Training Log Archive: iansmith

Warmup at Ansonia; trying to wake up.

For my Thanksgiving weekend, I decided to go on an O-expedition to Connecticut and New York. The barely organized chaos that is my life postponed my expedition a few hours, and I didn't get to Ansonia on Friday until nightfall. I had planned to Night-O, but a combination of the cold, fatigue, and a poor Night-O configuration frustrated my plans. Instead, I went for an easy run in West Rock; a poor substitute for Ansonia.

This morning, after a sluggish start, I set off to rerun the Blue Middle from the Mad Hatter's Revenge 2010 A-meet. Running or rerunning courses isn't quite ideal, but I decided this was much better than doing nothing at all.

My focus for this course was on precise - not necessarily fast - orienteering. I wanted to intelligently use my compass, check off features, and solidly execute all my plans. I vaguely recalled a few errors from my run in 2010, but I didn't refresh my memory of the splits because I figured that would be an unnecessary distraction. Somewhat detrimentally, I had drawn my route on the map I was running with.

Controls 1-4 were fine and a good way to get back into the terrain. I have no idea if I was on the correct boulder for 3, but I was definitely close (also a little uncertain about 4). I decided to throw caution to the wind and take a different route choice to 6. I was right the first time. On 7, my zone of uncertainty grew larger than I had planned halfway through the leg, but that was sort of ok given my plan.

I was pleased with 8-11, though I started to get a bit tired on my approach to 11. I completely botched 12 when I didn't understand the orientation of the cliffs, even though given my exit from 11 and the surrounding terrain, I was fairly confident I was in the circle. Maybe if I there had been a flag, I wouldn't have hesitated so much. I couldn't find the knoll at 15. Dunno.

On maps like Ansonia and Harriman, one of the challenges with matching the map to the terrain is deciphering the orientation of small cliffy guys, e.g. in the circle at 12. At 12 (map to come), two cliffs are stacked above each other facing NW; I thought there were two cliffs facing each other with a narrow corridor. This is a good skill to practice in rocky New England terrain with subtle contour features.

Quick cool down before devouring some recovery pizza.

Jog to the start at Blue Mountain. I had to pause at the triangle because I wasn't sure if my Garmin was running. Yay obscured screens.

Blue Mountain 2011 Team Trials Blue Long course. I started this course at the meet, but aborted after control 8 or 9 due to shin pain (stress fracture).

Continuing my theme of rerunning old courses, I set about running this one with the objective of keeping my race focus and mental concentration throughout the race. To make it easier, I decided to run a leg at easy pace, then run hard for three legs. It turns out that I made a mental mistake by taking control 8 easy instead of 9, though I corrected at 13.

My run wasn't terrible, but it certainly looks weak compared to the field. At the spectator control (13) 7 km in, I was about 7 minutes behind Ross (and 12 behind Anders!). I'm content with my split at 11, though my execution left something to be desired in my push over the hill on the first third of the leg (QR to come).

After 15, my goose was cooked, and it was a battle to the end. I noticed that things I usually do out of habit - e.g. anticipating features to my sides - were much harder. My left arch just behind my ball has been intermittently acting up; I need to do some preventative PF exercises.

The session may not have been as constructive as deliberate technical exercises, but getting out in the woods with a map was still excellent.

Blue - Splits

Blue Day 1: Middle - Splits

Jogged around the field by Marjam to warmup. Conditions were chill (1 C, breezy), but manageable with LS, tights, and gloves.

I decided to rerun the blue final middle distance course from the CSU 2009 A-meet. I had forgotten that I did this once before, in February of this year. That seems like an eternity in the past.

I don't especially care for orienteering in the Fells. The map is fine (though confusing in some places), but the experience often is mediocre or unpleasant. There are many places I would rather go, but it was nonetheless very satisfying to get out and run. I was stabbed and poked by rocks a few times, but it was not overwhelming. I ran with my original map copy (I think), which apparently has seen a good bit of use. I suppose this particular course goes through a few garbagy areas compared to the 2010 A-meet or even the qualifying middle course.

A quick easy run before packing it in. Adding a run like this after all training exercises would probably be beneficial.

Saturday Blue Final - Splits

Easy jaunt around the river.

Event: NEOC: Blue Hills Traverse
 

Hanging the green and orange controls for the rec courses. I stumbled upon one Traverse control (#13), as Jeff and I hadn't managed to sync up our controls. I think any advantage I received was getting into the woods and seeing them - which anyone could have done, but that was more than compensated by loss of energy, even though I wasn't running all that fast.

