Training Log Archive: iansmith

Event: West Point A-meet
 

I didn't have my watch running for the entire warmup; I did about ten minutes running to the start, then jogged around at the start between socializing. I need to remember to focus before races and not mingle with folks.

West Point Middle Distance 1: I ran a solid race with three small route choice errors, one bobble near the circle, and a respectable physical performance. I had no major errors and felt good. I was a bit cautious on the course - I often slowed down as I neared the circle.

1: I ran up the left edge of the reentrant, entered the circle about one line too high and had to come down. Good contact with the map - I had some slight hesitation near the circle (10s).
2: Hammered down the hill, passed the slanting reentrant, checked off the boulders to my left, and tried to see the rise of the contours. The green was more revealing, but I spiked it. 10s hesitation.
3: Poor route execution. Plan was to run up the trail to just before the intersection, then attack up the reentrant to the control. I attacked too early trying to save 5s of running and lost 30-45s trudging up a cliff band. Running the whole trail would have been faster.
4: Straight; got stuck in the green just right of the line on the uphill for perhaps 15s.
5: I started reading 8-7, went too far to the right, and had to fight through the slash. 15s.
6: Left of the line, sidled around the edge of the cliffs, then charged down the reentrant. Ed was just ahead of me at the control.
7: Went lowish, but not all the way to the trail (which probably was better). Chasing ken.
8: Straight; once I was over the hill, I could see the feature from 50m.
9: Route choice error. I chose to go right, aimed for the stream, ran down the reentrant to the double knkoll, then traversed right. The running was very fast, but I ended up going further than had I gone left. I was also confused by the contours in the circle - thinking I was aiming for a saddle, so I hesitated for 10-15s when I found a big reentrant instead. I was above the cliff, so I had to come down before I saw the flag. 20-30s.
10: Very tentative; Erin caught up to me and we reached the bag simultaneously. Perhaps 20s of hesitation.
11: Erin charged up the hill cutting about due west; I decided to run further down the spur. We intersected again on the trail, and took slightly different microroutes into the control. He reached the bag ahead of me.
12: I tried to lose Erin, but my route to the trail meandered a bit. I put all the speed on that I could without full out sprinting (three more races) into the trivial control.
13-F: Cruising, didn't want to overdo it.

Estimate 2:20 of hesitation and errors.

Started a cool down with Giacomo that ended when we found people with whom to socialize. Oops.

West Point Sprint: a mediocre result with numerous bobbles. After a break of about 2.5 hours - including a sandwich and some light snacking - I was feeling confident coming off the middle distance. My warmup was somewhat abbreviated from too much socializing - I think 20 minutes would have been better. I didn't have any calamitous controls, but I did have 4 costly suboptimal route choices. My effort was consistent throughout the run, and I caught up to Andy Strat at control 14, which helped push me through to the end. The field was a bit spread out, but I finished a disappointing two minutes back of the winner.

Control 1-2: Started with Angelica, and I pushed hard out of the start to the first two controls. I was clean, though deflected by a fallen tree.
C3: I elected to run below the first line of cliffs - I noticed a shelf that looked good - then cross the second line of cliffs and into the pipe bend. Plan and execution were good, with a fast effort for the first half of the leg. I was overly tentative in the second half given that the control was on a pipeline that was impossible to miss. Perhaps 15s slow.
C4: Bad route choice: I elected to run right rather than take the left trail route. I had to hop three fences and punch through a little nasty green. 15-20s.
C5: Fine.
C6: Fine; slow on the uphill.
C7: Bad route choice: my old conundrum of trail or woods. I elected to run straight (as is generally my preference), and ended up above the cliff with slow running. 10-15s lost compared to the fast road route.
C8: Fine; ran past the tennis court and noticed the fence openings.
C9: Through the court, fast.
C10: Fine.
C11: A little hesitant for no apparent reason. 5s.
C12: Ran left of the line to the road rather than straight; probably 5s.
C13: I hadn't decided to take the bridge, and took a handful of steps before having to backtrack around the bridge rail. 10s.
C14: Bad route choice: the green looked bad, so I decided to run low on the road. I underestimated the climb. I checked off the little reentrant and the spur, but Andy was searching in the circle, so I slowed to look for the pit control. I was about 10m from the control, but didn't see it for a few seconds. 30-40s.
C15: Ran low and right; checked off the marsh, little hill, and spur. I ran hard to try to ditch Andy.
C16: Started to go straight, but then cut to the right to get to the white woods. 10s. Andy went right from the first and passed me.
C17: Passed Andy and tried to lose him; hard effort.
F: Didn't want to overdo it in the chute, so somewhat leisurely. Andy put on the afterburners and beat me by a nose.
Time lost: 1:40.

Day 1, Mid, Blue - Splits

Day 1, Sprint, Blue - Splits

Commute to work.

Event: CSU Park-O #2: Peters Hill
 

Park-O - Splits

It turns out "not much" and "a lot" are not valid entries for the "Sleep" and "Weight" fields in attackpoint.

Commute to work. Legs felt much stiffer than they did yesterday.

Run to track workout.

More warmup with Terry, Kevin, Alex and Anna. This shouldn't have been a separate track. Oops.

CSU track workout. Conditions were grim with a temperature of 8-10 C, a wind of 20-30 kph, and a light falling mist. I was wearing a long shirt and tights, and was still cold at times. We warmed up and ran drills and strides; I didn't record the drills. The workout was a pyramid of 600, 1000, 1200, 1200, 1000, 600, with 200m rest between each bout. CSU-O had good turnout, with Alex, Anna, and Brendan. I tucked behind Kevin and Terry for all six intervals; I was able to hang with them for the 600s, but fell perhaps 15-30m back on the longer intervals.

Splits:
600, 1000, 1200: 2:07, 3:29, 4:17
1200, 1000, 600: 4:18, 3:34, 2:00

My legs felt very tired an hour or two after the workout, probably from a combination of going a bit faster than I'm used to and from the Billygoat.

Easy recovery run, finishing with 4x30s strides. Anecdotally, average HR < 150 is a heuristic for what feels like an easy run to me, so I may have pushed the effort a bit. Still irritated with myself.

Event: The 35th annual Billygoat Run
 

2013 Billygoat, my third. I orienteered neither well nor fast, and my performance was very disappointing. More to come.

Cool down jog. Displeased with myself.

Billygoat - Splits