Training Log Archive: Anna

15 bicycles
one minute scissors (6 inches)
barefoot stride
20 side-to-side back-ups
15 calf raises toes in
15 calf raises toes out
barefoot stride
7 dog pees each leg
15 pushups
barefoot stride
one minute front plank lifting legs
something that was abs
50 m toe pops
25 m A-skips
25 m B-skips
50 m jog
50 m karaoke (switched sides in middle)
50 m cycle every 5, 50 m every 3
50 m butt-kicks
25 m forward lunges
25 m backward lunges

First did longer course that Rick had on one of his maps, then did 4 tapes that he set out.
This was supposed to be a secondary workout for cross country, but the terrain was too rough for me to have quick turnover. I even walked a couple places. Actually, on one place I couldn't really walk because the rocks under the leaves kept sliding down the hill and I kept falling down and kind of crawling. (I just did 5 minutes more to make up for it, but it was still frustrating.)
Navigationally, I felt like I was making progress in what I've been working on. I made more decisions about where to read ahead and did not change my plans during the legs. The 4 middle legs Rick hung tapes for at the end felt especially smooth. I payed good attention to what was higher, what was lower, and by how much, which was quite helpful. Too bad I'm still not good enough at estimating heights on hills!
I did have trouble finding good places to read the map, but that was just because I wasn't used to the gravelly terrain and there weren't really many trails. Maybe the problem was actually that I wasn't good enough at reading the map in terrain with unsure footing. Because I don't think there was really anything wrong with my plans.
A couple places I went to far to relocate and then came back, first intentionally and then because I missed the feature. The depression #4 was on was minute. I had to go to where the little shelf disappeared to verify where I was, and I was in the right spot. Maybe it had gotten partially filled in since the map was made?
And then my 5 was on a cairn, but I was looking for a boulder cluster, which was pretty stupid. So I ran right by the cairn and had to relocate on the end of the cliff 125 meters away. (I had actually written control descriptions, but I was in a hurry and wrote this one wrong.)

So overall, even though the terrain was too physical for what I wanted to accomplish today, that didn't stop me from at least getting some valuable O' practice. But next week I need to plan the O' earlier so at least if it's not fast enough to be a cross country workout I can make it up another day.

This was after dark because it was really hot today. So instead of reading a map I decided to practice estimating distance. I picked an object I though was 100 meters away, like a car or a tree, and I would count my paces to it. I knew it was about 40-something. I found out that 100 meters looks longer than I thought. So then after I got to the point where most of my guesses actually ended up being around 40 paces, I found myself by the track and decided to test 100 meters at the pace I'd been running. I went around the track again and again and each 100 turned out to be 44. So then I went around with the new number. It was actually really convenient, because it's divisible by 4 so I know that every 11 paces is about 25 meters.

Anyway, I have a lot of room for improvement in this area, and I'm sure it will provide me with endless entertainment during the cross country season:)
After I master 100 meters, I plan on being able to guess progressively smaller distances.

C • distance estimation 1

can't remember what I did, but I did 4 strides instead of 3. A shame! That'll teach me to leave my logging till 2 days later!

Long run with Molly. We had this elaborate plan because the other St. Louis girl on the team had been talking for a long time about this long run that includes 3 of our high school cross country courses that are all within running distance of each other, but then I read the part of our training plan that says, "Long runs are not to exceed 20% of the total weekly volume," and that killed that plan. I'd have to be running at least 60 miles a week, because I'm pretty sure the courses aren't really very close.

Anyway, she lives at the end of Delmar, so we just ran towards each other till we met and then I took her on a loop through U. City. It was faster than I normally run my long runs, or maybe I was just tired from yesterday. I also don't usually run my long runs the day after a workout. Anyway, my legs have been a bit tired lately, and they're also sore because I just started circuit again because I didn't want to start it before JWOC. Anyway, the point of all this complaining is that there are a lot of things to make me tired this week, but I'll probably feel better next week.

Brought a map from a local Italian meet, at Montepiano, and went through my planning routine for 5 controls after Molly and I split ways.

Did this before my run with Molly. Only did 3 strides today because I was tired.

1 min front plank
15 crunches knees bent
15 crunches legs straight up, touching toes
barefoot stride
calf raises
20 normal back-ups
barefoot stride
15 stationary lunges
15 pushups
barefoot stride
15 crunches knees to right
15 knees to left
10 bicycles

circuit w/ Becka again, this time we went to the high school track, and the field was a lot nicer on my bare feet.

10 "beached wales" each side
20 medium-paced bicycles
stride
30 calf raises
about 15 meters forward lunges
about 15 meters backward lunges
stride
plank up-and-downs
50 "swimming" each side
stride
12 single leg balance each side
stride
1 min each side plank with leg, arm, and hip raises

This was the first one that I did. It ended up being really fast, with a lot of areas where you could see really far. My goal was to plan where to read ahead on each leg. It felt really silly on legs where I could look at my map easily whenever I wanted, but as I got farther into the course it was helpful to have already made a plan about when I would look at the map so that I wasn't spending more time looking at the next leg than I needed too. I think it also helped me not change my plans.
My other goal was to not change my plans. (This is my new biggest goal, because at JWOC almost every one of my mistakes involved me changing my plan.) On the way to 3 I caught myself thinking about going right to 4 after I'd already decided to go left on the way to 2, but I didn't do it.
My only real mistake was that I had wavered about my decision on 8 whether to take the little trail or the big trail. I'd chosen the big trail but accidentally took the little trail instead. Then I did the rest of the leg like my original plan just because it was simpler, and it ended up being shorter than my other option.

