Training Log Archive: iansmith

Biathlon is awesome.

Estimated cumulative time for the week.

Pretty bummed to not be training.

C • arm chair it up :) 4

I decided to go on an easy run rather than take a complete rest day, since I noted no physical anomalies from the weekend apart from fatigue and illness. However, twenty minutes into the run, my energy level crashed - I felt absolutely wasted. It took considerable focus and stamina to finish off the run and drag myself up the stairs to my apartment. Muscles and breathing were fine, but I was scraping all my energy reserves. Tonight, I will treat myself to a pizza.

C • Pizza sounds excellent 1

On the Sycamore Scramble:

Short term Preparation: While my training over the past month has been... adequate, during the week, I failed to effectively prepare for the meet. I was distracted - by the US Ski-O champs, by a busy work schedule, and by lack of sleep. I averaged about 5 hours of sleep this week, and I developed a cold during the week. I did have a restful Friday, the day before the races.

The Middle Distance: I warmed up well and felt good the morning of the race. My clothing was sufficient - tights, a short sleeved polypro shirt, and my CSU shirt. My mental readiness and concentration that morning were excellent. I started the race well, with good flow, planning, execution, and an aggressive pace. However, the physical demands of the terrain - the fast speed and climb - caught up to me, and I started making mistakes, including :30 errors at 3, 6 and 9, a 2:00 error at 11, and a 1:00 error at 13.

Had I executed my plans cleanly, I think I would have run sub 37, which is excellent for me. Even with the errors, I'm pleased with the race because of the promise I showed, but I must work on my fitness, my mental acuity during a race, and my navigation. I finished 10:20 behind Will and 5:45 behind Ken. I cooled down for about 20 minutes running with Ken back from the remote finish.

The Sprint Distance: My sprint, which I expected to be my best distance, was a categorical disaster. During the four hour interval between my middle and sprint, I ate the provided lunch, stretched a bit, and assisted in the setup of the extreme String-O WUOC team fundraiser. I ran the string-O twice; the demand from the warmup and the string-O may have adversely affected my sprint - I had already run one race and over an hour that morning. According to the analysis, I was slow - suggesting fatigue, and extremely error-prone, with :45 on control 2, 0:20 on 5, 2:00 on control 6, :30 on 9, and :20 on 10. Four minutes of errors and sluggishness on a sprint is inexcusable, and easily my worst recent result. I rolled my ankle twice during the race and once cooling down, though none were severe.

The Classic Distance: To my surprise, despite fatigue and a disappointing Saturday, I had an acceptable classic race, marred only by sluggishness. I slept poorly on Sunday, with a sore throat. That morning, I contemplated removing the coming race from my rankings, because I did not expect to perform well. However, because my present objective is not to optimize my ranking (as for Team Trials), but to grow as an orienteer, I elected to keep it. I felt reasonably good during my warmup, though I had many reservations about the 1:15k scale, since I have not extensively used that scale. My lack of practice with this scale did contribute to some hesitation on the course - notably at controls 3 and 7, my only notable error was a 2:00 error at control 11, where I drifted too high along a spur. I felt tired throughout the run, in particular after control 12, but I pushed on, finishing 20 minutes behind Will and 13 behind Ken. Had I not felt so fatigued and sick, I think I could have run 3-5 minutes faster, even with my error.

Current Status: It is clear that I am stronger now than I was in the fall; despite fatigue and illness, I had a classic performance consistent with my results from October at the US Champs. My physical quality on the middle distance course was excellent, and the race could have been stellar, save for my errors. I clearly struggle with multiple races in a single day; even at the ROC meet in September 2009, my second race (Middle Distance) was weaker than my first on Saturday (Sprint).

My flow was better this meet than it has been in the past, much of which I attribute to the mental conditioning from Catching Features. My navigation requires much attention, especially under race pressure.

Final Review and to do: This meet can be a clarion call; it was not the result I expected, though it may be the result I needed. My progress is undeniable, and my obstacles are evident. I will use this moment to motivate and inspire the work to become an elite orienteer.

Some lessons:
1. Prepare for a race, both in the months leading up to it and on the day. Every decision in the time leading up to a major race must be made in the context of optimizing race performance, both mentally and physically.
2. Train to run multiple sessions - multiple races - per day.
3. Improve my fitness; I lack the stamina necessary to compete.
4. Take care of my body; illness and fatigue are unacceptable initial conditions for a race.
5. Train hard, race hard.

C • Right on! 2

Warmup before the classic course.

Sycamore Scramble classic course. General observation: it was an approximately clean race (one error, 2 minutes), but I was tired and sluggish.

Blue Classic - Splits

Event: Sycamore Scramble
 

Sycamore Scramble Middle distance race.

