Lake Denmark, 1/24/2010: After a fine but long day at Prospect with the family, I woke up too late to go on a solo mission to Lake Minnewaska. Instead, I opted for a rollerski overdistance workout at Lake Denmark. From the picnic area to the Sterigenics office, the road has taken a real beating this winter. New frost heaves and broken-up pavement abound; in places, it's a challenge to maintain one's rhythm and momentum. Fifteen years ago, this segment was dirt before the county paved it.
Martin Luther King Jr Day, 1/18/2010: Laurel was home today as Dr. King’s birthday was observed at her school. We decided to try our hand at geocaching in Mt. Hope County Park. This is just west of the world-renowned Lake Denmark roller ski area. The park meets one end of Lake Denmark Rd and Picatinny.
Being our first attempt at this pursuit, we fumbled about, went up a couple of blind alleys and didn’t find the cache. Having walked further than we needed to, we retraced our steps and encountered a bear with cubs. They were about 50 - 70 yards from us, and they weren't moving. The wind was blowing towards us. Although I was unsure if they had our scent, the sow looked in our direction. Had I been alone, or had there been only an adult bear, I may have made a different decision. In this instance, I didn’t care to cross their paths, so we turned down an intersecting old road and walked along the power line until we were able to bushwhack through tall grass back to our vehicle.
Disaster and light, 1/9/2010: My family made our annual December pilgrimage to Mt van Hoevenberg between Christmas and New Year's for a bit of skiing. Six inches of snow fell on Monday the 28th, making for nearly perfect tracks.
Wednesday morning dawned so cold that I decided to start the Subie and let it warm up for awhile before we drove to the ski area. So I fired her up, put the gear lever in neutral (manual transmission) and went to load our stuff. The car stalled out. I went to re-start it, placed the gear lever in neutral, took my foot off the clutch, and it stalled out again. In gear, the clutch would not engage. The motor ran fine, but the trusty (up until now) Subie wouldn't budge. The rest of the day was a frantic stress fest as I tried to figure out what was wrong. I dare you to call AAA, locate a garage, and find a rental car, while 300 miles from home, the day before New Year's Eve. As my wife had to work on Sunday, there was no thought of an extended holiday while the Subie was repaired.
Marlene, our hostess at the Brookside, came through big time, not only letting me stay on her phone for probably 2 hours. She loaned us her automobile to go to the Hertz place at Saranc Lake airport. The nearest rental car I could find and an 80-mile round trip. Everyone at Mount Van Ho had ideas on how to resolve our situation. The best news of all was when Andy from AK Auto called. After locating a used transmission, and preparing to operate on my car, he called to tell me that the Subie was operating normally. Gears changing properly, it ran properly in town and at highway speed, the whole 9 yards. It was as if the transmission was stuck in first gear all this time and it finally warmed up enough to function. They don't appear to have a web site, but if you're in an automotive pinch in the High Peaks, AK Auto in Jay, New York has my recomendation. I'm headed up there next week to collect my vehicle.
Thank you to all for your support!
I found your stash, 12/9/2009: You thought you were so slick, covering up the beginning of your new trail in Hedden Park with dead leaves. Too bad you raked a section of the circular trail clean in the process, making it so obvious that something was up. Looking forty feet uphill, it's easy to see the wide swath of dirt, swept clean of leaves. I have to hand it to you, I like this sort of trail. Straight uphill.
I'm still not sure if you're a hiker or a mountain biker. The first time I checked this trail out, I noticed vestigial bicycle tire tracks. But they don't dovetail in too well with the rock steps up the steepest bits. If you're riding a bike up that gnarly, ankle-wrecking section, I commend you.
Snow, 12/6/2009: Acceptable early season conditions at Freedom Park today following Saturday's 3 to 4 inches of snow. It should stay cold enough today and tonight to make for decent skiing Monday; based on the weather forecast, I expect things to deteriorate on Tuesday. Photos can be found here.
Kingston Roller 5 + 10, 11/22/2009: Sunday morning; 5km classic followed by 10km skate an hour later. The loop for these events is pretty basic. Flat and fast through a quiet subdivision, with 2 small bumps masquerading as hills. With perhaps 30 feet of elevation gain on a lap, you can go at or near redline for the whole race. The classic race is a double pole derby; in the skate, you can work your V2 and V2 alternate technique. If you choose to do both, you have about 45 minutes to recover between races.
