Training Log Archive: PG

With Dave, along the river to the town line (19:27) and back (18:13). Legs totally dead to start, a little more energy on the way back. Sure wouldn't have run if Dave hadn't shown up. Light rain.

I wasn't feeling very enthusiastic about heading back out into the wilds again, and I didn't want to put my O' shoes back on because of a blister issue, so I checked out the White course, too easy, and the Orange course, definitely too hard, but then the Yellow course looked just right. So I ran it, good tempo run, just the right choice.

And then a cool-down watching Meg Parson do part of the same course.

Blue Day 1 - Splits

Event: UNO Camping Weekend
 

Blue course, set by Ernst, all the points were knolls (tomorrow it's boulders). Very hot, got an early start about 8:30, but it was still hot. Easy pace, some running, some walking, and the running was at a very mellow pace, lots of zigzags looked for the cleanest forest, walking when it was crappy. And the result -- only one fall!

Hit all the points, it's not so hard when you are going so slowly with plenty of time to read the map. And o couple of them, 10 and 13, were in areas of very low visibility. Only time loss was that I wasn't looking high enough sometimes -- I'm looking at the usual couple of feet off the ground and some of the controls were up 6' or more. So I'd get to the right place, be perplexed for a moment, and then look up and see it.

Took a swim after I was done, had some lunch, really wanted to nap but didn't, and then got ready for event #2....

My routes.

C • cheater 2

So this was Barb's Bus-stop-O'. I sat on my hands when she was looking for bus drivers, but since there was a need for participants as well as drivers, I couldn't resist that.

Snagged bus B (Samantha) at B1, right at the start, then around on the road to get bus F (Barb) at F2 -- I had spotted her on the way to F2, that was actually quite cool, there goes my bus, marked by the special orange and white hat, and I zipped over to catch it, but then I realized I got more points if I waited until she was on the road at F2. (And, no, I am not going to explain the rules, other than saying that it was tougher for adults to score points than for kids....)

Then some time to klll until bus A (Tim Parson) got out to the road just after A4, then scoot down the road, all at a walk, to intersect bus C (Ross), who was doing an awesome job to stay on schedule, Then around to D6 just in time to get bus D (Brendon), who also had really hustled to stay on schedule. Never did get bus E (Phil).

It seemed rather loony but was actually quite good fun, including chatting with a couple of kids while we waited for bus A.

Got done just in time for dinner, eaten with the foreboding thought in mind that the night-O' was waiting....

World's Hardest Night-O' at Pawtuckaway. My route, except for around #9, and around #13 is a guess.

So there was discussion beforehand, knowing that JJ likes to keep statistics about such things as who has finished every edition of various events, there was discussion about how if you didn't get all the controls, you would severely regret it in the future. JJ did offer various scenarios for skipping controls, but the underlying message was, anyone worth anything better get them all. At least that was what I was thinking. And I was afraid I might be in for a long night.

Ross was clearly the class of the field, plus he had the biggest headlamp. I had chatted with Ernst, and he claimed he would walk the whole thing because of a bad back. And I figured I would walk the whole thing. So JJ says Go and Ross takes off, and Ernst takes off after him, and I take off after Ernst, trying to keep him in sight as long as possible. So much for truth in pre-race plans....

In company all the way to #1, fortunately, because when I left the trail heading due east looking for a boulder in vague terrain, my immediate thought was that this was really dumb. But at some point someone stopped just to my left, and lo and behold, there was #1.

Lucky again to #2, was probably going to go too far, but I heard a little noise to my right and figured I had better check, and over the little rise was #2.

To #3, on compass, in control of distance all the way, company of Jim Arsenault and Brendan, At the bottom of the steep slope Brendan spotted it first.

To #4, I got across the marsh first and was all by myself on the approach, but was a little too high and too far. And about when panic was setting in, down the hill just behind me came a couple of lights, heading right to #4.

#5 was pretty easy. Thick woods all the first part to #6, then a straight shot to the control, someone else there ahead of me. I think at this point Jim turned to go to #10, skipping 7-9.

#7 was a pain, because the forest got really bad for the last half, thicker than shown, rocky. Took advantage of Brendan here again.

To #8, he went a little left, I went a little right, no sign of him until just at the control, he was just ahead of me. But on that one I was in control all the way.

And then #9, mega-disaster, 32 minutes. Was careful, dropped down the last slope, thought i was just about right, but didn't see any control. Nor did Brendon. So we circled a bit in the immediate area, maybe 3-5 minutes, and then Brendan said he was going to bail out to the pond. Which seemed unnecessary to me, figured I could relocate, but I couldn't. I think i was SW of the control. Never saw Brendan again, but before too long there was another light, Ross this time. And after a bit he said he was going to bail out to the pond. Which I did too, and found the pond, but had a hard time telling where I was along the pond. And pretty soon no more sign of Ross, and I was getting pretty frustrated. And I looked at the rest of the course, and man, the rest looked easy if I could just find this dumb control. So I was trying and trying and trying to find something distinct in the terrain and finally I'm heading up a hillside going NE, at least 3 lines of climb, and I see where I might be, if there is a big boulder on the top of the little knoll on top. And there is, and other stuff matches up, and and I do the next 100 meters to the control, no problem. Why was it so hard 30 minutes earlier? Argggggg.

