Training Log Archive: iansmith

Event: US Night & Relay Champs
 

It is done; The Rise and Fall was a thoroughly informative and engrossing historical work. The narrative was captivating and justly earns the accolade of the definitive account of one of the darkest periods of our history (at least among those I have read). I am now reading Orson Scott Card's Xenocide and listening to Bruckner's Seventh - in particular the Adagio movement.

I finally posted my reaction to the CSU A-meet.

The third movement of Brahms 1 is a notable exception to my general dislike of third movements (or Minuet and Trio movements). Coincidentally, it's very short - only 4:40 in my Solti CSO recording.

Fun 2.2 km sprint at SLOC A-meet. This was not a ranked event, but I won! I edged out Speedy and Ali by about 30 seconds, and Wyatt by about a minute. Most people weren't running the race hard, so the victory is much less significant.

Quickroute

C • Woo! 2

I tend to forget to track my warmup with my GPS, and I often don't turn on my GPS until midway through my warmup. Before the race, I ran around the field chatting with Greg, Carol, and Brendan for about ten minutes. Afterward, I jogged a few cool down laps.

Run to the start. I warmed up for an additional ten minutes beforehand, but didn't record it.

US Night Orienteering championships red course. I was double giggled and Canadienne'd. Red was the appropriate length for me.

Quickroute

Warmup and cool down after the race.

Red - Splits

Blue/Red Sprint - Splits

I noticed a small twinge in my left calf today - probably from cycling rather than fumbling around in the woods in the dark. I'm already conscious of how challenging this weekend will be in light on my comparative weakness, so I had planned to rest today. Stephen is nothing if not persistent in his efforts to get me to come to tonight's CSU street-O Cambridge Traverse, but I am impervious to much persuasion (except to nemesis challenges, against which I have almost no defense).

I biked over to the Fells to run the 2009 Spring Runoff Day 2 Brown course and break in my new Oroc 280s. I had hoped to arrive at 5 PM and run the course in the waning twilight, but I started at about 6 PM in total darkness. I only had my weak headlamp - I had forgotten Flashlight, so it was very tricky. I couldn't really see green briar until I was in it.

I started reasonably strongly, pushing as hard as I dared in the poor light through 6. I knew control 7 was very tricky, and without a flag, I attacked safely from the south. I should QR to check how close I was, but 10-13 were agony. The green briar and vegetation were incredibly thick on my route to 10, and I was forced to double back. Once in the circle, I wasn't sure if I was at the correct feature, so I ambled around for a bit. Control 11 was good, but I took a stick to the eye and lost my left contact. The eye is ok, but I had trouble seeing and I was momentarily stunned. Twelve was tricky, but it was exacerbated by high density vegetation about halfway to the control. I tried to reinvigorate my run en route to 13, but immediately got stuck in green briar. While there were three more controls, I decided I had had enough. Night-O south of South Border Road is painful; in general, I will avoid the area in the future.

The Orocs felt comfortable, but getting used to running on rock is strange. The X-talons seem to grip surfaces more securely - probably because there are no metal studs between the shoe and the surface.

C • Sounds Tough 3

Just for fun, I recorded the track of the bike ride home. I don't plan on logging commuting any more; it's not really training.

C • biking 6

Moderate intensity run around the Charles River; I ran down to the Harvard Bridge and back to Harvard Square. After crossing the Harvard bridge, I encountered a speedy looking guy waiting for a traffic light, and I ran hard until the BU bridge to stay ahead of him. I then followed him until Western Ave, when he crossed to the south side of the river, and I slowed. It was a fun bout, though I ended up hitting higher speeds than I intended.

My legs felt solid, and my obliques started hurting near the end of the run. I am almost done with the seventh and final part of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich - a 57 hour book. I listen to books on my mp3 player at a sped up rate - 1.2x - but finishing this book has taken 47 hours of audio time, and the longest audiobook I have finished. I was thoroughly engrossed for the majority of the novel; my familiarity with the events of World War II gave context to the events therein.

I find many aspects of the mid-20th century rise of fascism fascinating, and there is much to be gleaned about the national zeitgeist and trends of collective action. Military strategy has always interested me, even though I heartily agree with Sherman that "War is hell." Understanding it can help us avoid it. It must be noted that while reading The Rise and Fall, I have a more through and newfound appreciation for the magnitude of the horrors of one of the darkest times in human history - the Holocaust, the systematic extermination of entire classes of people on a whim of a megalomaniacal madman, and the distortion of the consciences of an entire country to madness. While I knew of the concentration camps in some detail, the atrocities of the Einsatzgruppen were not well known to me and are some of the most horrifying things I have ever read. As a world, we must never forget what has transpired. Images like this will haunt me forever.

I weighed 179.6 lbs on the scale this morning, though I may still be dehydrated from the weekend's activity. Still, it's healthy progress.

The gauntlet was thrown, and I answered with a defiant whimper of eight minute core. A minute each of sit-ups, flutter kicks, oblique (knee-to-elbow) crunches, plank, tuck-ups, cherry pickers, kayakers, leg lifts; concluded with two minutes of side plank and one of supermans.

To give my legs a chance to rest after the weekend, I went on a bike ride around the Charles. My tires were not fully inflated, and there was a strong breeze from the west. The heart rate data is spurious, probably from poor contact, as I did not perspire much. Conditions were 13 C and overcast with some drizzling; I wore a long-sleeved and short-sleeved shirt.

2x24 pushups. Weak.

CSU Relay Champs commemorative uniform?

