Attackpoint - performance and training tools for orienteering athletes

Training Log Archive: iansmith

In the 31 days ending Oct 31, 2013:

	activity	#	time	miles		km		+m		load
	Orienteering	10	13:19:37	53.78	(14:52)	86.55	(9:14)	2000	85c	246.2
	Running	16	11:29:09	82.77	(8:20)	133.21	(5:10)	515		166.8
	Team Sports	2	2:00:00							12.0
	Total	26	26:48:46	136.55		219.76		2515	85c	425.0
	[1-5]	26	26:48:39
averages - sleep:7

3:05

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» now

Wednesday Oct 30, 2013 #

7 PM

Running 30:00 [2] 6.0 km (5:00 / km)
shoes: 201304 Asics Gel Cumulus 13

CSU Training - Danehy Park, three leg one-man relay set by Giovanni. My light was pathetic, which made it challenging to read my map. Time and distance are a guess because I had forgotten my Forerunner.

Tuesday Oct 29, 2013 #

Note
slept:7.0 (rest day)

Unplanned rest day, but I have been feeling somewhat "meh" this week, and taking a day off is a reasonable prescription if the remainder of my training is better for it.

Monday Oct 28, 2013 #

Note
slept:7.0

In thinking about my map technique, I noticed that I nearly always fold the map parallel to the edges of the paper, and that I use this to get a tangible sense of whether my map is oriented. I expect the compass to line up with the edge of my map; this can throw me off if the edge of the map is not aligned to north. (e.g. 2013 Highlander map 2)

C • folding 3

11 PM

Running 33:05 6.54 km (5:03 / km) +57m 4:51 / km
ahr:148 max:166 shoes: 201304 Asics Gel Cumulus 13

Easy run, cold: ~4 C. Listened to The Kite Runner.

Sunday Oct 27, 2013 #

4 PM

Running 51:46 8.89 km (5:49 / km) +169m 5:19 / km
ahr:159 max:185 shoes: 201304 Asics Gel Cumulus 13

Running in the Fells with Giacomo.

Saturday Oct 26, 2013 #

Event: NEOC: Night-O

Note

Another addition to my collection of pictures with international orienteers, from game night on July 25, 2013 at Oringen:

C • Love it :) 2

8 AM

Running 12:28 2.49 km (5:01 / km) +1m 5:00 / km
ahr:162 max:174 shoes: 201210 Inov-8 Road X 255

Warmup. I added some time when I was jogging around the parking lot before I turned my watch on, but my warmup was still abbreviated. I arrived at the lot at ~8:05 with an 8:30 start and had to pick up my bib.

Running race 18:49 5.0 km (3:46 / km) +20m 3:41 / km
ahr:180 max:188 shoes: 201210 Inov-8 Road X 255

I registered for this race a few weeks ago, thinking it would be fun and a useful benchmark to run a 5k. I woke up later than planned - 7:15 - for an 8:30 start and forced down some cereal and caffeine. I arrived at the site at 8:05, obtained my bib, and warmed up a little. It was a clear day, but cold - about 4 C. The race course was half road, half trail, and there were about 250 participants. Many of the participants appeared to be wearing Halloween costumes, so I guessed that the population was not going to have many fast runners.

A few hundred meters out of the start, I was in the front pack of four, which dissolved before the first km. I was in the lead with HatGuy, who gradually pulled away. He was about 30m ahead of me at the turn around, and I observed that I was almost a minute up on third place. I spent the rest of the race futilely trying to rein in HatGuy, who finished 35s ahead of me in 18:14. After the race, there was free beer; I partook in a Sam Adams "Octoberfest," which to my discerning palate was beeresque.

I was disappointed by my performance, though it was about as good as I could expect (PR 18:45), and many conditions were not optimal. Apart from the unpleasant cold throat and running alone, I wore my running flats, which were slippery on the leaf strewn trails. I likely could have eked out the 5s needed for a PR, but this race perfectly served its intended objective as a benchmark. I am hopeful that I can run sub 18 before TT next year with a consistent regimen.

Running 17:06 2.32 km (7:23 / km) +2m 7:21 / km
ahr:143 max:152 shoes: 201210 Inov-8 Road X 255

Cool down.

