Training Log Archive: iansmith

Eric came up on Saturday night, and I slept quite soundly after a scrumptious dinner of Lori's chili, Mark's IPA, and Katia and Giovanni's apple strudel. We woke and finished evacuating the condo at about 9 AM. After we set a 10:30 rendezvous time, Ed convinced me to try the double black "White heat" which we had scoped out the day before. His argument that the conditions would be best in the morning were compelling, and White Heat, while steep, is a very wide trail. Keith split off with Lori and the snowboard-bound Stephen, and Ed and I "warmed up" on the narrow black Tempest. While I was very anxious about a double black, I committed by descending below the point of no return and scanning the trail. There weren't many skiers on White Heat, and the trail was wide enough that I figured they could avoid me. While I was terrified initially and descended very tentatively, I retained control and enjoyed the thrill of the descent. We had enough time to run it again, and I was much more relaxed. My HR spike (splits 2 and 3 were the two runs) is funny.

Emboldened by my "success," we met up with the rest of the group and skied Locke and Barker for much of the day. Eric graciously offered me some tips - 1) get low: bend my knees more, stick my butt out, and keep forward pressure on my shins; 2) keep my shoulders squared down the slope while controlling the turns from my hips; 3) turn more from the knees; 4) keep my arms in front of me rather than flailed out to the side. I thought more about staying on an edge and controlling my turns, and my control improved more. I was comfortable on flat blacks - T2 and Right Stuff were delightful, and Pia, Keith and I were of comparable skill. Ed and especially Eric were much better, and I'm grateful for their patience as I struggled to keep up.

Lori decided to stay with Stephen as the day waned, and Ed, Eric, Keith and I broke off to hit Aurora and Jordan Bowl. I unwisely descended Airglow, which was an icy mess of moguls. All the powder between the moguls had been stripped away, and I had almost no edge traction; I basically hit each mogul like a speedbump and skidded to a halt. Ed and Eric noted that the trail conditions were not fun; I landed on my hips a few times as my skis slid out from under me, but I was never out of control or traveling quickly. Eric departed (and texted me that Vortex had much better moguls), and Ed, Keith and I ran Rogue Angel twice before retiring. The ice was bad in places, and Keith took a rough spill on the second descent. We both were using helmets for the first time, and they are magnificent! Not only did they keep our heads warm, but they prevented some injury. I didn't hit my head, but Keith took a ski lift to the back of the head and landed on his head on Rogue Angel; he escaped without injury.

Rough list of trails skied:
Green: Dreammaker, Lollapalooza (epic fail), Kansas, Sensation, Broadway,
Blue: Northern Lights, American Express, Grand Rapids, Tourist Trap, Sunday Punch, Cascades, Jungle Road, Escapade, Rogue Angel,
Blacks: Right Stuff and T2 (both excellent), Obsession (ouch), Airglow (double ouch), Bim's Whim, Tempest,
Dbl: White Heat (wooo)

My only bad wipeouts were on Lollapalooza with the loose boots. I lost a ski once - hitting some ice on a blue trail, and wiped out on Obsession when I caught a tip in a mogul. I guess I had about a half dozen falls (not counting landing on my butt a dozen times getting down Airglow), but my control improved considerably during the weekend.

Lori assembled a posse and led us to Sunday River for the second annual ski weekend. The group consisted of Lori, Stephen, Mark, Pia, Tor, Lucas, Giovanni, Katia, Ed Su, Keith, and me. We arrived at the Locke Mountain Townhouse at about midnight on Friday night. On Saturday, I initially skied with Keith, Ed, and Lori. We skied Dreammaker, Sensation, Northern Lights, and Lollapalooza to start, but I discovered my boots were far too lose when I wiped out hard twice descending Lollapalooza, a green trail. According to my gpx track, I was traveling about 20 mph when I crashed. Everyone decided to come back to the lodge with me via Kansas, and I switched from size 12 boots to size 10.5 and 165 cm skis to 150 in the hopes of further improving my control. Changing boots substantially improved my control at the cost of squished feet.

