Training Log Archive: iansmith

Time is a guess; I left my watch at work. After resting for a day after the NEOC A meet, I went for a gentle run around Somerville. There are some excellent hills in my neighborhood that I mean to use to prep for the Blue Hills Traverse.

I don't know the streets of my new neighborhood well, so I didn't plan a route - I explored. I ran to Davis Square, circled Tufts, and wandered home. I felt good and held my breathing to a steady four steps/breath. I find that minimizing how much I move my arms really helps my breathing and getting the most speed for my energy buck. This may be a useful tactic - reducing the amount of oxygen my upper body uses, especially for long hauls or short bursts of energy (e.g. up steep hills). In a sprint, I obviously can get more speed by using my arms effectively, but I lose efficiency.

I ran today without ibuprofen - whereas before every other orienteering or running event in the past month, I have taken some. My calf still twinges a bit (very mild pain) when I apply force through my toe, especially if my knee is bent.

I read this online:
If the Soleus muscle is damaged you might get pain lower in the leg and also pain when you contract the muscle against resistance with the knee bent. The Gastrocnemius muscle originates above the knee and inserts via the Achilles tendon into the heal. The Soleus originates below the knee and also inserts via the Achilles tendon.

Because I've run a few dozen kilometers on my leg, I suspect the injury is quite mild - a very weak strain in my calf from NAOC, perhaps. My plan is to ice and heat it for the next few weeks and avoid excessive force (no weights, minimal sprinting, etc). I do need to train though, and the exercise over the past month coupled with the gradual improvement of my condition suggests my leg can handle it.

Blue Day 2 - Splits

Event: NEOC Heart and Troll Revival A-Meet
 

The first day of the NEOC "Heart and Troll" A meet at Mt. Tom. Phil Bricker set a deviously vertical course with a 5.5% grade

Overall, I'm pleased with my results. The distance of the course is either 1.5 that of a typical Blue Middle or 0.66 of that of a typical Blue Long. However, because of the additional climb, I classify it as more of a long course - the winning time was about 70 minutes by Will Hawkins.

I haven't done that well, and my navigation was generally solid. I didn't move as fast as I would have liked - the course was a bit too physical for me. My choices were conservative, and I didn't move too quickly for my navigational prowess.

The course was interesting, with some interesting route choice options - and usually no trivially obvious routes. I ran an Orange and Brown course at Mt. Tom in November 2007 and got lost in the same area as today's course - e.g. controls 12 through 18.

I've included more details in my split comments, but I had three significant errors: 2, 15, and 19. From control 1 to 2, I misread the contours and entered the wrong reentrant. I searched for a few minutes before bailing out to the trail nearby and realizing my error. I then ran into Ross while approaching 2, but I ignored him and beat him to the control (I had a much safer route after my error). I later ran into Eddie Bergeron approaching 5 and also stuck to my safer route (though I picked up my speed) and beat him to the control.

I was particularly pleased with my long leg from 7 to 8. Even though there were adequate features to check off en route - some cliffs, a boulder, and eventually a trail intersection - I was accurate yet reasonably quick (under 10 min/km). Usually speed and caution are a compromise for me on longer legs. I did not lose contact from 14 to 15 until I entered a HUGE descending reentrant. I knew I was somewhere in the reentrant, but after I picked up significant speed moving downhill, I lost my exact point of contact. I was convinced I had passed the control, but it was about 100 meters further down the reentrant. I was a bit confused by the cliffs, and so I spent about eight to ten minutes longer than I should have scanning.

My route to 19 was fine, but my execution was poor. After some deliberation whether going above the hill or below it to the stream had merit, I decided to go below, but I got stuck plowing through dark green. I should have immediately punched down the hill to the stream and ran along it, but my compromise choice probably cost me about 5 minutes. I didn't get lost, though.

In the best case, on Saturday, the fastest I could have run this course was probably 90 minutes. I'm not thrilled about my errors, but the the good outweighed the bad.

