Training Log Archive: AliC

Good, remembered to take resting HR and it's not too bad. So reason I'm slow is probably just being out of training, not still needing to hold back because of the mono. It's week 5 since I probably started with mono, a guideline is things are supposed to be back to 'normal' by week 6. But 'normal' also won't come back til I get back into training and get fit!

C • 56 2

Nice run right from my house- over to 116 via Dana, Orchard, H-something, then down to a little brook, on a trail along it for a mile, then back on the bike path. Nice loop without waiting for cars much!

Felt ok, not fast of course, but ok! =)

Event: WCOC Osbornedale State Park
 

Little jog following the streamers up to the start.

Hmm... not too fantastic. Moments where things added up and went well, but also some relatively big mistakes.

First was #1- I attempted to read ahead the map a bit while running up the trail, and came off trail too high and didn't make sense of things quickly *at all*. Really should have recognized being too high as an option. Always must give the first control the respect it deserves.... about 3 min down to Sam on that... eep!

Then 7->8, wicked short leg, but decided first little reentrant I saw was the one west of my cliff, so opted for the one to the east of it, which made me look around some other cliffs first, then backtrack.

Worst however, was my approach to number 11. Was nearly on top of it, at the big boulder on the edge of the circle, but misidentified the boulder as one earlier and went right past. Found a control on a knoll, which thought might be mine, although did check control code to discover it wasn't. At this point, I *should* have figured out what feature I was on and to go backwards to my control, but I just kept on, arrriving at the massive cliff at the end of the spur and going all the way around it before really giving up and going back, finally admitting where I was... should have listened to slight misgivings earlier....

Not too well orienteered, not entirely sure why, I was trying, but think I need to keep patience to stay with the map, even though I'm more willing to let myself run now!!

Was a bit behind most of the other gals from the Prologue so started earlyish in the Boris-reverse-start method Chase. =)

Orienteered much better, but was a bit tired and not running too fast. Maybe not best route choice to 11 (through the green), but executed it well, although a bit timid going into the circle. Also hesitant to 14, where I really thought the ditch should be before the steep drop and found a too-early one. Went back to relocate and make sure on the ruin.

Passed the last folks in front of me on the road 7->8, then didn't see anyone else til Greg Balter finished second. Fun to be chased! Put a little pressure on!

Thanks Boris and Becky for the awesome day of orienteering, loadsa fun!!!!

First road bike in ages and ages- maybe last August? Bike seems to have survived the trip from Europe ok.

Had a nice cycle on the bike path over to the bridge over the Conneticut just by Northampton- gorgeous day for it!

Ug. Slow. And at first even had that triathalon-like leadness to my legs from having just come from biking. A bit more spry about 10 min in, but still have much to recover in terms of running speed!

Read one of my Hudson Highlander maps from last fall as I went. Trying to train myself to read map effectively while running- focusing on keeping map arm still!

Went over to try to do ankle physio, but closed already at 3- even earlier on Fridays??? Argh.

So went and did Orchard Hill intervals. Times 2, very slow compared to earlier this spring (think I was doing about 4.10-15 then?). These two were:
4.50
4.38
I tried a harder on the second as I was really disappointed in the first, but that was as fast as it got... am going to have to get back into shape for sure!!!

Woo out to train on Ross's training course from Sat!! Great to be out orienteering, but some dense woods to get through, so didn't actually get around to doing very much of the course before it was getting dark...

Fine most of the way to 1, but not confident as I got close, think I was afraid of the low vis through the trees. 2 was not ideal route choice to go through much green, then had to head straight to 4 and in afterwards. 4 was easy from 2 (just down a long reentrant), then headed in.

Will go back out Sat probably to finish collecting streamers and train some more!

57-100-60

Evil shoes. My New Balances must be too narrow, have a weird bruise/pain on the bone on the outside side of my foot from just jogging in them yesterday. I think they might not get used again...

Little morning joggeroo before it gets sweltering. Getting the body used to running again- so far, the biggest problem is my feet- all the little muscles that absorb shock and push off have not been worked in far too long. My feet were super sore post-team trials and again now, but not as bad, after the Billygoat. The last thing I need is to be injured on top of coming back from illness, so going to keep track and not let any problems develop!!

HR: 57-100-63

C • HR looking good! 3

Resting HR by Alex's lie down-stand up-lie down scheme:
60-96-63
Yesterday was:
56-100-60

Little jog around campus in the sun before/after physio exercises.

Ankle physio stuff.

More of the plyos today, plus did 1 x 30 sec of jump rope for the first time since falling ill! Go ankle strength go!

