Training Log Archive: iansmith

Charles river loop with Lori. 4x30 strides. Contemplated the submarine component of the US Navy, its function, and the general role and purpose of the military.

Run from Alewife to the Park O at Menotomy Rocks Park. I was uncomfortably carrying my backpack.

A CSU Park-O at Menotomy Rocks Park, organized by Nikolai. The distance is a rough estimate based on my route. I was not displeased with my performance - Brendan finished in 17:08, Ross in 17:20 - but I made a few errors that could have been avoided. It was good practice, and my running was strong for almost all of the course.

After my days off (Tuesday inadvertent) recovering from the Middle Distance champs, today's activity felt pretty good. After the sprint, I ran about one kilometer picking up controls.

There was a funny episode with Ross trying to put on some of Lori's infinitesimal running shorts. Mark Webb proudly sported the garb of the Swedish National team.

What I suppose is reassuring is that I made my biggest navigational error while picking up controls - I ran up a shallow reentrant and did not pay sufficient attention to my compass to note my error promptly.

Might as well log it: picking up controls.

The US Relay Championships; I was the first leg (orange) on an official eight point team with Sara Mae Berman, Lori Huberman, and Ken "Daddy-O" Walker Sr. We had a solid team with a good showing all around.

The course describes itself as 3 k, which I find dubious - 2.8 or 2.6 k is more probable (I might measure it with a ruler one day). The orienteering was not difficult - only five or six of the controls required any navigation at all. The others were in the enormous spectator field or on such blindingly obvious features that missing them was all but impossible.

I booked it as hard as I could, but I was a bit sluggish going up some hills from controls four to five and seven to eight. I would have liked to run it again, because I think with better knowledge of the distance and optimal pacing, I could have shaved a minute from my time. Oh well. I was pleased with how I handled the mass start - no errors due to psychology - though the first three controls were easy to find (actually visible from the start).

I was happy to run whatever course was deemed necessary by the more experienced runners. Ken Walker was an obvious choice for red given his experience and skill. I would have preferred to run Green, but Lori had a very accurate and quick run; I don't believe I could have beat her by much, if at all. She's definitely the more experienced and reliable navigator - it is much more likely I would have made a navigational error and bombed a green leg. Conversely, I'm a faster runner (at least on short distances on open ground), and the orange gave me plenty of opportunity for running without probability of getting lost. I think our team arrangement was as fast as it could have been. Sara Mae had a great leg, especially given her knees have passed the 100,000 mile running limit (where you're supposed to get them rotated and such). Ken had an excellent finish leg, posted just under 10 min/km and made up lots of time on the teams ahead of us.

The CSU A team (Brendan, Alex, Peter, Ross) had an excellent showing and were the second fastest official 4 point team. (DVOA won). Overall, a very good day for CSU. Brendan's bull horn was excellent infrastructure for cheering and heckling, and Ross had great things to yell at people (e.g. "if you don't finish in (time), I'll never respect you again!"). Ross gets the hardcore award, pushing so hard into the finish (and the last few kms) that he vomited seconds after punching the finish punch. This even though the teams ahead and behind both were several minutes away.

Massive kudos to Will for a great relay course and for his dry commentary for about three hours. Finally, I cannot leave my thanks to the Jospe family unnoted (though they probably don't frequent attackpoint). Alex's family not only housed us, but pampered us. We had great company, spectacular food (much better than my tortillas and cheese), a warm place to sleep, and every comfort we could have wanted. They went to great lengths and effort to accommodate us, and their hospitality was much appreciated.

Kudos also to the Jospe's intrepid beagles: Rudy and Tira.

C • Rudi and Tira like having p... 1

Relay - 8pt Orange - Splits

Event: US Middle Distance and Relay Champs
 

The US Middle Distance Championships: my first A meet competition. I was very excited about this meet, but my expectations were not absurdly fanciful. Since Ross and Brendan are fast, reliable, and generally attend the meets I go to, I'm planning to use them as a metric for my progress this year. My target was to finish before twice their average time had elapsed. They finished in 38 and 43 minutes respectively, so that was a reasonable goal.

The course was excellent; well placed controls, good route choice possibilities, and excessively large hills/gorge banks. The underbrush was very light; the most difficult running obstacle was a large number of fallen trees.

I was pleased with my navigation except for three major controls: 4, 13, and 15. Control four was in a ditch, and I approached from too low. When I circled back around, I was too high and missed the ditch. Jon Torrence arrived at control four at about the same time and also overshot; I ended up scrambling partway up a hill to locate it, wasting time and energy.

