Training Log Archive: iansmith

Easy joggeroo.

Ghettotrack.

I played 7 Wonders with Ross, Sam, Jeff, Judy, Cristina, and Melissa tonight and found it magnificent. My eagerness to play it again vaguely resembles an addiction. I need to study all the cards so I can have a better mental picture of the possible strategies during the game.

C • You forgot to mention 5

Morning skyline run with Ali. We ran from Bellevue to the Sheepfold and picked up the Skyline there out of concern that a full loop would take too long. It became apparent that we would take too long even still, so we turned around before Bear Hill and ran back along the Skyline.

I recovered with some delicious oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

This article is old, but the idea of a strategic maple syrup reserve is hilarious.

Morning commute. I was a bit sluggish getting up this morning, but finally got out the door. Conditions were chill, rainy, and unpleasant. I don't currently have any pressing pains or sources of discomfort, though my feet are tender.

Ghettotrack.

RtC Day 24: runners on my route were 20% back of the fastest

I was motivated to a running workout shortly after Ali's arrival from Poughkeepsieburg. We warmed up for 14 minutes, then ran a Stone Ave hill repeat. Despite its fearsome reputation, Stone Ave is a bit lame; the inclination increases very gradually, then climaxed abruptly at Prospect Hill. Ali's asthma acted up from interacting with dogs, so we ran back to my apartment. I then ran 7 repeats of the much more consistent Walnut St; 1:20 seems to be a good target time for Walnut.

Hill repeats:
Stone Ave - 1:36
Walnut - 1:28, 1:21, 1:17, 1:21, 1:20, 1:23, 1:20.

Christmas morning run with Ali; I was sluggish and groggy, but very glad to get out. GPX track was a christmas present from Ali.

Control pick of my design at Polebrook.

Eight memory-O legs with Ali on Polebrook; we each took four. The mountain laurel was prohibitively impassable in places.

Four four-control O-tervals on Rockhouse. We took the memory-O slowly at times and stopped to discuss the legs, so I had cooled off a bit. Ali didn't have her compass, so we alternated who ran with mine. Exiting the controls at the correct angle was very difficult, particularly on large hillsides with few features to indicate direction.

Blue Ski-O at Craftsbury, VT, set by Adrian Owens, and the first skiing of the winter for me. I was not fast, and my poor skate skiing technique was not improved by the icy conditions. My finish time was a bit more than twice Ali and Alex's. I'm fairly sure I could have run the course faster in X-talons, and I fell many times.

Adrian set a 2-man sprint relay, with three legs per skier. The teams were Adrian and Kestrel, Alex and Daddy-O, and Ali and me. The legs were of slightly different length, each of about 1 km. I skied second to give Ali a chance to sprint against Alex and Adrian.

To my great surprise, I was able to stay with Kestrel and Ken on the first two legs, so the fast trio got to race against each other each time. My last leg was the longest - which helped, and I was able to mitigate my poor technique with raw power. I did finish last, but it was a fun outing. The intensity and exhilaration was thrilling.

Warm up and cool down before and after the sprint relay.

Easy run to work. This has not been a good week for training or in general (funny how those two values are correlated). I felt very tired this morning, and the steady, dreary rain and wind did little to improve my mood.

Ghettotrack.

WoO RtC update: For today's RtC, I accidentally navigated from 28 to 27 rather than in the correct order. Oops.

A sampling of images from my Switzerland trip in July. Apologies for the full-res; I still need to prune the ~2000 pictures I took into some coherent albums.


The Eiger!

The Eiger, from the hills over Grindelwald.
Other picture of the Eiger
Frederick, the Alpine Cow
Maybe another picture of the Eiger, taken by a stereotypically friendly Canadian I met.
I conversed with a few natives, but decided to take another picture of the Eiger
Fuzzy local
The splendor of the valley
Self portrait
How do I get to Schynige Platte?

Morning run to work. A pitifully short run, but still a morning run.

