Training Log Archive: iansmith

My halfhearted efforts to get down to 170 lbs will continue to be fraught with failure if this deli down the street from my office continues to serve excellent rice pilaf.

Alex's Training plan notes from the car ride back from the ROC meet:

Goal pyramid:
Absurd dream goal: Top 20 at WOC
Requires -> Final at WOC
Requires -> International Experience
Requires -> US WOC Team
Requires -> Team Trials top 3
Requires -> Ranking points > 90
Requires -> Training

Technical weaknesses:
1. Assimilate info - simplifying, reading on the go
2. Route Choice
3. Reading ahead
4. Relating map to terrain
Strengths:
1. Seeing map in head
2. Traveling in a straight line
3. Compass/sense of direction
4. Process/planning ahead
5. Analytical

Physical Weaknesses:
1. Endurance - race
2. Speed (e.g. 5k, 10k, half marathon)
3. Speed in woods
4. Uphills
5. Heavy
Strengths:
1. Finish Chute (can put on afterburners for short periods)
2. downhills
3. Green vegetation
4. Strong

Process goals:
Technical: run 1x/week with reading material - focus on reading
- armchair exercises, 1x/week; focus on route choice and simplification
- run in terrain 1x/week
- map hike (slow, deliberate terrain examination) 1x/month
Physical: 400 hours/year -> consistency
- threshold intervals - help out for long races
- VO2 max intervals
- hills (plan each of these workouts into each week)
Maintenance:
- 1x/week - strength/plyos
- 1x/week - ankle strength, balance

Time Trials
- mile < 5:00 (reach); < 5:15 (attainable)
- do a half marathon (target time 91 minutes)
- at least one 5k
- at least one trail race
- at least three time trials to measure progress

Each week:
- 1 long run
- 1-3 days of intervals (depending on training phase)
- 1-2 days of strength
- 1+ recovery run/bike
- 1 rest day
- 4-5x on a map
- 1 day maintenance

Training schedule: month: hours, phase
Nov: 30 Build
Dec: 38 Build
Jan: 43 Volume
Feb: 40 Volume
Mar: 38 Vol/Quality
Apr: 35 Quality
May: 28 Race
June: 35 Quality
July: 38 Quality
Aug: 35 Quality
Sep: 28 Race
Oct: 25 rest

Bike to and from Menotomy Rocks.

I woke up at 12 PM after twelve hours of sleep in the aftermath of my White Mountains expedition. I felt pretty good, so I rolled out of bed, ate some food, drank some water, and set off on my bike to get to Menotomy before the NEOC starts closed (1 PM).

I arrived and discovered the three courses were WY and an Orange Sprint with two maps. The postage stamp sized map really can only be used for a 3k course without a map exchange. I noted that Ross finished in 1650 on the sprint, so I set off at a hard pace.

I ran the first sprint in 927, then picked up a map from the Sprint B box. I noted that the map said "white" when I grabbed it and I did a double take, but I confirmed that I had grabbed a map from the "Sprint B" box. So, I ran the white course in 606, then discovered that my worst fears were realized and the white course was not the same as the Sprint B map. I exclaimed my woes, then grabbed a Sprint B map and took off.

I had pushed really hard on the white course, so I didn't have as much energy left for the Sprint B, which I ran in 1100. Had I not run the white course, I might have been able to shave one or two minutes off, but I highly doubt I could have caught Ross. Dancho Hristov, who is of comparable speed to me, finished in eighteen minutes and change, so that might have been a reasonable estimate.

Meg Parson, who was manning the finish, conferred with Tim Parson and decided that it was fair to deduct my white course time (6 minutes) from my run, so officially I ran in 2033 or something. It's a fun, local meet, so I didn't care that much about the result. My run was generally good; I had good flow (despite the frustrations of pin punching), stayed in contact, and made no meaningful errors. I did attack control five on Sprint B expecting that it would be on the top of the hill, only to discover that it was in fact at the bottom on the east side. That probably cost 15 seconds that could have been saved had I more diligently checked the codes (though I think the map and the control placement did not agree).

C • I wanted to go 4

Picking up controls at the Menotomy Rocks NEOC meet.

Lori, Presto and I traveled to the Presidential range to attempt some 5,000 footers. Our plan was to climb Mt. Madison (5367 feet), Mt. Adams (5774 feet) and Mt. Jefferson (5712 feet) starting from the trailhead near Randolph, NH (1320 feet).

