Training Log Archive: iansmith

Felt ok and antsy, so gave my usual strength training a shot. Stomach was a bit agitated, but no more than is typical for this. I usually do supermans in 5-10s on, 1-2s off, but I just held it this time to my great agony.

Tuckups, kayakers, plank, leg lifts, bicycles;
Double calf raise, lunges, squats, single calf raise x2, deadlifts;
Oblique crunches, side plank x2, supermans, wall sits.

Event: NEOC: Prospect Hill
 

Yesterday, I slept for all but 4-5 hours, drank about a liter of ginger ale and water, and ate a bite of granola bar. I woke up this morning still feeling weak, with a headache and an extremely volatile stomach; I considered running, but ultimately decided against it. By the evening, I was able to eat some quantities of foods like fruit smoothie and mac and cheese, so the bulk of the turbulence seems to be gone. Hopefully I can go for a run tomorrow, as I am missing training at one of the worst possible times relative to the trials.

C • Aw 7

My stomach woke me up with pain at around 4 AM, and I spent much of the rest of the night involuntarily vacating its contents. Even drinking water or eating a piece of granola didn't stay down, so I reluctantly decided to skip the long.

Event: Flying Pig XVII and Eastern Interscholastic Champs
 

Downloaded data is pending my return to Boston, as my ANT stick is there.

The good about the race: I generally made good decisions, both achilles' tendons held up fine, and I was doing an adequate job reading ahead. I was in second place halfway through the course, but just couldn't hang on.

The bad: I felt sluggish physically, I apparently slowed down after the spectator control, and I hesitated twice when I wasn't sure if a particular feature was crossable. I lacked any zip in my legs, and it took an unusual amount of will to run with any speed. I had already decided that given the questionable achilles, I wanted the option of bailing without affecting my ranking, so I told Valerie to exclude this race from my rankings.

Control by control:
1-3: big open field, no challenges. I ran left of the lake and hopped the walls between 2-3. This was all running speed. The start triangle was at the start, so I was a little cautious for the first few seconds while I oriented.
4: Contour lines were printed over the paths, so I wasn't certain the rightmost path through the olive green existed. Fortunately, it did.
5: Right, up the stairs. I didn't notice the stairs when planning my route, but they weren't terribly costly.
6: Left around the building. I passed two other runners here.
7: Right around NCC-1701, then left into the control. I wasn't sure which stone wall corner the control was in, and left seemed to be the best option.
8: Through the breezeway; in hindsight, I figured this was an error, but it didn't seem to matter.
9: Straight, hopped two crossable walls. Straight to 10.
11: Right around the building, which I had settled on even without considering the stairs.
12: Up stairs, straight.
13: Left around the first building, around the arcing path, past 20, and straight in. I used the small building as a visible guiding feature.
14: Only 1 route.
15: I saw lots of olive green and uncrossable walls, so I stayed high until I cleared all that before attacking. Ali and I were tied here, so I lost all my time on the course to her over 16-24.
16: Apparently, I started slowing down here. There was a guy ahead of me into 16.
17: Took extra care to miss the olive, then ran unnecessarily up and down along the path rather than going straight.
18: Ran to the path, then winded. Saw the tree from far away.
19: Straight.
20: Straight.
21: Probably overly concerned with the paths; I was smoked by Eric, who looked for the bridge and blasted down to the control.
22-24: Trudge and into the finish, briefly into the lead before Ali.

C • I wanted the option of bail... 6

Warmup. HR data is clearly wonky.

Flying Pig sprint race. HR data is still bad, but the pace shows my sluggish movement at the end; perhaps I was more tired than I thought. Some of the speed penalty emerges because controls 16-23 were in a semi-wooded area and had lots of direction changes relative to the earlier open running.

Cool down run with Clem and Ali.

I was displeased with the last third of the course; I hemorrhaged time from controls 16-23, so I reran 14-23. I had rested, so I was fresh, but between running faster and smoother navigation, I shaved 40 seconds off the 6 minutes I spent on this during the course. I need to focus and dig deep for all possible speed at the end of sprint races, which are somewhat opposed goals. The sprint was a little long, but not so much that I should bleed off a minute without any major errors. I wobbled a bunch around 17 during the race primarily because I was concentrating on avoiding some olive green flower beds.

IU_Campus_Sprint_2013_8 Blue - Splits

What now, Anna?

I would encourage people to sign up for the following:
Speedy goat: http://attackpoint.org/eventdetail.jsp/event_13760
Billygoat: http://attackpoint.org/eventdetail.jsp/event_11530
Traverse: http://attackpoint.org/eventdetail.jsp/event_13849

The first two have advance registration, so please follow the links. In addition to supporting the US team, the Speedy goat is one of the few sprint relays in North America. The Sprint relay has been added to the WOC program starting for Italy in 2014, and judging by the IOF's marketing efforts, we will see the discipline more often as it's television friendly. Come to Cemetery Hill and experience it for yourself!

C • Sleep 2