It’s April. And that means insane geese.

Posted on April 6, 2010 by threlkeld

I see a pattern. In early-to-mid April, the geese go mad.

First, there was this haiku from April 14, 2007:

Today on my run
A mad goose chased after me
Vermin with feathers

On April 27, 2008 I wrote this:

Sighted today:
Badass Goose Dad: I know it’s spring because the geese couples are beginning to show up with their little fluffball chick children. Which means Dad Goose goes batshit if you get with 10 yards of the family. I was chased by a hissing goose a year or two back, and it’s an image seared into my brain. Today I gave them wide berth and even had to employ the “make yourself look really big” trick (arms akimbo) to psyche out the goose. One time we were in a car and a goose charged the car!

Finally, this from a post of April 19, 2009. Incidentally, I find that reading this post makes me particularly sad, as it was written while I was at the height of fitness last year, mere days before I began my slow, steady descent into a months-long period of overtraining syndrome.

And today I had my first bonafide smackdown with a male goose. He came charging at me, hissing and tongue-wagging. I couldn’t find a stick in time (my usual defensive move, stick waving). So I threw my arms akimbo, ran straight at the goose and screamed, “Fuck off!” Goose reversed course and scurried away. Unfortunately, there were no witnesses to capture the moment for YouTube posterity.

I had my first encounter with an ornery goose this morning. It wasn’t even that bad. Just wait until the eggs have hatched. Fortunately, I have Photoshop.

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Spring Training: Weeks Twelve and Thirteen

Posted on April 6, 2010 by threlkeld

With the crazy weather, insane workload and race-heavy weekends, I’ve neglected posting training.

A planet yawns.

Mileage has been very low the past couple of weeks, owing to all the racing. My pattern of one just one workout a week + race has continued. I had one very good race, one just so-so. Let’s review:

The last week of March featured just 50 miles (okay, 49.9, but who’s counting?) and was punctuated with a very good speed session on the track and then another good race on Sunday. Aside from feeling like crap that Saturday, primarily due to overindulgence the night before, I felt like a running god all week.

The following (last) week was a measly 35 miles. I took Monday off because my legs were totally shot from the race and I think it was a very busy work day too. Or maybe the weather sucked. I honestly can’t remember and I’ve been bad about filling in my training diary.

Since I was racing on Saturday, I did my speedwork on Wednesday evening. It went okay, but wasn’t anything to write home about like the previous week’s session. I probably should have seen it as a harbinger of things to come, but I figured I was just having a down day.

Saturday came and I struggled to break 45:30 in Central Park for a 10K. I’m somewhat inclined to blame it on hormones, since I tend to be very slow during the end of my cycle. Yeah, it’s the female troubles. This sort of thing has happened before (paragraphs 4-6).

Whatever. I’m glad it wasn’t a goal race. I took the day after off primarily because I had a monster work project to complete and after 10 hours of staring at a screen, then an abortive attempt to go shopping afterwards (stuff is closed on Easter; who knew?), I decided that I didn’t need the extra pressure of trying to get a run in before the sun went down.

Coach Kevin has been having major computer and connectivity issues lately so I’m winging it for the time being and just running however I feel like running from day to day.

I’ve got yet another race, a hilly 15K in Scarsdale, coming up on Sunday. Normally I’d be worried about not having a plan for the week. But like last week’s race, this isn’t one I care about particularly, so I’m not that concerned about what I do this coming week to prepare. It feels a bit like I’m coasting from week to week as it is.

Filed under: central park, coaching, training, westchester | 1 Comment »