Training Log Archive: iansmith

Brief warmup; mostly jogging with Peyton.

The City Sports "Back in the Day" 10k - to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their founding. About 1000 people were registered for the event, and surprisingly, the route was drastically different than what was advertised on their webpage.

I had a very rough week, with much less sleep than I would have liked. Physically, my hip flexors were tired from sprinting during softball on Thursday. Still, I was hopeful that I would have enough residual fitness to post a good time. I expected a hilly course, but I thought sub 40 was attainable. I have never run a 10k before; I posted a 41 minute 10k split during my half marathon at the beginning of June, and while I went out a bit too fast during that race, I hoped I could best that despite the hills.

I lined up in the second row and went out a bit too quickly - a glance at my watch about a minute in showed a 3:30/km pace. I backed off, and settled with about 20 people ahead of me. I passed the first mile marker at 5:41, though it seemed likely that it was a little early. I felt ok and tried to settle into a comfortable pace. The hills started rolling by - a steady hill at Broadway followed by a trip through my neighborhood. We ran very nearly past my apartment, with a trip up and down the hill I descend to go to work. The climb was very draining, and my cadence was sluggish - probably no higher than 170. A few people dropped out ahead of me around 6 km, and I just fought to sustain the pace. A glance at my watch revealed that breaking 40 was unlikely.

The last three kilometers were a blur; I was just concentrating on pushing hard the entire time. I went into the last turn in a pack of three, and turned on the afterburners with about a kilometer left to go, easily shedding the other two. I'm disappointed to have fallen short of 40, but I have had weak training in the past two months. I think the hills must have added at least a minute or two. I finished in a comfortable 17th place, with two women about a minute ahead of me.

This was Peyton's first running race of any kind; she rowed crew in college, and runs recreationally. She posted an excellent time and is eager to run more.

After picking up my bib for the CitySports "Back in the Day 10k," I biked the course to familiarize myself with its details. The organizers have chosen one of the hilliest locations - around Tufts - though not the hilliest route. Still, it should be a worthy challenge.

Softball.

C • bats 10

Event: Presto's person's post PhD presentation party & picnic
 

Trying to understand the price trends in airline tickets would be a fascinating project if I could get my hands on enough data. It seems inexplicable that the cheapest plane ticket for a given itinerary would oscillate by 20-30% over the course of a week.

C • Prices 2