REBUILDING DISTANCE 2010 - Race #34
Hairy Gorilla Trail Half Marathon
Sunday, October 31 , 2010
2010 Event Totals
Run 288.1 mi, 66 hr 45 min
Bike 119.4 mi, 8 hr 51 min
Snowshoe 71.7 mi, 18 hr 26 min
Kayak 3.0 mi, 47 min
states visited: CT, MA, ME, NH, NY, OH, PA, VT
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
20.3 Mile Ride on the Mohawk Hudson Bike Path
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Another gorgeous day today... one of those days where it's really tough to be indoors, especially knowing that the warm weather will disappear soon and then it's going to seem even colder than usual. Sunshine during lots of the day gave way to clouds by the time I got my bike over to the bike path, and the loss of the sun meant it got slightly chilly fairly rapidly... fortunately I was able to grab my windbreaker out of the car as I came back through the Nisky Lions Park.
Started out riding west... along the way spotted ducks, geese, and even an egret off in the marshes near the beaver pond. Water in the river is the highest I've seen it in months (probably since late spring.) Work on the new Niska Isle bridge is proceeding well - looks like it might be open for traffic soon, which makes me wonder when they'll tear down the old bridge (and if they'll remove the "road" they built across the mouth of the Lisha Kill to provide construction access.) Stopped at Lock 7 to take some photos of the water roaring over the dam. At the base of the old landfill I was overcome by a moment of insanity and decided to ride up the hill to Blatnick Park... something I really should have done more often this year, since hills have been kicking my backside in a big way.
It was getting dark as I headed east from the park, so I was glad I'd transferred a light from my mountain bike (my preference for riding in the dark) to my road bike... I definitely needed it for most of the 2nd half of tonight's ride. Passed a couple of other riders with lights shining brightly, including two fellows with incredible lights - the first time I saw them I thought there was a car coming down the path toward me!
I can't say I enjoy riding in the dark as much as I enjoy running in the dark -partially because I have to have a light to ride and partially because there's just something about balancing on two wheels when I can only see the path a few feet ahead of me that causes concern... plus the fact that usually if I'm riding in the dark it's probably cold! But on a warm fall night like tonight riding in the dark is definitely much better than no riding at all.
JMH
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Another gorgeous day today... one of those days where it's really tough to be indoors, especially knowing that the warm weather will disappear soon and then it's going to seem even colder than usual. Sunshine during lots of the day gave way to clouds by the time I got my bike over to the bike path, and the loss of the sun meant it got slightly chilly fairly rapidly... fortunately I was able to grab my windbreaker out of the car as I came back through the Nisky Lions Park.
Started out riding west... along the way spotted ducks, geese, and even an egret off in the marshes near the beaver pond. Water in the river is the highest I've seen it in months (probably since late spring.) Work on the new Niska Isle bridge is proceeding well - looks like it might be open for traffic soon, which makes me wonder when they'll tear down the old bridge (and if they'll remove the "road" they built across the mouth of the Lisha Kill to provide construction access.) Stopped at Lock 7 to take some photos of the water roaring over the dam. At the base of the old landfill I was overcome by a moment of insanity and decided to ride up the hill to Blatnick Park... something I really should have done more often this year, since hills have been kicking my backside in a big way.
It was getting dark as I headed east from the park, so I was glad I'd transferred a light from my mountain bike (my preference for riding in the dark) to my road bike... I definitely needed it for most of the 2nd half of tonight's ride. Passed a couple of other riders with lights shining brightly, including two fellows with incredible lights - the first time I saw them I thought there was a car coming down the path toward me!
I can't say I enjoy riding in the dark as much as I enjoy running in the dark -partially because I have to have a light to ride and partially because there's just something about balancing on two wheels when I can only see the path a few feet ahead of me that causes concern... plus the fact that usually if I'm riding in the dark it's probably cold! But on a warm fall night like tonight riding in the dark is definitely much better than no riding at all.
