Training Log Archive: maprunner

clearing two strips in the driveway. I'm lazy, plus shoveling is usually Mike's job

moving around the high school fields, checking if the fresh snow was suitable for skiing. It wasn't. High winds meant lots of bare spots, plus it was really slushy snow. Fun to hike around, even jog once or twice. Really cold and windy, but the fresh air felt good--I hadn't been outside in 36 hours

Mike is out of town, I have lots of vacation time, and we're putting the house back on the market soon. Add it all up and it was a no brainer: take a vacation day.

Did a little bit of house stuff. One story, inspired by Peter (aren't we all?): Arranged for the carpet cleaners to come again to freshen up our 13 year old carpets. I have hired this man before, and he is_the_ happiest person with his job I have ever met. He can't wait to talk carpet, tell you about stains, his training, best practices. But he's not boring. Quite interesting, happy, pleasant, professional. And it spills over into the whole company. They actually answer the office phone by saying: It's a wonderful day at Campbell Carpets, how may I help you? The whole experience actually leaves _me_ feeling happier. Amazing.

But the rest of the day was dedicated to SEWING! Yeah, I think I will get in a good 8 hours today, and more tomorrow. So far, finished one jacket I started last week, started and finished two quick pairs of pull on pants, and the corduroy jacket is cut out and being constructed. Happy, happy day!

C • The Joy of Sewing 2

Here's why I don't like the recession: when one is already tired of your current job, and beginning to be stressed out (by idiot managers, inept colleagues, increasing workload and reduced staff), upper management knows they can do whatever they want to make your life even more miserable, and you have few options.

On the other hand, maybe this gives me an excuse to stop trying hard and just coast for a while.

C • We should start a club 5

So, we're trying to pick another Realtor. We've talked with three (including the Realtor we used in the fall). They're all very similar in terms of suggested sale price and marketing plan. How do we decide? I've been told to go with my "gut". But this is not a personality contest; they're all nice enough folks. But which one will sell our house fastest/best?

Should we consider the other houses they currently represent? The number of houses they sold last year? Something else? What one factor would you use to compare the three ? We could use your advice.

C • realtor 5

A leisurely outing, to pick up the markers from yesterday. My mind was not into it today, so I'm only counting half of it as orienteering. It was a nice day to be out in the woods.

Don't think I burned enough calories to justify all the junk food for my annual Oscar watch/phone event with my friends (who now live in Madison WI).. Oh well :)

C • Oscars 10

Event: Heartland Conference Center
 

Green course at Heartland . Nice to go to a meet 10 minutes away--meant I could sleep in this morning!

I was worried about my foot, but it felt fine in the warm up, so I figured I go do the green course today. No problems during the run; hurts a little bit now, sitting at home.

I made several silly, sloppy navigation mistakes today, especially at the end. Definitely not smooth leaving controls. I'm taking too much time to look at the map and decide. Accidentally shut off my 405 between 11 and 13.

Temps were upper 20s; felt fine in the woods, but pretty cold when I got back into open areas.

C • foot 1

Watching the Tour of California helped the time go quickly. My legs are tired now. My training has been pretty wimpy lately, and I'm starting to lose fitness. But I plan to keep it easy, until I see the podiatrist on March 3rd, and get a professional opinion.

The novelty is starting to wear off. I need to learn some new tricks, becuase I start to get bored now after 15 minutes or so.

C • Take a 5-year-old with you 1

C • settings? 6

The Plan:
Come home from work and row or lift weights or both.

The Reality:
Stressful day at work, and I was very sleepy due to running, travel and time change.

The Action:
Enjoy a glass of wine then dinner with Mike (he made gourmet ginger/mushroom/chicken soup). Followed by AP update and early-to-bed.

C • A fine save! 1

Lots of (scary) conversations this weekend with people who had suffered with PF (for a year or more! Nooooo!) But also some excellent advice, especially from Zan. She showed me some exercises that helped her. I'll try to do them every day.

I woke up Sunday morning in a comfy bed at Tim and Amanda's house (thanks for the hospitality!) and took an assessment of my body.
Moved the legs and the quads said: WTF? I'm SORE!
Stepped out of bed and the heel (PF) said "um, no thanks"
So I knew I was not going to run today.
Watched others run at Cleveland Dam. Most spectacular view I've ever had at a spectator control (alpine lake with snow capped mountains in the background, watching sprinters in the woods and running across the dam). Fantastic.

Overall, it was a great weekend, and I highly recommended it to all.

Things I learned:
1. tunnels are represented by dotted lines, and not the overpass light gray
2. In a sprint, especially, I should stick to my original route choice.
3. I'm slow enough that it is smarter to take the easy, safe, round-about route (and spike the control) rather than try to get cute and bob and weave between buildings.
4. Slow down to read the map as necessary; I usually lose less than time than I think, and it's way better than making a mistake
5. The Vancouver club has done a great job of making lemonade out of lemons. Concentrating on sprints is a brilliant idea.
6. Vancouver is a beautiful city.
7. It was great to meet all the young fast sprinters.
8. Louise is a very good cook and great organizer.
9. This was tons of fun and I should do it again soon.

getting from the parking lot to the start of O-tervals. Faster than I wanted, but I had to keep up.

O-tervals in downtown Vancouver. Excellent "terrain" with lots of underpasses, stairs and uncrossable walls. The idea was to run a few short legs, but faster than your normal pace. We were in groups of four. I did run faster than normal, not because I was trying to beat the other three, but because I didn't want to keep them waiting. Made lots of little mistakes too, because I wasn't thinking clearly. Very fun exercise.