The result: we summitted Madison and Adams, but decided that we lacked time to hit Jefferson. We departed the parking lot at about 7 AM and returned around 6:30 PM, with a total time of 11:38.

The route we planned and read online was 13.7 miles with 5850 feet of climb. I felt confident that we could handle the distance, climb and weather; what turned out to be an unexpected obstacle was the rockiness. Above 4800 feet, the summits of Adams and Madison were essentially rockslides - the ground was entirely composed of boulders 1 - 10 feet across. It was difficult to find footing, stressful on the joints, and Presto initially was very slow moving up the mountain. He started to learn, and soon only had some difficulty keeping up.

Had we rested less (e.g. we hung out at Adams' summit for 45 minutes), we probably could have hit Jefferson. We were thoroughly prepared; I was carrying 5 liters of water and gatorade, 2000 calories of trail mix, about 1500 of bars (Snickers, powerbar), 2 turkey sandwiches, an extra windbreaker, extra pair of ski pants, gloves, hat, goggles, matches, flashlights, poncho, first aid kit, rope, knife, compass, map, extra socks, and a camera tripod. My pack weighed probably about 25 pounds, and my gear was compact enough that I wore my usual backpack (as opposed to my 4800 cubic inch hiking backpack).

The two pieces of gear which would have been useful to bring were sunscreen (I burned my neck, face, and ankles) and water purification tablets. Lori didn't bring quite as much fluid, so we had essentially exhausted our water by the time we reached the parking lot. I think five liters per person would have given us enough to make it through a night if we got stuck on the mountain.

Overall, it was a glorious trip (if difficult on the joints), had good strength training, and was lots of fun. We climbed the second tallest mountain in NH and collected two 5000 foot peaks (my first on the East Coast).

I drank 40 oz of coke on the way up and back staying awake. I drove the full way up at 3:30 AM while Lori snoozed, and I assessed that I could not drive safely on the way back, so I slept for about 80 minutes while Lori drove. We then switched and I finished the journey. The total expedition took about 20 hours (3 AM to 11 PM).

C • Impressive. 2

For lack of an obviously better forum for these comments, I will here post my responses to an ongoing discussion about the US Team Training Camp in Harriman, NY the weekend before the Hudson Highlander.

The central question in the discussion is who should be allowed to train. Clearly many US team resources (USOF money allocated to the US team) are being spent putting on this camp, like the coach's salary and acquisition of maps (I think that actually might be free).

There is much merit in a team-exclusive training camp (consider what a fiasco a US Olympic Swimming open training camp would be, where any kid who could float could show up). It allows the team to focus, possibly discuss things amongst each other, receive individual attention from Mike Waddington and the French guests, and generally concentrate on preparing for WOC. There also may be limited resources - like the housing the HVO families have graciously offered, maps, the number of people we can allot without requiring a permit, and so on (though it seems we could apply for a permit... dunno).

However, it seems that the orienteering community (and especially that component willing to overcome the energy barrier to traveling to this event) is fairly small. Most of the events of the training camp do not have obvious limitations - if you set a course or an exercise, other people visiting those controls don't detract from the US Team's use of that exercise. If Mike and the French guys want to focus on the US team, non-team members can stay out of their way or listen to the discussion without receiving explicit individual attention. Moreover, since many aspiring US team members (who are neither on the team now nor juniors) may be on the US team in the future, it seems that there is a reasonable interest in improving their skills now.

I think there are three reasonable size constraints:
- Only US Team members and US Junior team members are allowed to attend. While constraining, I think this is reasonable - there are certain privileges that come with being a US Team member, and first access to training resources seems logical. It does seem to have some holes (imagine if a Junior team member last year turned 21 but had not yet made the C Standing team).

- US Team/Junior team members may attend and some small number of non-team members. This could be decided on first come, first serve basis, by invite (e.g. invite the top k elites), or by some combination (some threshold of skill + first come).

- Open to the orienteering community.

A train of discussion I vehemently oppose is that non-US team members have to pay some sort of fee ($20 per day and $50 per day were discussed) and to make the camp a US team fundraiser. I applaud the zeal of those trying to raise funds for the US Team, but improving the quality of the elites and raising funds are orthogonal goals here. Consider that many aspiring members are students, and even a nominal fee is burdensome. Consider that even traveling to the camp can be prohibitively expensive. Finally, (and in my mind, most damning of all) the implied exclusion of non team members (or more precisely, inclusion if and only if you give money to the US team apparatus) is destructive to the community of elite members in the US (elite := those members trying to improve to be able to compete on the world level) and counterproductive to the goal of raising the competitive level in the US.