JMH
Monday, October 25, 2010
3.3 Mile Run in the Pine Bush
Monday, October 25, 2010
Today was the first day I tried my new strategy to get my backside out for a run or a ride after work... essentially it came down to taking my running gear to work and heading out directly from there instead of going home first and falling prey to the lure of dinner and either the couch or bed. And it worked... in some ways. Unfortunately I didn't have much handy to eat after wrapping up my last extra help session so I went with a Powerbar and some chips while driving over to the Pine Bush, which may have contributed to the digestive issues I had about 1 1/2 miles into the run. I was halfway around the perimeter loop on the Great Dune trails, and when I got to the connector trail for the Madison Ave Pinelands I decided discretion was the better part of valor and called it an early night. While I wish I'd done another three miles or so (my original plan) it was a good decision, especially since it started raining not long after I got back to the car.
It was good to be back in the Pine Bush, even if I didn't stay as long as I'd hoped. We're having a couple of days of unusually warm weather, so it was a great evening to be out running. I startled a woodcock just after hitting the trails, and watched a bat zipping around in the meadow that's been subject to much habitat restoration over the last few years. After that it was too dark for me to see much, though I did spot some glowing eyes (deer and in one case a housecat) in the light of my headlamp. Of course, in a couple more weeks I'll be doing all my evening runs in the dark... sigh.
JMH
Monday, October 25, 2010
Today was the first day I tried my new strategy to get my backside out for a run or a ride after work... essentially it came down to taking my running gear to work and heading out directly from there instead of going home first and falling prey to the lure of dinner and either the couch or bed. And it worked... in some ways. Unfortunately I didn't have much handy to eat after wrapping up my last extra help session so I went with a Powerbar and some chips while driving over to the Pine Bush, which may have contributed to the digestive issues I had about 1 1/2 miles into the run. I was halfway around the perimeter loop on the Great Dune trails, and when I got to the connector trail for the Madison Ave Pinelands I decided discretion was the better part of valor and called it an early night. While I wish I'd done another three miles or so (my original plan) it was a good decision, especially since it started raining not long after I got back to the car.
It was good to be back in the Pine Bush, even if I didn't stay as long as I'd hoped. We're having a couple of days of unusually warm weather, so it was a great evening to be out running. I startled a woodcock just after hitting the trails, and watched a bat zipping around in the meadow that's been subject to much habitat restoration over the last few years. After that it was too dark for me to see much, though I did spot some glowing eyes (deer and in one case a housecat) in the light of my headlamp. Of course, in a couple more weeks I'll be doing all my evening runs in the dark... sigh.
JMH
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Weekly Training Summary
10/17/2010 - 10/23/2010
running (2x) - 12.5 mi
riding - 0 mi
snowshoeing - 0 mi
paddling - 0 mi
Of course, "training" may be a major misnomer for this past week... sigh. Though I may have come up with a solution to my giving in night after night to post-workday lethargy... time will tell.
JMH
10/17/2010 - 10/23/2010
running (2x) - 12.5 mi
riding - 0 mi
snowshoeing - 0 mi
paddling - 0 mi
Of course, "training" may be a major misnomer for this past week... sigh. Though I may have come up with a solution to my giving in night after night to post-workday lethargy... time will tell.
JMH
Friday, October 22, 2010
Harvesting Seeds in the Pine Bush
Friday, October 22, 2010
Several times a year we have community service days at work where we spend the day doing work both at the school and volunteering in the Albany area community. Since I have a new group of student advisees this year, it was an opportunity to go to a new venue to work (my previous group was adamant that we continue to work with the same organization every time, in part because they often bought pizza for us afterwards) and I chose one that is near and dear to my heart, the Albany Pine Bush Preserve. Since moving to Albany in late 1999 I've run, biked, snowshoed, skied, and walked countless miles on the Pine Bush trails, so this was an excellent opportunity to give back a little bit.
