SHORT WALKS AT TWO OF MY FAVORITE PLACES
1.4 Mile Walk at Thacher Park
1.3 Mile Walk at Five Rivers
Monday, October 31, 2016
Sunday, October 30, 2016
Slow & Steady 2016 - Race #45
Hairy Gorilla Half Marathon Trail Race
Sunday, October 30, 2016
I checked and apparently I've run this race 7 times in the 12 years it's been happening. One year it was cancelled because we got something like a foot of snow the day before, a couple of times I bailed at the last minute because they'd changed something that aggravated me (bringing in a time cutoff at the 5.8 mile point, changing the course to it's current version) and most recently (two years ago) I dropped down to the six mile race because the weather was awful (freezing rain) and the thought of spending another 90+ minutes out there was very unappealing.
This year the big question was whether or not I'd beat that time cutoff. I've been using a strategy of start slow and gradually increase pace, especially for longer events. It's worked very well for me... I tend to run negative splits and find myself passing other runners as the end draws closer. Unfortunately, that slow starting pace is somewhere in the mid-14's or low 15's, and making the time cutoff meant I'd need to average at least 13:30 per mile for pretty much the 1st six miles. I'd find that challenging on paved roads, much less on Thacher's trails.
It wasn't fun or pretty, but I did manage it, squeaked through with about a minute to spare. (Next time I'm going to petition for an early start option.) Unfortunately, that left my legs in the same shape they'd be in after I ran all out for a 10k or so... except I had 7+ miles still to go. Needless to say, my pace dropped substantially for the 2nd half, and overall - this race hurt.
I liked the course about as much as I expected to... in other words, I didn't particularly like it. Don't get me wrong, running at Thacher is a wonderful thing to do, especially in the fall when the weather is cool and the leaves are changing. But when the HGH course was changed to match the August Trail Running Festival course, it lost one of the features I enjoyed the most about it, namely the fact that much of the course was different from the Indian Ladder 15k route, and even the trails that the two shared tended to be run in the opposite direction. Now there's substantial overlap, and of course the current course is virtually identical to the Trail Running Festival. I'm sure there are all sorts of good reasons for doing it this way... but I really liked the old courses, and I don't know that I'll ever feel all that fond of the new one.
On the plus side - that gives me more options for the last weekend in October, since I won't mind missing the Gorilla to run a race somewhere else. And if I'm going to be in Albany that weekend, I can probably count on getting in a nice run at the Gorilla... especially if I can get that early start option so I don't have to darn near kill myself to beat a time cutoff.
One other plus to today's race - I guess the running I've been doing has done some good. All of my other half marathons this fall were quite a bit easier than this in terms of terrain and running surface, and they all took me right around three hours. So running this tougher race in 3:07 is a welcome indication that I've made some progress... even if I'm still slow as a turtle racing in a vat of molasses.
JMH
2016 Event Totals
Run 316.8 mi, 76 hr 55 min
Bike 119.2 mi, 9 hr 1 min
Snowshoe 6.2 mi, 1 hr 39 min
Kayak 1.5 mi, 20 min
states visited: CT, MA, ME, NH, NY, PA, RI, VT
Hairy Gorilla Half Marathon Trail Race
Sunday, October 30, 2016
I checked and apparently I've run this race 7 times in the 12 years it's been happening. One year it was cancelled because we got something like a foot of snow the day before, a couple of times I bailed at the last minute because they'd changed something that aggravated me (bringing in a time cutoff at the 5.8 mile point, changing the course to it's current version) and most recently (two years ago) I dropped down to the six mile race because the weather was awful (freezing rain) and the thought of spending another 90+ minutes out there was very unappealing.
This year the big question was whether or not I'd beat that time cutoff. I've been using a strategy of start slow and gradually increase pace, especially for longer events. It's worked very well for me... I tend to run negative splits and find myself passing other runners as the end draws closer. Unfortunately, that slow starting pace is somewhere in the mid-14's or low 15's, and making the time cutoff meant I'd need to average at least 13:30 per mile for pretty much the 1st six miles. I'd find that challenging on paved roads, much less on Thacher's trails.
It wasn't fun or pretty, but I did manage it, squeaked through with about a minute to spare. (Next time I'm going to petition for an early start option.) Unfortunately, that left my legs in the same shape they'd be in after I ran all out for a 10k or so... except I had 7+ miles still to go. Needless to say, my pace dropped substantially for the 2nd half, and overall - this race hurt.
