Training Log Archive: iansmith

Esplanade sprint with Ali, Barb and Dave. I got up at stupid o'clock and biked to the Hatch Shell for the first in a busy day of sprints. The first leg was a long trail run to the opposite end of the Esplanade. I started about a minute after Ali and could see her in the distance, but my efforts to reel her in were futile. The course was simple - particularly for me, as I know the Esplanade well. However, I think the map would be ideally suited for beginners - it would be a great introduction to ISSOM for school children, e.g.

I was hesitant at the beginning - I hadn't checked whether a wall from 2-3 was uncrossable far enough ahead. I think I made the correct route choices apart from going around the wrong side of a building to 16. Controls 19 and 22 were rendered somewhat inaccessible because of construction. Finished about 1:30 back of Ali.

C • Map 1

Commute to and from the Esplanade; I didn't do a running warmup.

Ali and I continued the Tour de Park-O by running the 2012 Mystic River Park-O. We biked with haste because we were short on time and needed to meet the gang at Tufts. I started after Ali. It had occurred to me that a bout of sprints after a week of inactivity might be challenging, but it felt good to run. It should be unsurprising that I felt tired. I had acceptable flow and executed the sprint reasonably well, but I lacked the stamina and speed to really push hard. Mystic River, like the Esplanade, is a neat little reasonably contained park (as long as you don't cross the street), and would make an excellent sprint training area for beginners.

I had some problems getting into the circle at 2, where the pit that had the circle was completely overgrown with bushes. The locations for controls 6 and 8 weren't obvious, but I think I was at the correct locations in both cases. I had a few sloppy hesitations that must be trained away if I hope to be good at sprints. Finished about 2 minutes back of Ali.

We met Giacomo, Eric, and Ben about ten minutes later than we planned at Tufts for a pair of sprints. Brendan designed a "qualifier" and a "final," each of which was a little less than 2 km. We were warned that he had designed the control locations to be particularly tricky and had changed some of the walls on the map from passable to impassable. I started a minute back of Ben and a minute ahead of Giacomo.

I approached the course as a race, and ran as hard as I typically would; however, since I was very diligent and cautious, I started hemorrhaging time. I double checked the wall crossability at 2, then confused myself with the control description at 3 (though I made the correct decision). I saw Ben and Eric at 5. At 7, the control description of south side of a thicket confused me, and during my approach from the right, I hesitated on a lower section. I caught sight of Giacomo as I was leaving 8 and turned up my intensity to try to stay ahead, though he cruised past me on the way to 12. I made what would have been a bad route to 13 by running right and ignoring what was mapped as an impassable wall in my route decision, but it turned out the wall did not exist in the real world, and everyone crossed it on their exit from 13.

I caught that control 14 was placed under the bridge, but only after I was already on the leg and so missed the optimal route. The rest of my pack went to the top in their haste. The remaining controls were straightforward.

Between the activity earlier in the day and my general weakness, I am not too displeased with my performance, but I lack speed and smoothness, and my map-reading and decision-making processes are both inadequate for sprint competition. I must practice more, partly because that's what Philippe Adamski would do.

C • ...what Philippe Adamski would do 1

Final sprint at Tufts. We started at 20s intervals in reverse chase order - I was behind Ben and ahead of Ali. I began by not reading the route to 2 well, and made a bad route choice to 3. A 20s start interval was a bit too tight - the pack had completely bunched at around 6. I initially worked hard to chase down Ben and Eric, then fought to stay with Giacomo and Ali for the rest of the course. Giacomo bobbled 8 by about 5s, and I briefly took the lead. Controls 9-12 were straightforward; Giacomo and Ali had built up a fifteen second lead as I left 12.

I plodded on alone to 15, and had planned my route around the north side to 16. En route to 16, I noticed that 17 appeared to be outside of the stadium (the CD was a little ambiguous), and the finish was on the inside. Giacomo and Ali cruised past me out of the dogleg at 16, but apparently in their rush to compete thought the finish was accessible from the outside. After punching 17, I found myself a few meters ahead of Ali and, like any sensible competitor who finds himself in this situation, put on the afterburners. I think she was tired from smoking me earlier in the course and chasing down Giacomo, and I managed to hold her off for the victory (i.e. the loss by < 20s).

The Tour de Park-O was great fun, and running sprints with company was exhilarating and undoubtedly drove me harder than I would have been able to do alone. I skipped Danehy to get home and visit an apartment.

Biking to Mystic River, Tufts, and home.

Sprint - Splits

Advanced - Splits