Training Log Archive: PG

Event: Soapstone Mountain Trail Races
 

And then zipped over to the WCOC local meet at Stratton Brook with the idea of maybe helping pick up a few controls. Which is just what happened, a very pleasant 30-minute stroll with Charlie while we collected 8 controls and I heard about the world of international bike touring, sounds pretty cool, and collapsible bikes that fit in a suitcase, sounds actually not so cool when perfectly good rental bikes are available.

I mean, supposed they made a car that could be disassembled and would fit in a suitcase. Cool, I guess, but it seems like it would be a whole lot easier to give Mr. Hertz a little business.

And then off to Litchfield, first dealing with mom who thought she was in New York City (this is far from the first time this has happened), and then having a surprisingly pleasant time -- and I know this may be hard to believe -- giving Lina some pointers about Facebook.

And then drove home to finish off an eventful and successful day.

C • Facebook 7

Soapstone Trail Race, distance guessed at something between 14 and 14.5 miles. My 305 tuned out at least a couple of different times and came up with 12.9 miles, may be ready to be sent off to a GPS cemetery.

Last ran this race in 2008, time was 2:24:30, and my write-up complained of struggling. So this time, 4:30 slower, and after a first mile in which my legs felt quite dead, they started to feel better, and I ran up a lot of gradual hills that I wasn't expecting to. So a better run that was 5 minutes slower. It's clear what direction I'm going.

Felt good for a long stretch, but all good things come to an end, started to wobble about 2 hours in on an annoying part of the trail -- rocky, rooty, and gently uphill -- crashed I think 3 times when I wouldn't pick a foot up quite enough and clipped a rock. But no bad damage.

After that section there was the short steep climb over Soapstone, easy because there was no way I was going to run it, then freefall down the east side, and then another 8 minutes or so that included some more uphill. Had folks both in front and behind, so there was motivation to run all the uphill, and I was quite pleased to do just that.

So, another bit of training for the 50, now just 3 weeks off. Though I surely would not have wanted to cover another 36 miles today.

Fred's race report, where I am accused of being a sandbagger.... :-)

C • A convocation of sandbaggers, actually 8

Twice up Mt. Toby, once via the phone line, the other via the jeep trail.

Crashed once coming down the jeep trail, clipped a rock and the next thing I knew I was airborne and look at a rocky landing. One of those Oh Shit moments. But fortunately no serious damage done, though I did have to extract one piece of rock that was imbedded in my forearm.

5 miles is going to be a long ways. Hell, 14 miles on Sunday is going to be a long ways.

Track time on a rather warm evening. Short warm-up as I was a little late getting there, fell asleep.... :-)

But a decent workout, equal to 9 x 400. And did well on the social front, chatted up a couple of folks I didn't know - one was a case of I knew her name over the years, and she mine, but we'd never met, while the other was a recent arrival in the valley.

1, 2, and 3 minutes harder, 1 minute slower between.

4 x 400, starting every 2:30. 1:38, 1:37, 1:37, 1:36. Not so bad.

Three short hill sprints, then a couple more 400s, plenty of rest. 1:38, 1:34.

And a slow mile chatting with the girls.

I have had a very interesting experience over the last couple of weeks -- got a call from a fellow who was in my class at Officer Candidates School in the Army 45 years ago. He and a friend were tracking down as many classmates as they could find. A web page had been set up, maybe a reunion at some point in the future.

More and more have been located, stories are being shared. The memories have come flooding back. It was not a fun time, but it was a life-changing experience and things learned there, especially being able to perform under very adverse conditions, including little sleep and no food, have stood me well over the years.

For anyone with time to waste, here are a couple of things I have written to the group, the first about the 6 months in OCS, the second about the rest of my time in the Army. A third, life since then, still needs to be written.

C • Thanks 5

Loop on Mt. Toby, starting from Cranberry Pond. Just 30 seconds faster than a couple of weeks ago, thought it would be more because it was cooler. But at least not so beat at the end.

I could see doing two laps, or maybe 3, but 5 would not be pretty, even if possible. A little over three more weeks to train. Think I'll run Soapstone (14.5 miles) on Sunday, see how that goes.

C • Cayuga 50 2