Twenty minute warmup before the Middle Distance race, and twenty minute cool down with Ken from the finish back to the event headquarters. Time and distance are a guess.

Warmup before the sprint.

Sycamore Scramble Sprint; a disastrous race.

Long Sprint - Splits

Blue Middle - Splits

Model event for the Sycamore Scramble; I made an error at control 3 that cost about two minutes relative to Brendan. I was pushing as if to simulate race conditions, but I was moving a bit slower than I would have.

I felt good throughout the run, and noted both the abundance of linear features and the relative absence of point features like boulders and cliffs, making location along linear features challenging.

I ran on the 1:15k model map to try to calibrate, and I noted that my sense of distance was very inaccurate. The 1:15 map was also harder to read than the 1:10.

Warmup before the model event with Brendan.

Picking up controls from the model event; Lori and I each picked up four controls.

I'm reluctant to consider this training, since I was just biking around on some errands. I have slept very poorly for the past two days, and the Olympics and the Ski-O champs have only worsened my state. This does not bode well for the NC A-meet.

C • True 1

I woke very early to set streamers for the Cat Rock Park training. Conditions were clear and cold, with a temperature of -4 C; the forest was blanketed in 10-15 cm of snow. I originally planned to set reflective streamer, but I only had about 2m; to be consistent, I used my plentiful yellow CAUTION tape despite its inferior reflective qualities. Because of the snow, I ran to the controls significantly out of order so my footprints wouldn't denote an optimal route. This was largely superfluous, since the first runners would lay tracks.

The forest was surreal at night, with a stillness I have only observed in winter. Snow clung to vegetation, impeding visibility, and the wintry landscape was starkly beautiful. The sun rose while I was setting, and the transformation from night to day was similarly spectacular.

I ended up revising several of my control locations because the vegetation was impassable in some cases, and finding the controls at night would require fortunate circumstances rather than skillful effort.

I did not get much sleep, but I was very glad to finally get some time on a map, even if I was setting and revising.

C • you are an animal 2

To and from quintet rehearsal. I vastly underestimated the magnitude of some of the hills in Lexington.

While I was feeling stiff from the US Ski-O Champs, I reasoned that an easy run might improve my recovery. Pain alone was also an insufficient reason to break with my training. Once I started moving, I felt better. I ran in tights, long sleeve polypro, short sleeve polypro, and gloves. I felt overdressed; the temperature was 3 C.

NC A-meet in five days!

Red long course. I was moving at my top cross country speed, i.e. very slowly, though the experience was pleasant. My technique also had improved significantly over Saturday's event. The advantage of moving slowly is that you get to log more hours of training.

Red Long Distance - Splits

Blue middle distance at the US Ski-O champs. Good fun; Mike, the owner of the facility where the event was held, graciously loaned me some poles when it turned out those I had rented from REI were so short that they were the correct size for Lori.

Blue Middle Distance - Splits

Event: U.S. Ski Orienteering Championships
 

Commute with loaded backpack.

Cold and windy, with some snow on the ground from earlier in the day. I don't recall any falling snow during the run.

Two street-O sections sandwiched around a Tufts Sprint course, from the CSU training set by Brendan. I arrived quite late, grabbed a map from Brendan's mailbox, and set to try to catch some people. I ran into Alex and Lori at the start of the Tufts sprint; Alex started after I did. I caught up to Lori at control 6, then led her the rest of the way. However, I wasn't going fast enough to shake her entirely, which was disappointing.

Revealing time comparison:
Street-O A:
Ian - 1507
Brendan - 1324

Street-O B:
Ian - 1324
Brendan - 1247

Tufts Sprint:
Brendan - 1718
Ian - 1831
Lori - 1944

I don't think I was pushing as hard as I would during a race, despite Thierry's advice to treat trainings like races. I also found an unmapped section of road on the first sprint which caused me some distress and may have cost as much as thirty seconds. Nevertheless, I was quite a bit slower than Brendan, and not particularly faster than Lori on the sprint. Ross's total time was about 41 minutes, 2 minutes ahead of Brendan.

Street-o/Tufts - Splits

Commute.

I went on a comparatively early run in my new Asics trail runners. I have worn them about for the past two days to break them in, but my feet still felt a bit stiff.

Conditions were windy, though not that cold (-2 C), so I ran a variation of the Franklin St. route to and around MIT, then back. I overdressed in tights, short and long sleeves, a windbreaker, and gloves. I continued The Guns of August (currently listening to the adventures of the Goeben), as I have finished Into Thin Air. I held to a steady 4/4 breathing, though with some congestion, my respiration is impaired.

