Training Log Archive: iansmith

Gym time! It was snowing in Boston - a gentle, steady snowfall at -2 C. I started the session with a 40 minute hills session on the stationary bike. I caught the second half of the Steelers - Broncos game on the radio.

The second bit was a strength training session.
- 4x10 single arm dumbbell clean and press, 15 kg, each side
- 3x15 shoulder fly, 5 kg
- 4x10 deadlifts, 60 kg
- 10 pullups

Treadmill, 1% grade. Ten minutes at 5:10/km, ten minutes tempo at 4:08/km. I felt ok - legs a little tired, but mostly overheating. A little dodgy, but just enough to be QW 3.

I decided to complete the sorbet by doing 20 minutes elliptical to get a little extra time.

Fells Skyline Trail with Isak. Izzy and Isak had never run the Skyline, so we made a plan for this Saturday morning. Izzy decided she wanted to run something less gnarly, and so she, Dave, and Barb did the reservoir trail. Conditions were harsh: freezing rain or slushy snow, about 2 C. Isak was strong, and we made great progress on the Skyline chatting and generally avoiding falling on slippery rock. Isak had one spill where he tried to turn a corner too sharply - like a high performance Saab with crappy Italian tires on a wet track. A good day.

Naturally, the two hours we were running were the most inclement of the day, and the day cleared up once we were done. But running in freezing rain builds character. I overdressed a little with SSL/SL, gloves, and a balaclava that I eventually took off. Still, we were quite damp at the finish. We had a good pace, running the trail in 1:15 with a few short pauses to accommodate a barking dog and to see some views.

C • No, no, no... 4

Notes from the master (though I'm not sure what tent caterpillars are):

Control-picking... A lot to say but the days are only 24hours long. Well, this exercise is nothing new and has been use for years. But I do believe that you need the right approach when you attack this type of training.

You need to be pro-active during the process the whole time. As we are not using markers for those type of training, first, you need to spot the correct place from distance, look ahead in the exit direction (at best, already spot the next control), split lap at the exact place, and focus on your running technique as you should already know where you are heading to. On top of that, you should also put some energy on avoiding tent caterpillars...

Even at low speed like this morning, it is a high mental load all the time and you basically have no resting time. If you have to stop or slow down, it means you have failed at some point of the process. It is all about rhythm and keeping up with the flow of actions. Simply.

C • Avoid the grossness 3

I woke up today noticeably tired from intervals yesterday. A true coup would be to consistently run an easy wake-up outing the morning after intervals. Tonight, it was cold: -4 C, breezy, and some snow had fallen and formed an icy crust on the sidewalks. The footing was a bit treacherous in places, and I was careful and grateful for the traction of my trail shoes. After finishing my usual 7 km loop, I added on a bonus bit. SSL/L + gloves and balaclava.

Warmup run around MIT. My Garmin had low battery, so I decided to save it for the intervals themselves. Warmup was about 4 km, 20 mins; cool down was 1 km jog back to the office.

4x1000m intervals. I elected to run a moderate interval workout; the target pace was 3:40, but I barely mustered 3:45. It was cold: -5 C, with some breeze. I wore SL/L with balaclava and gloves. Running with my face exposed gave plenty of frigid air that was uncomfortable; running with the balaclava up seemed to inhibit my breathing. My balaclava was damp with sweat when I was done.

Splits: 3:48, 3:44, 3:44, 3:40

Quality workout 2 of the year.

C • adverse conditions 2