Training Log Archive: iansmith

Warmup at Ridge Hill, a defunct NEOC map about 1 km west of Needham Town Forest. The land is part of Needham's Ridge Hill Reservation. I ran with a 1980 map, and it was acceptable, though with 5 foot contours. Point features were sparsely mapped, and some trails and buildings have changed.

Conditions were chilly: about 3-5 C with a steady drizzle and 2-3 cm of snow on the ground. I was soaked by the end, but not terribly uncomfortable.

C • Ridge Hill 8

Run to the start of the Powissett Blue course.

My objective today was a race simulation. I warmed up on Ridge Hill - though for longer than I planned, then did everything I will do at the classic champs next weekend. I taped my laces, brought my mind into pre-race focus, organized my equipment, wore a control description, and hydrated.

The cold conditions were challenging, even though the rain had stopped. The temperature and snow on the ground by themselves would have been inconsequential, but the pine trees were laden with water, and each collision was like taking a cold shower.

My focus today was on going hard the entire race; I didn't do that well, as my average heart rate fell off after about 35 minutes. I lost my focus leaving control 10 and wasn't confident of my position; rather than fumble around, I relocated, even though it turned out I was on track. My lesson from today is that maintaining mental focus is crucial for long races.

I lost contact on the way to 4, where the rock walls and trails I was encountering did not meet my mental picture. I was careful to check the orientation of all linear features with my compass after my mistake at Sessions Woods in December. I slowed on my approach to 8 after tripping over two streamered strings; I hope I didn't interfere with some experiment.
The map around 16 is dubious; the map contours did not seem to match reality. I wonder if going around to the right at 20 is better than straight; I considered checking after the course, but I was tired.

Quickroute. It should be noted that I had considerable difficulty mapping my track to the map, even for points at which I was completely sure of my location. I suspect the Powissett map is considerably distorted.

C • distorted 2

After eating some food, I drove over to Turtle Pond to evaluate its suitability for events. I felt pretty wasted from running and being so cold, so I moved pretty slowly. Several things were apparent:

- The terrain at Turtle Pond is reasonably interesting with good contour detail
- The vegetation is very gnarly; it was bad at times today, and in the summer and fall, it will be atrocious
- The map is woefully outdated; rock features and trails are inconsistent
- Parking is a challenging - there is a high school on the west edge of the map and a small (~25 car) parking lot on the main road through the map
- There is a busy, 40 mph speed limit road through the center of the map that makes map traversals treacherous

I haven't decided if I will try to incorporate it into the schedule, but any such use would be contingent on a map update. I should note I was running with a 1990 pre-printed version of the map, and that Jon Campbell made some updates to the map in 2004 or 2005 that will mitigate some of the map concerns.

Blue - Splits