Training Log Archive: PG

Valerie. More things out and about than I expected, and pleased to see the larks and the peregrine, though both at some distance. Would have been happy staying (a lot) longer but a delicious brunch chez Bricker was awaiting. :-)

And a post-brunch ride with Gail, just the right pace -- fast enough to stay warm, slow enough to be mellow. A little colder than I expected, low 30s, modest breeze from the NW.

Lots and lots of water around after Friday's downpours. The Connecticut River is running very high, another factor is snowmelt farther north on Friday. And big sections of farm fields are flooded. The river doesn't seem to be quite high enough to do damage. As for the fields, it's been a tough year to be a farmer around here, rainfall has been about 50% more than average.

My sense is that most years are a tough year to be a farmer.

5,242

C • Wet 1

Took a Valerie outing just before dark, to Turners Falls: 15 mute swans, about 300 canada geese, 12 mallards, 40 common goldeneye, 1 hooded merganser, 13 common mergansers, a bunch of herring and ring-billed gulls, 14 great black-backed gulls, 1 lesser black-backed gull, 2 bald eagles (adult), 1 kingfisher, 2 morning doves, 1 blue jay, 1 bluebird, about 10 juncos.

A lot less ice around than a few days ago.

C • Bird count 1

I had intended to go longer and up into the lower hills to the west, including an assault of Poplar Hill, but it just didn't happen. It wasn't particular cold out, upper 30s, even a bit of sun, but very windy, WNW 15-20 and gusty. And I didn't really want to deal with it.

Or maybe I just didn't feel like any hills? Not sure if what was missing was the legs or between the ears. Or maybe it's just common sense -- on a number of days I've felt good and added some miles to the plan, also ought to be able to subtract a few sometimes.

Did take a couple of short detours to check out ponds, almost totally ice-free after yesterday's heat wave. Lots of geese. As to whether there was other stuff, well, my eyes aren't good enough without any optics for help.

MF2 so far, 5,227, 9 days to go.

C • weather forecast 1

Pouring rain much of the day. I actually really wanted to go out, just to see what it would be like. But I couldn't quite get myself to do it.

But then around 3 pm it eased up a lot, and it was getting warmer and warmer, so it didn't take much willpower at all. Had enough common sense not to go out on the roads, what with the rain and bits of fog and general gloom. To the bike path instead, and the part going east from the malls, only one road crossing with any traffic and not much of that.

Mid to upper 50s! Brisk wind out of the south, 15-20, so a crosswind, which was fine. Raining lightly for the first few minutes, then moderately the rest of the time. Not much company -- one other biker, 4 runners, 3 walkers (2 of them with dogs).

Did a "Valerie" again. :-)

But I was actually really enjoying it. Temperature was pleasant, my legs felt fresher. The parts of me that were getting wet, well, I hardly noticed. Until, that is, I stopped, put the bike back in the car and then got in myself, and realized I was quite soaked from the waist down.

Quite the opposite of yesterday, seemed to take no effort at all. You never know,

Tired. Or so it seemed.

Close to 40, minimal wind, pretty nice. Headed south because I had no need to deal with hills. After about 15 minutes I thought maybe I was getting a little energy in the legs, but it was just a false alarm.

The miles slowly went by. I was thinking at some point, this is a little bit like the marathon, you're tired but you're pretty sure you're going to make it, it's just a matter of doing it. And then I thought, be real, this is a lot easier.

But I was still thinking, how many more days to go....

Two highlights of the ride. The first was at the town's elementary school as school was letting out for the day. Just to watch, see if there are problems, look for anyone (child or parent or staff) who seemed upset or angry. But all I saw was happy faces. When the school buses rolled by it looked as if they were empty, but on closer look you could see the tops of heads/hats. They are so small.

The other was getting serenaded by a pileated woodpecker as I came up the driveway. A pleasure, though well short of what's needed to claim a birding day.

Decided it was time for some hill repeats over at Cemetery Hill in Northampton. Hadn't done hill repeats for quite a while, hadn't ever ridden my bike at Cemetery Hill, so it seemed this workout was overdue.

Though astute readers of AP might notice a third and way more important reason for such a workout, namely that Phil had done something similar yesterday. And this would be just the latest of somewhat ridiculous outings by one of us, just because the other had done it a day or two earlier.

