Training Log Archive: iansmith

Long 11 - Splits

Middle 11 - Splits

Event: 2019 Canadian Orienteering Championships
 

Course 6 - Splits

Course 2 - Splits

Evening squash session at Hart House with Katie. The temperature was a little warm, but not uncomfortable.

We warmed up and rallied for a bit before playing 12 games. I won them all, but she managed to get to 10 points (games to 11, win by 2) and was ahead 10-8 before I rallied. We played normally, i.e. both serving when appropriate.

Katie's scores: 6, 6, 6; 5, 7, 7; 8, 9, 2; 5, 10, 3

After squash, I hopped on the erg for a quick 5k. I was pushing moderately, with a stroke rating of about 26-27 completing the first 4k in 16:07. I think took the penultimate 500m at a stroke rating of 32 in a split of around 1:45 before just relaxing down to a 2:00/500m pace for the end. The push was appropriately painful and satisfying at nearly interval effort.

Event: Ottawa O-Fest
 

Squash at Hart House with Katie! It was a bit warm on the squash courts, though it was cooler than in previous sessions. We rallied for a while, then played ten games with the usual rules - games to 11, each of us served. While I did manage some aces, Katie's returns have improved so that it's no longer imbalanced to play normally rather than having her serve every point.

I managed to win all the games, but the results were close. Her scores were 6, 9, 9, 6, 7, 6, 12, 5, 6, 10. (When she had 9 or more points, I won with her score + 2.) It was a pleasant and tiring session.

Ascent up Mt. Marcy! In preparation for our Adirondack expedition, we purchased 3 L of powerade, ~400 g of M&Ms, a 200g bag of goldfish, 8 granola bars, and 8 small packs of crackers. I had a pdf of the trail map on my phone, and I brought my usual bag of fun emergency hiking equipment - headlamp, matches, emergency blanket, gauze, medical tape, and a knife. We also had extra clothes, which we didn't use at all on the trip, and sunscreen and hats which we did use.

We left the hotel at about 8 and got to the trailhead at 8:30. In total, we had about 6L of water and powerade, which was a good amount with a little extra in reserve. Our pace was comfortable and leisurely; it took about 4 hours to travel 11.4 km with about 1 km of vertical. We stopped for snacks every 45 minutes or so. There were large stretches of rocky ground, and the trail was surprisingly wet with marshy areas at over 1200m.

We lingered at the summit for about 30 minutes and snacked - the M&Ms and goldfish were particularly scrumptuous, among the 30-40 people milling around the wide summit. The views were magnificent, and a friendly ranger was advising people to not destroy the vegetation and be mindful. Again, I had contemplated a circuit, descending via Lake Colden, but the ranger advised us that the trail was considerably longer and wetter. So, we descended the same way we came.

It was a glorious day with perfect weather. We got back to the car at about 5:30p, got ice cream in Lake Placid, and drove back to Toronto.

Descent track; my watch died, as I hadn't fully charged it overnight.

After the wedding on Saturday, brunch Sunday morning, and a relaxing day hanging out with Katie's family on Sunday, Katie and I drove up to the Adirondacks from some hiking. I had already selected Mt Marcy for our Tuesday expedition, and Giant Mountain was my choice for a quick Monday scamper. We set out from the road near St. Huberts at about 3:30p, and did the 5 km, 1000m vertical ascent in a leisurely 2 hours. We parked at the top for some snacks and enjoyed the vista of the sun going down over the peaks to the west - including Marcy. I had originally planned to do a loop going north, but we decided that the extra ~3 km could take an excessive amount of time. Also, we were planning on setting out for Marcy quite early the next day, so it didn't make sense to exhaust ourselves on a peripheral peak before the main event.

We descended the same way, drove to Lake Placid, ate a pizza, and bought supplies for the morrow. Lake Placid is a very charming spot.

Before the main event this afternoon of Freddie's wedding, I set out to go for a jaunt in the Minnewaska State Park Preserve, a small region of the Shawangunk Mountains a few km from the wedding venue. It was warm and humid. I started out running up the broad trails, but I slowed to a walk for much of the climb. I had a pdf of the trail map, but it was somewhat vague. I ended up doing about 460m net of climb before I attained the rough summit ridge and decided to turn back.

At about 1 hr on my GPS track, I saw a black bear on the trail at a distance of about 50m. The bear was startled by my presence and scampered off into the woods. I started singing for a bit to deter further encounters. The view from the top was impressive.

Commute via Mt. Pleasant.