Running from parking to the start, including getting lost and wandering around for a bit. I'm surprised I've managed to put 363 km on my Orocs, especially since they are still structurally sound.

2013 Blue Hills Traverse. After some urging, I persuaded Giacomo to come to the race, and drove to Harvard to pick him up at 10 AM. Despite the absurdly cold weather, the field was solid with 42 starters; top contenders included Giacomo, Ethan, special HVO guest Andis, Dave Donaldson, Jean-Charles, and others.

The Traverse is the poorer relation of the Billygoat chiefly because it is always held in the Blue Hills. The variety of the Billygoat (and the novelty of the skip) makes it a much more popular and widely attended event. If the Traverse were in a more convenient location (e.g. Blue Mountain), perhaps the field would be deeper. I regretted the absence of feet and Andrew. I think of the Traverse as my race even though I've never actually won it; because I've set it twice (and actually only contended in 2012 and 2013), I am intimately familiar with the terrain.

I started very strong: Giacomo and I were running together out of start, but I took a better route on the long leg. I also broke away from him exiting, punching through some green to pull out of sight on the trail run. I really wanted to avoid getting stuck on a trail run with Ethan or Giacomo; I figured my best shot was to get away from them early. Despite a 30s hesitation in the circle at 2, I was a minute in the lead. I lost a minute at 3 getting stuck among the rocks, and was only up 15s on blueman Andis, and we took the road run to 4 nearly together.

A major trail that I was planning on using to attack 5 had been deleted recently by DCR, so I bashed through green slash on the hill summit. There are lots of smallish boulders near 5, and I wandered around asking "are you my boulder?" before finally spotting it; Ethan, Giacomo and Dave all caught up. Furious, I bashed down to 6, which we all punched simultaneously, and tried to pick up some distance on the short legs 7-10. At control 10, Giacomo, Ethan, Andis, and I were all together. This was precisely the situation I wanted to avoid, with maybe 5-6 km of medium trail legs left.

We all took the same route right to 11, and Andis fell a little behind. As we merry three were running down the trail to 12, I made the decision of the course: I tried to be tricky and take a more direct route through the woods rather than the trail route I expected them to take. I executed my route adequately, though with a small loss, but entered the circle at 12 to find Giacomo and Ethan together leaving it about a minute up on me. I took the left trail route to 14 and lost 30s on route, 30s in the circle to G/E. At this point, the race was already lost. To add insult to injury, despite nailing my attackpoint (end of higher stone wall), I somehow failed to move 80m up the hill to 15, managing to hit about three other clearings before finally finding the control when Andis came into the circle. I have never been angrier during a race than I was at that moment - overwhelmingly frustrated with my inability to find the control. I seriously considered quitting the race in my rage.

Andis and I blasted down the hill to 16, and I foolishly decided to take 17 straight rather than than bouncing off the left trail. I pulled ahead at 18, but threw away my small lead by botching 19, and Andis beat me for the irrelevant 3rd place. Misc: Dressed for speed: Axis blue O-pants, long sleeve, CSU top, gloves. I drank a monster and a medium DD coffee 3 and 1.5 hours in advance, and only consumed half of a fig newton and a cup of gatorade during the race. No Gu.

What lessons can be learned? Had I been alone at 11, I would have taken a less risky route to 12, but I felt I had to gamble. Perhaps in a three way run to the finish with little route choice, there isn't a way to decisively win, but it is possible to decisively lose. My fitness can improve, but I wasn't exhausted or broken by the end. I did walk some short steep trail uphills, e.g. to 5 and 11. I need to practice the psychology of trying to chase someone down, especially someone who is as fast as I am. Most importantly, I need to take gasoline to the hill around 15 and burn that entire swath of forest to the ground.

C • If the DCR can delete trail... 12

Traverse - Splits

Running about the Blue Hills. I dislike the ski area start location, and I'm not particularly happy with my rec courses. But c'est la vie.

Run to the Harvard track + 1 km (ish) around the track warming up with Alex, Giacomo, and Izzy. We discussed relay champs and how DVOA has made a Faustian bargian. My Forerunner 405 seems to be teetering on the edge of demise; it didn't bother to locate satellites this session, and it took effort to extract my lap splits. I dropped it on its bezel while passing through airport security on November 8, destroying over half of the screen. I will probably refurbish the 305, as that's cheaper.

I felt poorly prepared - two weeks of virtually no training, erratic sleep, and two ill-advised slices of pizza at 5:30 PM. Still, I decided to run it aggressively, and Giacomo was my rabbit.

