Training Log Archive: iansmith

Tonight's workout was a 20 min tempo run at 4:03/km, postponed from yesterday. Conditions were moderate; -4 C, breezy, and a light snowfall. There was about a cm of snow on the ground with some patches of black ice. After a long warmup, I turned on my 180 bpm techno. I focused on feeling relaxed for the first few km, and my pace was steady and good. I started hurting a bit over the last km - I think more due to the stresses of the cadence than the speed. I hit a few patches of ice, but I think my foot placement is directly beneath my center of mass - I didn't fall or slide, I just lost traction.

C • River lights 2

Easy run to work. I felt progressively worse throughout the day - fatigued; I suspect I'm coming down with an illness. I cancelled my tempo plans.

If you could ask Marc Lauenstein one question (about orienteering), what would it be?

C • question 2

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.