I liked the course about as much as I expected to... in other words, I didn't particularly like it. Don't get me wrong, running at Thacher is a wonderful thing to do, especially in the fall when the weather is cool and the leaves are changing. But when the HGH course was changed to match the August Trail Running Festival course, it lost one of the features I enjoyed the most about it, namely the fact that much of the course was different from the Indian Ladder 15k route, and even the trails that the two shared tended to be run in the opposite direction. Now there's substantial overlap, and of course the current course is virtually identical to the Trail Running Festival. I'm sure there are all sorts of good reasons for doing it this way... but I really liked the old courses, and I don't know that I'll ever feel all that fond of the new one.
On the plus side - that gives me more options for the last weekend in October, since I won't mind missing the Gorilla to run a race somewhere else. And if I'm going to be in Albany that weekend, I can probably count on getting in a nice run at the Gorilla... especially if I can get that early start option so I don't have to darn near kill myself to beat a time cutoff.
One other plus to today's race - I guess the running I've been doing has done some good. All of my other half marathons this fall were quite a bit easier than this in terms of terrain and running surface, and they all took me right around three hours. So running this tougher race in 3:07 is a welcome indication that I've made some progress... even if I'm still slow as a turtle racing in a vat of molasses.
JMH
2016 Event Totals
Run 316.8 mi, 76 hr 55 min
Bike 119.2 mi, 9 hr 1 min
Snowshoe 6.2 mi, 1 hr 39 min
Kayak 1.5 mi, 20 min
states visited: CT, MA, ME, NH, NY, PA, RI, VT
Friday, October 28, 2016
SUCCESS!
Friday, October 28, 2016
Four or five months ago I had some trouble with the aging battery in my Honda Civic, and in addition to replacing the battery I picked up an Everstart Portable Jump Starter - just in case. Problem was, with the battery replaced I had no chance to test it... until a couple of weeks ago, when someone asked me to give them a jump-start after the Mohawk Towpath Byway Duathlon - and then I couldn't get it to work. Not reassuring!
Tonight when I got home one of my neighbors asked for help with a dead battery, so I grabbed it and tried again (this time I had actually read the directions first...) Hooked it up, she tried the key - and her car started right up. It works!
JMH
Friday, October 28, 2016
Four or five months ago I had some trouble with the aging battery in my Honda Civic, and in addition to replacing the battery I picked up an Everstart Portable Jump Starter - just in case. Problem was, with the battery replaced I had no chance to test it... until a couple of weeks ago, when someone asked me to give them a jump-start after the Mohawk Towpath Byway Duathlon - and then I couldn't get it to work. Not reassuring!
Tonight when I got home one of my neighbors asked for help with a dead battery, so I grabbed it and tried again (this time I had actually read the directions first...) Hooked it up, she tried the key - and her car started right up. It works!
JMH
END-TO-END! TWICE!
18 Mile Ride on the Albany County Rail Trail
Friday, October 28, 2016
Still pretty cold today, and this afternoon the wind really picked up... which meant riding my bike had the potential to be fairly unpleasant. But then it occurred to me that the rail trail might be a better option, since the trees would help shield the path from the wind. I originally planned to take my mountain bike, but decided instead to put the wider tires on my road bike - they worked just fine on some fairly gnarly sections of the canalway trail this summer, and they'd be a better option than the mountain bike knobbies if I decided to keep going on the paved portion of the path.
The ride out to Voorheesville was windy but fairly pleasant... and the trip back even more so, with the wind more at my back and the path predominantly downhill. The wider tires worked just as well as the ones on my mountain bike, and the lighter weight of my road bike was a definite plus.
When I got back to the parking lot in Slingerlands I decided to keep going, at least to Delaware Ave... except when I got there, I was feeling good enough that I decided to go all the way to South Pearl Street. One plus to the cold weather - there was a lot less traffic on the path than when I'd ridden it in warmer weather.
Unfortunately, what goes down must go back up... and today I was riding uphill into the wind. Slow going, but nothing I haven't done before. Still, I was glad to get past the worst of the hill and enjoyed the relatively level stretch between Delaware and Slingerlands.
I wasn't expecting the ride the rail trail end-to-end until the rest is paved... it was a nice treat today to do it much sooner than that.
JMH
18 Mile Ride on the Albany County Rail Trail
Friday, October 28, 2016
Still pretty cold today, and this afternoon the wind really picked up... which meant riding my bike had the potential to be fairly unpleasant. But then it occurred to me that the rail trail might be a better option, since the trees would help shield the path from the wind. I originally planned to take my mountain bike, but decided instead to put the wider tires on my road bike - they worked just fine on some fairly gnarly sections of the canalway trail this summer, and they'd be a better option than the mountain bike knobbies if I decided to keep going on the paved portion of the path.