As Boris said in his response on the e-mail thread to this line of thinking:

If this is the kind of event that draws people who are off the team, but improving, and gets them to train harder and better, than the benefit to the team is much greater than the 50 bucks a day we would get off some of them. I am thinking here of people such as Alex Jospe or Brendan Shields, who are motivated and are steadily improving as orienteers and starting to push those who are on the team.

Disclaimer: I don't have a problem with non-team members having to pay some fee for materials (maps, etc). I presume there exists some USOF funding from the "US Team" category, which logically should be used explicitly for the US Team. There exists a semantic difference for cost of attendance and mandatory donation to the US Team fund.

It may be that I cannot attend (since apparently because of a lack of permit, they are constraining the camp to six non-team members), but were they to implement the required US Team donation, I think I would eschew attending and start organizing a training camp for the spring done in the manner I felt best embodied the goals of the US elite training program (or even more broadly - to anyone who wanted to get better at orienteering). I have to suppose that the US Team Training Camp with its vast resources and coaching would be superior to a camp run by one or two of the participants in the US Team Training Camp, but I'm happy learning from Ross and Boris at club training camps if the US Team is unwilling to be inclusive a priori.

C • Good thoughts 6

Need to do training besides commuting... slow week.

CSU Street-O in Cambridge set by Lori. I was trying to push hard throughout the run, though my legs felt a bit tired and achy from the weekend. I'm disappointed that my pace was as slow as it was; I will have to push harder in the future. I imagine that I had a few minutes of hesitation and sluggishness, but 7 minutes per mile seems like the slowest reasonable target for a good effort (Nate Lyons practically walks at 7 min/mile).

Andy Donaldson and Lori were in attendance; Brendan apparently ran the course earlier than the rest of us. I passed Lori twice; she skipped ahead. Andy, Lori and I hung out a bit afterward.

I'm not displeased with this run, but I hope to do better in the future.

The ROC A-meet Ultralong Championships - Red X course. I dislike the prospect of running down, but it was a good decision both before the course and in hindsight. I don't think I ran this course as aggressively as I would have a race with my class (which may have prevented catestrophic errors). I did find the map dubious in many places, which encouraged a general tentativeness and hesitation throughout the race.

I felt better than I expected Sunday morning after a particularly intense sprint and moderately intense middle distance race. In general I struggled reading reentrants on the map; many that are mapped as watercourses were dry, and the size variation on the map seemed greater than what I actually observed in the woods.

I made a major error on my way to 10 when I unintentionally plunged through a difficult rough open section en route to a gravel road and lost 5:00. I never had to relocate, though the course was also technically straightforward (apart from reading the map difficulty) and had many linear features. I was hesitant or sluggish on controls 3, 4, 7, 8, and 11. My most satisfying legs were 5 and 6.

In general, I need to work on endurance and wood speed (emphasis on hills). I have difficulty moving large distances through essentially featureless regions, and perhaps via pacecounting need a method of approximating how far I have traveled in the absence of catching features. I need more practice following my compass.

UltraLong: Red X - Splits

Event: US Sprint & UltraLong champs
 

Warmup and model course before the ROC Sprint. While running the model, I decided to change from shorts to running tights. On the actual sprint it probably would have mattered little which I wore, but the added protection increased my confidence.

The ROC A-meet Sprint Championships. Overall, I had a clean, fast, fluid race with good flow and no major mistakes. This was my best A-meet race to date, I finished 11/30 in M21 - 17.8% back of the winner (Ross), and I'm very happy with my results. I beat Emily (improving my record to 2-10 lifetime, I believe), had the second fastest finish chute (after Erin Schirm), and outsprinted Ross when we simultaneously hit the Go-control.

The good: I ran fairly well throughout the race, pushing basically as hard as I could the entire time. I had good flow, and I was not distracted by other runners. The bad: I struggled at the very beginning to get into the map. I also struggled near the end discerning the vegetation and attacking the last three controls. My times on my good legs were 10% longer than Ross'; my speed is insufficient.

