Training Log Archive: bl

Walking & wood schlepping. Several doses of ibuprofen over course of day gradually eased various sorenesses. Amusing ? to contemplate extracting a body from the driver's seat after two and a third hours of orienteering followed by two plus hours of driving.

35th BG. Did not collect splits on the 305 & split sheet was confusing so it was a bit of work to get some of the legs to agree, map vs memory vs depicted gps route.

Event: The 35th annual Billygoat Run
 

35th BG by PG, great weather w/ temp around 50F. Excellent course with some long legs on about 2.4 sq k of map. Hard to pick a skip! Little sweat, no cramps, decent energy, no bad foot/sore feet/blood blister issues. I'd give my performance a B --- there was a moderate amount of following first part or later in tandem with Phil. Mistakes: maybe 45" on first, 45" on 11, 10" on 14, 15" on 18, 1' on 20, maybe 30" to final point (went round, coming from opposite direction) for about 3.5' total plus 1' est. for fall & recuperation.

30" to look at map - not many went our way...an older crew it seemed tho now that I think, some cadets disappearing fast. Was confused with trails near #1, ran by it, stopped, still confused, PB straightened me out. Think ours was a reasonable RC. Saw Alar a bit more than half way to #2. After that, a group of myself, Phil, Alar, Jim A, Glen, one or two others. Mika there as well. Phil on & off, Alar took me to 10, Phil right behind. Phi & I at 11, 12, 13 plus Anna Skelton? Peggy D came waltzing by 3/4ths of the way to 14. Then Peggy, Angelica Riley, Breton twins, Phil, me but we skipped 16 - so alone again. We were together 18 & 19 - I tripped hard on a root (fortunately on soft path surface) just before 19, so slowed down for a bit. Left finish area for 20 before Phil but misread map and stupidly ran way around to buildings for AP to 20 - so Phil, having gone direct, was ahead. But I got ahead to 21, did not sense he was near & thot maybe the last of him, but no, he reappeared at 22 just before me! Both of us straight & careful to #23. Phil was concerned about overdoing complaining hamstrings, so I was able to finish just ahead.

Thanks PG & Gail & others. A great weekend with quite a bit of variation for Beth & I with an abundance of bucolic scenery in VT, MA & NH going & returning.

Billygoat - Splits

Event: UNO Sewell Woods
 

Little Three track meet, cold, windy day! The occasional ray of sun but not a thinclad-type day. Both young men & women competing and addition of 3000m steeplechase as well as 5k were main differences. Mind went from present to past (45 springs ago) & back all afternoon. Doug Rae was there but virtually no one else from our era.
800m start

Imagine another time

Mocha in short stride



Lovely drive to Amherst area along Rte 116, finally holed up in Greenfield.
After last year's BG and before this year's BG, we went to Williamstown - without design.

C • Times past 2

Sunday, middle, CP#5 Done mostly for the fun of it & to see how to get track in small section of map. Learned more than I thought I would, ie, did not descend & climb back up thru CP cliff but around to S of it, between cliffs as mapped. And, twice, was looking at area between cliff to L & one just to L & above that one (second time as in looking for extremely tucked away flag - thinking Anna Marie Skelton might know something I didn't). And must have made my way thru that uncrossable cliff in departing. GPS track makes sense/seems pretty accurate.

Drive to Williamstown via Rte 9 & 8/100. West of Brattleboro, it is so rustic & later just plain wilderness. No shortage of forlorn houses & structures, distant views, dark forests, still snow-covered ground. Weather change with a gusty warm south wind & light rain.

Penchant for cemeteries

Last of the Permanent O markers, 24 total. Warm, overcast & overdressed for bugs but none present. Big surprise in that someone - probably the town - cleaned up the biggest trash site in the forest as well as the wood debris by the WH roadside nearby...a mess going back perhaps 3 years.

4 more Permanent markers - in woods by 0640. Could see one's breath which is fitting as it's the symmetrically opposite side of cold - like October. Found a smaller 'shooting range' with the usual trash.

SPS track after work, cool & breezy. Ran a 400, 800, 1200 - didn't get to run a metric mile as kids began appearing & it was time to be scarce. Went to an empty athletic field, running 6x2' on grass laps with 90" between.

Jerry Hill nature area off Long Pond. A fine, cloudless day, but not much energy for the 'fray' - wandered in open woods & on paths when I came across them. Just noticing peepers.

To Joe's Saab to get car - nice chill to the air.

Put out 8 permanent O markers in Nottingcook, warm at first but became April showery gray. Saw a bear! Z&M smelled something - I'm thinking they're on their way to the barn as it was late for dinner but then, out of a tree, a black shape hurls to the ground & takes off. They all take off, no barking. I'm thinking they might have treed it. But bear comes running toward me about 1' later -- stops behind a tree about 30m away for 15" & then takes off - dogs nowhere to be seen or heard. With a few whistles, they show up.

QR from Deep Hollow. Can see that I "slid" down the mountain side on #1. Saw a spur/nose, went toward it & noted a small reentrant adjacent but no flag...flag or no flag would have been instant feedback in the real thing.

Saw several You Tube videos of the Boston bombing. Seeing more or less precisely where the first detonation took place was cause for pause as that's where we were standing or sitting (had a chair). We were in the same place last year as well so it was quite familiar. At one point, I wondered if the flags were set up in same place/same order every year.
Last year's finish perspective.

C • Perspective 5