Training Log Archive: iansmith

Event: Boston Park Series: Cat Rock Park
 

I'm leaning towards attending the Canadian Champs in British Columbia in August for my summer O.

C • Do it! 8

CSU Park-O at Cat Rock. After battling through Cambridge traffic, I arrived at about 7:05. I didn't want to keep everyone waiting, so I rushed through my pre-race routine of dressing and warming up. I felt stiff from my tempo workout yesterday. I had acceptable flow today, though my run had plenty of avoidable hesitations and time losses 10-20m from the controls. Cat Rock could use a revision, as it took some work for the quickroute to match the terrain. There also has been some recent construction.

I was very confused at 1 after I left the trail from a poor mental picture of the circle. I left 2 in a weird direction and ran along the trail to reestablish a clear picture. 5s of "qua?" in the circle at 6 and 7 when I didn't see the flags. I ran low to 9, which was a bit longer near the end; I hesitated at the stone wall before the circle. I was stabbed by my right eye by red briar in the circle at 10 - hence the blood on the map scan by 7. I was very confident on my route choice to 12 via the trail after seeing the swampy vegetation. I almost overran 14 on the trail; I expected the swamp to be much more visible from the trail. I missed 15 right, but that may be due to the map, as my line is parallel to the leg. Some hesitation leaving the trail into 16. Quickroute. All splits were ranked 1-3, lost 49s to Superman. The field wasn't that deep, so those statistics are somewhat misleading.

C • qua 2

Cat Rock - Splits

2x20 minute tempo workout. I felt unusually labored, possibly from pollen allergies. The evening was beautiful, with a radiant sunset and a temperature of about 18 C. I warmed up for 16 minutes, ran my out-and-back with a 3 minute rest, and cooled down. I deliberately ran the second bout at a reduced intensity, as I felt like I was killing myself on the first bout. Instead of trying to hit a particular intensity on the second bout, I concentrated on keeping good form with upright posture and consistent foot (ball) strikes.

5.1 km splits: 19:29 (wee bit too fast), 21:19.

Tennis with Wadz and Luc. We played 2 on 1 and rotated; total playing time was about 75 minutes. Pollen allergies are destroying me despite cetirizine.

Event: 36th Annual Billygoat Run
 

Billygoat at Baldwin Hill set by JJ Cote. It was much warmer than I'm used to: perhaps 24 C. I woke at 8:30, ate a muffin and a banana, caffeinated and hydrated, and arrived at the meet site at 10:30. Quickroute

Strategy: I have a tendency to go out too hard on mass start races and fade, so I wanted to avoid getting out to an early, solitary lead. Contrarily, I expected that the green would favor me, and my familiarity with the terrain would give me an advantage if I could break away from my three chief competitors. My worst fear was ending up in a pack near the end without my skip with competitors who could still skip.

Upon flipping the map over, I saw that 1-2 were far to the south and the correct route was the long N-S trail. In my eagerness, I exploded into the woods and stupidly crossed the stream. When I reached the start of the trail, slower competitors were already ahead of me. Fail. I moved to the front behind Ethan and Adrian and settled in. I debated skipping 1, 3, and 18 before settling on 1 because of the out-and-back distance cut. I was alone halfway to 3, and while I didn't really want to try to lead the whole race, the time advantage of skipping 1 outweighed any tactical considerations.

I ran pretty well for the next few controls, though I dropped a minute on an uphill slog to 4 (after apparently dropping the hammer to 3). I didn't see anyone else until control 8, when I ran into Will running to control 6, about 7 minutes behind me. But then, disaster: out of the spectator control, 10 was an easy trail leg to a control in a green reentrant; I zoned out and read ahead while waiting for a 90' right turn. Unfortunately, the turn was gentler than I expected, and I overran my attackpoint by about 200m. Then, stupidly, rather than doing damage control and returning to a solid attackpoint, I speculated and attacked into thick green without a reliable fix on my position. I was pretty sure I was in the correct reentrant, but I couldn't find the control; I wasted 7 minutes and was passed by Ethan before I followed Will into it.

Eager focus turned to urgency then to despair as I fumbled at one of the easier controls on the course. Coming out of 10, I almost quit the race; I was furious with myself for throwing away my lead. Though I didn't know it, Ethan had already skipped, so I was in comfortable position. But, I don't quit races when I'm physically able to finish them, and this was a great opportunity to practice refocusing and recovering. Plus, my competitors could make a mistake and give me an opening.

Will took a better line to 11, but I passed him en route to 12 where I met Ethan. Speedy, Will, Ethan and I all converged at 13, though only Will hadn't skipped. Still, my worst fear of late pack running was realized. I lost a little time at 15 due to microroute. Running to 16 was brutal; I was totally hosed on the uphill slog. Ethan pulled away, Will made a mistake, and I ran into Wyatt at the flag. I beat Wyatt and Speedy to 17, but Wyatt pulled away from me on the torturous slog to 18, which I lethargically spiked. I was quite surprised to see Ethan and Wyatt take 18, as I figured that was the likeliest skip, but only Will skipped 18. While I saw Ethan and Wyatt at the flag at 18, I had nothing left to chase them down, and ran the rest of the course in clean, slow solitude. I finished 5 minutes behind Will and 3 behind Ethan and Wyatt. This is my best finish, but my race was so frustratingly bad - with poor execution, a huge mistake, and physical inadequacy.

Lessons:
- Though the heat was painful, I don't currently have the speed to race a long course. I fade in the last third of the race; I think long tempo-ish runs and race efforts are suited. As my crew coach said, it doesn't hurt less, you just get faster.
- I botched 10 because I let my attention wander too much. You can't hope to keep laser-like focus for two hours, but knowing when to check back in is critical. I don't do enough orienteering practice; I don't take enough controls to be solid enough in my technique for a clean race.
- Ethan is in way better shape than I am now, and it showed - especially near the end of the race. I'm just not fast enough to compete effectively; I was not ready for a head-to-head battle for the last few kms.
- In long races, I need to start more conservatively. I love the idea of pulling away and holding a commanding lead rather than racing tactically, but trying to lead immediately leads to burnout. Skipping 1 was correct (7 minute gain), but I must manage my stamina and effort better.
- Thanks to JJ and company for putting on a great event!

C • Dude 15

Picking up 8 controls.

I decided to rerun 9-10 - attentively this time, which I managed in about 4:00.

C • Missing 10 -- which I gathe... 4

Billygoat - Splits