On control thirteen, I stupidly thought that a few adults were going in the same direction I was and paid inadequate attention to my compass bearing. As a result, I plowed through substantial striped green and hit control 14 before 13. I didn't realize it was 14, so I wasted about ten minutes circling north and hitting two lakes about 300 m north of my control.

On control fifteen - a long leg, I drifted north of the trail I was aiming for and ended up wading through a non-trivial marsh. I was out of contact after the marsh, and reoriented when I hit the north end of a large clearing just past 15. I estimate this was a five minute error.

I had strong splits on controls 6 and 7, and on others - 11 and 12 - while my navigation was sound, I moved too slowly. In general, I am unreliable; my success on a control is some superposition of running fast or slowly and navigating well or poorly.

So: overall, a not bad first showing, but I have much, much training to do. A good day for CSU; especially good showing from Ross, Alex, and Brendan. A nice chap near registration gave me some sunscreen, diminishing the quality of my burn.

A bonus sprint-O at the meet. Ross and Will Hawkins, among others were extremely fast. Sprint-O is a lot of fun; because it is so short, you can really push physically.

My run was uneventful (if slower than I would have liked) apart from a significant error near control four. I approached from a building near control 12 (for those of you who did sprint 3). However, I came out too far to the west - to the west of control four is a marsh. I realized my position quickly, and made to cross the marsh. Unfortunately, the marsh was over knee deep in places, and about ten meters wide. My detour through the marsh probably cost me about two minutes. I was also a little shaken up going to control 5, but reestablished myself afterwards.

A very well designed course - lots of spectating opportunities.

Blue Middle - Splits

Sprint 3 - Splits

Event: 30th Annual Billygoat Run
 

The Goat - Splits

Rest day. Stretched a bit, but otherwise no major activity.

While this is not formally training, it was a sufficiently arduous and interesting workout to merit logging. One of my coworkers is a very experienced hiker - he's climbed all peaks in New Hampshire over 4000 feet tall and hiked the full length of the Appalachian trail, e.g. He, two others, and I all decided to go climb Sandwich Mountain in New Hampshire. I alone brought snowshoes; everyone else just had hiking boots. We estimate the average depth of the snow along our hike was 5 feet, judging from cross sections we observed, the height of the trail blazes, and the depths to which we sunk when the snow gave out beneath us.

The climb was arduous, but beautiful. Starting at an elevation of about 1300 feet, we first summited Noon Peak, at 2575 feet. After a lunch break, we tackled Jennings Peak, at about 3450 feet. The climb was much slower with snow that it would have been otherwise; I estimate that about once or twice every 100 steps, a foot would sink through the snow. In any case, while we planned to hit the summit of Sandwich Mountain, we reached the time at which we had decided to return just after we hit Jennings Peak.

At the end of the day, my body ached in various places, as a combination of stresses from the snow shoeing and the run the previous day. My legs in particular are knotted and strained, but I am not incapacitated from pain. Snow shoeing was a novel experience, and generally fun. Poles are very helpful.

Trail running to, in, and from the Middlesex Fells Reservation with Lori. Unfortunately, Middlesex Fells is a significant distance both from my apartment and the Red Line, so only about 8k of the run was on trails and in the woods. Equally unfortunate, my map of Middlesex Fells (an 800x600 jpg) is of miserable quality - I need to obtain the o-map from Brendan.

Briefly, I ran about 7k to Lori's and Middlesex fells, 8k at the reservation, and 7k back. The run was surprisingly invigorating - I felt energetic the whole way. I listened to some techno for the part of the run, which was inspiring. At the recommendation of those on attackpoint forums, I tried this excellent workout techno: http://www.ianbetts.com/mixes . While it's a bit slower than would be desired (about 144 bpm), it's motivating music.

My plan is to run four times this week, including another long run on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday to best prepare for the Billygoat.

Today, I ran my staple brisk morning run, after allotting two days for rest and recovery from skiing and orienteering. My goal was to get in a fast, hard short run to shock myself back into training. Target pace was sub 5 minute kilometers, at which I succeeded, though only just.

My breathing rate was either 3 or 4 steps per breath through the first 5 km, then 2 or 3 steps per breath through the last leg. While this was intended to be higher intensity than normal, I still found myself huffing and breathing ineffectively. As much emphasis as I need to put on my conditioning and musculature, I need to devise ways to refine my breathing while running and increase my oxygen efficiency.

C • I feel like I'm going to re... 2