Training Log Archive: cmorse

Event: Crandalls Park Sprints
 

Started hanging flags around 7:15, Jim showed up and told me Pavlina was on the way and wanted to run early so I picked the hanging pace up a bit.

Note that this is running time on the Garmin - it tracks moving time and stopped time separately so the time I was standing at the control actually hanging the flag is not factored in, just the time (and pace) moving between control sites...

AOWN - almost tripped over a fawn near 37, it took off like a shot though when I got within 5m... no sign of mom, whom I've seen plenty of times in the general area.

Test run of the A course - waking up SI boxes etc. No map or compass, but didn't really need them having just hung the flags eh? Stopped to chat to a woman hiking with her dog at a couple spots for probably a minute total non running time (which is included in the time above as it is SI time, not garmin time) Climb is just a WAG...

After a few minutes rest, went out to test run the Sprint B course, wake up controls and verify everything working properly. No interruptions, but running a bit slower, this being now over 10km into my morning...

Control Pickup - did about half of them, Jim offering to do a slower pickup of the outer controls, so my half was mostly the inner group. Which was a good thing as I had a family gathering already in progress to scoot off to.

Most everyone seemed to have a good time out there today, even though the map is not complete. A number of folks particularly liked the terrain up top so that will give me additional motivation to get moving on it again in the fall when the mapping season starts up again. Not looking forward to mapping the white hillside though...

You know its been a pretty pathetic year of getting out and orienteering when last years WCOC summer picnic is still on my Attackpoint list of recent races and this years picnic is only 2 weeks away. Hopefully things will improve this fall...

Geocache hike with the boys, also hung out a half dozen controls for tomorrows meet. Woods pretty damp, but nice otherwise. Even meandering at a very slow pace, no skeeters or FDF's noted...

Leisurely ride to lake and back with Ellen. Hung out by the lake for a while but that's not part of the riding time.

Doug couldn't get the parts needed so I ran back over to pick up the car for the weekend and will drop it off next week instead. Ran with the IPOD for the first time and some tasty fishhead music - quite fine despite running on roads in full sun at midday.

Of note is the fact that even though I ran at a pretty decent clip, its only slightly half the time Jackson and I did it last night with walking breaks tossed in. Have to take the car back Monday night, perhaps I'll see if I can't motivate Jackson to run sub 30....

Took car over to Dougs for work in the AM. Jackson and I ran back home around dusk. Lots of excessive speed traffic and no shoulders on 140 made for a dicey run. But got out the door....

Put clipless pedals on the 'bent. I thought unclipping might be an issue but getting out is the easy part - getting the damn things to clip in reliably is going to take some practice. Spent more time than this actually practicing clipping, but this is probably total time I spent cranking along while clipped in. Once I'm engaged it feels much more powerful pedal stroke. Will have to practice redeveloping a smooth spin.

Damn Fine day. (With a capital D btw) Cool, breezy, not humid. Started off with....

An early AM run on Charlies Tunxis Trail loop. A very pleasant run although a little faster than Charlies advertised easy pace. I posted a gpx file of the track. Looks pretty close when opened in Google Earth - sometimes right on, other times drifting up to 10m either side of the obvious path. GPS was in my fanny pack up against my lower back so my body was probably blocking half the sky at any given time.

C • Google earth 7

then up to Mom & Dad's in Granby to do an end to end (and back) on the Farmington Valley Greenway. Mostly complete to southern Farmington except the part around Granbrook Park (bridge not renovated yet) and Imperial Nursery (where I worked in the '70s). Rode down Hartford Ave and over to Simsbury Airport then picked up the trail. Nice quiet riding the rest of the way - no hills to speak of, but then no fast descents either. Got to the end and still felt good so pointed west and headed on out the Farmington River Greenway (kind of headed back in the general direction of Charlies). Rode for a few miles out that way, the at one crossing the trail looked less well kept across the road and there was a hot dog cart on the opposite corner. Not having packed anything other than water (nor having anything since before the trail run) I opted for hot dogs and a coke over more mileage. Hung out with the dog cart propietors for a while then turned it around and headed back toward Granby. Not exactly sure what town I was in at that point but I suspect it might have been Unionville.

Was originally planning on going past Mom & Dad's up to Copper Hill Road to make it an official end to end - but I've done that section before and my bonus mileage to Unionville is roughly equivalent, so opted to just stop there and have lunch. Then home for some afternoon lawn mowage....

AM Ride through Tolland to Stafford Springs, stopped off at Milikowski as I had been resigned to VoiceJail all last week and really needed to get a couple orders placed before my PO's expire on the 10th. Then home via the main roads. Humid with yesterdays rain starting to evaporate made for a very sweaty ride. But I seem to be cruising a bit faster even if the hills still suck. But I'm waiting on some SPD sandals to come in and plan to purchase pedals locally to go with them and once I train myself to spin (and not fall over when I forget to unclip) I should be able to make a dent on my uphill speed which is the real key to overall speed. My downhill max for the ride was 51.2 kph but that was probably riding the brakes.

Riding up and down the street a bit with Hayden while waiting for Anna's bus to come. New Lake Sandals arrived so I rode in those (without SPD's). Quite comfy and got a deal on them from Nashbar - $34 plus shipping. A closeout with only one size available and it happened to be the size that fit me....

Raining lightly, around 60F. Headed out to do the basic Shafran loop (ccw), felt pretty good to decided to extend a bit and turned left when I got back to the old trolley line, following the east side and eventually winding back up over in Shafran at a trail I hadn't taken before because it was pretty heavily signed (No Trespassing) - but being water company land - I often ignore those.

Backtracked to the trolley line again and headed out to the washed out stream crossing, then turned around and headed home. A good brisk pace all around, never really pushing extra hard, but never really slacking at all either.

(and yes, the running time was exactly 40 minutes and the GPS said exactly 8km - neither is an estimate)

This time of year I like to read various bike touring journals and related sites. There was an article in Adventure Cycling a few issues ago about S24O camping - sub 24 hour overnights - basically roll out the door with a few things on the bike, head to a nice camp spot, then come home in the AM - no major planning, no 100 mile days - just a pleasant overnight trip. I hope to do a few of these this summer.

Anyway, Kent over at Kent's Bike Blog did one recently and wrote it up. I got a chuckle out of one paragraph so am reproducing it here as I know there are a couple of cycling folks who wander through my log from time to time.

"There is no camping at Calligan Lake, so we've decided we aren't camping. We don't have tents, we won't have a campfire. We may roll out our bivy sacks and take a nap that spans the hours of darkness. We may brew some tea in the Kelly Kettle and have a nice snack. But we aren't camping. We are all very clear on that point."

That seems to sum it up nicely, doesn't it?