Training Log Archive: iansmith

Warmup before the relay event. I listened to Dream Chasers from Reign of Vengeance.

Orienteering course length: 4.4 km, Green 1, Relay.

After some solid results over the past two days (except the Night-O), I was put on the second leg of the CSU first team. We noted that Ross, Boris, Ken, and Izzy would make an especially fast four point team, and denoted them "CSU 1." Alex, me, Ali and Mikkel formed "CSU 2," and Brendan, PG, Bill, and Greg formed "CSU 3."

Brendan had a solid race, especially given his IT band problems, and finished first, with Zac Barker close behind and Alex about thirty seconds back. I caught up to Peter by the second control, and Vadim by control six. On the way to 6. Vadim and I had the same forkings, so we ran the rest of the course virtually together. At control 10: 1, 2. I considered trying to break away, but I was much more likely to make a mistake if I either pushed hard to get away or was running by myself. I made a noticeable compass error at control 12 (16:58 on my track) where I was too far to the left. While I punched the control first, Vadim's presence helped me correct the error. I'm not sure I could have made up that much ground on speedy, as I was pushing hard the entire race.

Control 13, at time 20:14, was a long scary-ish leg with not much to check off on the way. I was careful with my compass and checked off streams, marsh boundaries, and a rootstock; I ended up about ten or twenty meters to the right. Dan Barker captured some nice shots from that leg: 1, 2, 3.

I figured 14 was a safe leg, so I ramped up my effort leaving 13, but drifted to the north and had to correct. Speedy and I entered the clearing bridge within about 10-15 meters of each other, and I punched 14 maybe 5-10s ahead of him. After 14, I again increased my intensity on the long run to the go control, then threw everything I had left at the finish leg to tag off Ali. Brendan got me by five seconds on the finish leg, which surprised and impressed me. Mikkel was six seconds ahead of me in his climactic run in against Wyatt.

I had few mistakes on terrain that could have invited errors, but as I was not really alone, I'm not sure that's a testament to my performance. I am happy that I had a solid race in a relay - when it matters most, and that I didn't let down my team. I would have preferred to give Ali a bigger lead than the 22 seconds she had against Clem, but DVOA and our team were too closely matched in speed. Any margin that left the two runners in sight of each other was irrelevant, as the back runner would catch up quickly. As a result, the relay came down to the last two legs of the blue course, and Mikkel outkicked Wyatt for the win. DVOA was an excellent opponent, and I am curious to see how our teams would have performed on a broader test of our orienteering abilities. DVOA is a worthy adversary, and through friendly competition, we can hone our abilities for the day when we take the field against the Canadians.

Thanks to SLOC for a fun and exciting relay and for an excellent weekend!
Quickroute

C • Nice job Ian. 3

Relay Green 1 - Splits

Blue Middle distance A-event. I had a generally good run, with only one mistake larger than a small hesitation. That mistake was a large (1:00) hesitation in a very thick "clearing" near control 13. While I was in the right spot, I was very unsure.

Nevertheless, it was one of my cleaner runs. I was nemesised by the Aligator by 1:09, and lost to the overall winner, Clem, by about 1:40. The pack was dense today, with Clem at 35, Mikkel, Ali, and Wyatt at 36, me at 37, and Greg at 38.

Listed distance of 5.3 km, 140m climb. Quickroute

Run back and forth along the walk to the start for warmup, and cool down with Greg on the field after.

My first Corn Maze race. When I left, I had the fastest time, ahead of Greg by 21 seconds.

Yay, it's official! Winning races (even novelty races) feels good; I hope to do it more often.
Quickroute. Smart recording is not smart for corn maze races.

Warm up before the race and cool down after; probably about half a kilometer each.

Middle Blue - Splits

CMOUSA Middle Champs - Splits

Event: US Night & Relay Champs
 

It is done; The Rise and Fall was a thoroughly informative and engrossing historical work. The narrative was captivating and justly earns the accolade of the definitive account of one of the darkest periods of our history (at least among those I have read). I am now reading Orson Scott Card's Xenocide and listening to Bruckner's Seventh - in particular the Adagio movement.

I finally posted my reaction to the CSU A-meet.

The third movement of Brahms 1 is a notable exception to my general dislike of third movements (or Minuet and Trio movements). Coincidentally, it's very short - only 4:40 in my Solti CSO recording.

Fun 2.2 km sprint at SLOC A-meet. This was not a ranked event, but I won! I edged out Speedy and Ali by about 30 seconds, and Wyatt by about a minute. Most people weren't running the race hard, so the victory is much less significant.

