Training Log Archive: iansmith

From TGIF's log, too funny not to share:



I imagine the caption being something like "Making a map from the terrain is obsolete; instead, we create the terrain from the map."

C • "Making a map from the... 6

Skyline at night!

Morning wake-up run. I've been taking cetirizine (Zyrtec) for my allergies for about two weeks, and I have experienced great fatigue. I suspect they may be related, so I'm going to stop taking it for this week and just endure the sneezing and labored breathing.

Red course by Will Daniels at Lincoln Woods. The course was good - lots of variety, and made good use of the woods. Unfortunately, the map isn't up to the terrain quality. I struggled reading the map initially, and the heat was very challenging. I rolled my right ankle unpleasantly leaving control 8, and walked it off for a minute.

Warmup. Probably unnecessary given the heat.

Red - Splits

The Swedes seem pretty happy with Tove's EOC Long gold (skip to 1:30):

C • Yes... 1

C • wut 4

Listened to Totentanz - dance of death - by Franz Liszt on NPR. I only heard part of the end, but it had both Dies Irae and a piano part with great gravitas.

Event: QOC Combat Village
 

Blue - Splits

Event: Tiomila 2016
 

Quick cruise to the grocery store during Tiomila.

Allergies are destroying me. I've exhausted my supply of cetirizine and can only wait for the end. Why are all these plants trying to reproduce with my face?

C • well have you? 1

Running the 2010 Blue Middle Distance final at Long Pond with Will Enger; the course selection was motivated as much by convenience as technical interestingness. I ran it at a relaxed effort, but still made a big ~3+ minute error at 15. Woods were sexy in places.

Event: Billygoat 2016
 

2016 Billygoat at Townsend, course by Alex Jospe and Ed Despard. My training has been lackluster at best for the past year, and I came in to this race feeling unprepared physically. I spearheaded the effort to remap Townsend in 2013 and directed the A-meet in 2014, so I am more familiar with the terrain than most. The mistake I've typically made in mass start races is blowing up too early - pushing to an early lead, red lining, and making mistakes, so my goal was to run within my ability. Note that this was my sixth - and fourth consecutive - Billygoat.

I correctly anticipated the direction we were starting in and set off down the trail near Isak and Will. Control 1 looked like an obvious possible skip, but I elected not to both because the route to 2 was questionable and to avoid repeating my past errors. I attacked from the trail a bit earlier than Will and Isak and lost about 15s negotiating some green. I arrived at 1 with Peter Z and Zach Lyons. I foolishly decided to go straight through the woods to 2 rather than busting down to the trail, losing 80s. I was in the lead of a small pack and did my best to ignore them and make the best decisions I could. I was feeling ok - running comfortably. Wyatt jumped ahead of me into 4, and the pack of Wyatt, Carl, Peter, Boris, and others moved en masse through 5-7. I deviated substantially from the group to 8, running a bit north to the trail, then taking a fairly direct line from the junction to 8 while most of the group missed to the north. I chased Wyatt to 9 and on the way decided to skip 10. I had been contemplating both 15 and 19, but 10 seemed best. It turned out that everyone except Wyatt came with me.

I spotted both 11 and feet about halfway on the 9-11 leg, and steadily gained ground on him en route to 12. The navigation was a bit tricky to 12, and I was overly hesitant. The ridge to the east of 12 was quite prominent, and I managed to put things together just ahead of everyone else, punching with feet - and apparently at the head of a pack of 8. Feet said something to me on the leg to 12 that I didn't really comprehend at the time; we diverged, with him staying about the cliffs and me taking the line below them. I reached 13, and I was alone. I took a painful spill on the descent from 13 to 14, banging my shin hard enough to lacerate it. I came into 14 about 20s ahead of Boris and decided to try to put some ground between me and the pack on the trail leg to 15. Unfortunately, I didn't have the gear to gain any separation - scarcely pushing 4:30/km. I lost about 15s in the circle at 15, but still took off with a small lead.

I was familiar with the sexy fast woods on the 15-16 leg, but in my urgency, I completely botched my execution and hit the trail quite far to the right - just SW of control 7. Essentially everyone passed me on this leg, and I ran at the back of the pack through 17. To 18, the pack spread out and many missed to the north of the control. I punched 15s behind feet, but unfortunately, he beat me on every subsequent split to the finish. I ran into Will E. while I was running on the trail to 19. The pack broke up near 19, and I found myself running to 20 immediately south of 17 with Boris and Peter Z. I felt fairly confident in my ability to run straight from 17 to 20 though I was unable to drop Boris. I hit the first trail correctly was confused about my location when I hit the second trail - I believed I was north of the bend, so I idiotically ran south. Once I punched into the woods, I largely put things together, but it still took some stumbling around the marshes near 20 to finally punch with Boris and behind Carl and Olaf. After following to 21, I set off on a more direct line than the other 3 to 22, hit the trail fine, and finished the rest of the course alone. Carl Underwood was just coming into view when I punched 24.

There were some moments of good orienteering, but they were largely offset by my failures at 16 and 20. I'm annoyed with my conditioning - I simply didn't have the speed to break away from the pack. It's hard to be satisfied with fourth loser, but it's about as good as I could hope to perform right now. The two mistakes at 16 and 20 merit attention because I don't really understand why I messed up.

Big congratulations to Will E for a great performance on his first major race in New England terrain and to Isak for carrying the Swedish standard high. The race organization was excellent, and I very much appreciated the pizza and munchies.

C • smart planning 2

Control pickup. Visiting good guy Will Enger helped to pick up controls.

Easy cool down in the arena following the shining example of feet.

Billygoat - Splits

Event: NEOC: Beaver Brook North
 

It's been a rough week.

Event: NEOC: Breakheart Reservation
 

I ran part of the Green course with Xavier, discussing routes and execution.

I then ran the red course, sadly losing to Isak by 50s. My execution was poor in places, especially control 14.

Control pickup.

Red - Splits