Event: Billygoat Run at Mt. Tom
 

1/2 Billygoat (stopped at control 12)

My plan was to only run about the first :45-1h of the Billygoat, as wasn't sure the current state of recovery merited a two-hour effort. But my watch timer stopped as I was clawing myself up or down some rockiness, so opted for the halfway control nstead.

General impression:
I navigated ok, but not spectacularly, I was aware of others, but never really used them in any helpful way, only majorly distracted once! Needed to process things way better to 2...

Details:
1 and 2 were my worst, I think. To 1: Was puzzled and thought the first control was number 2. Realized it wasn't a bit into the woods, but threw me off a bit. I pretty much straight lined it, which wasn't a great route b/c of extra climb and rockiness. 1-2: My worst leg, but many others had issues too. I saw the two little peaks just under the line and processed that as the ridgeline as contours looked like a spur from both heading off to the north. Actually these were both reentrants in the big slopeside which I was no where near the top off! So when it was uphill to the left, I thought I was to the right of the red line. Nothing was perfectly adding up, but I still had the same pattern of streams and reentrants, so was worried, but not too much. Then hit #5. Pretty lucky actually, then easy to the control.

Hit 3 well, 4 was painful, puzzling bigger reentrant just off the map?, 5 was good, 6 again painful.

Unhappy with 6->7, my plan was to run north from 6, hit the big trail, run to parkinglot, then road it for awhile. I left 6 completely the wrong way (a bit flustered by others), tried to correct, failed entirely at the correction and ended up at the end of the pack I was leading into 6... argh.

A bit wishy washy the near side of the road 7->8, then had an awesome one to 9. It was super easy to simplify. Correct bearing, hit cliff, over it, just over far side of spur, spiked! Painful again to 10, then a bit befuddled by the contour detail approaching 11. Easy to 12, then a long walk in, during which I informed a good handful of folk (including one flute-playing dog walker!) what we were all doing and let them have a look at my map.

Even if I'd like to be running faster, was really enjoying it out there!! Thanks to Phil and all others who helped!

And the Billygoat Gruff!

I skipped 1, which wasn't terrible, because I got longer on the trail to 2, but I think better skips were maybe skipping 8, or doing the lower 6 fork and then skipping 7... Eddie's skipping of 5 to avoid the marsh might also have been a good idea.

Wasn't orienteering like I was really with it. Just didn't put the whole picture together of the plan from place to place. Which you have to do if you want to try to run at anything near sprint speed.

Really wanted 3 to be earlier, checked out many rocks along the way. 5 was worst, crossed marsh way far away from open water, saw reentrant looking like it could be a stream host, went up, and wanted to be on the hill top where 5 was. But no 5. I was too far south-west, and took embarrassingly long for me to put this all together.

Did upper 6, just fine, good to 7, far off on bearing to 8- I was trying to aim off to be upstream, then run down it to the boulder, but was way higher than effective and searched around a few extra boulders. Trail route to 9, was too tired to up and over the spur.

Need to be more focused to sprint. Especially woods sprint.

Am going to NAOC! Have to skip the sprint in order to make it to Monday conference, but will be at Middle and Long and whatever the event is the day before! Psyched!

C • NAOC's 4

Gruff - Splits

Woo! And first little joggeroo out with my running buddies. I just joined them for the first 10 min of what was going to be a 6 mi run, then jogged back on my own. Lovely day, great to be out in it. Easing back into this... do feel even better than last week and throat is also calming down!!

Ankle physio stuff. Slightly more than last week, did once or twice through most of the plyos- was at 3-5 times all of them before illness...

HR still highish, coming down slowly post-racing... sore throat slightly better, I think?

C • HR improving! 1

Well, HR didn't go down that much after 1 day of rest, guess it's up for another one. Throat is still quite sore too, hoping that clears up in not too long! At least I got more sleep last night, that's got to help!

C • Get yourself well 2

And kind of expected high HR, although today was going to be a day off no matter what!

Ok, so since I'm not allowed to workout today and am super energetic and psyched about orienteering in general, have brainstormed a plan:

1) Get healthy.
2) Train for orienteering (try to get out on a map at least 1-2 times per week!)
3) Get running fitness back up to snuff, probably a good idea to do some more terrain type running and plyometrics so I'm more nimble in the woods...
4) Strengthen ankle and keep it strong!

I'm also trying to work out how to get to some good O meets before WOC, since that'd be helpful...

C • O-Races 17

Woo! A good enough race to make the team! Super-duper psyched! =)

It started pretty miserably, I took the through-the-gap in the green route choice to 1, which I think was probably a pretty good one, but I wasn't patient and didn't wait to get to the obvious cliffs which marked when you should turn and head south to the control. I got scared I went too far (because I was slow up the hill? or not into the map scale yet? or just nervous?) and turned south probably 100-150m too early... Then was very puzzled when nothing added up... was finally putting things together for really when Cristina came by (started 6 min back). Not a good start!

