Training Log Archive: iansmith

Warmup jog over to the start. I arrived with about ten minutes to spare and got to stop by the bathroom at the start. I had forgotten my bib. I took a Gu before my start and brought two more, which I took at controls 7 and 15.

Team Trials long course - Shell Ridge, listed as 10.75/635. Course by Erin Schirm. Executive summary: an acceptable if not stellar result, somewhat better than yesterday's middle. Technically, it was fine though I made some adventurous route choices, but I didn't have enough physically to compete for the top spots. Eight minutes back of Eddie, and Ethan'd and Matej'd.

My cold seemed to be improving, though I still consumed half a dozen puffs clearing out my nose this morning. I took the standard pseudoephedrine dose and drank about 200 mg of caffeine with breakfast. Coming in, I was apprehensive about my physical state; the terrain looked much faster and more physical than yesterday's.

I started comfortably hard, but felt good on the long leg climb and descent into 2. Physically, I started to fade a little after halfway through - I felt drained around 14 in particular. In the middle of the race, I imagined myself as a bold mountain cow (bull) gallivanting across the rugged terrain. Would bold mountain cow mispunch? Would bold mountain cow take anything less than a brazen and decisive route choice?

The first major decision was at 5 (19:55 - 35:36 on my track): plausible routes were far right on the trail, left around the right, and what I ultimately decided - up and over, then contouring around some mini-ridges. Nikolay went left, Eddie also went straight, and Matej and Ethan took right. All three times seemed comparable, and I'm ok with my decision. The right route had a great attack and a gentle grade, but didn't have that much less climb than straight.

The loop on the northern section of the course was uneventful apart from a fortuitous trail route from 7-8 that everyone seems to have taken. Controls 10-11 were quite a slog, leading nicely into the long leg to 12 (59:11-1:17 on track). I again elected to go straight over; while slightly right of that seems to have been better, my route wasn't appreciably slower than wide left or right and had a very solid attack. The rest of the course was uneventful but demanding of focus and tenacity. I'm disappointed to not be in the 98-100 minute group, but I don't think I could have run much faster at present. I hope that my cold accounts for at least 2-3 minutes of lost time.

Easy cool down run around the finish area. ("Hey Mats,") One day, I will figure out how to not trip buttons on my Garmin.

Long blue - Splits

Event: Run Black Diamond
 

I forgot my ANT stick, so this is a placeholder entry until I import the actual data.

My race was adequate but unremarkable; I finished 7 minutes behind ebone, 4 back of Wyatt, 2 behind Kenny and Matej, and 1 behind Ethan. Given my cold, my run could have been much worse. I felt like getting oxygen was my limiting factor rather than muscles fatigue, lactate, or stamina. I had one 2.5 minute error where I navigated to 4 instead of 9, and another minute at 10, where I marched too high on the hill rather than taking the control straight. I suppose I have to hope that this run gets dropped.

C • ant stick 2

After the walk to the arena, I jogged the 1.4 km to the start and ran a few quick reps in the terrain. I arrived at the start 15 minutes before my start time.

Cool down in the parking lot commiserating.

Middle Blue - Splits

Running around on a BAOC Morgan Territory course to get a feel for the terrain; Anna was part of my posse. Ran into Taco-C in the parking lot. This was my first real running in almost a week.

March has been a huge disappointment, logistically and physiologically. A combination of poor planning, busyness, and weak body have resulted in a poor performance. On the plus side, my legs feel very good, and I was running well last week. Unfortunately, I seem to be dying of a miniplague that I hope to crush with pseudoephedrine, drown with fluids, and sleep off tomorrow.

C • Feel better 4

Some tune-up O in the Blue Hills.