Training Log Archive: wilsmith

Easy Z2 spin to let the legs recover. Sherlock season 3 started.

The usual rigmarole. Up to start a couple of times (crazy amount of climb involved), running around after the kids, around the white course, etc... I never fully realized how much time you spend running around pre-race doing kid stuff until I put a stopwatch on it. Great to see Mia able to figure out the basics. With a truly properly set course 1 she would be able to make it around on her own. But it's hard to know if it's going to be properly set, so she needs a shadow for a while yet.

C • Course 1 3

West Point Classic Blue Day 2. Again a frustrating race. Didn't quite have the energy to fight it out in the tough terrain today. HR on average about 5 bpm less than yesterday. Was in the top 3 on about half the splits, which was acceptable. But a couple of major mistakes plus a whole handful of smaller ones left a bitter taste again. Just so frickin rusty it's not funny. Total time loss in the 5-6 minute range. On top of that, a downpour in the middle of the race didn't help much (the early starters got no precipitation).

Oh well. Frustrating, yes. But perversely enough, still fun. Great to see Mia enjoy herself out there, nice to catch up with old friends. At this point in my career, those are the priorities.

Warmup and cool down for the above.

Sunday Classic, Blue - Splits

Event: West Point A-meet
 

This was the shadowing of Mia (who probably forced me past Z2 but also went slowly at times), plus trips up to the start twice - forgot an extra SI so that Sofia could punch controls too. Boo to the course setter, who put the second half of the course through thorns and brambles and mud, after a lovely first half of typical West Point rocky but open terrain. Had to carry Sofia for a good chunk as she was unable to keep up with Mia through the brambles.

West Point Day 1 Blue. Very frustrating race. At a certain level, I should probably dial back my expectations a bit. Orienteering is a sport that I only do 2-3 times a year now. It's been over 5 months since I even looked at an orienteering map, and I can't even recall the last time I ran in terrain. However, it's a real struggle to find much satisfaction with a run like today.

It was not a brutal race, by any means, but I wouldn't call it good either. Somewhere just south of acceptable I suppose. I never ever had flow going at all, and essentially was forced to come to a complete stop at every control just to determine what I was about to punch, and again to decide how I was going to complete the next leg. Missed between 10-45 seconds on virtually every control. The AP error calculator has me as the only error-free Blue runner! I guess that's what happens when you make mistakes on nearly every leg. I did manage to spike controls 3 (accidentally ran through it en route to 2), 19, 20, and 21. The debacle on the remaining 17 controls was not very encouraging.

Physically, felt fine on the bigger trails and roads, with the exception of steep climbs (haven't worked on that yet). But felt quite clumsy and awkward in the terrain and on small paths, which comprised the large majority of today's run. I probably wasn't too far off the rest of the field's speed even in the forest, but it did feel very odd to be stumbling about out there.

Based on my training, the above result is probably only to be expected. But it's a bitter pill to swallow. Simply put, training for triathlons does not an orienteer make.

Warmup and (frustrated) cool down for the above.

Saturday Classic, Blue - Splits

Very slow (as in really forcing myself to be slow) Z2 run by Niagara Falls, just as a recovery/rest run before breakfast. But good to do something before driving to West Point (water sliding probably doesn't count...). Walkway along the gorge nearly deserted. Just net one other runner. Pretty cool to be out and seeing the Falls in the fog and must with nobody else around.

Easy Z2 spin for recovery.

Watched the end of 24 season 8. Now have to switch over to something else (maybe finish off Sherlock season 3) while they trundle the latest season of 24, due out next month.

Supposed to be strict Z2 recovery spin but initial HR a bit high. Still not fully recovered but hopefully able to run intervals this afternoon as planned.

TRX. Shoulders and arms.

Fartlek intervals again. Probably not fully recovered for this, but since we will be heading off to West Point tomorrow (via watersliding in Niagara Falls), today was a better day to get it done.

Did alternating 1000m sessions - run/slow run - simply because it's convenient in that my FR620 automatically spits out the 1000m splits every km. There were 5 intervals, all between 3:36-3:39. Satisfied with that. It's nowhere near what D-MAN is cranking out, but it'll do for now. Got to ease back into the speed stuff gradually when you're an old man, else risk needless injury.

Hopefully I can be better recovered for the weekend.

Nice workout. Main session was a whole bunch of 25m intervals on a 60-second cycle. Main goal on my new doctrine - focus on propulsion instead of streamlining. Definitely faster like this, but also more tiring. Need to work on swim-specific strength, and transform those lats and deltoids into semi-useful body parts I guess. Anyway, the lengths took anywhere from 22-29 seconds, depending on how bad my form was and how much energy I wanted to expend...

Note that I need to average 1 second per meter to get through the Olympic distance triathlon swim in 25 minutes. Not sure if that's a reasonable goal for 2014, but I won't rule it out until I've been in open water for a fair bit. Which, at this rate, won't be until July...