Saturday Mar 31 |
 | Orienteering race 52:49 [4] 5.9 km (8:57 / km) +240m 7:26 / km | |
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| DVOA A-meet at Fair Hill. I ran well here in the long-O in 2005, so I was looking forward to it. Both days were on the north side of 273. Large open fields that you run through to get between the low-lying pockets of forest and streams and sometimes steep hills. Lots of vines, especially rimming the fields, make where to enter and exit the fields is a major factor in route choice.
I had a good run, though I was flagging towards the end due to poor conditioning. Made a one and a half minute mistake going too far on the trail to 9. Otherwise just a couple 20-30 second errors. Good enough for second M50 on the day, 20 seconds behind Marcus Gloor, who I found out was a Swiss orienteer transplanted to HVO-land for two years. |
| Orienteering race (sprint) 19:23 [5] 2.7 km (7:11 / km) +60m 6:28 / km | |
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| Sprint, on the south side of 273, in part of the area of Day 1 in 2005. Fast open woods sprint with trail options. I was tired from the morning, but when the starter says go, you just run as hard as you can. I had one small miss when I didn't see the depression at 5 from 10 meters away (unlike some sprints, the flags were sometimes hidden, though not unfairly). I lost fastest old guy honors to Glen, who got me by about 10 seconds. |
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Sprint - Splits |
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Day 1, Green X - Splits |
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Day 2, Green X - Splits |
Friday Mar 30 |
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| Event: DVOA A-Meet (Interscholastics)
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Thursday Mar 29 |
| Trail Run (tempo) 23:08 [3] 3.1 mi (7:27 / mi) | |
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| Noho XC course, at a moderately hard pace. Wanted to be under 23 but trails were very muddy, especially the last mile.
7:21, 7:16, 7:44, 46. |
| Trail Run 22:00 [2] 2.5 mi (8:47 / mi) | |
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| Trails from Smith gym to start; road back (twilight). |
Tuesday Mar 27 |
| Road Run (tempo) 42:23 [3] 5.6 mi (7:33 / mi) | |
| ahr:144 max:152 weight:148lbs |
| Clement Street loop, after dark. Decent effort, almost a 4. |
Monday Mar 26 |
| Road Run 33:57 [3] 4.1 mi (8:17 / mi) | |
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| UMass, slow. Short on time and motivation. |
Sunday Mar 25 |
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| Event: Mine Falls Sprints
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| Orienteering race 27:11 [4] 4.3 km (6:19 / km) | |
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| First sprint at Mine Falls in Nashua, NH, courses again by Michael Commons. It was advertised as 2.7 k, but it was 50% longer (OCAD scaling error), plus a bit extra when measured properly around uncrossable features. This sprint went fine, just a 20-30 second miss on 6. I liked the cool temps in the 40's, and not too much snow on the ground. "Sprint" is a bit of a misnomer: it was a white/yellow mix with some very, very long (and rather boring) trail legs. Hence the fast per/k, even though I didn't feel especially fast. There was some interesting route choice, but you couldn't always tell the best route from the map. |
| Orienteering race 32:53 [4] 4.3 km (7:39 / km) | |
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| Second "sprint" was also more than 50% longer than advertised, also with some very, very long trail legs. This one didn't go so well, and I probably lost about 4 minutes on three controls, even though in each case the map was somewhat to blame. I lost 1:30-2:00 on the first control. I expected to see it from the trail since the map shows it 10 to 15 meters off, but I went by it. (Forerunner confirms it was further from the trail than mapped.) When I didn't see it right away coming back, I noticed that the contours didn't look right and I got nervous that I wasn't where I thought I was. So I went to the main trail by the river, confirmed my location more or less, then went back and found it pretty easily. Too much thinking and second guessing did me in. Then heading due west to the main trail going to 2, I hit an uncrossable stream, mapped as crossable. I wasted some time following the stream south looking for a place to cross, then gave up and backtracked to the bridge. Then, going from 5 to 6, I wasn't thinking and found myself expecting to cross the same uncrossable steam, though at a different place. This time, it looked possible to wade across, so I ran up the stream to a spot that looked good and ... my feet sunk into the muck and I was totally immersed with my map underwater. It took some time to get out of the muck without cramping a hamstring or losing a shoe. The pink course lines and circles on the map were obliterated but fortunately the last control, 6, was our first sprint's 1 (right by a main trail), and I didn't much need the map the rest of the way. Always an adventure. |
