Training Log Archive: W

Close to back at it. Then its a half-marathon training crash course.

Yep, finally got a cold.

Apparently Attackpoint won't allow going higher than a 5 on the intensity scale. But this requires about a 7.

SM-Erikoispitkä, which stands for Ultralong. I've been fearing this race for a week. I expected it to hurt, and it did. Quite a bit. But actually not for as long as I might have thought.

After a mildly chaotic mass start, I found myself actually running alone for a while after about Rasti 6. The first part I got in with a group going slightly slower than I wanted to go, but it meant those first ones were pretty smooth, until I got into the map and started to run a bit faster.

After I finished the first loop I was feeling pretty good. It thought "okay, if I have to do two more laps like this, that's not so bad!", but, I looked at the second loop, and it was a bit bigger, but, whatever. I got the short loop on the first map, which was also why people were so excited to see me run past, I was in 11th place at the time. The longer second loop pushed me back to a slightly more normal seeming 28th place. Still ran most of it alone, but was cruising along with only a couple small 20 second mistakes.

And when I came around for the last loop, I thought "okay, I'm starting to get tired, but I can totally do one more loop like that".

And then I picked up the third map. It was TWICE the size of the first two. And I would guess about the length of the first two maps combined. The first big problem was the long-ish road running that was required. I like Icebug Spirits, but they become really hard on the bottom of my feet after a while. The gravel roads were really, really hard on the bottom of my feet. I also stubbed my feet a couple times, so my toes were starting to bleed (you can just tell these things). After a butterfly loop and being saved from falling off a cliff by sacking myself on a large tree, there was a long leg back towards the finish and the last maybe 8 controls before the finish.

Unfortunately, this long leg the wheels really, really, came off. Quads, hamstrings, hip flexors were on Defcon 1 alert for cramping, so there was really no speed or power anymore. I found the controls okay, just slowly and not aggressively. My lungs were just fine, my legs were just no longer co-operating. Eventually I struggled into the finish, some 3 and half hours later. My GPS had me at 31.62, with the race distance being 26.5.

I don't quite know what I could have done different about the cramping. The calves were just fine, and I was wearing calf sleeves. I could compress the hell out of my quads too. My stomach was not agreeing with me so I only had two gels, I suppose I could have also carried some electrolyte tabs or something, I'm not sure that would have helped. I suspect the biggest gains would come from doing some more squats. Or orienteering. I also need to figure out what to do about the bottoms of my feet. Better insoles? Cushier shoes? I want the lovely softness of say... a Brooks Cadence, with the feel of an Icebug Spirit. I'm not sure that shoe exists.

Right this second, I don't want to do that again. But, in a year I'll probably be dumber and try again. The woods were really nice to run in and the sun came out just as we started and it was a wonderful day. Eventually I get to Quickrouting all of the maps, but I'm going to stop taking photos of my maps and actually scan them at school. They'll look better that way, I think.

But, all of that is not important because all I can think about is the giant hole on the ass-side of my tights that happened on the first loop. Very sad face. Fortunately, this photographer got the non-underwear side.

C • Fatigue cramps 2

My legs seem to say no no to mileage, but is generally okay with faster stuff. At least, that's what it seemed like when I decided to go out and do 3 x 1 mile at XXX speed. Something that felt fast but not too fast. Turns out my pace dropped pretty spectacularly across the intervals, doing the first mile interval in 5:31, then 5:48, then 6:00. Hm. A bit of a concern, or maybe I just did the first one faster than I probably should have. But, this is an okay workout, and I'll have to start doing more reps. Its half-marathon training aika.

Another fairly ordinary run around Laajavuori. Sometimes I wish there was some smoother single track. I like the small trails, but they're also very rocky and not really nice to run on, so I have to stay on the ski trails, which are generally fine, but, get old a little faster than narrower trails I know. You'd think I'd be sick of the Edmonton trails, but I never found myself sick of Whitemud or the trail down Keillor Road. However, I think I'm going to have to get used this!

Life has gotten uber busy lately. I'm not going to say why yet, but these next few months are going to be slamed - not helpful when trying to train for a half-marathon.

YEP!

Long distance training with special guest Pasi Ikonen! We mostly ran in a group, and he was supposed to describe his orienteering thinking while running, but... didn't really. That's okay. I was having enough trouble following him and the map at the same time. For a dude who is "out of shape" he has ridiculous shape.

See? Like this was supposed to be a tempo run, but then... just wasn't.

Don't really want to fully stop training, though. I just want to keep going.

Seems like almost everything is making my legs tired lately. Running, sitting, looking at them.

The wheels have come off both training and logging a bit.

This was initially going to be a long run, but I had a few things to do over the afternoon and so it got split up into a two runs, the first being your basic run around Laajavuori, but in a different direction than usual. Its starting to get fairly cold out here! The autumns here are very similar to Edmonton, with the exception that whereas in Edmonton its cold in the morning and then gets to +20 during the day, here it gets cold in the morning and then stays cold in the afternoon and then stays cold and cold and cold.

But not really cold, just that, +3 to +7 not quite warm / too cold to feel pleasant temperature.

At least its not raining, yet.

Afternoon run behind the house. I added a loop that includes a little bit of fairly nice forest where I'm going to start doing some terrain strides - the forest is pretty open but not totally open. Its still lumpy and has branches and stuff, so I head over there and do some 15 second strides up and down this gentle hill through the terrain, just as part of my overall hope to be more effective running fast through terrain and feeling confident in my ankles/balance/agility. Baby steps. Baby step.

Also, more nostalgia! I don't even own a Wii U, but I've been way addicted to its 14 hours of childhood music!

I was't going to go as long as I did, but it was a nice day and I was feeling alright so I extended the loop to end up being a nice 1:15 option when I feel like. It involves the ski trails and then a little single track section and unfortunately some bonus climb. It seems relatively flat around here but then I keep running into uphills and it turns out to be way, way hillier than anything I get around Edmonton. Which is probably a good thing.

I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing with my training right now. Its October, the season is generally over, but there's still a few ultra long races to go, I could have taken a bit off, but September, with all its racing was kind of a month off in itself since the training between the hard races was really not extensive. Also, my life has gotten exceptionally busy and I'm frequently feeling as though I don't have time to get in the training I'd like to, since now I feel it should mostly include more volume and less intensity. And now, the Half in CIs is getting thrown a bit into question, so I'm not quite sure what I'm doing right now!

So, Ijust ran, for a certain amount of time. That was about it.

Kurko Cup is starting again! Time to flail around in the dark! Sure, I didn't do amazingly well, but I could make the argument that it went far less worse than it did at this time last year. I didn't run off the map, get hopeless lost, or be so far behind that people were pretty much changed out of their gear by the time I got back.

Still, keeping a good direction in the dark is really tough for me, and so is recognizing how far I've gone. I definitely wasted some time when leaving controls quickly and poorly, and losing my bearing on the longer legs. But, I did some things right, read my map okay and saw the big features, and had a fairly fun time! Bring on the Night-o!