Our job today was working with two staff members harvesting bush clover seeds for planting next spring in one of the areas where habitat restoration is being done, a process where the vast majority of plants in an area are removed, leaving behind essentially bare soil, to get rid of invasive species and allow re-establishing of native species that are important to the various endangered species that need the Pine Bush to survive - in this case, the Karner Blue butterfly, which as an adult feeds on the nectar from the bush clover blossoms. After meeting the staff at the Pine Bush Discovery Center we headed over to a field along Kings Road where we spent 2 1/2 hours harvesting seed materials, which will be run through equipment later to extract and clean the seeds to planting in the spring.
I was pleasantly surprised that the boys didn't grumble about the work being pretty boring, though they did get antsy toward the end, mainly because they were getting pretty hungry and in some cases a bit chilly. Before we headed back to the Discovery Center for lunch, the staff members weighed the bags we'd collected - turns out we gathered 63 lbs of material altogether, which is pretty darn impressive.
Back at the Discovery Center the staff explained why the Pine Bush is important (it's environmentally unique) and we got to see the box turtle they have there (rescued from someone who had been keeping him illegally.) The boys chowed down on the food we'd brought with us from the school and then spent a while checking out the displays and activities. I was glad to have the opportunity to see the inside of the Center - usually I'm there in the evening when it's closed - and chatted with the staff briefly about how tough it's been with all the budget problems NYS has been having, before we hopped back on the bus to return to school.
JMH
Friday, October 22, 2010
Several times a year we have community service days at work where we spend the day doing work both at the school and volunteering in the Albany area community. Since I have a new group of student advisees this year, it was an opportunity to go to a new venue to work (my previous group was adamant that we continue to work with the same organization every time, in part because they often bought pizza for us afterwards) and I chose one that is near and dear to my heart, the Albany Pine Bush Preserve. Since moving to Albany in late 1999 I've run, biked, snowshoed, skied, and walked countless miles on the Pine Bush trails, so this was an excellent opportunity to give back a little bit.
Our job today was working with two staff members harvesting bush clover seeds for planting next spring in one of the areas where habitat restoration is being done, a process where the vast majority of plants in an area are removed, leaving behind essentially bare soil, to get rid of invasive species and allow re-establishing of native species that are important to the various endangered species that need the Pine Bush to survive - in this case, the Karner Blue butterfly, which as an adult feeds on the nectar from the bush clover blossoms. After meeting the staff at the Pine Bush Discovery Center we headed over to a field along Kings Road where we spent 2 1/2 hours harvesting seed materials, which will be run through equipment later to extract and clean the seeds to planting in the spring.
I was pleasantly surprised that the boys didn't grumble about the work being pretty boring, though they did get antsy toward the end, mainly because they were getting pretty hungry and in some cases a bit chilly. Before we headed back to the Discovery Center for lunch, the staff members weighed the bags we'd collected - turns out we gathered 63 lbs of material altogether, which is pretty darn impressive.
Back at the Discovery Center the staff explained why the Pine Bush is important (it's environmentally unique) and we got to see the box turtle they have there (rescued from someone who had been keeping him illegally.) The boys chowed down on the food we'd brought with us from the school and then spent a while checking out the displays and activities. I was glad to have the opportunity to see the inside of the Center - usually I'm there in the evening when it's closed - and chatted with the staff briefly about how tough it's been with all the budget problems NYS has been having, before we hopped back on the bus to return to school.
JMH
Thursday, October 21, 2010
4 Mile Run, Albany Academy to Normanskill Farm
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Very little time today between wrapping up extra help sessions with my students and another work function, so I squeezed in a very short run from the school over to Normanskill Farm. After following city streets for a ways, I went down what used to be a yellow-brick road (before it was paved over, though in spots the asphalt has worn away revealing the bricks underneath) and over the Whipple bridge to follow a trail down the hill and then along the Normans Kill a short distance before turning around and heading back. I would have liked to have run longer but there just wasn't time...