I finished both events within 20 seconds or so of what I did last year. After running the Mountain Masochist and then getting sick; and not having done any level 4 work in nearly a month, I'll take it. The field seems to get a little better each year. Results can be found here.
Thanks to all the volunteers who gave us the opportunity to beat the crap out of ourselves. A special thank you to the students from the Hudson Valley School of Massage Therapy; there's nothing like a massage to speed up recovery.
In the Pain Cave, 11/7/2009: Mountain Masochist, 50 trail race. The day after the race, the outside of my knee hurt: it was clear that my IT band was the cause of my difficulty in the last 20 miles. But it was worth it. Read all about it, right here.
If you’re contemplating running an ultramarathon, I'd strongly recommend this one. Everyone is as friendly as can be; I felt at home even though I didn't know a soul down there. The scenery is terrific; there are more than enough aid stations, and the course is very well marked. The only wild card is the true race distance. The organizers are coy about it; the scuttlebutt is that it’s somewhere between 52 and 54 miles.
Snow, 10/16/2009: Late yesterday afternoon, I harvested most of the remaining basil in my garden in a hurry. I can't remember seeing this much snow in mid October. This morning, I was pleasantly surprised to see more frozen precipitation and hurried to Freedom Park with my rock skis. The trails weren't usable, but skiing in the field was fine. Better than I'd expected with an awe-inspiring 1 1/2 inches of wet, coarse snow. I skied part of the cross country course and called it a morning.
The future of Lake Minnewaska, 10/10/2009: Around 1980, my best friends took me to Lake Minnewaska and taught me to ski. Once I got past the fact that I kept falling - even going uphill, for god’s sake! - I was hooked. The scenery. The 60-mile view to New York City. The gazebos dotted here and there on the cliffs. A new way of movement, and being out in the woods.
At that time, Ken Philips ran the place, with the lodge situated in one end of the old, tumbledown Wildemere Hotel. By then the place was falling apart: the staircases were blocked off, as were most of the rooms on the first floor. But you could go in and get a trail pass and have a hot drink and sit down, and they had a wax room, which is something that a couple of modern day, fancier and more expensive places further north seem to think is unnecessary. Conditions weren't always great, but you could count on the trails being groomed.
Lake Minnewaska is still a fun place to bring your mountain bike or hiking boots, but it's been all downhill for skiers since the state took over. Minimal or no grooming, people who don't know what they're talking about when you call to inquire about trail conditions. As much as I like this place, I haven't gone there more than a few times in the last 10 years because my days on snow are so few, I want to maximize the opportunity for a good time.
We have an opportunity to make the state of New York hear our voices on the future of Lake Minnewaska. On 22 October, at 7 PM, there will a public meeting on the draft master plan for Minnewaska State Park at SUNY New Paltz, in Room 100 of the Lecture Center. If you want more trails groomed and more consistent grooming, go there and make your voice heard. The state won't make any improvements unless they hear from the community. If you can't attend the meeting, please email the planning board to let them know what you think. If we don't speak up, nothing will change.
An addendum, directed at The Powers That Be in the State of NY: Every time I bypass Lake Minnewaska to ski in southern Vermont or Massachusetts, not only am I not paying an entrance fee at Lake Minnewaska. I'm also not buying gasoline in New York. Nor am I buying meal(s) and lodging in New York. Après ski, my family isn't strolling up and down New Paltz's main drag, patronizing the local businesses. Poor grooming at Lake Minnewaska costs local businesses money, meaning less sales tax revenue. You'd be surprised at the number of NJ license plates in the parking lot at a certain ski area outside Bennington VT each weekend.
Pfalz Point Trail Challenge, 9/27/2009: The hills were tougher than I thought: I have new respect for Mohonk. And after all these years, I might finally have learned not to start too hard. Pfalz Point 10 Miler: Rain, mud, and a decent bowl of chili at the finish. Read all about it right here.