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It's Pits 1 - Splits |
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It's Pits 2 - Splits |
Friday Mar 23 |
| Orienteering 1:01:09 [3] 4.8 km (12:44 / km) | |
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| At Norwottuck. Still 4-10 inches of snow, and lots of flooding around marshes that lead to last second route changes. My feet were literally frozen when I got back to the car, like two big senseless clubs stuck on to the end of my legs. The thawing out was excruciating. |
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| C • cold feet 6 |
Thursday Mar 22 |
| Road Run 42:31 [3] 5.0 mi (8:30 / mi) | |
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| Early AM run in NYC, mostly in Central Park. |
Tuesday Mar 20 |
| Trail Run 48:44 [3] 4.55 mi (10:42 / mi) | |
| weight:148lbs |
| Headed up the M&M from the little parking area off of Cushman Rd. near Atkins Reservoir. The snow was very soft, and my feet sunk in 2-6 inches with every step. So it was slow going, but good training. The run starts with a long grind uphill (my bad quad was screaming by the end), then a short steep drop along the power line, then a right turn onto a smaller trail that climbs gradually to Pratts Corner Rd. Then the much faster run back.
18:04 (right turn), 8:49 (road), 7:53 (left turn), 13:58.
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Monday Mar 19 |
| Road Run 49:03 [3] 6.0 mi (8:10 / mi) | |
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| Sand Hill loop. 8:41, 8:25, 10:32, 8:204:56, 8:07. |
Sunday Mar 18 |
| Track 2:53 [5] 0.8 km (3:36 / km) | |
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| Last indoor track meet of the season. Did the 800 as a prelude to the 3000. Goal was just to run under 3:00, but a fast first 200 (in 40 seconds) made that easy. It was one big heat of about 16, but oddly half were well ahead and half were well behind, so I was mostly on my own. But John Dent, a 50+ who always beats me in local road races, went by me on the final backstretch and cruised to the finish. |
| Track race 11:52 [5] 3 km (3:57 / km) vdot: 48.5 | |
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| 15 laps around the indoor track. My goal was to break 12:00, since that's a nice round number (4 minutes per k), and because it's exactly a minute per mile slower than my PR from 1996 (10:10). I had John Dent and another 50+ guy on my tail for the first mile, and even got my heel clipped once. Then they both went by me pretty decisively. The other guy slowed and I overtook him with two laps to go, but John Dent just kept stretching out his lead. This race felt surprisingly easy. I was holding something back for fear of bonking at the end; but though I slowed the second mile, I never felt weak and kept all laps at 48 or under. |
| Track 17:00 [2] 2.0 mi (8:30 / mi) | |
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| Jogging before, between, and after. |
Saturday Mar 17 |
| tennis 1:00:00 [1] | |
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| Indoor tennis with Adam. Barely loggable, though bending to pick up the balls was a strain. |
| Road Run 46:54 [3] 5.6 mi (8:22 / mi) | |
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| Clement Street loop. Back feeling sore from the tennis. |
Thursday Mar 15 |
| Track (tempo) 13:49 [4] 2.0 mi (6:55 / mi) | |
| weight:149lbs |
| Stayed indoors to avoid the dark, cold, and rain. Still feel generally worn down. 6:56, 6:53. |
| Track 16:00 [3] 2.0 mi (7:59 / mi) | |
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| Mile before, mile after. |
Wednesday Mar 14 |
| Trail/Road Run 49:49 [2] 5.8 mi (8:34 / mi) | |
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| Puffers loop, but cut off the second trail section because the trails are all ice and water and mud. Feeling way overtired. |
Tuesday Mar 13 |
| Road Run 38:01 [3] 4.8 mi (7:54 / mi) | |
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| UMass loop, in reverse. 8:26, 5:23, 12:14, 5:02, 6:54. |
Sunday Mar 11 |
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| Event: Valley Goat III
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| Orienteering 2:24:23 [3] 14.4 km (10:02 / km) | |
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| On a lark, went down to DVOA land to run the "Valley Goat" at Valley Forge. Ran on two maps: Mt. Joy, which was a joy to run on with lots of rough open, and decent woods; and Mt Misery, which is also aptly named, with lots of steep hillsides, either rocky or muddy from the previous day's rain. A mix of the good, the bad, and the ugly. The good: didn't miss anything (but see below), even though lots of flags were well hidden in ditches and thickets; no doubt it helped to have Glen and Karl nearby for much of the run. The Bad: felt physically feeble over the second half, especially on the steep ups and downs. The Ugly: mispunched the second control. Like other goat events, I wasn't looking at the map much at the start. I was behind others who went to the wrong control (maybe 50 meters from the right control), and punched without ever checking the control number or the feature. I thought I was over that. Guess not.