A little competitive? Perhaps. A little insane? Perhaps. But life needs something besides the same old, same old.

I did not copy his workout exactly. I didn't stop at the Smith indoor track to see if I could do intervals there (though that would be interesting). And I didn't want to do such a short warm-up and cool-down. But the heart of the workout, 4 times up a hill, that was what needed to be done.

And hopefully quicker. :-)

Generally on uphills Phil will beat me if we're both on bikes. If we're both on foot he'll beat me really easily. But with me on a bike and him on foot it depends on how steep it is and what the footing is like. He took me easily on the really steep Mt. Tom climb; I nipped him at Ascutney due to the flatter sections near the top. I'm pretty sure he could have had me at Mt. Grace earlier this month, but he didn't show up. Showing up matters.

Today I figured I had him, not such a steep slope, but I didn't know what the conditions were. As it turned out, they weren't too bad -- some mud, some soft places, but no ice or snow. He was doing about 2:40s. I made it up the first time in about 2:20.

And then to be confronted with the ugly truth. It wasn't all that much fun. I would have gladly moved on. But showing up and then doing less than four was failure, no matter what the times were.

No choice. Up a second, and a third, and a fourth time, all around 2:20. Done. Thank goodness. Now just to ride back to Whole Foods via Easthampton, which is not exactly on the way, but I'd never been on that part of the bike path.

Worth doing? Of course. Odds of doing it again? Slim to none... ;-)

5,180 (100 to go)

C • four repeats 4

Mid to upper 20s, NW 15-20, sunny. Headed to the old roads at the north end of Quabbin in search of some shelter from the wind and whatever feathered things I might happen to see. And very modestly successful on both counts.

Hands got a little chilly towards the end (was actually out for about 2:40), it was the stops, off with the outer mittens, have a look around. Fortunately I had hand warmers in the mittens, so between stops the fingers would mostly return to normal.

Coming back north along the east side of the reservoir the wind was fierce.



But out of the wind it was pretty nice.



For Valerie -- slim pickings, but did see one loon, a couple of hooded mergansers, and 8 turkeys. With good eyes (to make up for a lousy photo), you can spot two of the turkeys heading into the woods --

A couple of unexpected pleasures today. The first was, given that the forecast when I went to bed was rain changing to snow during the night and 3-5" expected, to then wake up and look out the window and see only bare ground.

I realize there are folks who cherish the white stuff, and others whose business depends on it. But the folks who enjoy it seem happy to go elsewhere to do so, and the businesses are certainly elsewhere. So other than for building snowpersons, we don't really need it here.

The second had to do with, well, not sure if it was an ailment or an injury or a state of mind, but my left Achilles was feeling irritated yesterday evening and making its presence known. The sort of thing when I was running that would happen from time to time to various body parts, but hasn't been happening much at all since.

Felt it a bit walking around this morning. I was wondering how it would feel on the bike. Was this going to put a sudden halt to all this mileage stuff?

As it turns out, nope, or at least not yet. Felt fine on the bike, and haven't even thought about it since. Certainly an unexpected pleasure.

The ride itself was lacking in adventure. Not without a bit of stupidity, as I was heading down Main Street I noticed that my helmet strap was swinging in the breeze. If you're going to wear a helmet, might as well make sure it stays on it you need it.

I attempted to add a little interest by keeping my eyes open for a barred owl that had recently been seen in the south part of town out and about in daylight. But no such luck.

So mainly I just moseyed along, happy to be out on bare pavement, no ice in sight, legs that were heavy to start but seemed to freshen up as the ride progressed.

And thoughts of Valerie and the offer she made -- If you describe how you end up communicating with your mom, then there will be a "to be decided" bonus added.

Well, without any expectation of a bonus, here's the deal.

Communication is generally though of as a two-way street, but it doesn't have to be if you have the right ground rules set up.

The question went out from me to mom through the best channel I knew for communicating with anyone, including the dearly departed. Namely, Attackpoint. The question being, would she do the same as MF1, do a match.

Now, when I was growing up, a very common saying in the family, especially for mom, was "No news is good news." If you haven't heard from someone in a while, don't worry, things must be all right, you would have heard if there was a problem. It was a very handy phrase, and often heard.

And so we use it again. No news is good news.

I'll give her until Xmas eve, and if there is still no news, we're good to go. :-)

C • Mom 3