C • Yes, I'll be sure to have enough for you all. 7

On the CSU 2011 A-meet:

It is a tremendous relief that the meet went well, to general acclaim, and without major errors. My experience is that even with an enormous investment of effort, small oversights can compromise the entire endeavor. The entire club and not a few others came together to put on the event, and while it nearly killed us, it is done.

The event would have not been possible without considerable sacrifice and investment of time. I would like to specially note a less conspicuous group: the course team. The three course setters - Dean Sturtevant, Boris Granovskiy, and Brendan Shields had the singularly most critical tasks of the meet. Boris, who was working remotely for most of the preparatory period on a WRE course, is deserving of particular thanks, and Dean's task was mammoth. To vet and set effectively is to be invisible, and a doughty group took on that large and thankless task. Audun Botterud, Magnus Bjorkman, Brendan, Giovanni, Giacomo Barbone, Katia Bertoldi, Ross Smith, Eric Weyman, Will Hawkins, and Jordan Laughlin all contributed to the course tasks, and Jon Campbell consulted at length. Audun, Magnus, and Giovanni in particular invested huge amounts of labor.

While I had hoped to reduce my commitment to the A-meet given my NEOC responsibilities, my main task turned out to be the vetting and setting of the Middle. Boris directed me very well, and our combined efforts were effective. Brendan assisted with the vetting, and Will gave of his time in the eleventh hour to verify everything was in order for the WRE.

Much praise must be given to the event directors Ed and Giovanni, who worked tirelessly to make it a reality. Alex handled the unenviable task of registrar very well. Larry and Sara Mae provided substantial logistical support and hosted us many times for dinner. Giovanni and Katia likewise lent their home for our meetings. Thanks to everyone in the club who came to any of our many meetings and lent their views to the process. It was tiring - a conservative estimate of the time spent in meetings alone is 300-400 man hours. Thanks to all the event volunteers, who are too numerous to name, who worked critical posts on the day of the event, set up the accursed tent of tremendous mass, moved equipment, and helped make sure everything ran smoothly on the day of the event. While she lived remotely, Ali mediated some of our more heated conflicts, helped keep us all sane, and had the misfortune of carrying a saw horse due to one of my oversights. Finally, many thanks to everyone who helped with control pickup, particularly those with no affiliation to CSU; your help is greatly appreciated. Even among this noteworthy list, the unlooked for assistance of Eric Weyman is exceptional. He showed up on Saturday and without prompting or the slightest incentive offered to help us set the 115 controls on the long course. I do not full comprehend his utility function, but I am grateful for his help. Thanks to NEOC, Valerie Meyer, and WCOC for use of their equipment, and to the many NEOC members who gave of their time to further orienteering in New England.

After much contemplation, I remain convinced that despite its favorable outcome, this meet was not worth the cost to CSU. It was beyond what could reasonably be expected of our club, and was only achieved by a Herculean sacrifice of its membership. I am glad the event was successful, but I have no inclination to be a part of subsequent efforts of this nature for some time. A conversation about the future direction of the club is inevitable; my preference is to prioritize training and preparation for competition above organization. Even with my reduced involvement, the event was incredibly taxing. A-meets are wonderful, but the ratio of orienteering time to organizational time is pathetically low. It is impressive that despite the logistical challenges, the magnitude of the event, and even Clem's presence, the meet was a success.

Waking up and verifying controls in my sector before the long race. After wakeup, I helped out at registration and the start.

Control pickup. Eric Smith and I chose three sector in the west area of the map. We each took one and split up the middle sector. I answered a few phone calls from Brendan and Joanne during the outing.

C • Wow 9

Brendan and I arrived at Lynn at 7 and met up with the arena crew. We had five boxes still to set - one at a nearby cliff, the two Go stands and the two spectator stands. After getting some extra equipment from Ed, we drove to the northern lot and set a saw horse that Will had requested at a site because the stand was too low to match the description. Brendan set off to wake up and verify the presence and codes of the northern controls (which he had previously vetted), and I drove down to the arena and worked my way north.

We found everything to be in order - no controls were stolen, all the codes were correct, and all the controls were awake by 9:15. Brendan noted that the second saw horse lacked a backup punch, so I ran to set it via the start (dropping off some equipment on the way). Everything was ready by 9:45 - a bit close for comfort. Had there been a problem, we could have fixed it by the start time, but we had little room for error. A third control-verifier would have been valuable.

My job for the A-meet was solitary, and if I did it right, it would go unnoticed. After an arduous day on Friday with only Will for company in the afternoon, it was great to see everyone at the Middle arena. Brendan and I mingled until around 10:30 or 11, when we set off for the Fells to help set controls for the long.

Eric Weyman happily asked me if we needed any help setting controls - unsolicited, without incentive, purely because he wanted to help and is absurdly cool. We sent him to rendezvous with Dean, then bought rubber bands for the WCOC e-punch mounting system.

Upon arrival, Dean assigned a sector of the Fells to each of us. I was assigned 19 controls, with 18 WCOC stands. I greatly prefer the NEOC stands - they are light and very simple to set up. The back-up punch and flag are attached; the only task is to place the stand and clip on the e-punch box. While I'm grateful for WCOC letting us use their stands, they are much more time consuming. Apart from deploying the stake and planting the stand, the flag, back-up punch, and e-punch plate all had to be mounted to the stand. I was tremendously fatigued and hungry from the past two days, and I had a philosophical crisis while plodding through the woods. As I had plenty of time to think, I resolved it satisfactorily, and fought on to finish the day's work. There was a potential crisis when four e-punch units dropped from my bag (the first time this had happened to me), but I was able to reconstruct my path and find them scattered in the forest.

Brendan and I then helped Dean set water, and retired to Cambridge to shower before going to the banquet.