C • Last two weeks 1

Because of my Gimpy Garmin, I had no split data during the course of the time trial. I was 3m behind Giacomo at the 600, and about 7m back at 1k. I started to drift back and was really suffering on the last km. I was about 150m back when Giacomo finished. It turns out that I did a terrible job pacing myself. I had a bad stomachache when I finished. Oddly enough, I had the first movement of Brahms 4 in my head for the duration of the run.

Splits:
39, 82, 84 = 3:25
85, 2:10 = 3:35
44, 89, 89 = 3:42

Unsurprisingly, I was viciously aligatored. I shall attempt the TT again before the end of the year in a quest for better results, though this was only 11s off my PR. This fact is both good and bad.

C • Aligator... 1

Run back to 7CC.

3k Time Trial - Splits

Event: US Team Fall 2013 3k Time Trial
 

Feeling burned out.

Hay Creek - Day 2 Blue - Splits

Event: DVOA Fall Orienteering Festival
 

French Creek - Day 1 Blue - Splits

Symptoms of a cold have onset; I am resting to maximize my fitness for the competition this weekend. I think I could run, though a strenuous workout would likely be too much. The combination of my cold, travel stress, and impact from this past weekend's activities suggest caution even at the expense of training this week.

Added BAOC Middle Quickroute.
BAOC Ultralong Quickroute. Let's play "Spot the route choice errors!"

Uploaded two panorama shots:
Panorama from Sentinel Dome at Sunset
Panorama of Half Dome

Some preliminary Yosemite photos:
Ian at the summit of Sentinel Dome
Sunset at Sentinel Dome

C • Oooh Ahhh 4

C • passing each other 4

C • Sunset - wow! 2

San Francisco with Lori, Stephen, and Presto! We drove to the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge, then ran across it, dodging pedestrians and cyclists. On the far side, I decided my legs had had enough, so after some time meandering the park on the south side, we walked back. We finished the excursion with lunch at an Italian restaurant in Sausalito that was laid back to the point of lethargy and a visit to the Tilden overlook.

Yay "happy fun ultralong"/"oh god oh god it burns so bad" times.

Quickroute.

US Ultralong 2013 Blue - Splits

Event: BAOC: Pacheco State Park A-meet
 

Warmup jog to the start. I arrived about ten minutes ahead of my start.

Blue Middle Distance course at Pacheco State Park, BAOC. Unfortunately, the course was thrown out because control 5 was hung ~50 meters off; I had a late start, so it was in the correct location when I arrived.

Pacheco was interesting - the contour detail reminded me of the ridge-and-valley orienteering that I have seen in Missouri and Ohio (e.g. 2011 Relay Champs Middle, Night), but the relief was much more severe. The vegetation was very sparse - the hillsides were entirely open with clumps of trees and shrubs, so visibility was 200+ meters. I wasn't prepared for the physicality of the terrain - both the strength and power needed to ascend/descend and the rock-solid stability needed to side hill with speed and confidence. The entire excursion was arduous.

I was careful to pay attention to my compass especially when I was trying to be conservative with respect to elevation change. Going perfectly straight isn't that practical in this terrain. My only mistake of consequence was at control 15, which was on (actually, in) a tree. I was running up a reentrant from 14 scanning the opposite bank for the tree, and I simply didn't notice the control; I overran by about 100m. I finished five minutes behind the winner, Nick Barable and a little over two behind Zach Schroder.
Quickroute.

Middle Blue (Voided because of #5) - Splits

For my second trip, I shortened a planned North Dome hike and just ascended to the top of the Upper Yosemite Falls Trail - which would be aptly called the "Trail of a thousand switchbacks." It was magnificent, though I didn't feel inclined to run it.

C • switchbacks 1

Expedition: Yosemite! I quite accidentally chose a fantastic time to visit the park: while it was cool in the evenings, the temperature during the day was as high as 15-20 C. There was very little snow and ice on the trails, and most importantly, there were far fewer people in the park than is typical during the summer.

I arrived at Yosemite and purchased a fantastic National Geographic: Trails Illustrated map of the park, then set up my campsite at Upper Pines. For my first day's hike, I set to ascend Sentinel Dome via the John Muir trail, which promised a scenic view of Half Dome. To make the hike more interesting, I ran the flatter parts of it.

The hike was magnificent; some day, I would like to through hike the John Muir Trail. It is my impression that there are two Yosemites: the touristy valley and the popular hikes in its immediate vicinity, and the grand landscape that starts about 10 km away from the frequented areas. I got brief tastes of that Eden, especially on the aptly named "Panorama Trail."

