Training Log Archive: matzah ball

stretch, running, flex

another attempt at interval (VO2 max workout). 3 x 1200 w/4-5mR. 4:44,4;48, 5:02. Still not hitting interval pace, and tailing off at end but better. Obviously this is something I need to work on, so rather than regarding these workouts as failures, will look at them as neccesary steps and keep doing them. Then after long walk/jog rest, 4 x 45 seconds fast along the RDP on way home.

in wilmore park

part am stretch and then flex

Slightly better temps and air. Start cx training insurance policy. Interesting to see if it hurts my run tommorow.

am stretch and then running drill at track

3 x 1200 on track. was going to do interval pace, but after one lap legs felt heavy and i started over, shooting for tempo but didn't even make that. Kept getting worse too. 4:52, 5:08, 5:17. 2 min. rest.

Attribute poor running to bad air, heat, and all the changes of the last few days.

Garden and nursing home

easy run in Wilmore. after a travel day on the bus, some kinks to work out. hamstrings tight.

Pick up prints at printer, deliver some tomatoes to friend.

wonderful travel day on the greyhound. Somebody stole almost all my clothes that were in a stuff sack.

TRIP SUMMARY and CONCLUSIONS

Bike loop from very bike friendly Fort Collins (so many bikes, first time I've had a cyclist apologize for making a left in front of me) taking a bike trail to Rist Canyon road, a road bikers paradise workout with low vehicle traffic that goes up and up but not relentlessly, in scenery that is quickly rural Colorado mountains. After a steep descent on the other side, onto Flowers road, a dirt road that enters national forest after 3 miles of winding through a couple of ranches. Here the dirt road becomes more and more rugged and less and less visited, and I camped, victimi to early exhaustion. Very steep prolonged and rocky climbs could be ridden, but not by fully loaded, unconditioned riders like myself. No matter - its wild and lonely country already - only 1 pickup truck did pass by during twilight. Several rolling high country stretches of extremely fun riding, and a prolonged but not as technical descent on dirt road, to Jack's Gulch campground.

At 8200' elevation, its touted as premium tent camping site because of its walkin tent sites, but constant nearby RV traffic, and ORV and gunfire noise from an adjoining private ranch bely that billing. No matter, its a short mile bike ride the the wilderness area, site of several sweet wilderness hikes along mountains streams, meadows and rocky hillsides of aspen and ponderosa along with other conifers.

Campground is not far from paved Cache de Poudre road that runs along the spectacular canyons and rapids of the river, and provided an easy out a few days later for a tired camper wanting to put the 40 or so miles back to town behind him. Easy connection back to FC bike trail system with only 3/4 mile ride on the shoulder of divided highway.

WHAT I LEARNED

-lightweight insulated quilt might be more compfortable for night temps hovering around 50 than putting on every shred of clothing. lightweight tent performed well
-light food. cliff bars, chocolate and instant oatmeal provided enough energy for a daily cost of $7-8 - beat that, McD's. A little more variety and starch would have been pleasant and taken the edge off the inevitable calorie deficit.
-probably more fun to keep moving and camp different places each night. No need to be tied down to a campground that provides amenities that could be easily compensated for by my filter bottle and some tp. Campground didn't have showers, and bathing in mountain stream far more invigorating and interesting experience anyway. campground did provide feeling of security and companionship.
-bike days alternating with run/hike days would provide a more chanllenging but revitalizing schedule.

C • Another great trip! 5

Since I'm on vacation and there is little airr, broke JD's dictums and ran a little fast, but thus also did fewerr...warm up cool down, 6 x 200 with full 3-4 min rest 35, 36, 36,36, 37, 37

armed with bike map, biking to and from hs track via Fort Collins incredible system of wide streets with bike lanes, bike paths etc.

