Glastenbury Residency | Part One – The TypeTwoFun Club

“74f at 10:45 on October 5th? Yeah….FUCK this.”

The dogs and I are five laps into our 2025 Glastenbury Residency. It seems like an apt time to pause and collect my thoughts on our opening salvo into this effort. It feels like a transition week after we just experienced our first overnight with cool-ish weather–a welcome change for this crew!

High-Level Check in

I reguarly do ‘check-in’s’ on hikes, a quick ‘how we doin’?’ checklist to make sure I’m not overlooking any risks or warning-signs for myself and the dogs. One of my favorite and most existential check-ins of a Type-Two variety is famously documented here. So, for a high-level check in: how is this whole thing working so far?

In a word….great! This recurring hike is checking all the boxes I hoped it would check. I’m getting out weekly onto the trail for some ‘hour after hour of drugery’ practice, the most important kind of ITI training there is. So much of progress on the trail is about mental toughness, overcoming mild repetetive discomfort, and (quite simply) not talking yourself out of just…continuing…down…the…trail. Not sexy in the slightest, but critically important. I’m also getting my legs back into strong working order, ready to carry weight over distance and prepped to hop directly into long skis as soon as there is snow. I’m getting to spend more time than usual just hanging with the dogs, as a captive audience hanging at camp with them (ok, full disclosure, typically with a book as well).

The dogs are absolutely crushing it. The hike up (Saturday each day) is definitely close to their new ‘max effort’ hike. Wylie, in particular, is pretty well done by the time we get to camp and ready for a long nap. But he’s not physically struggling with the ascent, and his arthritis in in front right leg continues to be managed with his monthly treatment and daily anti-inflammatory while on-trail. They both definitely tire out quicker and require more breaks on the warmer days…which have unfortunately been far too many so far.

Donezo with Heat training

Honestly, what the fuck. It used to start cooling off after labor day. The summer sucks enough without it growing even longer. But here we are, New England continues to warm faster than almost anywhere in the Western Hemisphere, and we are feeling it. Most of these early laps have been dominated by cool-down breaks, jumping in any flowing body of water, and positively cranking the AC to cool the car back down in the parking lot upon successful and victorious completion of each lap. This past weekend (October 11/12, lap 5) was the first where we returned to a comfortable temperature in the Cherry (short for Chariot, the name of our team’s car).

I’m really hoping we’ve seen the end of the hot temps. We’re moving into ‘fall mindset’ mode now, swapping some of our lighter weight gear for more cold-ready alternatives. This adds weight and bulk…but that’s kind of the whole point. Make the hike hard (for me), for training, while the dogs get to settle into the groove and enjoy ever cooler temps!

Enjoying what we’ve got, while we’ve got it.

This is probably the pup’s last season where they’ll be able to hike at this level. We’ll still hike next year, but will likely be seeking flatter routes. Shorter routes. Things that stay fun. This hike (thank the heavens!) is still just within their grasp, and they’re having fun each week. Just what I needed to enable my training. I love Glastenbury, and I’m so glad I get to spend every weekend there with my two bestest buds. And we still have weeks and weeks ahead of us to enjoy it…but I’ll be calling this residency off as soon as we get snow. I’m grateful to know I’ll also get to be calling it a smashing success.