Quickroute

C • Woo! 2

I tend to forget to track my warmup with my GPS, and I often don't turn on my GPS until midway through my warmup. Before the race, I ran around the field chatting with Greg, Carol, and Brendan for about ten minutes. Afterward, I jogged a few cool down laps.

Run to the start. I warmed up for an additional ten minutes beforehand, but didn't record it.

US Night Orienteering championships red course. I was double giggled and Canadienne'd. Red was the appropriate length for me.

Quickroute

Warmup and cool down after the race.

Red - Splits

Blue/Red Sprint - Splits

I noticed a small twinge in my left calf today - probably from cycling rather than fumbling around in the woods in the dark. I'm already conscious of how challenging this weekend will be in light on my comparative weakness, so I had planned to rest today. Stephen is nothing if not persistent in his efforts to get me to come to tonight's CSU street-O Cambridge Traverse, but I am impervious to much persuasion (except to nemesis challenges, against which I have almost no defense).

I biked over to the Fells to run the 2009 Spring Runoff Day 2 Brown course and break in my new Oroc 280s. I had hoped to arrive at 5 PM and run the course in the waning twilight, but I started at about 6 PM in total darkness. I only had my weak headlamp - I had forgotten Flashlight, so it was very tricky. I couldn't really see green briar until I was in it.

I started reasonably strongly, pushing as hard as I dared in the poor light through 6. I knew control 7 was very tricky, and without a flag, I attacked safely from the south. I should QR to check how close I was, but 10-13 were agony. The green briar and vegetation were incredibly thick on my route to 10, and I was forced to double back. Once in the circle, I wasn't sure if I was at the correct feature, so I ambled around for a bit. Control 11 was good, but I took a stick to the eye and lost my left contact. The eye is ok, but I had trouble seeing and I was momentarily stunned. Twelve was tricky, but it was exacerbated by high density vegetation about halfway to the control. I tried to reinvigorate my run en route to 13, but immediately got stuck in green briar. While there were three more controls, I decided I had had enough. Night-O south of South Border Road is painful; in general, I will avoid the area in the future.

The Orocs felt comfortable, but getting used to running on rock is strange. The X-talons seem to grip surfaces more securely - probably because there are no metal studs between the shoe and the surface.

C • Sounds Tough 3

Just for fun, I recorded the track of the bike ride home. I don't plan on logging commuting any more; it's not really training.

C • biking 6

Moderate intensity run around the Charles River; I ran down to the Harvard Bridge and back to Harvard Square. After crossing the Harvard bridge, I encountered a speedy looking guy waiting for a traffic light, and I ran hard until the BU bridge to stay ahead of him. I then followed him until Western Ave, when he crossed to the south side of the river, and I slowed. It was a fun bout, though I ended up hitting higher speeds than I intended.

My legs felt solid, and my obliques started hurting near the end of the run. I am almost done with the seventh and final part of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich - a 57 hour book. I listen to books on my mp3 player at a sped up rate - 1.2x - but finishing this book has taken 47 hours of audio time, and the longest audiobook I have finished. I was thoroughly engrossed for the majority of the novel; my familiarity with the events of World War II gave context to the events therein.

I find many aspects of the mid-20th century rise of fascism fascinating, and there is much to be gleaned about the national zeitgeist and trends of collective action. Military strategy has always interested me, even though I heartily agree with Sherman that "War is hell." Understanding it can help us avoid it. It must be noted that while reading The Rise and Fall, I have a more through and newfound appreciation for the magnitude of the horrors of one of the darkest times in human history - the Holocaust, the systematic extermination of entire classes of people on a whim of a megalomaniacal madman, and the distortion of the consciences of an entire country to madness. While I knew of the concentration camps in some detail, the atrocities of the Einsatzgruppen were not well known to me and are some of the most horrifying things I have ever read. As a world, we must never forget what has transpired. Images like this will haunt me forever.

I weighed 179.6 lbs on the scale this morning, though I may still be dehydrated from the weekend's activity. Still, it's healthy progress.

The gauntlet was thrown, and I answered with a defiant whimper of eight minute core. A minute each of sit-ups, flutter kicks, oblique (knee-to-elbow) crunches, plank, tuck-ups, cherry pickers, kayakers, leg lifts; concluded with two minutes of side plank and one of supermans.

To give my legs a chance to rest after the weekend, I went on a bike ride around the Charles. My tires were not fully inflated, and there was a strong breeze from the west. The heart rate data is spurious, probably from poor contact, as I did not perspire much. Conditions were 13 C and overcast with some drizzling; I wore a long-sleeved and short-sleeved shirt.

2x24 pushups. Weak.