The last time I was at Normanskill Farm was almost a year ago, after last year's Hairy Gorilla Half Marathon, when I stopped to get some photos of the many trees that were in brilliant fall colors. There were fewer showing gold and reds today, possibly because of the recent rain or possibly because some of the trees have yet to change color. Still, it was awfully nice to spend some time surrounded by a bit of nature, before having to follow the city streets back to work.
JMH
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Very little time today between wrapping up extra help sessions with my students and another work function, so I squeezed in a very short run from the school over to Normanskill Farm. After following city streets for a ways, I went down what used to be a yellow-brick road (before it was paved over, though in spots the asphalt has worn away revealing the bricks underneath) and over the Whipple bridge to follow a trail down the hill and then along the Normans Kill a short distance before turning around and heading back. I would have liked to have run longer but there just wasn't time...
The last time I was at Normanskill Farm was almost a year ago, after last year's Hairy Gorilla Half Marathon, when I stopped to get some photos of the many trees that were in brilliant fall colors. There were fewer showing gold and reds today, possibly because of the recent rain or possibly because some of the trees have yet to change color. Still, it was awfully nice to spend some time surrounded by a bit of nature, before having to follow the city streets back to work.
JMH
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
A Change in Plans... No Ridgewalk For Me Today...
Sunday, October 17, 2010
There are a bunch of reasons why it didn't make sense to do the 15 mile Ridgewalk trail race today, but the most important one is pretty simple... by not running the race I have more time to spend with Ann. (Of course, this leaves me with 4 DNS's to one actual running of the event... Ridgewalk is kicking my backside!)
Next year...
JMH
Sunday, October 17, 2010
There are a bunch of reasons why it didn't make sense to do the 15 mile Ridgewalk trail race today, but the most important one is pretty simple... by not running the race I have more time to spend with Ann. (Of course, this leaves me with 4 DNS's to one actual running of the event... Ridgewalk is kicking my backside!)
Next year...
JMH
Saturday, October 16, 2010
REBUILDING DISTANCE 2010 - Race #32
Black Diamond Offroad Duathlon
Saturday, October 16 , 2010
2010 Black Diamond Duathlon results
Black Diamond Duathlon information
Overall a decent race on my part, though my slowest time yet (by a little over 3 1/2 minutes, sigh.) Finished in 1:33:39, with a little over 20 minutes for each 2 mile running leg (not PR's but decent for the way I've been running this year) and a whopping 50:16 for the ride. I don't know if it was the wind, the wet ground, or my not putting in enough time on my bike recently... just had a tough ride today.
On the positive side, this is the first time I've done this race when it didn't rain! I really started to wonder when I was about 20 miles east on of exit 45 with sunny skies and saw a band of dark clouds covering the Victor/Fishers area... but while we started the race with grey clouds overhead we had sunshine during the last part of the ride and during my second run... for me, sunshine on a cool fall day makes racing so much easier. I even considered heading back out on the bike afterwards to get some photos of the fall colors along the rail trail, but decided to both save some energy for tomorrow and get over to Ann's a bit sooner.
One runner had a close call during the second run... apparently he was found unresponsive on the trail and when I went by was being given CPR while they waited for the EMT's arrival. By the time I came back through they had already gotten him on the road to the hospital... the word from a variety of sources is that he went into cardiac arrest and was found by other runners who began CPR, then was revived either by a sheriff's deputy using an AED or the EMTs, there are conflicting reports in the articles I found about that. As of Saturday night he was in the hospital in guarded condition. Scary stuff that definitely makes you think... and it reminded me that I while I keep thinking I need to take a CPR course I really need to get off my backside and actually do it.
