Training Log Archive: iansmith

I don't like ticks; among arthropod parasites, I find their bite least appealing. Their stealthy, disease-carrying, insidious nature disgusts me. There is great incentive for me to avoid encounters with ticks, because diagnosis with lyme disease or babesiosis would restrict my blood donation privileges.

I maintain a journal, primarily so I can have perspective on the global changes and direction of my life. I want to remember what I did on a particular, with whom I interacted, and what I was thinking about. Too often I have had interesting thoughts that went unrecorded. I think that a journal that recorded all the wikipedia articles I read that day would be concisely illuminating.

C • ticks 4

Brendan and I paired up for the NEOC New England Canoe Orienteering Championships on the Assabet River at Crow Island in Stow, MA. The start was at the Crow Island airfield. At the meet, I ran into a number of orienteering friends including Pia, Mark, Aims, Scott Turner, Sam Levitin, and Andy Hall. I met Andy McIlvaine, the NEOC mapping chair with whom I will be working extensively. We were obliterated by Andy Hall and his partner's time of 77 minutes.

The race itself was good fun. While the water had significant subsurface vegetation (duckweed, I think) that created drag on our boat, the vista was beautiful. The woods were pleasant, the day was gorgeous, and much of the vegetation was flowering and in full bloom. While Brendan and I cannot compete on the level of Andy Hall and other more seasoned canoers, we nonetheless had a very pleasant morning.

Brendan ran to control 4, which was at the top of a hill, and we met up at control 5. Later, I dropped him off to get 10 and 11 and paddled ahead to our rendezvous. In both cases, I found the novelty of paddling a C2 solo appealing, but several minutes of solo work sated my enthusiasm. Kayaking or C1 would probably be more fun. We also portaged over a kilometer to the head of a river; the canoe had a yoke, and we each took a turn. I carried the canoe for the first and last thirds.

C • Canoe O technique..... 6

C • Duckweed 4

Biking to Carlisle High School in Concord to rendezvous with Cristina for a 5k. I failed to turn at the intersection of the Cambridge Turnpike and the Concord Turnpike and was a very short distance from Walden Pond.

I paced Cristina for a 5k. We were shooting for a 22:00 time, but we fell a little behind. Conditions were warm and sunny. I listened to the 172 bpm podrunner mix "Heaven's Gate." It currently is the fastest techno mix on my mp3 player; I will download some 180 bpm mixes for interval and time trial sessions.

After the 5k, Cristina and I went to Helen's, a sandwich place in the center of Concord. We had some wonderful conversation about wide range of topics. There are a number of people - in orienteering and otherwise - whom I have met and established a meaningful connection despite very infrequent interaction. Cristina is a good example of this; while certainly some events over the past year have resonated and affected us directly, we don't often get to see each other. I wish I were better at building these sorts of meaningful connections, because while there exists a limit to the volume of social interaction I can maintain, there are so many wonderful people flitting in and out of my life. Put another way, it increases my utility to have these sorts of interactions with people.

I unwisely failed to apply sunscreen, and the result is a sleeveless burn on my arms and some burn on my face and neck.

Running around with Cristina before the time trial. Good conversation about her trip to New Zealand, e.g.

On the way home, there was a very large hill that I descended at the base of which was a traffic light. Most unfortunately, the light turned red just as I peaked at 47 kph, and I had to brake immediately and shed so much precious kinetic energy.

The Minuteman was lively both times I traversed it; I found it encouraging in a very general way to briefly interact with so many people. I passed a older man on a fast looking bike on the way back. He drafted off me for the next few km, but then shot ahead at a speed nearly faster than I could maintain. He passed me about 35 minutes into the GPS track; I pushed as hard as I continuously could to keep up. It was fun; I stayed with him until we passed Alewife, wished him well, then parted.

It is exhilarating to attack a physical challenge wholeheartedly. Running, orienteering, or biking as fast and hard as I can is a wonderful feeling. It may be a physiological response - the runner's high or endorphins; it may be a mental response after the fact to the anguish of the effort, but it is so rewarding. I contrast this with my response to walking, where I am solving an optimization function - get to a destination as quickly as possible while minimizing discomfort from perspiration (e.g.). It would have been great to have more company on the bike ride (and I would not have treated it so aggressively), but solitude can be rewarding.

I woke up without enthusiasm. I consciously decided to go for a run, as I had planned, partly to combat this lethargy. I am not a "morning person," which is to say that I wake up sluggishly and am more motivated in the evening. I reject the notion that we either must be morning or evening people; I want to be at full capability all day.

It should be noted that I donated a unit of whole blood shortly after this run.

Before meeting Audrey and Wade for a ride to rehearsal, I managed a quick, late afternoon run. Conditions were muggy - 29 C with a dew point of 18 C, and while I was running in my sleeveless shirt and running shorts, I struggled greatly with the heat. I am motivated by the hope that training in a wide variety of conditions will prepare me for races; I must prepare for the possibility that it will be warm and humid when I run the Hartford Marathon. My body also ached from the short circuit workout yesterday; muscles I didn't realize I had were protesting the run.

I listened to The Warded Man for the second time and pondered convergence of random variables and measure theory.

C • Hartford Marathon 4

Warmup and drills before Alex's body weight circuit exercises.

Giovanni, Katia, Alex, Lori, and I ran to a nearby park before the CSU A-meet meeting, and Alex led us through a set of ten body weight exercises. The exercises were arduous, but I did my best to fight on. I wish to face this challenge more often (in appropriate clothes), and I strive to improve my technique. Afterward, we had a fantastic dinner, good company, and a productive planning meeting.

I find poetry and music (e.g. requiems, elegies, Nimrod from Enigma Variations, Mahler 6) very stirring and powerful; I relish the magnificent, beautiful sadness and sentiments typically expressed therein. Perhaps it is that these composers and authors were often musing on death and endings, and they poured their emotions into their works. I love these pieces in appropriate proportion with art expressing other emotions.

When I read a poem like this one, I am struck by the strength and magnitude of the sentiment - "Think of all you planned to do...", "God! and is it time to go?", "There is still the greater drink." I think the poem is eloquent and stirring as a work of art, but what I glean from the poem is not sadness and despair, but hope. Life is an opportunity, a set possibilities. When the day comes that this poem describes my life, I will have an answer for "think of all you planned to do... Have you done the best you can?" I will have a lifetime of memories, of joys, of sorrows, of shared moments with people and loved ones, of quests, of success, of failure, of love; I will have the sum total of what my life has been, and I will remember it in its completeness gladly; I will not evaluate my life with despair.

May it be that I do not live it or remember alone.

I went on an evening run to clear my head and continue my book. I felt somewhat weak and moved sluggishly, though I completed the run without difficulty. I had many things to think about, including Asymmetric Adaboost and the methods with which we respectively choose partners and spouses. Against my better judgment and in the interest of accuracy, I will also note that after I returned to my apartment, I ran upstairs, grabbed some money, and moseyed down to Anna's for a recovery burrito. At Anna's, the background music was Lady Antebellum's I need you now which is vaguely appropriate. I consciously identified the song for the first time this weekend, on the car ride with Ross and Lori.

My training and performance fail to match the ardor of my competitive spirit. I enjoy playful banter, and the mental stimulus of competition drives me in the heat of the moment. This year, however, I mean for my preparation to match my will. The first action of this campaign will be ARDF 2010.