A calm, reflective run around the Esplanade in the remarkably late evening. I was tired and briefly considered punting, but grew motivated and finally set out. I listened to Future World Music's "Reign of Vengeance" for a time and contemplated training. My left shin started feeling a bit weird in the last ten minutes, and I backed off a little.

Ghettotrack.

Interesting route to Christmas from Saturday. What would you do? Among the routes from the runners during the race, the deviation from the amortized % back is useful. While Trimboi was 8% back on the leg, he was also 8% back for the course. Does that mean that his route was slower, or that he was a slower runner? While Postica's route is clearly very good, I like my choice of Trimboi's route for the first half and Cerescu's for the second.

C • RC fail! 1

Conditions on my run home were unpleasant - a steady rain, breezy and a temperature of 7 C. As biking would have been even more unpleasant, I set about running quickly. A few minutes in, I concluded that a 30-ish minute trip would be acceptable, and extended the distance slightly. I suppose the run was in effect a threshold run, as I was pushing moderately hard for the first twenty minutes or so. My left foot started hurting at about 20 min - in wet, minimalist shoes with no warmup - so I backed off to the end. The run was very short, but I did not want to be outside for longer.

Ghettotrack.

Barely worth logging, but some of my best core workout this month. 2x (10 tuckups, 20 oblique crunches) in my office.

GPS track shamelessly stolen from coach; easy run with Giovanni, Katia and Jeff on trails in Wompatuck. The group was running faster than I expected.

Easy evening run. This week has been challenging, and I was not feeling enthusiastic. However, I am determined to reach my 200 km goal for December, so I willed myself out onto the streets. I ran with a street map and improvised a line-O trying to devise the most interesting route I could. Once I started moving, I felt good.

While my workouts this week were unremarkable, their consistency has been good. I'm also happy that running 25 easy miles in five days feels trivial.

I continued The Admirals and learned to my delight that Roosevelt, Marshall, and King all thought of MacArthur as a pompous, overhyped, preening fool. The political conferences among the Allies are fascinating in their own right; the interplay between the British and American military commands and the reconciliation of the two nations respective goals was surprisingly delicate. I am reminded that while Churchill was a brilliant statesman, politician, and orator, he made an unremarkable and meddlesome strategist. While Halsey was an inferior fleet commander to Spruance, he was not without redeeming qualities, particularly compared to the ineptitude of admirals like Kinkaid. The Admirals has turned out to be an excellent read, though I think a cursory familiarity with the Pacific theater and naval history of the early 20th century is necessary to fully appreciate the context.

Ghettotrack.

CSU indoor track workout 3, out of 13. I missed the first two due to lameness, and I was the sole orienteering representative today. I haven't run anything this fast in weeks, so my body responded with a measure of incredulity. The long workout was a convoluted pyramid of Terry's invention: 2, 4, 6, 8; 8, 6, 6, 4, 4, 2, 2. Unfortunately, I was using ghettowatch, which doesn't take splits, so I tried to remember them.

2, 4, 6, 8: 37, 78, 2:02, 2:43 = 6:40 for 2k. Much faster than target 3:40/km.
8, 6, 6, 4: 2:55, 2:05, 2:10, 85 = 8:35 for 2.4 km
4, 2, 2: 83, 40, 43

As we were stretching afterward, our BU coach announced that the girl cruising around the track had a 15:52 5k, a 32-something 10k, and had set the BU indoor track 5k record. We cheered for a few of her laps.

Easy cruise in the city. My favored Asics are muddy and smelly from the Dover Raid, and I will clean them before using them. As they have over 600 miles, I should probably retire them soon. I continued listening to The Admirals.

Easy evening run. My body felt surprisingly good after the adventure on Saturday, with only some mild tightness in my left arch. I muddied my favorite running shoes during the Dover Raid - a venerable pair of Asics GT-2150s that have about 650 miles on them. The 2150s are my most comfortable pair and bother my feet the least. I ran in my other primary trainers. I will probably acquire another pair of Asics in the assumption that the benefits are general to the model and not the specific pair.

