard to the reunion so I didn't open it right away. Finally opened it a couple of days ago, had a note and a rather small container inside.

Opened the latter first. It was an old-fashined compass contained in a circular brass case, unscrew the case and a compass inside. And engraved on the outside was "To: Lt. P. Gagarin. Best 1Sgt ever. Lt. R. Harris."

A bit of the back story. At OCS part of the training was in leadership, and so we each got a turn, or several turns, at the various positions. So for our platoon of about 40 there was a platoon leader, the one in charge, and a first sergeant, second in command, and four squad leaders.

I got named first sergeant for the second week there. They do everything they can to pile on the stress. You try to keep your head above water. I remember being glad to be chosen rather early in the process, a chance to stand out a bit. And I remember doing what I thought was a pretty good job for the week.

The problem is, for the life of me I don't remember R (Roger) Harris. Was he platoon leader that same week? Did I save his butt a few times?

Getting the compass seems to be both a wonderful thing, a memory on his part that way back in my early 20s, when I had little self-confidence and in general a poor self-image, that to someone else I seemed to have my act together so much that all these years later he has gone to such trouble to thank me.

And yet it is also such a sad thing, because I do not remember. Not at all. Not a clue who Roger is, or any memory of him at OCS, nor any memory of most everyone else there. It is just gone.

You want to hug the guy for the gesture. You also want to cry.

I expect it to be an interesting weekend.

Event: 36th Annual Billygoat Run
 

Billygoat map. Skipped #1. Other candidates were 11, 15, 18.

Billygoat at Baldwin Hill, presented very nicely by JJ. Other than the fact that it was on the warm side -- not hot, but definitely warm -- but I won't fault him for that. Very interesting and varied course, controls properly hung, lots of choices, couldn't ask for more.

Not a bad run. Navigation was good for the most part, despite really struggling to read the contours on the map. They were a little lighter brown than usual, but mainly my eyes are just getting a lot worse. Just a couple of small errors, recovered from both nicely, but always the sense that it would have been a lot easier were I able to access all the info on the map. (And I have a magnifier on my compass, use it some, but it disappeared somewhere in the first half of the course.)

Energy level ranged from OK at the start to tired before very long, to really tired after a while, to at the end barely able to keep moving forward unless it was gently downhill. Would have been very happy to have been done an hour earlier.

Company from Ernst on and off throughout the course, surprised to see him again at 12 as I thought he was gone for good. Also from Kseniya from 3 to 10, but then she ran away from me. Also from Balter for a little bit around 6-9, I assumed he had not skipped, but in fact he had. Also from Tim Parson and David Onkst from 12 on.

So struggling to keep up with Ernst and David and Tim from 12 in, managing for a long time, helped by a couple of better executions (at 17, and the route to 19) to catch back up, and failing finally only on the hill up to 21 where just keeping up a modest walk was all I could manage and they steadily pulled away. But I still took some satisfaction from making the effort.

But totally totally wasted by the finish.

Though it seemed the effort was good enough for 15th overall, 13th guy. Best in a long time. Makes a difference not having a dozen cadets in front of me.

Seemed like the course was harder than average, mainly because the terrain at Baldwin Hill demands precise navigation and offers few trails to speed one's passage. And the warm weather took its toll. But nice to see a bunch of runners making it in under 3:30. That is an accomplishment no matter what the year. And this year, even more so.

C • placing 1

Billygoat - Splits

Heel bruise is a little better, but still no running. Hopefully OK by Sunday.

First bike ride of the year, Old Deerfield - River Road. Some new pavement and the loop as a whole is pretty smooth. Wind out of the south, noticeably so. Legs felt good to start, should have as I haven't done anything for 4 days, but will probably feel beat up tomorrow.

Meanwhile marathon training has gone to hell….

But I want to do a little riding over the next 4 months as I am planning a century ride in early September.

Seems like there will be the fourth installment of Phil's Western Mass Wednesday evening training events, this one at Earl's Trails, starting from the end of Chmura Road. Limited to the first 24 people. Start at 6 pm, come a little before that. I'll set the course this time. One course of appropriate difficulty for everyone.

C • Limited to 24 4

Got home without much hassle.

Away for 4 nights. First was on a plane, maybe 2 hours sleep. Second on the floor of the Ross/Sam/Boris/Alli apartment in Uppsala, good night's sleep. Third was in the military tent at 10-mila, very cold, maybe 3 hours sleep. Fourth was at the airport in Stockholm on a rather comfortable bench, about 3 hours sleep. And added about 3 hours sleep on the plane home.

Not my usual standard, but worked just fine. Felt wide awake for my run Sunday morning (9 am start, 3 am Sunderland time), and then also wide awake to do about 3 hours of driving the van on the way back to Uppsala, and then also wide awake on the not quite 4 hours drive back from the Newark airport. So it all seemed to work. Two key points -- really good earplugs, and not obsessing about jet lag or what time it was back home or whatever. The body can adapt if you just let it.

I seem to have picked up my first injury in quite some time, a bruise under my left heel. I think I did it in the finish chute, there were a couple of downhill parts on somewhat rocky ground, and I think I caught one wrong. Didn't notice anything until walking some in the airport Sunday night when it seemed quite sore, and I've been hobbling since then. Would be nice if it started to mellow out before too long. And glad I was just starting a Euro O' tour. Going out for a run today would require a lot of vitamin I.

There are a lot of really good photos that Kenny took, including our team shot after it was over --



Front row from left: Ian, Ken, Ali, Peter
Back row from left: Giacomo, Boris, Matthias, Brendan, Greg, Ross

An incredibly smart and fun and talented bunch of people to be on a team with.

My map from 10mila (click on map for a larger image). Only navigation problems were #1, just above it, and #17, just to the left. But I was being pretty careful and stopping as needed to take careful looks at the map.