Sins of the flesh (rated PG), 9/7/2009: Today, I'm paying for yesterday's sins. Sore quadriceps howl when I walk down stairs or squat to get a bowl from a kitchen cabinet. A little pull in the right calf. Wishing I was 20 pounds lighter, to ease the impact of running downhill. Remembering my physical therapist gently advising me, "You're not as young as you think you are." But it was well worth it: all following a little run in the Catskills.
Crocodile tears? 8/30/2009: We've returned from a short vacation in central Vermont. Nice lake, featuring nesting loons and a cabin that's settling on its foundations; its wavy floors feel like you're on a boat at sea. Close to a section of VAST trails, which afforded some nice running. But additional punishment was necessary. As we were staying close to Okemo, a time trial up Mountain Road, which goes from Route 103 past Okemo's base lodge up to a fire tower near the summit, seemed appropriate.
Dawn patrol
After warming up around the base lodge, I set out. From the base lodge parking lot, there's a false flat for about 40 meters and then the road starts to go up. And keeps right on going up.
One of the easier bits
My heart rate soared pretty quickly, but between the 10.6% average grade and the road condition, progress was slow. The medium-fast pavement was covered with small striations made by the snow machines that use the road when they're grooming in winter. I hadn't noticed them when I scouted the road by automobile, but on roller skis they slowed me down. Approximately 2/3 of the way up, there was a flattish 100 meters where one can relax and ski V2 alternate, but the rest of it was grinding V1. I kept it up and pushed up the hill. At 5 kilometers from the base lodge, there's a turnout and that's where I gratefully called it a morning.
View at the 5km mark
Sunset, Mount Holly VT 26 August 2009
Suffering is funny, 8/21/2009: After more than three weeks of inactivity, I've resumed training. The first week was all easy level one. Every morning, resting heart rate was normal; I didn't feel tired. The following week, I added a 4 x 10 minute lactic threshold workout. Running in my local park, it went fine. Recovery was normal; I was no more tired than I would have been pre-Lyme. Then I went to Lake Denmark for skate rollerski LT intervals and had my wakeup call: halfway through the first 12-minute repeat, I felt like I'd hit a brick wall while driving 90 mph. Workout cut short.
This week, more of the same: 4-minute level 4 repeats up the big hill at Lake Denmark were a total struggle. Heart rate where I need it to be, but the entire time I was out, I felt like I was at the end of my rope. In my overdistance roller session, my average heart rate was 10 beats above normal.
Today, I had a sobering conversation with the eponymous Marty of Marty's Reliable Cycle. He talked about people he knew taking a year to recover from Lyme, and having the same experience: workouts that were once routine now require superhuman effort. So be on the lookout for those lyme ticks, they're about the size of a poppy seed.
Disabled list, 7/31/2009: Two weeks of doing nothing, resting heart rate had been consistently good, and I generally felt OK. I'd anticipated resuming training this week. On Saturday, we took a family excursion to Longwood Gardens. As an aside, if you enjoy such things, this is a nice destination. We strolled for a few hours, admiring the scenery; I took several opportunities to sit. This sort of activity of course never goes in a training log, my body doesn't even know it's working. Walking the mall for fitness is harder. But the next morning, fever, resting heart rate was 20 beats above normal; accompanied by fever. Back to square one.
Another visit to the doctor for more x-rays, poking and prodding, and a second blood test. Comparing the values of the 2 blood tests, the doctor concludes that I do in fact have Lyme disease. I never noticed a tick, - deer ticks are microscopically small in spring - and I never got the apocryphal bullseye rash. Though I've lost a month, it's a relief to know there's a label for my malaise. Antibiotics have already begun to have impact.
Black fades to grey, 7/17/2009: Second x-ray: the black spot is now a smaller, grey spot. Negative test for tuberculosis. A bit of a drag really: I'd begun learning Victoria Spivey's "TB Blues" on the guitar. I'm on the disabled list for another 10 days. If my resting heart rate is back to normal, I'll get back to it. Still focused on the Mountain Masochist in November.