We migrated over to Locke and Barker and rendezvoused with Mark, who had spent the morning playing on a snowboard. He retired back to the lodge to swap munchkin duty with Pia shortly after, and Lori left soon after to meet up with Stephen. Keith, Ed and I hit up Sunday Punch and T2 a few times before taking a detour to the mogul strewn Obsession, which was somewhat beyond Keith's and my skill. After some tricky negotiation, we returned to Locke and Barker, picked up Lori and Pia, and skied more runs. As night fell, we skied the placid Broadway while night grooming started, then switched to Dreammaker and Escapade. Lori, Keith, Giovanni, Katia, and Pia departed after three runs, and Ed and I hung on for three more before retiring to the lodge at about 7:30. My Garmin died (and I forgot to start it a few times), so the tracks are incomplete. After the boot swap, I was very comfortable on the blue trails and the groomed blacks. I haven't really figured out how to negotiate moguls.

It is worth noting that there are logistical challenges coordinating a group of varying speeds on downhill. Waiting for long periods is generally unpleasant and certainly suboptimal - it reduces the amount of runs and doesn't really contribute to social activity, since that time is spent in isolation. I was chagrined to make Ed wait while we were alone, and did my best to keep up. The two obvious solutions are:

1. Split up into small groups of reduced speed variance
2. Move as a group to a single lift, pick a rendezvous time, and ski independently.

Certainly camaraderie is desirable, but at some point, it becomes impractical.

Running to the CSU track workout, tardily. Conditions were chilly: 3° C and a light drizzle, but I was comfortable in SL shirts, shorts, and gloves. My feet initially hurt in the Mizunos - as is not atypical, even though I run in them every two or three days. After about fifteen minutes, either the shoes or my feet adjusted, and the pain subsided.

C • For your viewing pleasure... 3

I arrived about twenty minutes late to the CSU track workout and so missed the warmup, drills, and the first interval. The workout tonight was 3x (800, 600, 400 at 5k, 3k, and mile pace). A few of the regulars were missing - Tom D., Stephen, Brendan, and Keith were all absent; Magnus and I alone represented the O-group. I ran with Terry, John, Kevin, Patrick, and Johann. Despite my intermittent malaise, my performance tonight was consistent with past efforts. The heart rate data seems wonky; during the intervals, my HR was about 180.

I ran the first 800m interval last, or did three sets of (600, 400, 800). Terry killed it on the last 400 because he's crazy. Data below in seconds.

	600	400	800
Set 1:	123.2	78.8	168.0
Set 2:	119.7	79.8	164.1
Set 3:	118.8	73.1	167.7

Magnus gave me a ride to Harvard Square after the workout; we discussed car ownership. After a fortifying burrito (does a body good), I ambled over to the Bermans and jammed for about 90 minutes. I finally have the first movement of Pictures under my fingers (and memorized), and I'm making progress on the second, "Gnome." I practiced Chopin Nocturne in E flat, Revolutionary, and the first movement of Beethoven's Pathetique.

I don't read music well enough to depend upon it for performance, and most of these pieces are so complex that they require my full attention on the keys. As a result, my first step to playing a piece is memorizing it. I don't consciously memorize; it isn't a deliberate act. In the course of learning sections of a work and practicing increasingly large sections with repetition, the sequences of notes are committed to memory.

Heeheehee:
Ten misconceptions, from CGP Grey, the people who brought us "death to pennies" and "The Difference between the United Kingdom, Great Britain and England Explained."

C • Grey 2

Evening run around the Charles. I felt refreshed after my rest day and sought to run more aggressively than a 5:00/km pace. While I was initially able to speed up, I felt weak and weary and fell off the pace. I'm confused, and hopeful that the cause of my malaise is illness and some underlying chronic problem. There was some snow and standing water on the ground from the weekend's snowfall and a drizzle today, which may have slowed me somewhat. I was also overdressed - with SSL top, tights, and gloves in 5 C weather.

Excellent TED presentation on SOPA/PIPA.

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C • TED 1