Blue Day 1 - Splits

A 50 minute session on a stationary bike at my gym. I dislike using a gym for cardiovascular activities in general because of the poor ventilation and higher ambient temperature relative to the same activities outdoors, especially in seasons that are not summer. The breeze artificially created while biking is extremely refreshing and is conspicuously absent on a stationary bike. I perspired significantly during this training.

My objective was to get some cardio work in before the NEOC A meet. I have been very lax on my recent training in the hopes that my right calf will stop hurting; it is significantly better, but still aches when I apply power through my toe.

C • calf PT 5

I had intended to do a 3 km run at a 9 mph pace - a leisurely 12:25 - but I grew surprisingly tired after 8 minutes at pace - 1.2 miles. So, I decided to relax and abort the trial. I believe I can run a 12 minute 3 km without significant difficulty; today, I ran after biking. Also, I think a track would yield superior results to a treadmill. In my assessment, at running speeds, the benefit from the ventilation and cooling significantly outweighs the drag from air resistance.

I'm inspired by Robert, a Hungarian runner and orienteer, who ran the UNO Oringen on 12 October. He has a similar build to me, and we conversed extensively about a range of orienteering topics. Two key points were that American orienteers are technically competitive with top European orienteers, but they are physically lacking. I forget the time he cited for a 10k needed to compete at the top level, but the 5k time was around 15:30, if I remember correctly. His personal best 3k time was 8:57! With my current training regimen, 9 minutes is unattainable, but I might be able to break 11 minutes or even 10. I mean to measure my performance and use the 3k benchmark as a motivator and metric for progress.

Event: Hollis O-Ringen
 

Hollis Oringen. An excellent competition.

#1 Beaver Brook - Splits

#2 Hollis Brookline HS - Splits

#3 Hollis Elementary School - Splits

#4 Hollis Town Forest - Splits

#5 Woodmont Orchard - Silver Lake SP - Splits

I sustained a minor leg injury at the North American Championships on 26 September 2008, as a consequence of an excessive weight training the previous Tuesday, insufficient running training the week before, and running especially hard on Friday, the day of the sprints. The footing on the long did not improve the situation.

My right calf aches when I apply power through my leg. It slightly affects me as I walk, but significantly affects my speed, mechanics, and confidence as I run. I'm not sure what I will do about it yet, apart from being gentle with my leg. At the same time, I think I can still run on it as long as I do not push too hard - it is my hope that stressing it gently will help the healing process. At present, I don't consider the injury severe enough to record a new attackpoint injury.

My only notable leg injury was in December, where I slipped on some ice while walking and landed hard on my ankle. I limped for the next few days, and did not run on it for about a month.

We'll see how this affects me; I ran the Green course at this weekend's NEOC meet without too much difficulty, though I was aware of the discomfort in my leg throughout the course.

Event: Prospect Hill
 

Picking up controls on the white course. A straightforward run, including some time untying the controls. Uneventuful.

Picking up controls on the green and orange courses.

The NEOC Prospect Hill Green course. I started navigating well, but made a rather costly error (~ 8-10 minutes) at control 6. I was in good contact and had a reasonable attack, but I was confused by the vegetation boundaries in the vicinity of 6 and just didn't recover very well from my error. Apart from that control, I was generally pleased with my run. I could have chosen a better route to control 5, and I didn't run as fast as I should have, but I did fairly well.

My right calf has been hurting since the North Americans; I ran lightly today to stress my muscle a bit. I'm insufficiently experienced to gauge what the nature of the damage, but the pain is localized - perhaps a single muscle, tendon, or God forbid, a ligament. I have the full range of motion, but my leg buckles a bit when I put weight on it in certain ways.

I still can run passably, though I feel the pain when I apply power down through my leg, e.g. after my right foot strikes the ground during a running stride. If I were to conjecture, I would guess I may have bruised a muscle somehow while sprinting last week, which was perhaps compounded by my extensively leg workout last Tuesday. I still plan to run the NEOC meet this Saturday.