Listened to Walter Borneman's book The Admirals about the quartet of Fleet Admirals from World War II. I'm least familiar with Leahy, and I'm terribly disappointed that Spruance - who arguably was a better field commander than the impulsive Halsey - isn't included.

I am increasing my running volume, and I have 21 days to the remaining 160 km of this month's goal. I plan to spend some days orienteering and skiing, so I will need to average about 10 km per day. I'm off to a good albeit bizarre start.

Ghettotrack.

Legs and feet could use the rest. Slept a bit.

Event: Attackpoint 3k Time Trial
 

Event: Dover Raid Adventure Race
 

Dover Raid with bgallup. Who has more variance now, ndobbs?! Finished third second overall with 61 points, skipping only the one-point control 23. Joe B's Checkpoint Zero got all 62 points in about 5 hours, and Dave Lamb's Untamed New England also skipped 23, but finished about ten minutes before we did. Results edit: we apparently finished before Dave Lamb's team. GPS track and map thanks to Bengineering.

After a surprise morning adventure due to Ben's confusion about the date of the race, we arrived at the race site at 10:40. Ben and I registered to run solo, but combined forces to resurrect Team Sink, Trip, Crash. The forecast was for rain at about 40 F. My race equipment included my running backpack, 2 liters of 1/3 diluted cytomax drink in my new platypus, 4 Gus, 4-5 shotblock sleeves, a $20 bill, a sharpie, a lightweight rain jacket, a headlamp and my compass. I wore tights, SLS top, gloves, and my balaclava. I regret carrying so much equipment, but six hours in the rain is a long time. As during the GMARA race in July, I brought my self-propelled GPS, bgallup. My food and drink just lasted the duration of the race, and the shot blocks were superior to the Gu. The cytomax was at least psychologically and taste-buddy beneficial. I gave some of my munchies to Ben, who had very little prep time.

I felt strong for the race until about 4 hours in, when my energy level started precipitously dropped. Shot blocks helped, but it was a struggle for the last trivial road run. Ben was a trooper for the duration, and we finished strongly enough. The last control would have required 4.6 km of road running - out of reach for 18 minute cushion we had. It looks like 15-23-16 would have been viable for only 3 km of road running, but that would require committing to getting all the controls very early.

The organizers (Untamed) drove us on two buses to a remote start, during which we had time to analyze the course. Having fifteen minutes to look over the map feels strange, but I suppose a 45-control score-O is atypical. We paused for a minute after the mass start to pick up an extra set of maps from the organizers, then misread the trails and navigated to 13 before 12. Oops. Of the remaining controls on the first map, control 17 was confusing in the circle, the trail route to 20 was confusing, and I hesitated on the run to 21. Adventure racing seems to involve some route choice following by futzing around in the circle, and I executed it poorly at times. I botched control 31 by running along a trail approximately magnetic E instead of true E as planned. I dropped the punch card on the way to 44 while getting a Gu, but noticed after about 100m. We had an adventure at 44 finding the correct baseball field, though that wasn't helped by compass work and getting pushed around by vegetation. Ben stopped for a cookie at the coffee shop by 40; I probably should have also acquired some food.

I had a lot of fun competing in the event, though I don't like losing to Joe. Checkpoint Zero is a formidable opponent. The organization was very well done, given the qualification that the maps were (understandably) underwhelming. Thanks to Untamed for a delightful way to spend a Saturday. I enjoyed seeing many of the orienteering usual suspects in attendance, and I met Mark and Carolyn - two Baker GRTs - of team Will Run 4 beer. I still prefer the precision challenge of orienteering, but I suspect Sink, Trip, Crash will ride again.

C • Placing 2

C • 15-23-16 5

C • GPS 18

To REI to purchase a platypus water delivery system, then back to work via the Museum of Science. This wasn't a great week for training, but it was a challenging work week. With ~six hours of running tomorrow, volume should be adequate, though variance of daily volume is unacceptably high.