But things went pretty well from there on, some I was straight on, some slightly bobbly, but really not bad. Saw no one else out there, which is a good sign, since I started first...

The two long legs were perhaps not-optimal. 14->15 I snaked around both green bits, probably quicker to not bother going around and stay straighter. 15->16 I didn't even see the trail+road route, and I think I was running fast enough still that that would have been faster. Especially as going up to the top involved some crawling = slow!

I think it's been good for me to see how my orienteering accuracy improves when I'm not running quite as fast as normal. Really need to balance the navigating and running sides of things, even when I get my full running speed back!

C • Congratulations! 15

Red Long - Splits

Event: 2010 US Team Trials for WOC
 

I intended this to be the only of the TT races I did. But then it went really, really well, so kept racing....!

So I walked over to the start, happily chatting with Greg W and not at all nervous because it didn't matter, I wasn't going to be fast enough to make the team, so it was really about being accurate and getting some more good training in Harriman in.

But then I started and I guess because I wasn't going my usual full-out speed, I ran a remarkably clean course. And I'll be honest, was definitely more than 'just-a-jog'. =) Hard to not be somewhat competitive out there! Only a few slightly bobbles toward the end, a bit distracted by running near Karen. Felt like I should be able to pass her, since I caught her, and I tried to do so by upping running speed instead of just staying super in touch with the map.... Really enjoyed it!

And then was really nervous for this one. Because I wasn't sure if I could run fast enough to have a decent sprint. But I guess I am mostly better, because I could run, not my normal speed, but fast enough.

Didn't go straight to 1, visited the men's control first. Other than that, was pretty smooth, although looking at times, might have been faster to stay on the road a bit down to 14, lost some time there.

C • women's control 1 4

Red Middle - Splits

Red Sprint - Splits

Forgot to take resting HR when up... Oops! But felt pretty good all day, although my right tonsil is now bugging me. I was super psyched to go for a slightly longer jog this eve, but I think I better lie low and see if I can avoid a worsening sore throat.... Surely it's time for me to actually get better???? C'mon body!

Ankle stuff at physio. I explained why I missed the last 3 weeks. Skipped the jumping around stuff for right now... will get back into it!!!

Woo, first jog since Harriman training! Felt kinda weird, IT bands are way tight for some reason. Wasn't immediately wiped, so hopefully doesn't set me back, will see what HR is like tomorrow morning....

Darn it, HR goes higher again, no jog today. =(

Hmm, so I kept taking my heartrate this morning because I really wanted it to be as low or close to yesterday so I could go for my first jog. But 56 was as low as it got...

Also felt a bit weak/tired for most of the day, so decided not to chance it. I'm totally coming back, but have a strong preference to not be a super-zombie again, so am being careful. So silly that just an hours walk yesterday wiped me out today!!

C • I'm glad you are being smar... 5

Event: WCOC / US Team A-Meet/WRE
 

I was so excited to go orienteering today, I couldn't get to sleep last night. =)

And it was fun. Even walking, even in the thunderstorms.

Strictly walked, except I let myself gently jog in from the second to last control, legs felt a bit weird when I did that, but wasn't totally totally wiped.

Navigated fine, which wasn't too tough considering my speed. Still messed up 7, because I became convinced every little rock was the right boulder, should have discriminated more on size, since only one was mapped! Frequently I think I would have taken different routes if I had been running. I straight-lined almost everything since it didn't help to take easy routes or trail routes, just needed to cover minimal distance!

Red X Day 1: Middle - Splits

And 2nd test came back, positive for recent mono (this one can tell the difference between recent/past like the Lyme one I had), so I really have had both Lyme and mono within the past 3 weeks... Crazy. But feeling tons and tons better, but am going to not push it today and hope walking around at least part of a course goes well tomorrow!!!!

Then maybe try a 10 min jog Sunday. Super psyched!! Will keep in tune how that goes over with the body though.

C • Yey! 4

C • Double whammy 2

A good day! Had more energy than in days past, throat feels better, things looking up... Sleeping 9.5h last night mighta helped. Will keep trying to get that in!

Oh, and also have shiny new 15" macbook thanks to work. (Seriously, thanks work!) Currently installing up a storm, woo!

Still alive, not feeling too awesome, now have a sore throat, but definitely done with fever and headache also seems to have passed. An intriguing addition to the craziness is that I got called this afternoon and had a positive Lyme result too.

So do I have mono? Or Lyme? Or both? Jeez....

Will try to come to one of the WCOC meet days at least, maybe walk around a course if I'm up for it. Don't think racing is in the cards. Boo.

C • oh man 23

Event: USMA West Point A-Meet 2010