Training Log Archive: iansmith

A delightful evening long run; the skies were clear, and the temperature was a balmy -1 C. It's amazing how much of a difference 10 C makes. I was a little overdressed (SL/S, gloves, speedy hat, buff). My pace was steady and plodding, and I felt good throughout the run. I faded after about 1:50 over the last few km. The roads and sidewalks had perhaps 1-2 cm of erratic snow and ice. This was a newish route, encircling the Fells and Boojum; my pace was a bit faster than a similar route I ran six months ago in sweltering July heat. I carried a light but no map and got lost once near km 7.

The NEOC Holiday party this evening prominently featured the Patriots - Ravens Divisional Playoff game, which the Pats won narrowly 35-31. The Parsons were excellent hosts as always.

Magnus and I were the only ones to correctly answer the map snippet challenge, where you tried to identify a map by a small 5 cm x 5 cm section. The answers were Hammond Pond, Great Brook Farm, Estabrook Woods, Nobscot, and High Rock - the last was the trickiest, as we have only had three local meets there in the past few years. It was hardly a fair competition, as Magnus and I are both on the mapping committee and have pored over maps. poured chocolate milk over maps.

I won the M-21 Points Series by a wide margin; my competition has suffered attrition from moving, graduating, and having enormous babies. There was some excellent cold ping pong; Magnus and I in particular played a best of 7 games match which Magnus won 4-3. Izzy talked some excellent foosball trash which maybe we'll settle one day. The only accessible tables I know of are in bars, so it might be a few years.

C • What 5

Waking the legs up; my glutes, upper hamstring, and adductors (?) still felt tight from strength action on Wednesday. I ran a few strides to get the turnover up.

Unplanned rest day because various muscles in my bum felt wrecked by the strength training yesterday. The plan was easy or rest. It seems advisable to avoid quality for 48 hours after a strength workout.

An excellent promotional video for the Blackforest 3-Days, by Puresive films. At first, it looks like a video of some speedy juniors in sweet terrain until the king of the woods shows up, like a wolf among sheep:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdXZ2Mhdg2U&featur...

Road races I've signed up for:
Fudgcicle 5k: A series of 6 5k races in Tewksbury, 30 mins north of Boston. They are at 8 AM on Saturdays, and the road course is kind of boring, but it's a nice low-key series. I've run two of these guys before.
New Bedford Half Marathon, March 15 - great timing two weeks before the team trials

Anyone want to join me? I'm also considering running the Super Sunday 5 mile race in Kendall Square on Superbowl Sunday, but I'm less enthusiastic about that one. This 15k road race on Feb 8 also is appealing, because 15k is a more satisfying distance than 5k.

C • video 11

Run to the War Memorial Gym for indoor action because it was -14 C and windy.

Warmup action on the treadmill. Yay treadmills.

2 circuits of:
- 10x back squat, 60 kg
- 10x L/R kettlebell clean and press, 16 kg
- 10x deadlift, 45 kg
- 10x lunge, 27 kg
- 1 minute plank

I had planned to do a third circuit, but I cut short when my legs started feeling trashed much earlier than expected.

Some spinning on a stationary bike to finish up the day.

Way to go Tove and DHubz! Also excellent races by Kyburz, Albin (heard before), and mogden. But holy crap, Tove wins by 2:38 over 2nd and 4 minutes over 3rd?!? Are you nuts?! She is a juggernaut.

C • Tove's win 7

The death march home via Anna's to procure a recovery burrito. It was obscenely cold.

Evening tempo run; this run was interesting because it was -10 C with a few mm of snowfall from this evening. Fortunately, the wind was negligible, but I overcompensated: I wore SL shirts, tights, gloves, hat, and a hoodie. It turns out that a hoodie over layers running at threshold pace seriously insulates, and I was quite sweaty by the end. I ran the 5k in 20:42 - slower than the 20:00 target, but acceptable given the cold and questionable traction. I felt pretty good at the end.

Run home after picking up my stuff.

I thought about an easy 3-4 mile run, but ultimately decided that I was tired, and it was Cold day (Moscow) cold.

C • conversion 3