Training Log Archive: iansmith

Rest day. My resting heart rate has been very high, so I'm hoping a good night's sleep will cure those ills.

A question comes to mind from something Peter Gagarin recently said to me: how can the senior team - given its current personnel - get better? (How do you get to Carnegie Hall?) While obviously it would help if everyone quits their jobs, becomes independently wealthy, and can sustainably train 600 hours/year, I'm looking for sustainable programs we - as the senior team, ESC, and supporters - can organize collectively to help the team get faster.

A few ideas:

1. Organized team training camps. I find there are few more efficient opportunities to improve than training camps. We've gotten good at somewhat impromptu training camps (for instance, I've spent the past six Thanksgivings at Harriman), but they can be better organized and planned in advance so more people can attend. We could also put together a systematic calendar. Ideally team members wouldn't organize all the camps, but even that could work. The geography is always going to be challenging, but a few regional training camps are not impractical. The same organization could also host JNT and JDT trainings and foster camaraderie between the juniors and seniors.
   
2. Coaching - requires money or substantial enthusiasm. For someone like me, more training might be a reasonable prerequisite (a paltry 250 hours in 2016), but I think getting organized, cogent training for the entire team is a reasonable goal. Preferably from one person.
   
3. Periodic (e.g. monthly) challenges or group training targets. The idea here is to motivate and organize everyone to train. For example, a good group target for January could be 20 hours of running and 10 hours of orienteering. Group targets motivate progress and establish accountability and camaraderie.
   

Ideas?

C • Ideas 37

And no trip to New York is complete without a visit to Harriman. I had planned on running the 2010 Red Team Trials Long course on Jackie Jones, but I still felt tired. I took a 90 minute nap in my car and listened to Wait, Wait before resolving to go out on an easy trail run. This turned out to be perfect - a little 10k loop was therapeutic, relaxing, and cathartic.

Central park run! I left from Katie's apartment and alternated between the paved route through the park and occasional offshoots on minor trails. Two thirds through the loop, I decided to run a circuit of the Reservoir at tempo pace. In general, I felt tired and a bit worn out, but it was still a good day.

No trip to New Hampshire is complete without a visit to Pawtuckaway! I decided to make a quick trail run to the top of the south mountain hill of the volcanic rim. I should have worn my Orocs, as with recent freezing rain, the trails were slick with ice and treacherous. It was only a problem on the descent from south mountain, where I had a few good wipeouts. On one, I slipped, fell on my butt, and slid for a good fifteen meters to add insult to injury. It was nevertheless a very satisfying outing.

Climbing at Brooklyn Boulders with Joe. I finally sent the blue 5.10a autobelay that I've been grinding; at the crux, I tried a different foot placement, and it was much more secure. I climbed about a dozen pitches in the 5.8 - 5.10a range. It was excellent.

A somewhat unnecessary rest day. I ended up in a long phone call during ostensible training time and decided to call it a night. My tailbone was a bit sore from some falls on Saturday, but I managed to get in some core.

Late night trail run in Bear Brook State Park. This week, I have been on retreat in New Hampshire with designs to relax, regroup, and get myself in order for 2017 and my impending move to Toronto. I wasn't planning on getting out for a run this late, but the Airbnb at which I am staying doesn't have windows, so I slept pretty late. There was 8-10 cm of snow on the ground with some slush everywhere. I ran with my phone - as my mp3 player is missing in action - which had both a trail map and a backup light to my headlamp. The temperature was about 0 C but still; it was a splendid solitude.