1 PM

Orienteering 40:00 [1] 4.32 km (9:16 / km) +166m 7:46 / km
shoes: 201304 Inov-8 Oroc 280s

I hung ten controls for day 2 of the Scout-O. I showed up in US team regalia to offer instruction, but the troop that I was to work with was mysteriously absent. I think there must be ways to inspire boy scouts to embrace competitive orienteering - perhaps with a micro-O with actual orienteers, so they can observe the competitive (and fun!) aspects of the sport more directly.

7 PM

Orienteering 44:16 [3] 6.07 km (7:17 / km) +186m 6:19 / km
18c shoes: 201304 Inov-8 Oroc 280s

Green (Long) Night-O course at Nobscot, designed by Bo Nielsen. A lot of the heavy hitters were absent, so my biggest competition was the Finn Juha, who finished the 5.4 k course in 58 minutes. I was tired from the 5k this morning, but I had enough pep in my legs to do more than coast gingerly. I worked the results computer for the first 90 minutes of the event before running my race.

I had a few small errors - 20s at 4, about a minute at 6, 30s at 9, and 30s at 12. Most were hesitations; at 6, I did not read the map and terrain correctly, though I did solve the problem correctly (albeit sluggishly). Conditions were chilly.

It was a decent effort given my fatigue, but sub 40 was definitely possible with better orienteering.

Long - Splits

Friday Oct 25, 2013 #

Note
(rest day)

I'll probably give this up soon. I find this one oddly beautiful.

Thursday Oct 24, 2013 #

Note
(rest day)

I suppose I will continue my sequence of xkcds. I attended a database conference today, which made me think of the following. To make things more vivid, imagine "this guy" is ken.

C • Ken 3

C • Database conference 1

Wednesday Oct 23, 2013 #

Note

Last night, concurrent with the interval session, a (lacrosse?) match was happening between Harvard and the British National Team. When "God Save the Queen" was played, I was reminded of Stephen's horror at learning that Americans had appropriated his country's noble song and perverted it into "My Country 'tis of Thee." I can only assume he would have stopped and faced the field as the anthem played.

C • God Save the Queen 8

C • Pacheco 4

C • it has come to that 1

6 PM

Running 10:08 [1] 2.14 km (4:45 / km) +1m 4:44 / km
shoes: 201304 Asics Gel Cumulus 13

Running 32:00 [3] 6.4 km (5:00 / km) +2m 5:00 / km
shoes: 201304 Asics Gel Cumulus 13

CSU training by Ari on the Esplanade with Ari, Brendan, Alex, and Giacomo.

Running 12:00 [1] 2.4 km (5:00 / km)
shoes: 201304 Asics Gel Cumulus 13

Run back to work with Giacomo and Brendan.

Tuesday Oct 22, 2013 #

6 PM

Running 18:21 [1] 3.43 km (5:21 / km)
shoes: 201210 Inov-8 Road X 255

Run to intervals.

Running 1:02:15 [1] 11.91 km (5:14 / km) +3m 5:13 / km
shoes: 201210 Inov-8 Road X 255

CSU running track intervals. A number of the usual fast suspects - Terry, Tom, and Patrick - were there, I also met Phil (speedy guy), Amerie (sp?, rhymes with "Hey, Marie!"), and Lauren. Amerie used to run for the New Balance team in Boston and despite having two small children, had no difficulty running with the fast crowd.

Terry led us through some drills, then we ran 4x100m strides. The workout was 800, 1200, 1000, 800, 600, and 3x400 for a total of 5.6 km. I felt a bit sluggish, but the fast group's pace was a little too fast for me. I backed off - finishing a few seconds back on each 400, but still ran too quickly.

Splits: dist - split (pace/400)
800 - 3:00 (90) (srsly?)
1200 - 4:14 (84.7)
1000 - 3:28 (83.2)
800 - 2:44 (82)
600 - 2:01 (80.7)
400s - 1:18, 1:18, 1:14

There are 22 weeks between the classic champs and the team trials. A reasonable goal is to run 100 km of VO2 max intervals over that period.
5.6 km/1 session

C • VOmax 5

Monday Oct 21, 2013 #

11 PM

Running 33:51 [1] 6.72 km (5:02 / km) +74m 4:46 / km
shoes: 201304 Asics Gel Cumulus 13

Run home. I concentrated on keeping my feet light and cadence high. I have been surprisingly preoccupied lately. Simultaneously, my life is becoming somewhat more ordered; I am logging my sleep with an app (results to be made public at a later date), and I have many exciting plans for the future. Still, I think my particular combination of ambition and self-control will often lead to disappointment. I have lately been fascinated by how people make decisions, and I have recently reached the surprising conclusion that a well-informed "It seemed like a good idea at the time" may actually be the only reasonable justification for a particular action.