DETAILED TRIP REPORT/SUMMARY AND MORE DETAILED ENTRIES LATER.

more around town riding

down fromj camp to FC then around town.

warmup on trail into wilderness area, then running drills on trail, goal was to keep moving forward - ended up not making any difference - 'broken' tempo session with varying segments and rest amounts, but running uphill, with a pack, at 8500', i decided to chuck the canned tempo workout, then cooldown to where I was going to leave the trail.

off trail steep to top of minor peak @ 10,000 where I was dive bombed by a hummingbird, (same one that always greeted me at camp?). Then long downhill through woods where i cam within 25 feet of beautiful muscled elk type animal. Very slow hike back to camp.

access to wilderness trail from camp

trailhead access

into wilderness area, until it felt like it was supposed to be an 'easy' day

am stretch

nice gravel/dirt path around entire campground. did 5 sets of 5 x 1 min on/i min off(walk) 10 minutesjog walk between stes.

flex/strength/stretch/yoga

rode up old flowers road continuation to pass where wilderness trail began, mostly uphill very slow, and walked some rocky segments - investment on return trip - which took 20 minutes!

to beaver park, up hill then down to the beaver construction site by little beaver creek. the long rocky donwhill killed any thoughts of continueing on to higher elevations since i knew i would have to come back up, so i rested and took a bath in mountain stream and turned around.

after camping in woods, hike/bike very steep rocky washed out dirt road. I pickup came by while I was camped, thats it for all the time i was on it. then rolling fun rough dirt road, arrived at campground.

tempo workout at natural area in fort collins (motel first and last nite to revover from bus and camping)

3 x 5:15 with 1 min rest 1200m?

warmup cooldown rest and drill

ride up from fort collins up up up on paved road then dirt road, then into national forest. feeling very tired at end. riding with rests at first, then riding with hike bike rests on dirt road

errands around fort collins

3:45 intervals w 1:45 rest. 3x then full rest the 2x. in grass in francis park along tree collonade, up, down, back up.

drills

nursing home and bike shop just down the block to take pedals off my breakaway. nicked my achilles a bit with the pedal getting back on holding the frame on my arm, and its tender and sore. Need to keep icing, i guess.

Well, off to catch the bus to colorado. I feel guilty leaving everybody to suffer in 103 temps, but it does look like good timing. Be careful out there.

am stretch

reps at track w/ full rest (4 min) 400 @ 1:21 (too fast), 1:28 (too slow), 1:24, 1:24, 1:25, 1:22. Cut it short because I was nervous about the air quality and my sore achilles and hamstring.

C • You are getting so fast! 9

running drills after warmup, then flex and strength after workout.

errands

rather pathetic am stretch

garden and nursing home

400m intervals on track. first one was too fast, 1:23, so started over with 3 min. rest. running in lane 4, and finally figured lane markings out, so this was less than what i had been used to running for '400m'. Plus the new Brooks 'Racer' shoes were right on. Trying to use Brooks shoes because they have the most recycled content, in fact 'Green Silence' racing flat that I wore in Makclind mile is 100% recycled content.

Then did a set of 6 x 400 at 1:29 - 1:31 with 45-50 seconds rest. After 5 min rest, did another set of 3 x 400, but the last one was 1:34 and I was dragging.

salute and triangles, stretch, running drill and flex drill

am stretch

little shakeout run in little pocket cemetary

rei/wf/hub bicycle to set up food/bike for trip

to printer

tempo at 85 degrees at 7am in the morning. ugh. enuff said.

easy stuff, flex

to gardens to water and harvest and then up to food pantry

am stretch

gravel track/road to nh

I couldn't believe my eyes! Parodoxically, this super hot mid to late afternoon has none of the usual attendant air quality problems (or so I thought until I got home and checked th updated air page oh well), So I just had to get out and ride just a bit - to the libraray and BR.

With the heat rolling in, it seemed a good idea to get the running in early.
Ran to track and back via Wilmore/Francis. Did mostly moving running drills as warmup stretch, so counting those as running. Got to track without being sure of what was right, so I ran a test lap. 1:50. Good Lord.... 1:39. Might as well run fast if you feel this bad anyway. 1:31.
Then 2 x 400 @ 1:26, 4 x 200 @ 38,38,39,40 w/ full rest. On the last two I was taking it more easy and smooth, tryin to imagine what it felt like to be Bernard Lagat running a 29 for the first 200 of a 1500!