Here's the course:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3477/3749683886_8ac...

Here are my splits:
1:03
1:23
1:26
:44
1:47
1:45
:47
3:07
1:17
1:01
1:10
:26

Not sure how useful they are.

C • That was the best time so f... 1

The best thing ever happened today! Since I ran these so cleanly I can count them as my primary workout (mostly this one) of the week for cross country! This works because this early in the season we're actually not supposed to know what pace we're running and we just run on feel. It fits in perfectly with sprint training! That means that I don't have to do a tempo Saturday and I can go back to the woods!

In this sprint I lost time in 2 places: at the second control I stopped at the first sidewalk junction and then didn't see the streamer and went to the second. At the 8th control I thought the water crossing would be visible so I didn't think to use the yellow on the right side to know when to turn in but a few meters past the yellow I realized I'd gone too far. Also, I stopped before crossing because there was really thick vegetation and I didn't know where I could get through.

I also wish I would've planned 5 more quickly because I didn't decide early enough whether to go to the road or not.

Here's the course:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2643/3749682816_984...

C • Oh boy! 3

warmup, cooldown, recovery. Felt fried after Sprint 1. Took about 5 minutes standing rest then jogged around for another 5-10. Would've stalled longer but I didn't have time.

Sprint 1 - Splits

Sprint #2 - Splits

After setting out my tapes, I had more time till the agreed-upon meeting time so I did my circuit and sockfoot strides in the road. I measured 100 meters between a road junction and a reentrant that came right up to the road.

10 side-to-side double leg raises
20 side-to-side back-ups
stride
12 each side single leg balance drill
calf raises? I'm not sure, but it was another one where I wasn't laying on the ground, because that was the end with no grass.
stride
7 dog pees each leg
10 each side front plank up-and-downs
stride
10 each side twisting situps
20 each side bicycles

Set tapes for controls 9, 10, 5, 4, 3 of the course Mom drew, then ran back on the road. I got off to a not-so-pleasant start because the woods were super-thick where I left the road, but it felt a lot better after that. Goal was to be super-careful since I had to set tapes and since there were a lot of similar-looking reentrants and ditches, and it went quite well in that respect. I also wanted to include in my leg plans where I would plan the next leg, but that was not 100%. I always had a complete plan for the next control, but I caught myself a couple times being indecisive. I didn't change my plans at all during the legs.

For the course to have felt really good, I would have had to plan the places where I'd read ahead. It felt much smoother on the legs when I did it right, because I wasn't hesitating where I couldn't read easily, trying to decide whether or not I should plan ahead. This terrain was good to make me notice that, because there was lots of underbrush concealing fallen trees, so you really had to pick carefully where you wanted to read the map.

Ran to some of the controls Mom put out the tapes for, and some without tapes: 12, 7, 2, 1, 8, 13. Compass was very important, which made lots of the legs simple because you didn't have to make as many decisions about how to find the controls; there weren't really trails, lots of it was very flat, it wasn't steep enough to contour, and all the vegetation was the same. The compass work was good for me, and it went cleanly except on leg 1-8 where I didn't have a clear plan. It was one of those painfully frustrating legs where I couldn't decide between going straight and going all the way around, so I went halfway around, not taking the short route and also not taking the safe route. Recovered relatively quickly but it was still really frustrating.

I was really glad to get out in the woods, and the fact that Mom said the woods were "unbearable," or "impossible," or something like that, made me feel tough. It was challenging to run through all that junk.
What made me even happier was that I only got one chigger and 2 ticks. I was expecting my socks to be full of chiggers! Actually, probably the happiest part of my day was when I checked my socks afterwards and didn't find any itchy animals. Maybe they were scared off by all the spiders I accumulated.

Ali was there again today, and she was pushing the pace a little. Naturally, I did too. My legs felt a lot better than last week, but I'm not sure whether that was because of the ice bath in the cave on the Jack's Fork yesterday or the fact that I didn't begin my run with 2 miles at tempo pace today. I wasn't breathing really hard, and Ali and I were talking about a pre-frosh she hosted that we got on our team instead. Hahahahaha!
Highlights of the run include me tripping on a manhole cover and falling in the street and me going through my reading-ahead routine for the first 10 controls of a blue course from Pinckney Recreation Area in southern Michigan. My main focus was including in my route choice where I will read ahead for the next leg.

12 single leg balance
15 pushups
1 stride
25 calf hops
40 v-ups
1 stride
2 min plank counting climb on same map as this morning
15 lunges each leg
1 stride
50 back-ups
1 min. plank each side with hip/leg/arm raises and counting climb on same map as this morning

Mom and Dad went to add a trail and a tree to the map for Wednesday, and they were late so I had time to do 2 sets of knee exercises.

Trying to find 100 meters to do my strides on, I noticed how much my stride length changes at different speeds.
For one distance, I walked and it took 72 paces. I jogged and it took 54. I ran an easy run pace and it was 43 paces, and I did a stride and it was 34 paces.
So I decided to stop by the track on the way home, and I ran a few strides.

26.4 seconds (7:02 pace) took 37 paces.
20.2 seconds (5:23 pace) took 31 paces.
30 seconds (8:00 pace) took 41 paces.

I've been planning on practicing distance estimation in the fall when cross country starts, so now I can check my guesses at easy day pace and also tempo pace! Also, I discovered that my guess today was within about 4 meters of being accurate.