I started with Andrew Childs 30 seconds behind me and Ross 2:30 behind me.
Control 1: I read the leg quickly and cleanly and attacked via the obvious vegetation boundary. Adrenaline was clearly working, as I was 5/40 on this split.
Control 2: I started concentrating on reading the map and planning ahead and attacked via the saddle. However, three other runners converged on control 5, which was 40 m north of control two, and I had not collected sufficient data to discriminate. I quickly realized my error, but I lost about 30 seconds. 25/40.
Control 3-4: Andrew punched a few seconds behind me at 2, so I put on some speed and increased my focus to try to stay ahead of him. I had fast, clean legs.
Control 5: Andrew finally pulled ahead of me, and I took a slower route than he did, though still good.
Control 6: Andrew bobbled, I successfully ran my own route (straight up the hill), and punched ahead of him.
Control 7-8: I took slightly different routes than Andrew and lost a few seconds on each leg due to running speed.
Control 9: Andrew and I took different attacks into 9 - I punched straight through the green (around the south was faster); I lost ten seconds on a bad route.
Control 10: Straight.
Control 11: I went around the west of the veg, and beat Andrew to the control.
Control 12: The spectator control; I was getting quite tired. I lost 11 seconds to Jon Torrance on this leg.
Control 13: A trivial trail leg.
Control 14: I went south via the vegetation boundary and control 1 to the trail (as did Ross, Jon Torrance, and others), but I did not take the optimal path through the veg and hit the trail junction SW of 1, probably losing ten seconds on route. I lost another ten on speed on this leg (relative to Andrew, e.g.), and passed Dylan Thies.
Control 15-17: On the last three controls, I did not make majors errors, but was tentative and lost time. I had trouble mapping the vegetation to the map, and I lost 22 seconds to Andrew Childs on these legs. Amusingly, it didn't quite connect that 17 was the go-control, so I was trying to navigate carefully and looking for the trail, when Ross pulled up with me and said "keep going." I picked up my speed and punched the go concurrently with him, then hit the afterburners going into the chute. When I saw that he wasn't pursuing (since he had spent his energy on the course, gaining 2:30 on me), I slowed up a bit at the end.

In total, I estimate I lost 1:00 - 1:20 on routes and hesitation on controls 2, 5, and 14-17. I must be faster if I want to be in contention for sprints, but I'm nonetheless ecstatic about my result. In my previous best sprint (2008 Team Trials, Lehigh University), I was 22.7% back of the winner on an urban, downhill sprint (both of which probably favor me); this was a flat forest sprint.

C • Good job! 1

The ROC A-meet Blue Middle Distance course. The course was less technical than I expected and offered many trail routes. My performance was consistent with my previous efforts and showed minimal improvement relative to my Spring 2009 races. While I was not moving quickly, I did not make any major mistakes and generally did well reading ahead, staying in contact, and simplifying routes. I finished 20/33, 13:10 behind the winner, Ross (38.9%). I also lost to Emily by 5:46 :(.

I didn't see a great attack point for control 1 (I wasn't confident I could hit the white corridor just west of it), so I aimed left, hit the clearing, and followed it to the control. I had much more respect for the green on this map than I should have, so I ran south to the open field and the road to attack 2.

I made a small error at 3; I stayed high and ended up about 40 meters north of the control. 0:20. I ran up to the trail and followed that around the reentrant to attack 4, but I was confused by a smaller reentrant north of 4 that I didn't really see on the map. This hesitation probably cost 0:15.

I ran up to the trail and followed it to the rocky ground between 13 and 5 to attack; I lost a bit of time trying to cut the trail bend - I should have either pushed hard on the trail or attacked via 13. I'm not happy with this leg, and I probably lost 0:30. Controls 6 - 9 were all good, with well executed and planned routes; I probably could have pushed a little harder, especially on the road on 7-8. I bobbled 10 a bit when the trail network confused me (I ran into Lori at this point), but I just slowed - I didn't take any steps in the wrong direction. I'm not fast enough on trails.

Eleven was a mistake for me; I ran around the swamp and then attacked straight up the hill. I contoured far too high and couldn't see the control - which was much lower than I was. I should have followed the trail further and ran around the base of the hill. Time lost: 1:00.

