Training Log Archive: iansmith

Jordan was such a magnificent competitor. The evidence stands on its own, but consider these snippets from the wikipedia article on the 1992 US Olympic basketball team, the "Dream Team:"

Jordan was the only player who studied the opposition, carefully watching game tapes.

Bird called the medal ceremony and the playing of The Star-spangled Banner "the ultimate" experience. Johnson said "The 92 Dream Team was the greatest moment of my life in terms of basketball, bar none." Jordan said that the biggest benefit for him from the Olympics was that he learned more about his teammates' weaknesses. He later defeated Barkley, Malone, and Stockton in three NBA finals.

Sports Illustrated later stated that the Dream Team was "arguably the most dominant squad ever assembled in any sport."

Sick. I think an apt orienteering metaphor would be a 4 pt relay team of Minna, Simone, Hubmann, and Gueorgiou coming to the US Relay champs.

Easy run while snow fell on Somerville. The roads and sidewalks were very slippery, and my Road-Xs lack traction. Much of my focus was spent on stability, and I avoided falling while hitting up a few gentle hills. Last week was disappointing, and I plan to get two quality workouts and at least one O session before going to the junior camp this weekend.

I also acquired another new pair of tights - these stirrup-equipped Ronhill Classic GT Tracksters. I purchased the large, and they fit well but loose enough that there's no compression. For O, I prefer slightly loose tights, so these were excellent. The tights look a bit different than the picture - the logo is much smaller, and there is a white stripe down the outside seam. I would recommend, particularly given the price. Durability will be tested by field application of green briar.

Event: Hammond Pond
 

NEOC's first event of the Spring season - Hammond Pond Green course, set by Anna. After working the meet site and helping retrieve broken Magnus, I started at about 12:30. I didn't want to leave the meet understaffed, so I skipped my warmup (ill-advised) and ran aggressively. The data suggests that I exploded out of the start and wore out; I guess a warm up helps with effort calibration.

It was a decent run, though I think I can do a better job punching through nasty vegetation. I also took a silly route to 12. Clearly, it was a day for the Halls with all their results in the top four of each course.

The great calamity of this meet was Magnus' injury: while running, he tripped and landed very hard and very awkwardly on his hands. He was in great pain and was unable to get up; Trisha Underwood fortunately was running by at the time and scampered off to the event site to let everyone know. She and I drove to Magnus' location with the first aid kit - where we met Earl, but it became apparent that our kit was not equipped for this circumstance. At Magnus' behest, I called 911. A police car, an ambulance, and a fire truck came in the next fifteen minutes. Magnus was perhaps 75 meters from the parking lot, so once we got him on the stretcher, extricating him was not arduous. He showed great fortitude, as he was very clearly in agony whenever his arm moved. Bgallup chased down Sarah to let her know of Magnus' plight, and she arrived at the site just as Magnus was loaded onto the ambulance.

It appears his shoulder was badly dislocated, which is probably about the best possible outcome. When Giacomo and I stopped by, his arm had been popped back into place, he was on pain meds, and he was doing much better. Sarah remarked that she could put an upper bound on his pain because he didn't start talking in Swedish. This is a great misfortune for anyone orienteering - particularly Magnus, as he has been training hard and improving by leaps and bounds over the past few years. Hopefully he will be back on his feet for the rest of the spring season.

Thanks a bunch to Trisha Underwood, Earl LaVallee, a woman I don't know, and Ben for all their help coming to Magnus' aid.

Picking up controls.

After stopping to visit Magnus in the hospital - Sarah was with him - Giacomo and I drove over to Prospect Hill to get some training on. Apparently Giacomo had never been there because he is lame and doesn't get out to local meets. We first ran a contour only exercise that Pia designed from 2008. After snacking in das auto for about fifteen minutes, we set out on the green course from Dean's meet in April 2012. Unfortunately, I bonked. I hadn't eaten much during the day, and two efforts left me without energy. I think my fatigue was exacerbated because I had left my jacket with Magnus and hadn't brought any changes of clothes, so my body lost much heat.

Still, it was a fun effort, and running with Giacomo was pleasant.

C • can i get that contour-only map? 4

Green - Splits

Crazy fundraiser idea:
Requirements: headcam, garmin, US team orienteer person
Offer to follow someone on a course while wearing the headcam (and ideally with them wearing the GPS/HR monitor) and record a video of said individual. After the session, offer some feedback and send them the rgmapvideo with synchronized video, gps, and hr data. Charge them some rate (e.g. $1/minute). I could envision either running a course at a local meet or at an A-meet, and shorter courses like sprints and middles are preferable. The service distributes knowledge and a cool product that it's very hard for people to get by themselves. It could be very useful for intermediate and aspiring advanced orienteers, and it could be scaled to virtually any sum. For example, even taking a handful of controls on a control pick for 10-15 minutes could be very helpful for a beginner. Another advantage is that it gives team folk a terrain workout.

I might acquire a headcam and offer the service at West Point to see if it could gain any traction. Thanks to ken for some feedback.

C • awesome idea 1

Skyline run; briefly got lost.

Easy run, bringing a close to failweek. Work grew intensely busy this week, and this was exacerbated by a rise of NEOC tasks (some of which are still undone). I could have managed either workload independently, but I found their confluence overwhelming.

There are a few key lessons from this experience, including catching up on basic tasks (laundry, dishes, e-mail) whenever time permits. Falling behind on these rudimentary but essential necessities exacerbates difficulties.

Very rough day. Things are ok; this is mostly a note to myself later about why I failed to train today. D-, see me after class.

An amusing albeit vulgar comic: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/dog_paradox

2x10 minute threshold run. My target pace was about 4:00/km based on old time trials, but it may have been a bit fast. Still, I was very happy to see that I hit the pace, as I was basing the intensity purely on a target HR of 168-170. I added a little loop to cool down and add some distance.

Run home.