JMH
2010 Event Totals
Run 270.3 mi, 63 hr 7 min
Bike 119.4 mi, 8 hr 51 min
Snowshoe 71.7 mi, 18 hr 26 min
Kayak 3.0 mi, 47 min
states visited: CT, MA, ME, NH, NY, OH, PA, VT
Black Diamond Offroad Duathlon
Saturday, October 16 , 2010
2010 Black Diamond Duathlon results
Black Diamond Duathlon information
Overall a decent race on my part, though my slowest time yet (by a little over 3 1/2 minutes, sigh.) Finished in 1:33:39, with a little over 20 minutes for each 2 mile running leg (not PR's but decent for the way I've been running this year) and a whopping 50:16 for the ride. I don't know if it was the wind, the wet ground, or my not putting in enough time on my bike recently... just had a tough ride today.
On the positive side, this is the first time I've done this race when it didn't rain! I really started to wonder when I was about 20 miles east on of exit 45 with sunny skies and saw a band of dark clouds covering the Victor/Fishers area... but while we started the race with grey clouds overhead we had sunshine during the last part of the ride and during my second run... for me, sunshine on a cool fall day makes racing so much easier. I even considered heading back out on the bike afterwards to get some photos of the fall colors along the rail trail, but decided to both save some energy for tomorrow and get over to Ann's a bit sooner.
One runner had a close call during the second run... apparently he was found unresponsive on the trail and when I went by was being given CPR while they waited for the EMT's arrival. By the time I came back through they had already gotten him on the road to the hospital... the word from a variety of sources is that he went into cardiac arrest and was found by other runners who began CPR, then was revived either by a sheriff's deputy using an AED or the EMTs, there are conflicting reports in the articles I found about that. As of Saturday night he was in the hospital in guarded condition. Scary stuff that definitely makes you think... and it reminded me that I while I keep thinking I need to take a CPR course I really need to get off my backside and actually do it.
JMH
2010 Event Totals
Run 270.3 mi, 63 hr 7 min
Bike 119.4 mi, 8 hr 51 min
Snowshoe 71.7 mi, 18 hr 26 min
Kayak 3.0 mi, 47 min
states visited: CT, MA, ME, NH, NY, OH, PA, VT
Thursday, October 14, 2010
11 Mile Ride on the Mohawk Hudson Bike Path
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Good thing I remembered to bring a light, since I did half my ride tonight in the dark... two more months of nightfall creeping earlier and earlier, almost four of running and riding primarily in the dark when I go out in the evening. Oh, well, I guess it helps me appreciate the long days of spring and summer that much more.
Lots of ducks on the river and a few geese... even saw and heard a couple of herons.
I was hoping I'd beat the rain but no such luck... it started about a third of the way into the ride and increased in intensity as I kept riding. Stopped at the car on my way back through the Nisky Lions Park to trade my windbreaker for a rainjacket... good thing, too, since it really picked up after that. I knew my tights were getting soaked when I could feel water running down the fronts of my shins... brrr.
I'd like to get in another short ride tomorrow but if it rains like the weather forecast is calling for... I'll have to settle for a run instead.
JMH
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Good thing I remembered to bring a light, since I did half my ride tonight in the dark... two more months of nightfall creeping earlier and earlier, almost four of running and riding primarily in the dark when I go out in the evening. Oh, well, I guess it helps me appreciate the long days of spring and summer that much more.
Lots of ducks on the river and a few geese... even saw and heard a couple of herons.
I was hoping I'd beat the rain but no such luck... it started about a third of the way into the ride and increased in intensity as I kept riding. Stopped at the car on my way back through the Nisky Lions Park to trade my windbreaker for a rainjacket... good thing, too, since it really picked up after that. I knew my tights were getting soaked when I could feel water running down the fronts of my shins... brrr.
I'd like to get in another short ride tomorrow but if it rains like the weather forecast is calling for... I'll have to settle for a run instead.
JMH
Monday, October 11, 2010
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Sunday, October 03, 2010
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