"There's a little black spot on my lung today," 7/7/2009: (With apologies to the Police.) On Thursday morning my resting heart rate was 86, I had a 102-degree temperature, and I felt awful. This is the third recurrence in 14 days of a pattern: Day 1, fever, feel like I've been hit by a truck. Following day, feel fine, and take an "insurance" rest day. Third day, resume training. Training goes swimmingly, both overdistance and hard intervals. Fever recurs after 6 or 7 days. The first time around, I thought "Oh yeah, 24-hour flu bug, these things happen even in summer." NOT. In retrospect, I can see that every time I noticed a high heart while running uphill, it wasn't my body becoming reacquainted with running, it was fighting whatever it is that I've got. Forget about overreaching. There's no consistent training, much less overreaching like the Jacked Up Old Man when you're bowled over every few days.
Two trips to the doctor resulted in negative tests for swine flu - I mean, H1N1 virus, mononucleosis and Lyme disease. Yesterday,
third trip to the doctor, he's as perplexed as I am. Adult onset chicken pox? Doubtful. Let's throw something at the wall and see if it sticks.
He ordered up X-rays and a TB test. Yesterday evening he called me. There's something on my lung. Pneumonia, TB, the radiologist wasn't quite sure. I've
got an antibiotic prescription; 36 hours from now, I'll know the results of the pinprick skin TB test.
Garb-bear, 6/28/2009: The second bear of the year put in an appearance at Lake Denmark last Friday. I parked at my usual spot, the turnout where the fence-enclosed dumpsters are. Standing at the back of the Subie, I heard rustling in the underbrush as I put on my helmet. A couple of seconds later, a bear ambled out of the bushes, stopped not 20 feet away, and looked at me. He wasn't that big - about 3 1/2 feet high at the shoulder and 200 pounds. I wish I could sprint as fast on snow as I did back into my car. The bear and I looked at each other. He walked around to the front of the Subie and looked right in at me. I honked the horn a couple of times; he didn't budge. Finally he turned and headed back into the underbrush towards the lake.
After a couple of minutes, I figured he was gone. Time is money, even for the marginally employed, and I had a workout to do. I got out, clipped into the roller skis I'd abandoned in haste, and turned to my right, ready to head up to the Navy Gate. I saw Mr Bear right next to the fenced-in dumpsters, looking quizzically at me. Again, no more than 20 feet away. Hoping my shorts wouldn't turn brown, I started as casually as I could north up the little grunt hill, heading to Green Pond Road. After going 10 yards, I stopped and looked back. He was up on his hind legs, paws outstretched to the top of the fence. Unfortunately, I didn't bring a camera today.
This is the first bear I've seen at Lake Denmark that's habituated to people, so beware when you head out.
Double, 6/12/2009: "Are the trails muddy?"
Here I was, mud pasted from shoes to nose after an hour's bike ride followed by an hour's run. It's done nothing but rain for 10 of the last 14 days. In the parking lot off of Route 24 for Lewis Morris Park, this guy accosted me as he pumped up his tires and otherwise prepared to head out for a ride. It was all I could do to keep from replying, "Duh."
Today, for the first time in 2 years, I took the antique mountain bike for a spin. My hard-core riding friends consider this a fairly straightforward place, but there are plenty of attention-grabbing technical bits for occasional mountain bikers like me. Several climbs taxed my legs and I had to zigzag this way and that to avoid the biggest obstacles. I worked to keep up momentum to get over them without stopping.
Kate Whitcomb wrote an interesting post about counting time in one's training log. Descending gnarly, gravelly, rooted hills, all the while stressing that I'll fall and break a collarbone, will be counted in my training log. Cry all the way up, scream all the way down.
When I returned to the parking lot, I swapped the bike for running shoes and put in another hour. Recovering from the bad hamstring, up to this point, maximum time running has been 70 minutes. Nothing fast, and nothing too long. Most of the time it's been shorter. The key is to gradually build up frequency and distance, then work in some speed, and finally intervals and overdistance. At present all my interval workouts are on roller skis, with one banal exception on the elliptical trainer in the gym. For 15 minutes, my legs protested the regimen change; then they accepted it. Running uphill, my heart rate was a lot higher than normal; I haven't used those muscles much yet this year.
I didn't worry about all the level 2 I was incurred; but now, after dinner, I can feel it. At the age where the AARP regularly importunes me to join, I need to be careful to get enough rest and dial it back a bit in the easy workouts.
Figuring out how to skate, Mt van Hoevenberg; winter 2009. So far Laurel has a move halfway between V1 and marathon skate.
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