I had an amusing bobble at 12 (in a pit) where I stopped about 5 meters just below the control because I was sure I was in the right spot but couldn't see the pit. A quick glance around and I found it - 0:10. At 13, I noted Mike Waddington was behind me; I had trouble making out the contours, so I ended up slightly north of the hill. I pushed hard on the way to 14, ran up the trail to the levee, went north a bit so I wouldn't have to go so far down into the reentrant, and attacked straight for a fast spike (my fastest relative split). I booked it down the length of the clearing to 15, but attacking through the green, I stumbled and tweaked my right ankle. I stumbled around for about 30 seconds before resuming my race, during which Mike passed me. I then messed up 16 when the green in the field confused me. I should have paid more attention to the map, especially given that the sprint had the same difficulties, but I found one other Go control before finding mine. 0:30.

Total time lost: 3:00. I assert that Middle is my weakest discipline, so the race was reasonably good. I was beaten by a few people I can compete with - like Paul Caston; I need to improve my wood speed and trail speed.

Sprint: M/F21 - Splits

Middle: Blue - Splits

A light run before the A-meet. I ran most of the route with 3/3 breathing, but I ramped up to 2/2 for 4 x 40 strides and the recovery from the strides. I generally felt good, and I love the sensation I get running in the X-Talon 212s.

Event: CSU training 090915
 

This week's CSU Training session was Sprint training at Prospect Hill, set by Alex Jospe and Ed Despard. There were three sprints, the last two of which formed essentially one continuous course. Ed heroically manned the computer at the start/finish and braved the swarm of mosquitos.

My first run was quite weak, with two 4 minute errors. My second and third runs were much cleaner; I was focused, I had realized conservative routes were the best strategy, and I was warmed up. Alex set some great courses, and the e-punching was a pleasant luxury.

Exact times, distances and splits to be entered later. I drove to Prospect Hill with Lori and Presto in a Zipcar.

C • Zipcar! 2

Prospect Hill Sprint1 - Splits

Sprint 2 - Splits

Sprint 3 - Splits

A very curious morning, which resulted in the unintentional purchase of an orange Polo shirt.

UNO Camping Weekend, Pawtuckaway Blue Classic Course. Analysis to come.

UNO Camping Weekend, Canoe-O with Brendan.

Blue Day 2 - Splits

Event: Pawtuckaway Camping Weekend
 

Pawtuckaway Blue classic course, UNO Camping Weekend. Analysis to come.

UNO Camping Weekend, Pawtuckaway Wicked Hard Night-O (WHNO). Analysis to come.

C • No more World's Hardest Night-O? 3

Blue day 1 - Splits

It's interesting to note that despite two relatively weak training months (Jan and Feb), I surpassed my 2008 total training from January to mid August of this year. At my present rate of training, I'm on track to hit about 235 training hours this year, which while unremarkable, is good progress for me. Hopefully next year, I can consistently train at the rate of an hour per day.

It is worth pointing out that a nontrivial component of my training at present is fluffy - like bike commutes, e.g. Easy runs and cross training are useful for overall fitness, muscle balance, and injury prevention, but I need to increase my quality time - intervals, tempo runs, weight training, and orienteering most of all. The biggest component of my training this year has been orienteering, but much of that "training" is actually C-meets and A-meets. It's also boosted by my obscenely long ARDF sessions, which while constructive, are not as useful as technical orienteering sessions.

C • Quality 5

To and from work.

I set out to do a tempo run, but I started feeling reluctant - my soleus still feels stiff, so I ran at a comfortable pace between easy and tempo (marathon?). I felt absolutely fantastic throughout the run - breathing was good, my muscles felt strong (stiff right leg), and I was moving at a good pace. However, near the end of the run, I appeared to hit the wall - maybe my blood sugar level was low or something. Dunno. I walked for a bit, then set off to cool down at an easy jaunt, but I felt a small shooting pain in my right gluteus, so I walked the rest of the way home. I hope I'm ok.

I mused on the unstable equilibrium of debt and risk aversion. Also, only those actions which are difficult to us individually are admirable.

1676

C • I would like to have a conversation... 7

My watch band has been out of commission since the ARDF training last Sunday (note that according to Joe B., ARDF is geekier than Trail-O), so the time is a bit of a guess. I went on an easy run at about 1 AM around Harvard and Porter Squares, including a jaunt around the common at the intersection of Garden St and Mass Ave. That park seems to be a bit sketchy at night.

I finished up with 6x40 second strides. For the second consecutive day, I had a close encounter with a skunk. Tonight's I glimpsed from far enough ahead that I was able to skirt the sidewalk without much trouble; yesterday, I passed within about 8 feet of a fleeing skunk on Inman Ave - far too close for comfort.