But good training. And at least no injury problems. |
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Long - Splits |
Friday Mar 9 |
| Road Run 46:48 [3] 5.9 mi (7:56 / mi) | |
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| Sand Hill loop. Felt OK, but couldn't get me legs to go any faster. 8:00, 7:54, 10:11 (26:06), 8:08, 4:46, 7:46 (20:42). |
Thursday Mar 8 |
| machines (bike) 30:00 [3] | |
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Wednesday Mar 7 |
| Road Run 40:16 [3] 4.8 mi (8:23 / mi) | |
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| UMass loop, slow. Legs tired, bitter cold in the wind. |
Tuesday Mar 6 |
| Track (intervals) 12:55 [5] 2.0 mi (6:27 / mi) | |
| max:156 |
| Smith indoor track, single digits outside. Two 1600's with full rest between. The second was such a struggle that I canned the planned third. Probably should be doing these slower, given my current fitness level. 6:29, 6:26 |
| Track 16:28 [3] 2.0 mi (8:14 / mi) | |
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| Mile before, mile after. Smith softball team was practicing in the infield with the curtain open on the sides and the foul lines extending onto the track. Had to crane my neck to watch for errant balls. |
Monday Mar 5 |
| machines (elliptical) 30:00 [3] | |
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Sunday Mar 4 |
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| Event: Pine Hil Sprints
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| Road Run 5:00 [2] 0.5 mi (10:00 / mi) | |
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| Easy jog around parking area for warm-up. |
| Orienteering race (sprint) 26:49 [4] 2.7 km (9:56 / km) | |
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| Two very easy "yellow" sprints at Pine Hill in Medford. Trails were a mix of packed slush and ice, but OK with spikes on. Pretty nasty woods, with pockets of briars everywhere.
Sprint 1 was a bust. I was doing fine through 6, with good energy. Then, I went up the knoll for 7 and couldn't see any flag. Clue was "southern part", but the flag was misplaced a bit off to the side. Lost 3-4 minutes wandering, and rechecking my position. Then I lost 2 more minutes not reading the clue for 9 (bare rock) and checking out the bottom of the cliffs. |
| Orienteering race (sprint) 20:35 [4] 2.7 km (7:37 / km) | |
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| Sprint 2 went fine. Just a couple of small hesitations. And none of my chronic injuries gave me any trouble. |
| squash 45:00 [3] | |
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| Extensive warm-up; then six games with Adam with scores ranging between 9-5 and 9-2. (He beat me one game last time we played.) |
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Sprint 1 - Splits |
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Sprint 2 - Splits |
Saturday Mar 3 |
| Orienteering 27:00 [3] 2.4 km (11:15 / km) | |
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| Mt. Tom, 4-5" of wet snow. Did a "sprint" course to get my mind right for tomorrow's sprints. Feet were frozen by the end; like running in ice water. |
Friday Mar 2 |
| machines (bike, h12) 30:00 [3] | |
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| After lifting at Smith. Good day to stay indoors. |
Thursday Mar 1 |
| Road Run (tempo) 35:17 [4] 5.0 mi (7:03 / mi) | |
| ahr:150 max:156 |
| CTC race course, about 40 degrees (shorts and tee shirt). Good, hard, steady effort, a minute faster than two months ago. 6:54, 7:05, 7:03, 7:02, 7:10. |
| Road Run 8:15 [2] 1.0 mi (8:15 / mi) | |
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| Warrm-up. |