Training Log Archive: iansmithIn the 7 days ending May 12, 2009:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| « | » |
| » now | ||||||||||
|
|
| |||||||||||
| We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | Mo | Tu | |||||||
Tuesday May 12, 2009 #
Event: CSU Franklin Park Park-O
Orienteering race 26:29 [4] 3.1 km (8:33 / km) +75m 7:37 / km
shoes: 200811 NB MT800
Not a great race for me.
Sunday May 10, 2009 #
Event: Billygoat
Orienteering 1:48:08 [3] *** 10.8 km (10:01 / km) +305m 8:46 / km
23c shoes: 200811 NB MT800
Billygoat. Commentary and analysis to come.
I finished 24th out of the 78 who finished in under the 3.5 hour limit. The winning time (essentially all by Erik Nystrom, Will Hawkins, and Jon Torrance) was 80:19, which puts my run at around 75 points. While I am not displeased, I am disappointed that I did not have a better run; twenty fourth is not acceptable, even given the competitiveness of the field.
Positive observations: I was able to hold a steady though hardly aggressive pace throughout the run without assistance from energy gels or food. I have benefited from energy gels on all my previous long races (Blue Hills Traverse, any A-meet Long). I navigated essentially alone for most of the race (6-10, 13 to the end); while my plan was to shamelessly follow the Saegers the entire way, I'm pleased that I was able to navigate without major difficulties.
I was reading ahead on the way to 1 and 2; I followed Alexei to 1 and Joe Brautigam (who was following Will) to 2. I started reading en route to 3, and elected to run to the left of the marsh en route to 4. While running to 4, I was passed by Sergei Zhyk, Eric Nystrom, and Clem McGrath; I stuck with Clem to four, but lost him immediately afterwards. I decided not to actively try to stay with any of them. I didn't actually notice the fork, so I ran to the right control 5 through relatively unpleasant and impenetrable vegetation before the trail; Andrew Childs passed me in the vegetation just after the stream.
I traveled solo to 6 to the north of the swamp. In hindsight, traveling south of the swamp was a better route. I heard the Saegers leaving 6 as I approached, and though I frantically tried to punch and catch them, I didn't catch sight of them again. I had elected to skip 7 en route to 4, so I booked it to 8 alone. My plan to get to 9 was to go due south and hit the small trail, follow it to the road, and so on, but I had difficulty finding the trail. I probably lost a full minute meandering through vegetation with poor contact, though it was a safe route sticking to my compass.
Andrew Childs and Nate Lyons caught me on the way to eleven, and I followed them (also with David Onkst, I think) to 12, where I ran into Clem (who seemed surprised to see me). I set out from 12 before Clem did, and I failed to see him again - I'm curious how he got to 13 without me seeing him at all. I took what I considered a good, though somewhat unplanned route to 13; I went south of the northern uncrossable swamp, south of the long marsh, connected to the trail, then cut northeast until I linked up with the trail that hit the eastern edge of the rough open. I caught up to Andrew Childs on the trail, and moved parallel and behind him to 13 and 14. It was clear he was skipping 15, so I moved almost due north up the reentrant to 15.
I ran into Tim Parson and David Onkst at the powerlines on my way to 15. I led the way to 16 and 17, fell back on the way to 18, and led again to 19. I made another (:30) mistake to 20, and Tim Parson seized the opportunity to break away. I led to 21 (on which both David and I made a mistake) and 22. My instinct was to sprint to the end (and I may have been able to catch Audun, whom I saw while I was coming to 23), but I decided to wait for David to finish together, though he encouraged me to sprint to the finish at the go control.
I finished 24th out of the 78 who finished in under the 3.5 hour limit. The winning time (essentially all by Erik Nystrom, Will Hawkins, and Jon Torrance) was 80:19, which puts my run at around 75 points. While I am not displeased, I am disappointed that I did not have a better run; twenty fourth is not acceptable, even given the competitiveness of the field.
Positive observations: I was able to hold a steady though hardly aggressive pace throughout the run without assistance from energy gels or food. I have benefited from energy gels on all my previous long races (Blue Hills Traverse, any A-meet Long). I navigated essentially alone for most of the race (6-10, 13 to the end); while my plan was to shamelessly follow the Saegers the entire way, I'm pleased that I was able to navigate without major difficulties.