I ran past a man sleeping on a couch by the curb on Highland Ave and thought about how my life circumstances - however troubling they may sometimes be - are very privileged. The ideal to which I aspire has an unyielding tenacity, to never surrender once resolved, no matter how dire the adversity. In my more fanciful moments, the obstacles are extreme - survival scenarios, Rosa Parksesque social pressure, zombie apocalypse, and really hard math problems. I think in practice, the most demanding hardships are a gradual erosion of will, like a Chinese water torture or a seeping fatigue - hardships that are so subtle, they drain all memory of resolve and focus. I wonder if I would have the fortitude to persevere if I were sleeping on that couch. Or perhaps I would have surrendered for the last time long before.

C • sleep 4

Sunday Oct 20, 2013 #

9 AM

Running 11:05 2.09 km (5:18 / km) +28m 4:58 / km
ahr:161 max:178 shoes: 201304 Inov-8 Oroc 280s

Orienteering 1:28:28 10.9 km (8:07 / km) +212m 7:24 / km
ahr:159 max:179 shoes: 201304 Inov-8 Oroc 280s

Running 12:07 1.94 km (6:14 / km) +7m 6:08 / km
ahr:146 max:167 shoes: 201304 Inov-8 Oroc 280s

Day 2 - Blue - Splits

Saturday Oct 19, 2013 #

Event: UNO Boulder Dash

11 AM

Orienteering 1:21:12 10.36 km (7:50 / km) +183m 7:12 / km
ahr:169 max:182 shoes: 201304 Inov-8 Oroc 280s

Boulderdash Day 1 Blue at Bear Brook State Park. Course length: 8.5 km, 210m. Despite a few horrendous mistakes, my performance was adequate against the field. Everyone had a bad day; the winner, Eddie, was 12 minutes (19%) behind Superman.

I didn't get as much sleep this week as I had hoped, and I went into the race feeling underprepared. My race day actions were nearly ideal - I woke up 3.5 hours before my start, had breakfast, drove with Andrew to the event site 75 minutes before my start, warmed up, and was ready a few minutes before my call up. I didn't feel my best physically, but that wasn't as limiting today as I had anticipated.

I started comfortably - a 15s bobble at 1, but otherwise clean and safe through 7. As with last year, I struggle discerning the boundaries of marshes in this terrain, and that cost me about 90s at 8. (Note: use contours, not marsh boundaries.) Despite a 15s hesitation at 10 (and a Gu at 9), I was in second place, three minutes behind an explosive Giacomo.

I nailed the long leg at 11, and tricky legs at 12 and 13, losing 16 seconds to Superman over 1.8 km, but I proceeded to celebrate by bombing 6 minutes at 14. It turns out I was exactly where I had guessed - just south of the marsh near 14 - before I decided to bail out to the trail and relocate. I was cautious on 15-17 from shell shock, but lost contact in a vague area near 18 for a loss of 2 minutes. It turns out I was on the verge of the circle before I bailed out, but my plan was inadequate. I finished by cautiously spiking 19 and 20, which had great potential to be disasters.

I'm not the fastest runner in the forest, but this terrain favors me because I am comparatively strong bashing through vegetation. Despite my weaker physical condition coming into the race, I was largely able to keep up with the competition (though I didn't win any splits, aw). The technical difficulty was just too much for me and basically everyone else. I was overconfident at 14 and not confident enough at 18. In both cases, a more secure plan and patience would have mitigated my problems. I was very happy with my execution of the long leg.

Quickroute
Map scan in case anyone wants to quickroute; it includes my drawn route. Oops.

Running 9:39 1.51 km (6:23 / km) +2m 6:21 / km
ahr:149 max:159 shoes: 201304 Inov-8 Oroc 280s

Cool down with Kenny and Charlie Whitaker.

