Training Log Archive: Giac

CT Junior Training Camp, Day 1:
Setting some early morning streamers before the meet

CT Junior Training Camp:
first day was intense and great fun. Becky killed it with being on top of things and interesting exercises, so the day was all for us to enjoy.

Exercise 1: compass bearing
15c - 2k

Exercise 2: shadowing a contour-only
14c - 2.5k

Exercise 3: route-choice with Ian (good intensity)
13c - 3.5k

Setting Controls 2: the far ones are the most fun ones
4c - 2k

Exercise 4: memory-o with Alex (got really turned around once, only slightly the other times, tough exercise).
10c - 3.5k

Exercise 5: peg-relay (came out third after an exciting run in the woods and lots of penalties...great exercise!)
15c - 4.5k

Mostly learning exercises more than doing a hard workout, but it was a good time nevertheless! Thanks Becky for organizing this, it will serve a lot of us well in the future if we decide to actually devote time to develop the entire body.

Huntington State Park, CT
I ran the first 21 controls of an old 2010 blue long.
Much more runnable than Harriman, uphills were more gentle and much less snow was present. I would have finished the course but it got dark and I had to bail. Staying at Becky's place tonight before the Junior Training Camp. Excited to get up and hang some streamers at 7am tomorrow, woohoo!

HTC Exercise 7: extended control pick
Since speed-work is right now hard to manage on these snowy grounds, I decided the last training in Harriman for the week would be some form of quality work. Me and Akeo opted for the 3 controls to 1 ratio we have been working with these days. I would lead three legs, paying mostly attention to coming in and out of the controls, then I would memorize the 4th control and tag along as Akeo would figure out where to go. He was pretty impressive with map and compass for a beginner. We ended up hitting all the planned 55 controls. It felt like the best day of training in the snow, and we were able to run a little more smoothly today thanks to a more compacted and frozen snow. Running back to the car felt really good, I was very happy of this Harriman Spring Break.

After 4 days in this awesome place, tomorrow it's time to say bye, pack and move next door to CT. I'm picking up a Yale student in New Haven and we are going to Huntington State Park. I am happy I will be able to train with company also tomorrow. I had started out thinking all this would be alone, so feel really lucky I found orienteering friends on the road.

C • Green with envy 2

HTC Exercise 4:
After the problems in the snow yesterday, today we decided to start out with a long run up 7 Lakes Drive, from Sebago Beach to Tiorati Circle and back. We agreed, it was much more scenic than the Charles River trails.

HTC Exercise 5: corridor at Sebago Beach
The exercise was planned back when the French Stars were visiting Harriman. It was a short corridor, but challenging all the same, especially in the snow. Bernie Bretton told us about a secret from back in time. Boris' dad had told him to wear wool socks and plastic bags around the feet in order to avoid freezing while running in the snow. It worked! Nice to experience how far wise words can take you.

HTC Exercise 6: control pick
Another old exercise, from Sabeti Beach to Kanawauke Circle. I would tackle three controls at a good pace, and Akeo would finish the set with the last control (x4). We had lots of fun and then rushed back to the car super hungry. There is nothing like a PB&J and some Gatorade in certain moments of life.

HTC Exercise 3: long course from WOC1993 at Sturbridge Mt.

We started thinking we would finish the 1993 course. Little did we know how much the 5'' of snow would influence running conditions in the woods. After 3 or 4 controls feet started freezing and the super slow pace in the snow made it hard to ever fully warm-up. After the long leg to 7 we realized we were not getting out of the workout exactly what we wanted, not much cardio, mostly a lot of slow fighting with the snow and the up-hills, so cut it short from 8 to 13 and then stopped to catch the road back at 15. Despite these technical problems it was easy to understand how epic and tough the course must have been during WOC. See you again next time - 5'' of snow?

C • Ouch 8

Harriman Training Camp (HTC):
Me and a friend from campus, Akeo, who cross-country skies for Harvard, made it to the park around 2pm, after an early Cambridge wake-up, an hour of scrambling to get the other up, and a solid long drive. Short pizza break near Peekskill made the traveling much more enjoyable.

HTC Exercise 1: warm-up
We went out on the Sturbridge map for a middle course designed by Boris in 2010. After a fast beginning I decided it would be nice to get Akeo to learn how to orienteer. We worked together on compass beaaring and route planning, and stopped a lot to develop the basic ideas and techniques of the sport. He learned quick and we had a great time. For me it was great to start spending time looking at maps and running on the terrain.

C • Akeo! 2

HTC Exercise 2:
O-tervals planned by IanSmith. It was a solid five sets of interval training. Akeo would lead from the end of one to the beginning of the other. The rest of the training I would lead and took the workout seriously. I focused mostly on route planning, and anticipating the planning of the next control before punching. I would talk to Akeo out-loud while running to explain what I was thinking, but it turned out to be a good exercise for me too, in that it helped me focus on what I was doing and looking for more than usual. half way through the exercise it started snowing. It's still snowing as am logging, 4 inches at least. Tomorrow the woods will be white!

It's spring break at Harvard, so I thought it would be a good time to start logging training again (whoo!), and before it, hit the long forgotten woods.
IanSmith and I spent a pretty good afternoon of training at Prospect Hill.

Exercise 1: 15 controls, contours-only exercise.
Pretty clean woods and lots of uphill, contours seemed reasonable and after early problems with evaluating distance, the exercise went well.

Exercise 2: 15 controls of an old Green Course.
Tried to get the legs going a little more on this second exercise and had a pretty good time. It felt great to be back in the game.

After a nice pad-thai from sweet ginger at Ian's place, I'm getting ready for a 3-4 day impromptu training camp in Harriman, me, a friend from campus and the woods. Should be a blast, I can't wait to start my very early 7:30am day tomorrow!