C • week of training 2

Run to work. Had to stop a few times due to traffic.

RtC Day 6. Another surprise; I basically chose Muller's route and lost a hypothetical 16% to Kyburz. Ouch.

C • RtC day 6 4

RtC Day 2. I was very surprised by the first part of the leg; note the analysis between Omdal and Waaler Kaas. I basically took Omdal's route and never even considered Waaler Kaas's. Someone named "Tove" correctly chose Waaler Kaas's route.

RtC Day 5. See comment for spoilers.

C • Route 2

Run home. Today was a rough day with much to do, so my 'workout' was unfortunately short.

Catch up:
Route to Christmas Day 4

Easy run around the Charles. Plan was for a pace well below lactate threshold. I did decide to run with 3/3 instead of the usual 4/4 breathing, partly because I think 3/3 running is more relevant. I suppose deliberately 4/4 running could have benefits akin to running at altitude - making less oxygen available. I thought a bit about my training plan and finished with a liter quart of chocolate milk.

Surprisingly, El Coyote Picante feels good physically after the ultralong. I imagine it helps that I had an unnecessary 30 minutes of bonus recovery time during the race. I considered running yesterday but decided discretion was the better part of valor. Right foot still hurts a little.

Ghettotrack.

Rest day. Left foot, which was hurt at Harriman, feels fine even after the weekend's shenanigans. The outer edge of my right foot near the pinky hurts a bit, but it feels like a bruise from impact rather than an acute injury. My legs are a little sore, but not incapacitatingly so.

I find myself wondering if regular strength training would help me lose a little weight.

Route to Christmas is back!

C • awesome 6

C • Kind of 1

US Ultralong championships, blue course. The good: I finished, made mostly good navigational choices running solo for most of the race, didn't injure myself, and completed the longest O-course I have ever run. The bad: I was pitifully slow - losing 43 minutes to runit, and made mistakes in the second half of the course.

Prerace conditions were suboptimal; it was raining for much of the race. My fleece got drenched while I waited in the line for the bathroom before the course, and I was shivering waiting for the mass start. I wore short sleeves and tights in the ~12 C wetness; a hat or long sleeves would probably have been a good idea. While I had a solid breakfast 2.5 hours before the start, I didn't take my usual shot blocks in the haste to get ready. I took three Gus with me on the course.

The first leg was a long trail run, and I was at the front with runit, Mikkel, and Wyatt. The trail went further than it indicated on the map, and I hit ctrl 2 while navigating to where I thought ctrl 1 was, losing about 40s. I milled around in the front group; I was chasing Wyatt and ebone (who was late to the start) on the trail run to 4, but they inched away from me, and I declined to pursue. I navigated the second half to 4 on my own. Apparently the front pack made a mistake, because as I was descending a steep reentrant to 5, I saw ebone and Wyatt ascending on the other side. I reached 5 about 15s behind mindsweeper, and stopped to take my first Gu. I was comfortably warm, but not terribly energetic.

I didn't even consider the road route to 6; instead, I sluggishly bailed to the beach and ran along the lake. The route was good, but I did a poor job getting to the lake - I was in survival mode, not race mode. I executed my route to 8 poorly - running further along the road than needed, and choosing to attack from below. As I popped up into the control, jtorranc approached from above and remarked that above was clearly better. Jon stayed with me through 11, but I started getting away on the road run to 12, and he was out of sight by 14. I took my second Gu at the water stop at 15.

Control 16 consisted of a long, 3+ km trail run; I bobbled it at the end, losing about 90s running to the wrong little reentrant. Ctrls 17-20 were fine, though I was definitely getting tired. I decided to cut a trail corner at 20 to save at most a minute, but totally blew it (bad compass), was AOWN, and relocated at control 16 - losing at least 5 minutes. Jon passed me here. I stopped at the water stop on the way to 21 to take my last Gu. I think my route to 21 was optimal (will upload later), but between my adventure at 16 and exhaustion, I was ten minutes back. I saw Carol on my way to 23, and we exchanged pitiful encouragement.