I arrived at the summit of Sentinel Dome about a half hour before sunset, and as it's accessible by a road, there was a troop of photographers packing some L-series heat on the summit taking a picture of the sunset vista. I hung out with them for a little while and grabbed a few shots with my ghetto 18-55 before hiking back down in the dark with my flashlight. While it is true that being out so late was unwise, I was adequately prepared, with a flashlight, matches, several extra layers of warm clothing, two candy bars, and about three liters of water. Still, in the future, it is much better to finish hikes during daylight hours, particularly when I am traveling alone. After the sun set, I was awestruck by the clear view of the heavens. There were so many stars, as the light pollution near Yosemite is mild even with the unnecessary lights in the valley. After descending to the bottom of the "4.6 mile trail," I ran back to my camp.

The running component of my Sentinel Dome hike.

Registered for:
- BAOC: O in the Oaks. Showdown with ebone.
- DVOA: French Creek. Showdown with a host, including AliC and ken-san.
- OCIN: Night and Relay. First 0-pter registered! I imagine I will change my primary club to CSU, as I doubt NEOC will field a team. I would be ecstatic if both NEOC and CSU fielded full teams.

Easy river loop. I felt improbably tired, and my left arch hurt a little. I took care to stretch afterward. I'm surprised at how low my heart rate was. It was very cold - about 2 C.

Event: NEOC: Powissett
 

An abbreviated warmup.

Red course at Powissett, set by Jeff Schapiro. The day was fantastic - temperatures of about 10 C, with clear, sunny skies after a morning drizzle. The forest was dense; while visibility was good, there was plenty of undergrowth thick with green briar.

I generally orienteered cleanly and fast, but there were two noteworthy errors. On the way to 4, after skirting the edge of the private property, I chose to leave the stone wall handrail and punch straight through the woods on a compass bearing. I drifted, and while my time loss wasn't heavy (perhaps 30-45s), I lacked confidence. While the vegetation pushed me around, I should have been more accurate and confident with my compass.

At 6, I drifted too high, and while I corrected, I misjudged the shape of the target reentrant and overshot for a loss of about 75s. Most of the course wasn't difficult, but I executed parts of it solidly. The footing was rocky and poor in many places. Few of the serious contenders showed up, so I comfortably won.

C • The forest was dense; while... 13

While I had considered trying to race all three advanced courses, I decided to stop after red because the navigational challenge would probably be reduced after running red, I banged up my right knee falling on the run-in to the finish, I didn't want to "show up" the other runners, and I only had about an hour before control pickup was to begin. Had I shown up at 10 or 11 instead of noon, I probably would have given it a shot - Jeff was comparatively conservative in his course lengths.

To pass the time before control pickup, because I felt ok physically, and because my mileage has been weak this week (largely due to some lost time making my Halloween costume), I decided to go for a nice trail jaunt. My map ended well to the west of where I ended up running, so I was lost for part of the run before cruising back east.

Jeff, Pia, and I divided up the controls. Mine had two water stops (aw), but I negotiated this by dropping everything off at one control and circling around to pick up the remote controls before returning. I ran into two pairs of people who were interested in what I was doing, and after some pleasant conversation, I gave them the NEOC website. Hopefully they will come! I was wearing US team regalia at the time, which hopefully adds to my street cred.

Red - Splits

To warmup, for this training at Pawtuckaway, Giacomo and I ran controls 1-12 of the Brown Course from Saturday's 2013 Camping Weekend. His friend Alex is making a documentary on orienteering, and he spent some time setting up to film shots. Giacomo started first, with Alex following him with a headcam. Note that this training does not fit the "Secret Ninja" variety, as those are exclusively solo training expeditions, preferably in the snow while wearing black.

I ran back to das auto and picked up a map to give to Alex while he camped out at a control location, then met Giacomo.

Giacomo and I ran a truncated blue course from 2013 Camping Weekend. It would have been nice to get the entire course in, but we had already spent a lot of time with filming. We split up a few times - particularly on the long leg, but were near each other for about half of the course.

As I designed the course, I was intimately familiar with the control locations, but I hadn't run the routes before. I had one really stupid error en route to blue 14 (split 11) where I drifted far off my compass line to avoid some green. After my discussion with Peter about my Boulderdash performance, it was exactly this sort of leg that I hoped to execute well. I really need to practice these more. I did ok on the longish leg (5), but even that needs work.

Obligatory Halloween costume picture: None shall pass.


I'm invincible!

C • chainmail 5