Well, off to 10. On the compass all the way, kept hoping to hit the bike trail, didn't for a long time, but I had good control on my distance and knew right where I was going. No problems.

To 11, ok until the end, tried to make sense of the bends in the bike trail, should have just stayed on my bearing. Still not bad.

#12 was easy, nice big features. #13 was easy too, you're just about done, I thought, and then blew it, badly. Hit the cliff just NE of the control, then missed the point from there, circled all around, tried to relocate, finally heading back NE to get back to the big reentrant, saw a light there, and it was Ernst. A bit of consultation as to where we might be, correctly done, but then I headed back down to the cliff, he went elsewhere. Got the control this time, and clean the rest of the way, Ernst in a couple of minutes later.

Finished, but not with much dignity, a double disaster is still a double disaster.

And also incredibly dehydrated, I'd been sweating away, it was still warm, but hadn't carried any water and there were no water stops on the course.

But still, finished. And a podium position at that.... :-)

WHN-O - Splits

Off to Pawtuckaway for the weekend. I imagine I will have to do version 2 of the world's hardest night-O', plus maybe even run a regular course or two. That will be interesting -- I've only run a handful of courses all year.

But the streak is intact, the weight is getting under control, the blood pressure was 114/70 yesterday, and the stress level in relation to the Sprint Finals and Relay Champs preparations is still mostly under control. Life could be a lot worse.

Version 1 of the World's Hardest Night-O'.

Started the day off with a fine round of rogaine practice with Charlie and Rhonda and Gail. A couple more PRs withe the D1 which was really smoking, plus tied an overall PR (73) from a few years ago.

Then up to Pawtuckaway, a nice pasta dinner, set up the tents just as it was getting dark, and then of course I had to deal with the demands of the streak, so on with the headlamp and a nice run out the Fundy Trail for a ways. Legs has some energy despite the full stomach. Surprised a porcupine in the middle of the trail, it very slowly ambled off into the underbrush, my first thought had been that it was a skunk, so this was much better, seeing a porcupine is always a pleasure.

Power line (17:43) and back (14:12), very dead legs, perhaps because I was stoned, well, as close to stoned as I ever get these days, meaning I had somehow returned from Canada 10 days ago with a box of Stoned Wheat Thins that Barb had procured but then abandoned, and the last couple of days I've been working my way through them, including a handful or two just before running, trying to keep from sitting down and eating something more substantial.

Now yesterday, on the Dean's run, that's in Amherst, home of the state university, and must everyone there is stoned, so I didn't give my condition any thought, and maybe I got carried away a little with my run report (but I still keep laughing when I re-read it!), but today, well, Sunderland is a little more law abiding, so I have to watch myself, so today's run report is, well, over.

C • college rankings 1

C • "these days?" 1

From the Mill River in North Amherst, north on the Robert Frost trail to Juggler Meadow Road and back. Relaxed pace, 25:38 out, 24:04 back. An ordinary run, but not an ordinary route, as for very, very specialized students of history, this route played a key role in the FDF War, and more specifically, in the development of that most potent weapon, the blue cap.

To start at the beginning, a quote from Phil's AP log on June 12, about this very route, one of his favorites:

"The headline for today is: "THEY'RE BACK" I felt like I was trapped in a grade B horror flick. I had 8 kills on the way out to Juggler Road; then I decided to take the road back. The Frost is now closed for the summer."

It was just at this time that the original blue cups (CUPS, not CAPS) were being tested, with Barb and Phil joining me as the chief testers, and while the blue cups clearly worked, there was a problem for some of us. To quote Phil again:

"The next question is: is there a way to do this without looking quite so silly?"

And Charlie offered some advice:

"I think the answer is to cultivate the zany yet confident grin that PG exhibits, instead of the furtive look of the philosophy professor trying to avoid his dean."



The main problem, of course, was one of image, maybe also one of fashion, for apparently Phil's dean liked to hike on this very trail, and the thought of a chance encounter, with Phil decked out with a blue cup, was just to awful to chance. And before long we had moved on the blue CAPS, and the rest, as they say, is history.

But there was still a little research to be done. I needed to go check out this bit of trail, partly to confirm that the FDFs were completely gone for the season -- and they were -- and also partly to see if I could find this mysterious dean. Of course I wasn't sure what he looked like. All I had was the one-word clue -- Dean.

And I thought, maybe he looks like this --



But no, that's James Dean, and he's dead, and he's too cool to be Phil's dean.

And then I thought, maybe he looks like this --



But no, that's Dizzy Dean, and he's dead too.

And I was about to give up, but I had one more thought, maybe he looks like this --



And damn if I wasn't right!

Phil, I can see what you didn't want to run into this guy. He looks really silly.

C • Time 10

Up to the power line (17:26) and back (14:22), easy pace especially on the way back as hamstring was just a little tight in the morning. Got out just before dark after an all-day guy trip to Berkshire Hills, so fine.