The ride out to Voorheesville was windy but fairly pleasant... and the trip back even more so, with the wind more at my back and the path predominantly downhill. The wider tires worked just as well as the ones on my mountain bike, and the lighter weight of my road bike was a definite plus.
When I got back to the parking lot in Slingerlands I decided to keep going, at least to Delaware Ave... except when I got there, I was feeling good enough that I decided to go all the way to South Pearl Street. One plus to the cold weather - there was a lot less traffic on the path than when I'd ridden it in warmer weather.
Unfortunately, what goes down must go back up... and today I was riding uphill into the wind. Slow going, but nothing I haven't done before. Still, I was glad to get past the worst of the hill and enjoyed the relatively level stretch between Delaware and Slingerlands.
I wasn't expecting the ride the rail trail end-to-end until the rest is paved... it was a nice treat today to do it much sooner than that.
JMH
RAKE, BAG, REPEAT...
A Morning Working at Buckingham Pond
Friday, October 28, 2016
Today was our annual fall community service day at school... over the years my advisees and I have worked at the Pine Bush, Five Rivers, several different Little League fields, the Bethlehem YMCA, the Albany Shaker Site, and probably several other places that I can no longer remember. For the last three years we've gone to Buckingham Pond, where we mostly rake and bag leaves - actually, today that was all we did, for three hours. We managed to fill between 60 and 70 bags of leaves and left the park with fewer fallen leaves piled up in the bushes and wooded areas along the edge of the pond (which is where the city tells its workers to blow the leaves... so that we can pull them back out and bag them up for hauling away.)
It's interesting how many ducks are hanging around, after so few being around during the summer. Monday night there was a female wood duck warbling away among the many mallards, and this morning there was a male there as well. A kingfisher even put in a brief appearance right after we arrived.
I suspect by tonight or tomorrow I'm going to wish I'd done more paddling this past summer - my arms, chest, and shoulders are definitely going to be feeling the effects of 3+ hours of raking and hauling bags full of wet leaves.
- JMH
A Morning Working at Buckingham Pond
Friday, October 28, 2016
Today was our annual fall community service day at school... over the years my advisees and I have worked at the Pine Bush, Five Rivers, several different Little League fields, the Bethlehem YMCA, the Albany Shaker Site, and probably several other places that I can no longer remember. For the last three years we've gone to Buckingham Pond, where we mostly rake and bag leaves - actually, today that was all we did, for three hours. We managed to fill between 60 and 70 bags of leaves and left the park with fewer fallen leaves piled up in the bushes and wooded areas along the edge of the pond (which is where the city tells its workers to blow the leaves... so that we can pull them back out and bag them up for hauling away.)
It's interesting how many ducks are hanging around, after so few being around during the summer. Monday night there was a female wood duck warbling away among the many mallards, and this morning there was a male there as well. A kingfisher even put in a brief appearance right after we arrived.
I suspect by tonight or tomorrow I'm going to wish I'd done more paddling this past summer - my arms, chest, and shoulders are definitely going to be feeling the effects of 3+ hours of raking and hauling bags full of wet leaves.
- JMH
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Monday, October 24, 2016
Sunday, October 23, 2016
Saturday, October 22, 2016
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
85 DEGREES IN MID-OCTOBER?!!!
20.6 Mile Ride on the Mohawk Hudson Bike Path
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Crazy weather for mid-October, but it did make for a pleasant ride this evening. The turtle's in the old canal seemed to like it - including a large snapping turtle that crossed the path in front of me, presumably heading for winter accommodations.
The water levels in the old canal are the lowest I've ever seen, especially west of Rotterdam Junction. The section between Leggiero Lane and the end of the path was pretty much dry except for a few puddles... I wonder what's happened to all the turtles I saw in there this summer. We'd better get decent snowfall this winter or we're going to be in trouble water-wise.
Lots of work along the path, replacing railings and bollards. Nice to see some money being spent on the path.
JMH
20.6 Mile Ride on the Mohawk Hudson Bike Path
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Crazy weather for mid-October, but it did make for a pleasant ride this evening. The turtle's in the old canal seemed to like it - including a large snapping turtle that crossed the path in front of me, presumably heading for winter accommodations.
The water levels in the old canal are the lowest I've ever seen, especially west of Rotterdam Junction. The section between Leggiero Lane and the end of the path was pretty much dry except for a few puddles... I wonder what's happened to all the turtles I saw in there this summer. We'd better get decent snowfall this winter or we're going to be in trouble water-wise.
Lots of work along the path, replacing railings and bollards. Nice to see some money being spent on the path.
JMH
Sunday, October 16, 2016
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