On the way to 24, I was completely exhausted. I had no more Gu, and I marched up the (navigationally trivial) reentrant system to the control on willpower alone. Steep, wet, muddy reentrants were very challenging on the course, and I tried to avoid them. Ctrl 25 was also a slog, but I tapped my remaining energy for 26 and 27.

I think I realistically could have finished 20% back - where I was at ctrl 20. Had I not botched the trip to the trail at 20, Jon would have caught me, and I would have run with him for a time. Whether I could have held with him isn't clear, but it's disappointing to fall off so severely. This is a reminder to train for distance - if I can run 20 km, a 13 or 14 km long course will be easier by comparison. Kudos to runit for annihilating the field.

C • GU count observations 1

US_Ultralong_2012_8 Blue - Splits

US Relay Champs. I was running the first leg for the CSU 4-pt team (CSU 1) with Alex, Ali, and Ken. Mikkel or Biggins would have been logical replacements - Mikkel is definitely stronger than I am on longer courses, but his point was needed for the first 8-pt team (CSU Primo) with Izzy, PG, and Greg. I was nervous approaching the mass start; COC, Chicago, and DVOA all had strong 4-pt teams. Overall, I had a solid run - no major mistakes, and finished with the lead just over two minutes ahead of speedy from DVOA.

I took off at the start, and was in the lead. I tried to relax and read ahead; the trails were a bit confusing to 1, but I didn't err. Speedy outmaneuvered me through the green and punched just ahead of me. I was faster on the downhills, and we crossed the reentrant to 2 together. We curved around the spur, but he edged past me to punch 2 a few seconds ahead. Ctrl 3 was a trail run followed by a slog uphill to an impossible-to-miss clearing on the ridge; Speedy got to the control first, followed by me and Matthias from CAOC a few seconds back. We took essentially the same route to 4 and punched in the same order. To 5, speedy and Matthias were a bit far to the right, and I punched about 10s up. Six was forked - I noticed Matthias and speedy leave the trail earlier than I thought, but I stuck to my plan and ran into my control alone.

I figured the fastest route to 7 was taking the low trail along the reentrants, but I guessed that speedy and Matthias would go high along the spur. I pushed on the trail, but had to negotiate some downed trees. As I rounded the final spur before the big uphill climb to 7, I saw speedy to my left, and we dragged ourselves up the slope together. He punched first into 7, but I squeezed past him through the green to 8. I kept the lead on the short legs to 9 and 10, but I was wary of trying to break away too fast and make a mistake. I misread the contours at 11 and ran up the wrong reentrant about 30m to the right; speedy punched the control first, and I had to fight through some green to get to it. We were together to 12; 13 was a longer leg, negotiating some ambiguous hillsides. We were cautious, and reached the control simultaneously. He then ran low to 14, while I stayed high - my route was better, and once we reached the road free of vegetation, I kicked up my speed. Control 16 was forked, but I had a comfortable head start at 14 and never looked back. Speedy finished about 2:30 after I did, followed by Matthias, Balter (Team Water Dragon) and Will from COC. Hearing the roar of the crowd as I came into view of the arena was magnificent.

My race was pretty safe; I didn't break away from Vadim until the end. It would have been nice to finish with a 5 minute lead, but even if I had the physical stamina to do that (unclear), the risk of navigational error would be high. Running first leg was great fun, but the lead pack of Matthias, Vadim and I broke away quickly. The last time I saw anyone else on the course was on my dogleg out of 6. Alex, Ali, and Ken all had great runs, and we finished with a 2:30 lead.

Warmup, starting about 25 minutes before the mass start. I changed clothes, put on my bib, took some shot blocks, warmed up and stretched. I felt nervous, but my feet felt excellent.

Green - Splits