Of late, when reflecting on training and competition, I have had the following songs involuntarily in my head:
Olympic Theme
Summon the Heroes
The Theme from Crimson Tide
And, improbably, Remember the Name

I acquired a new pair of running shoes - Asics Trail Runners - from the City Sports in Porter. I should frequent the New Balance factory store, because running shoes from City Sports were 2-3 times as expensive as shoes from NB.

Historically, I have gotten about 300 miles out of my running shoes - in the past, I would sometimes use the shoes with below 300 miles for other activities, wearing them prematurely.

I first used NB Trail runners as O-shoes - from December 2007 through July 2009, on which I put 150 km before they broke down. My X-Talons have 225 km and are still going strong (woooo).

Question for the readers: esp you high distance guys, how frequently do you get new shoes? How do you deal with the expense. It seems unwise to compromise on footwear, but the shoes are expensive.

C • New Balance factory store 4

Commuting to Longwood; it barely counts as training.

- Commute to the track
- Easy 400, pace 400 (84 seconds), easy 400 before the time trial
- 3x200 rep, 200 rest after the time trial:
42.5/83.9
43.4/96.7
43.5/94.8
- commute home after the time trial and reps

For the past two months, virtually all my running has been easy pace base. While I intend to maintain that rate of base running, I will adjust my training to include speed work, threshold running, and more quality workouts.

To provide a benchmark for measurement of future fitness levels, I decided to run a 1600 m time trial - my first time trial since March 2009 (5:32). While I haven't done much speed work, my fitness and consistency have improved, so I expected to run about 5:25. My goal was to run 80 second 400m splits.

In March, I had a huge variance in my split times - the first was 77 seconds, the second 86. Ross started simultaneously, which undoubtedly contributed to my initial burst of speed. I suspect that seeing him in front of me the entire time also encouraged me to push the whole way, so I did have some anxiety that I might not perform to my expectation this time. It was also cool - 0 C, with a moderate breeze on the track.

After a 3 km warmup, including an easy 400 around the track, I ran an 84 second 400 to get a feel for my pace, ran another easy 400, then started. My splits:

1st 400: 77.45
2nd 400: 82.03
3rd 400: 82.21
4th 400: 80.73

I had planned to run the first 2 400s at 3/3 breathing, then jump to 2/2 for a bit more power at the end, but I switched to 2/2 after only 600 meters. In any case, it was a good measure of my performance, and I am optimistic about breaking five minutes before the end of the year.

C • Nice 4

An hour or so.

I went on a late night run; I need to fight the lethargy that sometimes grips me before I muster the initiative to go out and train.

I warmed up for 15 minutes, then ran a 20 minute tempo run; apparently my pace was about 4:11/km, which is a little slower than my 4:05/km pace prescribed by my latest Vdot measurement. I finished with a 38 minute easy run back home. My route was Harvard Square to the river, then around to the Museum of Science and home via Cambridge St. It was quite pleasant out tonight, with clear conditions and -4 C. I was slightly overdressed in tights, a short-sleeved shirt, gloves and a windbreaker.

I was planning on running a mile time trial tomorrow, but my footwear is in deplorable shape - my running shoes are worn out, so the only viable shoes I have are my torn up Mudclaws and my X-Talons. I may run tomorrow, depending on how my feet feel, and take a later measurement in a month or so once I have acquired new shoes.

Commentary on injuries:

http://www.minnakauppi.com/eindex.php

I still need to learn German so I can read Simone Niggli's blog.

I decided I was too sleepy after rehearsal to go for a run. I am displeased with my lack of training.

An easy late night run. The past two weeks have been difficult for me; I have found myself overburdened with work and other commitments. I had to miss the CSU training session because I was finishing some work for today, so I decided to go on a relaxing river run.

My right arch hurt intermittently, and my right calf was very tight. My running shoes are getting old (300 miles logged), so I will probably replace them soon with hopes of mitigating the problem.

More Into Thin Air.

With six registered blue runners for the Sycamore Scramble, I'm hoping for a CSU sweep with Will and Ken. I know very little about the other runners, though, so it's anyone's game.

Given that I expect Will and Ken to be reliable benchmarks, consider when last we met (US Champs 2009).

Time Ratios	Day One	Day Two	Combined Total
Ian to Will	1.331	1.269	1.303
Ian to Ken	1.179	1.212	1.193
Ian to Avg(Will, Ken)	1.251	1.240	1.246

That I was about 25% behind their average is not particularly informative, since clearly the variance was non-uniform. However, 25% is a useful benchmark. I expect Umstead to be trickier than the US Champs terrain, simply because while the terrain was technical and care was required to avoid error, I took great care to be accurate, and avoiding error was enough for a good run.

So, my goal is to have a ratio of my total time to the average of Ken and Will < 1.3, with a reach goal of < 1.25.

One thing I have learned from my training with Catching Features is that I profoundly suck at using my compass.

C • first indication? 3