Training Log Archive: iansmith

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid

Distance traveled is an estimate; course distance was 12.9. As it was a WRE, I could not wear my trusty IOF-approved Garmin 405 with its broken screen. In two words: glacial and confused. My race was an unmitigated disaster; I was lethargic and count 23 minutes of errors. Ebone would have run under two hours easily. The only silver lining is that everyone else also struggled; Damien won in 2:15, and Ethan was insultingly close to my time at 2:34. I finished in fourth overall and beat a few people I didn't expect to. There were moment of good execution, planning, and even a little hustle. Nevertheless, it was a tough day. Orienteering is more fun when you're fast and good.

C • Insultingly Close 6

Long C10 - Splits

Fishbones Farsta in Prince Edward Island. The race was a one-man relay with three forked loops. I felt strong through the first loop, but was unresponsive to my efforts to push hard during the second. It was fun, and I enjoyed the atmosphere, but my effort was lackluster. I made good decisions during the start of the first loop - an area in which I have needed improvement during other mass start races. I didn't really do a proper cool down; I will amend this in the future.

Jogging and some drills to warm up.

Warmup on the track in the quarantine.

Canadian Orienteering Championships M21 sprint at the University of Prince Edward Island. I was not happy with my physical performance; I was lethargic and lacking power. Much more tragically, I skipped control 7 - I ran right by it. I was reading ahead to 9, which looked a little tricky, and my execution to 7 made 8 almost collinear. A disastrous mental mistake; I don't usually make these sorts of errors. A frustrating MP. The sprint was very much a runner's course; while the campus was replete with detail, the course could generally be simplified to negotiating buildings and occasional uncrossable features. I made a dumb 15s mistake on 17 when I missed a stair and ran around on a ramp. I also had about 15s of hesitation to 22 when I misread it as being inside a fence bend rather than outside. I'll upload the map when I return to Bostonburg.

I donated blood last week, and I wonder how much that has affected my aerobic capacity.

It was great to see all my Canuck friends.

C • Blood 8

For a cool down, I ran back the start and jogged the course through control 10, trying to recreate what was in my thought process and how I can avoid errors like the one I made today. I recalled that some fundamental sprint techniques - like folding my map for the next leg before reaching the control, and smooth entrances and exits - were lacking. There is much to be improved.

After some fish and chips at Brit's Fish and Chips, I went to the beach with a merry band of Canucks and the British lad Ben. We spent most of our time tossing a frisbee around in the surf, and had many glorious dives in pursuit of unreachable tosses.

Sprint C5 - Splits

Warmup on elliptical. I tried to keep my cadence at 95-100, though I lagged near the end because it was hot. There was only one other guy in the gym; I listened to episode 17 of a machine learning podcast featuring my collaborator, Jennifer Listgarten. She gave me a shoutout, woo. http://www.thetalkingmachines.com/

5x15 leg curls at 70 lbs
5x10 leg extensions at 85 lbs
3x10 squats at 135-145 lbs
medicine ball assisted kayakers
5 pullups for kicks

Especially during the squats, I didn't feel the targeted muscles were the limiting factors; rather, it was everything else stabilizing everything that felt unfamiliar. I kept the weight moderate, as I haven't lifted in quite some time, but I felt like I could have done more.

5k erg for maximum cross training fun. My butt started to hurt a bit, and I noticed my posture was deteriorating; fortunately, the angle of the display - and in particular seeing something behind it at the catch - made assessment easy, and I tried to correct. Stroke rate of about 26, with time/500m in the 2:05-2:15 range by design. Weighed in at 84 kg (186 lbs for you metrically challenged), but after the workout. That's a lot to drag up hills.

C • Weighed in 2