Soleus still feels stiff, but stretching felt good afterward. I owe Lori dinner for her training victory.

C • ARDF is definitely geekier than trail-O 3

Commute to and from work. Spent a fair bit of time waiting at lights, as usual.

I read this contrarian article about lactic acid:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/16/health/nutrition...

C • mitochondria burning fuel? 1

In late May, I challenged Lori to a training competition for June - August inclusive. The measure would be our logged hours of physical activity (e.g. no Catching Features) as consistent with our logging standards. Neither of us logs stretching, e.g., and all our summer logging was to be consistent with what we have done before.

Lori turned out to be the victor:

	Ian	Lori
June	17:53:48	20:27:29
July	21:55:43	31:07:56
August	23:34:13	16:50:12
Total	63:23:44	68:25:37

Nonetheless, I think the competition was productive; it was at times motivating. I'm pleased with my monotonically increasing monthly training; if I can avoid injuries, I expect to continue increasing my training hours at the rate I have thus far.

A light night run with some errands - I took some old clothes to a Red Cross clothing drop box, escorted Lori to her lab, and dropped off Pirates 3 at Blockbuster.

C • Thanks Ian!! 1

To and from Hammond Pond via Harvard Ave, Western Ave, Market St, Washington St, Lake St, Commonwealth Ave, Hammondwoods Road, and Hammond Pond Parkway.

Alternating memory-O legs with Brendan at Hammond Pond on a course consisting essentially of all 250 meter legs. It was an excellent workout.

From work.

Warmup run to and from the Harvard track with some supplementary light running between intervals.

I elected not to participate in the mile time trial at the CSU track workout because of right soleus discomfort, but the track was so alluring that I had to do some speed activity. I ran 2x400 with Presto to unleash some of his energy on the track, then ran an 800 meter dash at high pace. I could have pushed harder on the 800, but I felt very comfortable.

The 800 was the only leg I rigorously timed, and I ran it in 2:51.

Late afternoon tempo run around the river. My right soleus is still bugging me; curiously, the pain seems to decrease after runs. I haven't observed any improvement as a consequence of my ICE; rest may be the only cure. I'll take it relatively easy for the next few days and see what happens (I haven't decided yet whether to do the time trial tomorrow - I will make the judgment then).

C • Are you stretching? Its no... 3

Commute to work.

Elements of the CSU Training group finished off the summer with the fall planning meeting and bowling at Lanes and Games. Everyone generally enjoyed themselves, and there was good cheer and socializing. However, it's good that I don't take bowling seriously because I had a mediocre performance. It is worth pointing out that I had a much better time than everyone seems to think despite my disappointment from my bowling.

The two games I bowled:
51 81 61 61 9- 9/ 8- 8/ X 7/6 = 120
-/ 8- 72 9/ 72 -9 9/ 8- 44 6/8 = 122

In the first five frames of the first game, I bowled a 38; while I recovered well, scoring 82 pts in the last five frames, I'm aghast that I had such a miserable start.

In the first game, my first shot (which is an excellent, invariant reference) averaged 7.6 pins; my second game had a first shot average of 5.8 (7.7 ignoring the two gutter balls). In the entire session - 45 balls - I had 7 spares, 1 strike, and 6 gutter balls.

In comparison, my sessions on 26 June had the following stats:
First shot average of 7.35 pins (7.75 ignoring gutters), and most revealingly, in 38 balls, I had 7 spares, 5 strikes, and 5 gutters.

Perhaps the social distraction (read: fun) was more demanding than just hanging out with Lori, adversely impacting my concentration. The first shot averages were relatively flat across the sessions, but I was far less precise and consistent, as measured by my attainment of "punctuation."

My attackpoint'd bowling sessions then are:
4 Jan 2009: 120, 106, 116, 132, 101, 93
26 June 2009: 141, 138
2 September 2009: 120, 122

Were I to take the first 5 frames of my second game and the last 5 frames of my first game, I would have scored a PR 143. Were I to take the first five frames of my first game in June and the last five frames of my first game on 2 September, I would have scored a 170. Clearly, I have potential as a casual, indifferent bowler, but I lack consistency.

I will endeavor to be less conspicuous about my disappointment at future social bowling events.

Bike to and from work. I wasn't moving that fast, but that was sort of the point. Some waiting at lights. The journey takes about 23 minutes.