Training Log Archive: iansmith

Durtyfeets trail series: Upton State Forest, half marathon. I entered this race because Ed mentioned that he was doing it a few weeks ago, and it sounded fun. I've never actually been to Upton State Forest despite approving a remapping of it; a few others, including Magnus and Alex, have visited. The race cost $30, had two ~10k trail loops and two refreshment stops. There were four or so pairs of volunteers manning conspicuous turns, and maybe fifty signs throughout the course.

On the race side, I started too hard and suffered for it. The course was a bit short by my estimate, but the winner - who ran 1:22 today - is a 2:25 marathoner. Tom Dmukaukas ran this race in 1:37 last year, so my result wasn't too terrible. I'm confident sub 1:40 would have been possible if I had been smarter.

The race itself was great fun, though - a mix of single track, double track, and trail thoroughfares. The forest was beautiful, and it was a great day for running (~8 C, sunny). There was hot soup and chili at the finish, and I hung out with Alex and Ed for a bit afterward. I paid more attention to my surroundings on my second lap - when I was largely alone - than on my first, when I was hanging onto some folks. Upton seems like classic New England forest terrain, though with fewer rocks and somewhat more open in places. I'm excited about running on the new map that Marcello made in 2015; it's not complete, but it covers enough terrain for a 5-6 km advanced course.

Wee cool down jog.

CSU training with microsprints around this place in Cambridge.

Unfavorable election result? Time for a tempo run. I was not particularly fast, but getting lots of time in the 3:45 - 4:15/km zone will help immeasurably. On the plus side, all the challenges OUSA is dealing with pale in comparison to this nightmare.