Training Log Archive: iansmith

Event: 2011 OUSA Convention
 

Still dying. I have been staying home and sleeping intermittently and often for the past four days. I have a persistent burning sensation in the back of my throat that seems unaffected by various medicines and only abates temporarily when I drink fluids. I have been feverish and disoriented.

On the plus side, my right tibia feels great; I did some one-legged hopping around my apartment without discomfort.

Event: 2011 US Classic Championships
 

Event: Swiss O Week
 

Event: Canal Cities Orienteering Festival
 

My sore throat from Monday is apparently some sort of illness; I have a painfully sore throat and intermittent congestion. I have a doctor's appointment today (probably to get antibiotics), but it looks unlikely I will attend the convention. It's probably for the best, as I have to finish my apartment search, I have work to do, and there is much NEOC business to address. Nevertheless, I'm pretty bummed.

Update - the illness is apparently not streptococcus; my doctor thinks its probably a viral infection.

I have decided to mark my left tibia fracture as recovered. It has been almost a year since I broke it, and while the bone may still be remodeling, for all intents and purposes, it is healed. The hard callus seems to be shrinking. It is very difficult to gauge the full effects of the injury. Certainly my training - particularly running - has declined substantially over the past year, even compared with 2009. It is my hope that in the aftermath of this and my right leg injury, I will gain the wisdom to maximize my training potential while avoiding injuries of this magnitude.

Fifteen minutes, 6.0 mph, 2.0% grade. The right leg felt a bit dodgy initially, but improved. I threw in a few butt kicks and varied my stride to broaden the impact of the workout. I felt strong enough to continue for longer, but I decided to err on the side of gradual escalation. I continued with a quick bout on the elliptical. My workout today is very short, but I have much to do ere my departure for the A-meets this weekend.

Finally, 3 circuits of:
- 10x split squats (each side), bodyweight
- 10x two-legged calf-raises, bodyweight
- 10x one-legged squats (each side), bodyweight

For the squats, I stood on a bench and dipped until the hanging toe touched the ground. Squats are hard; I will do many more of them in the future. Legs felt good. My right leg is much stronger compared to the left than it was in June, but it was noticeably harder to do the squats on the right leg.

NEOC Executive Committee meeting at Joanne's. The group consists of the officers who are in charge of doing stuff, as opposed to the board, which is responsible for deciding stuff. Unsurprisingly, everyone in attendance is also on the board. Woo burnout.

Most of the action items are mine, since I have the most to do as VP Events. Some of my tasks:

- Get fall schedule on the web asap
- Find meet directors for open meets
- Publicize events; this fall, we will focus on publicizing National O-Day and the Traverse.
- Recruit a second crew to run the Traverse recreational meet (as most people will run that)
- Add training camps to our schedule, with a focus on beginner and intermediate instruction. Recruit the assistance of CSU.
- Visit Big River, Rhode Island on Aug 27 to assess A-meet prospects.
- Send Board documents to Jim Paschetto to upload to the website.
- Contact F. Gilbert Hills state park ranger to obtain High Rock access.
- Plan events for 40th anniversary celebration (2012):

- Amherst Oringen

- Resurrect old maps, like High Rock

- B-meet-esque orienteering followed by banquet/social gathering

- A-meet

- Set 40 events (ambitious; this year, we're at 28, and that's a PR)

I seem to be allergic to apples (possibly in addition to peaches and Canadians). It may be time for an allergen test.

I should note that while my right leg felt adequately strong during the hike, both my legs feel fantastic two days after the hike. Hiking is excellent ankle training - it is low impact (with a lower injury risk than running), and thoroughly stresses all the stabilizer and power muscles in the leg. I also seem to have contracted some illness - I was feverish and had an irritated throat after returning from Acadia. Some of that may be due to the allergic reaction, and a good night's sleep with some ibuprofen helped considerably.

I hope to hike the Presidentials and one or two other expeditions into the Whites before the end of the year. Katahdin has been one of my goals for some time, but it will likely have to wait until next year.

C • Skin 2

On Monday, Jess and I set out to go ocean kayaking. We learned that the Bar Harbor kayak rentals don't rent oceangoing kayaks to people except as part of guided tours due to legal liability concerns. After some consultation, we went to the Long Lake rental area and took out a canoe, as all the kayaks were already rented.

Conditions were windy, the canoe was heavy, and we were imbalanced, so we didn't go that fast. The day was beautiful, with clear skies and a gentle sunlight that brilliantly contrasted the rich blue of the sky and the deep green of the trees. I didn't take my T2i, but I snapped some pictures with my camera phone. Initially, I rowed stern because I'm much more experienced, but about halfway into the voyage, we swapped and Jess tried her hand at steering. It turns out that my stroke is quite a bit more powerful than hers, and she wasn't able to overcome the differential at first. There is a nice section of gps track where we rowed in circles for a time before she became more confident. I took over the steering when we decided to head back.

After canoeing, we drove around the Park Loop Road and stopped at many overlooks to take pictures and enjoy the sights. At one, a man with a Canon D60 with a 100-400mm L lens struck up a conversation with me and suggested I try his lens to take pictures of a pair of bald eagles. I have the (ghetto) 18-55mm lens that came with my camera, and it lacks the magnification power and image quality for telephoto shots. The 100-400 was like a cannon, and I have much lens envy. I do need to get a telephoto lens to take full advantage of my camera's capabilities, but I'm leaning towards the 70-300mm L f4/5.6. I'm satisfied with the quality of pictures I can take with the 18-55, but without better lenses and a more diverse set of focal lengths, using the 18-55 makes my camera nothing more than an unwieldy glorified point-and-shoot with a large APS-C sensor.