Training Log Archive: iansmith

Event: Boston Park Series: Danehy Park
 

Run to Danehy. Passed a legion of cars stuck in traffic. I feel a deep swell of pity for anyone who drives in Cambridge (or Boston more generally) during rush hour.

Danehy Park-O, the first of the 2014 series. Katia and Giovanni designed a control rich course, with 30 controls in an advertised 3.1 km distance. You could usually see the next one or two controls from the previous control, so this course was all about exiting correctly, maintaining good flow, and punching fluidity. I started pretty hard and passed two relative newcomers by control 3. I slowed at 23 when I saw an extra fence and couldn't see the flag, which probably cost me the split. The fields were soggy and marsh-like. There were two legs with some route choice - 16 (road off the map or circuitous route on the map) and 25. A fun sprinty day. I'm sure Giacomo would have run sub-13; I need to get faster.

Run home. See if you can spot the burrito noming period.

Park-O - Splits

When I think of the unending, cyclic battle between CSU and DVOA, I find this soundtrack appropriate:

C • Great movie. 8

Vetting control sites in Wrentham. Both the map and terrain are a mixed bag. Actual time was about two hours, but I deducted some for standing around checking stuff. I have an embarrassing comment load to training ratio at present.

European Orienteering Championships M21 Long Course from earlier this week. The men's course was 20.3 km with 480m of climb, and the top four finishers all ran 90 minutes. 4:30/km, even excluding climb? Incredible. What is particularly impressive is that the top finishers are within seconds of each other on every leg. While it looks like this terrain and course were fast and consistent - not much route choice - the elite men seem to converge to an asymptote of performance.

Event: Spring 2014 3k Time Trial
 

Event: NEOC: Needham Town Forest
 

NEOC Needham Town Forest. I worked at Jim Paschetto and Bill Binette's meet in intermittent rain from 10:05 (doh) to about 11:30. The course offerings were WYOBrG, with a total distance of about 17.3 km, so I figured the opportunity had come to try winning every course at a non-trivial local meet. It didn't hurt that many of the usual threats were out of town at West Point.

I warmed up in my Orocs; my right pinky toe has been hurting for a week or so, I think primarily due to extended time in black dress shoes for opera. It only hurts in snug shoes like O shoes, and is of minor consequence.

Green course; 5.0/130m. Apparently my watch stopped at some control near the finish; I have listed the correct time and extrapolated the distance.

Brown course, 4.1/85. I was disappointed not to run sub 30, and I started to get tired.

Orange course, 3.6/100. I ran into Team Gallup near the start, and saw Jeff Schapiro and Piper in the woods. My stamina was waning near the end.

Yellow course, 2.6/75. I tried to treat it like a sprint, but there wasn't much pep left in my legs. Unfortunately, the white course had been picked up by the time I finished, so I wasn't able to complete the tour de NEOC meet.

The motivation for the Tour de NEOC is primarily to simulate long orienteering. Running multiple courses in the same terrain repeatedly uses some of the same areas and even some of the same controls. Still, running in a race environment in terrain while visiting controls is a useful exercise.

Needham was quite pleasant today. The temperature was about 15 C with intermittent rain in the morning and sunny skies in the afternoon. It's April, so the vegetation hasn't filled out, and the green briar was sparse. The woods are generally white (with a few dense and stabby sections), and while there are zillions of mountain bike trails, the terrain is complex. The map, however, is underwhelming. While Needham is small, it is convenient, simple to use, and not owned by DCR. It's sort of unusable from late May through October, but I think it is worth priority remapping from scratch because of its frequency of use.

C • Yellow & orange course times 28

C • Training run 1

Yellow - Splits

Orange - Splits

Green - Splits

Brown - Splits

Possible running races:
http://baevents.com/letsrunseries/ - monthly 5k series, Thursdays, Cambridge; $30 each
https://www.racemenu.com/event/39741-Boston-5K-Sum... - other monthly 5k series, Thursdays, Cambridge; $22 each

Half marathon - June 8, Castle Awards Half in Seekonk, MA, $48. Starts at 8 AM - plenty of time to drive to the NEOC meet at Blue Hills West from 10-noon.

C • Races 9