I was reading ahead on the way to 1 and 2; I followed Alexei to 1 and Joe Brautigam (who was following Will) to 2. I started reading en route to 3, and elected to run to the left of the marsh en route to 4. While running to 4, I was passed by Sergei Zhyk, Eric Nystrom, and Clem McGrath; I stuck with Clem to four, but lost him immediately afterwards. I decided not to actively try to stay with any of them. I didn't actually notice the fork, so I ran to the right control 5 through relatively unpleasant and impenetrable vegetation before the trail; Andrew Childs passed me in the vegetation just after the stream.
I traveled solo to 6 to the north of the swamp. In hindsight, traveling south of the swamp was a better route. I heard the Saegers leaving 6 as I approached, and though I frantically tried to punch and catch them, I didn't catch sight of them again. I had elected to skip 7 en route to 4, so I booked it to 8 alone. My plan to get to 9 was to go due south and hit the small trail, follow it to the road, and so on, but I had difficulty finding the trail. I probably lost a full minute meandering through vegetation with poor contact, though it was a safe route sticking to my compass.
Andrew Childs and Nate Lyons caught me on the way to eleven, and I followed them (also with David Onkst, I think) to 12, where I ran into Clem (who seemed surprised to see me). I set out from 12 before Clem did, and I failed to see him again - I'm curious how he got to 13 without me seeing him at all. I took what I considered a good, though somewhat unplanned route to 13; I went south of the northern uncrossable swamp, south of the long marsh, connected to the trail, then cut northeast until I linked up with the trail that hit the eastern edge of the rough open. I caught up to Andrew Childs on the trail, and moved parallel and behind him to 13 and 14. It was clear he was skipping 15, so I moved almost due north up the reentrant to 15.
I ran into Tim Parson and David Onkst at the powerlines on my way to 15. I led the way to 16 and 17, fell back on the way to 18, and led again to 19. I made another (:30) mistake to 20, and Tim Parson seized the opportunity to break away. I led to 21 (on which both David and I made a mistake) and 22. My instinct was to sprint to the end (and I may have been able to catch Audun, whom I saw while I was coming to 23), but I decided to wait for David to finish together, though he encouraged me to sprint to the finish at the go control.
Note
A group of orienteers went to see Star Trek at Boston Common Sunday night; our discussion afterward flitted among a wide range of subjects, and we witnessed the clutch conclusion to game 4 of the Celtics-Magic series. Our efforts to persuade Jon Torrance to become a lifetime member of CSU were unsuccessful.
On Star Trek, http://www.theonion.com/content/video/trekkies_bas...
On Star Trek, http://www.theonion.com/content/video/trekkies_bas...
Thursday May 7, 2009 #
Running 44:27 [2] 8.5 km (5:14 / km)
shoes: 200811 NB Absorb EX 12
A late night run with Brendan after the CSU A-meet review meeting near Tufts. The distance is a guess based on 5:15/km; I wasn't paying enough attention to our route to measure it on the gmaps pedometer.
We talked a lot about future plans for CSU including the annual meeting, C-meets in the fall, parks to consider remapping, ways to generate/use income, and NOT purchasing a set of e-punch boxes. Hopefully we'll run more often together; it's refreshing to have a training partner.
Friday is V-E Day; woot. I was planning on having a long run tomorrow, but I already had a 75 minute run on Sunday, and my actions Friday can at best not hurt me on the Billygoat. More precisely, there is no immediate training benefit to a long run tomorrow. Brendan and I also discussed Billygoat strategy: I'm debating attaching myself to Ian Finlayson's posse or Peter Gagarin's posse. I'm not terribly familiar with the segment of the field that I can feasibly follow.
We talked a lot about future plans for CSU including the annual meeting, C-meets in the fall, parks to consider remapping, ways to generate/use income, and NOT purchasing a set of e-punch boxes. Hopefully we'll run more often together; it's refreshing to have a training partner.
Friday is V-E Day; woot. I was planning on having a long run tomorrow, but I already had a 75 minute run on Sunday, and my actions Friday can at best not hurt me on the Billygoat. More precisely, there is no immediate training benefit to a long run tomorrow. Brendan and I also discussed Billygoat strategy: I'm debating attaching myself to Ian Finlayson's posse or Peter Gagarin's posse. I'm not terribly familiar with the segment of the field that I can feasibly follow.