Training Log Archive: iansmith

Event: OCIN - US Night and Relay Championships
 

Warmup.

OCIN Night-O Champs, Hueston Woods. Conditions were pretty grim - temperature below freezing, 2-3 inches of icy snow on the ground, and intermittent flurries late in my course. I previously visited this map for the ARDF champs in 2010 and found it muddy with very steep reentrants. A brutal climb out of a 10m reentrant en route to 2 reinforced that perception.

I found that even during the winter, the inadequately mapped vegetation was thick and impassable in many places. I changed routes after a little over a minute on the way to 9, and my road route turned out to be slow. I planned to go straight to 11, but when I tried to cross the power lines, I found an impenetrable wall of thistles, thorns, and green briar that forced me to back out and go around on a trail. I had a meltdown on 14 when I counted reentrants inaccurately and the trail proved too numerous to help.

While running on a trail to 17, I discovered the ground below me splintering as though I were running on an icy stream. I broke through a few times and discovered that under 1-2 inches of crumbly ice was a thick layer of liquid mud. I guess it doesn't go away, even in the winter.

I was happy to survive the course, but I did little else. Given how important the relay champs were, I wasn't attacking the course with my maximum effort, but I was outclassed today and defeated by the map and elements.

OCIN_US_Night_2013_Blue - Splits

I have been feeling inexplicably under the weather this week despite no overt symptoms. I am compensating with extra fluids and rest. I would consider trying to train through it if not for the A-meet this weekend.

I look forward to the challenge of facing AliC (and others, e.g. ken, biggins) on the M21 courses in Ohioland this weekend. It is regrettable that the DVOA folks will not be at the Night-O.

C • DVOA skipping the night-o 2

Conditions were lightly snowy for my long run. Shortly after I started, I decided to return to my apt to acquire more clothing. For the duration, I wore LSL, tights, gloves, and a balaclava. I continued The Kite Runner and was a bit chilly and a little tired by the end.