Running warm up/down 12:00 [1] 2.12 km (5:40 / km)
shoes: 201304 Inov-8 Oroc 280s

Day 1 - Blue - Splits

Thursday Oct 17, 2013 #

11 PM

Running 35:21 [1] 6.35 km (5:34 / km) +27m 5:27 / km
shoes: 201304 NB 860

Monday Oct 14, 2013 #

10 PM

Running 51:54 [1] 10.83 km (4:47 / km) +11m 4:46 / km
shoes: 201304 NB 860

I began the workout with the plan to make a 50 minute easy run, but I changed my mind about fifteen minutes into the run to a tempo workout of two 10-12 minute cruise intervals. I didn't look at my GPS (and I wasn't wearing my HR monitor) for pacing, but ran based on feel. My pace was very near the target 4:00/km.

C • running based on feel 6

Sunday Oct 13, 2013 #

8 AM

Orienteering 50:00 [1] 5.89 km (8:29 / km) +131m 7:38 / km
13c shoes: 201304 Inov-8 Oroc 280s

I hung thirteen controls for the Breakheart meet. Tobias, Pia, and Mika were all there at 8 AM to help.

3 PM

Orienteering 2:15:41 [1] 12.54 km (10:49 / km) +267m 9:47 / km
shoes: 201304 Inov-8 Oroc 280s

Per A-meet duties, I wandered around on the basemap of the unmapped Western Townsend section. While Ed's basemap was perfectly good, it was nevertheless difficult to keep track of my location while wandering and negotiating intermittent mountain laurel. There were many delightful sections, though having a map of the vegetation would dramatically improve the experience.

C • western 2

Saturday Oct 12, 2013 #

2 PM

Orienteering 1:30:00 [1] 9.0 km (10:00 / km)
shoes: 201304 Inov-8 Oroc 280s

Running around Breakheart.

Friday Oct 11, 2013 #

Event: 2013 Nationals (Hamilton, CANADA)

11 PM

Running 1:16:48 [1] 14.9 km (5:09 / km) +34m 5:06 / km
shoes: 201210 Inov-8 Road X 255

Thursday Oct 10, 2013 #

11 PM

Running 5:29 [1] 0.94 km (5:52 / km) +1m 5:50 / km
shoes: 201304 NB 860

Running 32:10 [1] 6.56 km (4:54 / km) +38m 4:46 / km
shoes: 201304 NB 860

Wednesday Oct 9, 2013 #

Note
(rest day)

Felt crappy again today.

Tuesday Oct 8, 2013 #

Team Sports (Tennis) 1:00:00 [1]
shoes: 201210 Inov-8 Road X 255

Tennis with Luc and Lara.

Monday Oct 7, 2013 #

Note
(rest day)

Tired; the weekend sapped more of my strength than I expected.

Sunday Oct 6, 2013 #

Event: NEOC: Baldwin Hill

7 AM

Orienteering 2:00:00 [1] 12.85 km (9:21 / km) +402m 8:05 / km
40c shoes: 201304 Inov-8 Oroc 280s

Hanging controls at Baldwin Hill, largely in the rain.

3 PM

Orienteering 1:00:00 [1] 7.6 km (7:53 / km) +233m 6:51 / km
14c shoes: 201304 Inov-8 Oroc 280s

Control pickup. Thanks to Jeff Saeger and JJ Cote for their timely aid, I only had 14 to retrieve. I was tired by the end of the day, probably from shivering for much of it.

Saturday Oct 5, 2013 #

4 PM

Orienteering 1:30:00 [1] 7.01 km (12:50 / km) +220m 11:06 / km
shoes: 201304 Inov-8 Oroc 280s

Some vetting and hanging controls at Baldwin Hill.

Thursday Oct 3, 2013 #

9 PM

Running 56:51 [1] 11.05 km (5:09 / km) +3m 5:08 / km
shoes: 201304 NB 860

Easy run around the river. I brooded. I considered running a threshold cruise interval workout - probably 3 or 4 mile reps - but I decided my legs didn't feel good enough. In particular, an area just below my right knee has been hurting for a week or two. I will monitor it in the coming days.

Wednesday Oct 2, 2013 #

9 AM

Running 12:47 [1] 2.76 km (4:38 / km) +3m 4:36 / km
shoes: 201304 Asics Gel Cumulus 13

Tuesday Oct 1, 2013 #

6 PM

Team Sports (Tennis) 1:00:00 [1]
shoes: 201304 Asics Gel Cumulus 13

Singles tennis with Luc. There was much running.

10 PM

Running 41:09 [1] 7.91 km (5:12 / km) +32m 5:06 / km
shoes: 201304 Asics Gel Cumulus 13

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