Again, I am seeing that my aerobic capacity needs 'work' since my 200 times are almost always faster than prescribed, but the 400's are not. Of course, there might be limits to the positive effects of 'work' vs. effects of aging.

When I cam inside, my thermostat said 80, and it seemed like it was chilly!

stretch/flex

Greyhound to Colorado $240rt 17 hours one way
Airplane to Colorado $300rt 3 hours one way

However, besides the obvious environmental positives, the bus

-allows for gradual acclimatization to the higher altitude
-allows for the economy of travel by night (albeit not very comfortable)
-allows bicycle to be checked for oversize fee (less than airline)
-the bus gets you to the city core whereas if you fly you still have to get from the airport to wherever you are going

intervals w/ full rest equal to interval 5:00, 3:00, 2:15, 4:00, 3:00 on river des peres gravel track. first one north wind aided was from end of fence by mulch lot to jog in fence at beginning of athletic field

hard workout, but I let myself off easy. a little longer rest than spec'd tells me a) not as good aerobic shape as i should be b) workout was sufficient to develop aerobic system

stretch, running, flex, strength+

to nursing home to pull weeds, (yes another garden), and push wheelchairs, then to farmers market and home, all with trailer. tuckered out!

just wanted to get out a little more since this is the first decent AQ day we've had in a long time, but just managed some short accelerations off stop signs and the like - translation, bank, garden, big river

errands mostly tj run with train, printers, haircut

practice on metro station precast wall and with rails on train

running drill

guess that going to have to qualify as long since it didn't as anything else. no zip. tried two tempo miles at the track. 6:48 ok, but then 7:15.

garden patrol - pulling big new trailer w/ mulch buckets

am stretch

pulled trailer to mid-race course, so I could warm up in the nearby park.
later to nursing home and then home. Pulled trailer so that when it rained (it did) my stuff would be under cover. Saw the renowned Dave Welsh warming up.

warm up stretch

did some laps of the park, then some run drills to a side street where i did short repeats, then jogged to start, did some easy strides to keep warmed up. 10 min easy cool down after race.

Macklin Road Mile. PR!!!!! not sure of the official time, but maybe 10 seconds faster than last year.

That Jack Daniels is a sweet elixir to an aspiring thirsty runner. Jack and his Bro, the Lord, the giver of life, 'humility', 'the beyond yourself', whatever it is called where you are.

so JD says to just go with the flow the first quarter, then go hard the second quarter, and the third will likely end up like the second. That worked out well on this course, because the fiirst is a short sharp downhill, and then gradual uphill, the second is mostly gradual uphill, gentle rolling toward the end, the third is mostly a pronounced downhill and the finish is flat. It worked a little too well, because I believe my 3rd was the poorest since I was relying a little too much on the downhill to keep me at speed, and used that as an excuse not to push.

First half was definetely faster than second. I think I remember seeing a 2:40ish split at the halfway.

The race is really well-managed and fun so you can just focus on the running. The start is sorted into 'corrals' by your projected time, traffic is blocked on the entire course, including the busy arterial Chippewa, there are quarter mile markers with electronic clocks at each marker, course marshalls and barricades at every side street, lots of cheering spectators and beverages of your choice (free beer at the corner bar this year, but not for me) at the finish by the running store.

C • WOW 5

lungs started hurting which reminded me of how bad the air likely is, so bailed on rest of shakeout run. Thank goodness for cooler temps at least at Macklin Mile tomorrow.

carondelet farmers market - this may be the last time, been trying to get it off the ground for 1 1/2 years, might be time to give it a decent burial.

run/flex/strength

3 x 6:40 tempo interval, 7 min/mile equivalent or slightlly faster w/ 1 min. rest. This is a fantastic 5k training workout. Keeping in the trees at Wilmore to reap the most oxygen possible.

to nursing home gravel track, then farmers market midtown, home.