C • Wow, looking at the map, it... 2

The slow folks (our group of four) didn't have much time to wait between exercises. We made it back to the parking lot, relaxed a few minutes, and got ready for the mass start at Lost Lagoon. I did a fairly decent job of running my own pace, and using others as appropriate (following/going in the same direction when I felt it was the right direction, ignoring them other wise). Made one bone head mistake when I thought I was going from 20 to 22, but caught myself just in time. Lost about one minute. I pushed myself, and still finished nearly last.

My body needed a rest, so I just watched everyone run the "start triangle" exercise.

Between the parking lot and the event.

After lunch, we raced at False Creek, a map of an island that is a restaurant/park area. The sunny day brought out lots of tourists and locals, which made it interesting to run around and watch their reactions. By the end of this course, my legs were...getting....very...tired and my brain was...getting...very...slow. Made a stupid route choice to 10 (changed my mind in the middle of the leg) and ignored the fact that the middle of the circle was a tree in white "woods". Instead, I ended up on the overpass, looking down at the tree (as did many others). Again, I jogged the whole way, pushed my personal pace, had a high HR and finished at the back of the pack.

Last exercise of the day was a "dog bone" exercise. As kupackman described it, its a score course with linked pairs of controls. If you went to C1, then you had to go to C2 next, before you chose another random control. My feet were starting to hurt, but I was interested in trying this exercise, so I did part of it. I walked/jogged a few "bones".

Event: Vancouver Sprint Training Camp 2009
 

walk/jog around the UBC campus on the practice map

first sprint of the weekend, on the UBC campus. I jogged the whole way, but kept the pace a bit slow so I could read. Several small mistakes; plenty of room to improve this weekend.

Saw my primary care doctor today, to get a podiatrist referral for my PF (got an appt in early March). In the meantime, he showed me how to wrap my arch with Coban wrap. Cool stuff; I like it. I hope it gives me plenty of support this weekend in Vancouver.

Another beautiful day; I could get used to warm weather in February! So, I went for a brisk walk around the ball fields near work during my lunch. It was hard to back inside afterward.

I thought I would be safe until after Valentine's Day. But noooo, the fresh Easter peeps are already in stores.

safety pins do not interfere with the HR monitor

Another beautiful warm day, so Mike and I went to Wyandotte. I walked/jogged on the trails. By the end, my foot hurt more than I wanted, so this was probably not a wise thing to do today.

On the other hand, I figured out a fix for my 405 HR monitor woes. I took off the back strap, and just stuck the monitor portion under my bra straps (up high on my chest). Don't know why it won't work when placed under my bra band as the Polar did, but no matter. Here is what a normal trace looks like for me.

C • HR strap 13

C • Rowing 3

Well, it's not the battery or my particular unit. I had the same problems when I tested Mike's strap. It only worked when I lay down or put it on up high on my chest, under my bra straps.

So either it's not close enough to my heart, or my sport bra is interfering or...?

On another note, the PF felt no better or no worse today after last night's orienteering. So that's good news.

It was such a beautiful, warm evening, I just had to get out to the woods. So I moved around at SMP after work. Mike showed me how to tape my arch. I think it was a little bit too tight; the arch felt stiff by the end.

Took it very easy. Walked mostly, with just a few test of 100-200 meters of jogging. Right now, the foot feels a bit sore, but not too bad. We'll see how it feels tomorrow.

I'm really frustrated with the HR portion of the 405. I've worn a Polar for years, so I know all the pitfalls and fixes. The 405 either gives either no reading, or a very low reading. Static, low conductivity, bra underwire, loose contact with skin have all been removed or ruled out. Here is tonight's HR track. This is really frustrating; I don't want to wear both the 405 and a Polar watch. Any suggestions?

C • faulty HRM? 12

Kinda expensive ($7.50) given the short time and lack of meet organization or map.

On the other hand, I was the only patron (on three! rinks) so I suppose I got my money's worth :)

PF feels much better than Saturday, but still tight if I sat too long at work. Here's my latest theory: I actually did very little straight running in January compared to recent months, and the event on Saturday involved a great deal of trail running, including a paved bike trail. Maybe the PF flared up because I went from 0 to 60 too fast? Plausible? Or just wishful thinking, because I don't want to contemplate being out for months?

How did others get back into running after recovering from PF?

C • PF 4

Life can deliver funny bumps sometimes. I took January "off" in terms of structured training, because I was mentally burned out. It was also an easy month--the least training I've done in a month since Jan 07. Yesterday was the end of my break, I had a good run and I felt refreshed.

But there was another reason I took it easy in January: I was trying to avoid a full-blown case of plantar fasciitis. Ever since I read about Suzanne, Randy and Anna's woes, I've been paranoid that I would get PF. Since August, I've had occasional pain in my left heel in the morning, off and on. It never really hurt--it was more of an ache. It would last a few days, then go away. I also felt occasional twinges while running, but again, nothing much.

I did everything that I read I should do:
I&I
calf and Achilles stretches
got rid of all my high heeled shoes
bought supportive trail runners
bought insoles for work shoes
stopped wearing O shoes for every run
wore the funny sock at night
I even sunk to buying Birkenstocks to use as house shoes (I've always hated the look of them)

Yesterday, I wore my trail runners during the O race, and felt fine. Finished the race, and did my usual stretches. Everything was fine. Then 10 minutes later, just standing still, my foot started to HURT. WTF? I hobbled around for the rest of the day (Mike and I are a funny looking pair, gimping around the house). This was something new, and frightening.

I've been on constant ibuprofen since then, and it feels better today. But I plan to stop running for a few weeks and see if I can stop this monster. Looks like February might be another light month.

C • PF 2