Training Log Archive: AliC

Run with Arjen up Philosophenweg to the top where the old Nazi stadium and and old abbey are. Nazi stadium = crazy, middle of the woods, fits 13000 people! Ran up the steps there twice, which was hard. Really nice day!

Up to MPIA, lovely sunny morning! Didn't have to bring a bag this time, so much more pleasant. Did 4 x 5 min a bit harder, but not super hard. Messed up at the end, and ran all the way up to the Bergbahn station instead of turning for the institute. What a lovely way to commute!

5 min abs, 1 min back

The weather forecast say snow for the next 3 days for Amherst- really? Will I come back to being able to ski, that'd be fantastic!

C • We have loads of snow but i... 2

Running with Arjen after work, but the Philosophenweg, in the dark. Very pretty to look down and see the Neckar and the castle!

Ran across town to Hans Bockler Strasse, then up up up the trails (some stairs) to MPIA! Pretty much remembered the way from when I went with Cassie, but messed up at the end. Ended up coming out right at the Sternwarte bus stop though, so no probs!

5 min abs, 1 min back

Annoyed- I was stressed out about presentation (was making it until 20 min before!) so no run. Boo.

Cold, cold, cold! (-12C?) But I tried at least a brief warm-up. Then realized I needed to take the bag of my non-race layers over across the road and then start!

Marathon de la Clarée- 4th place

A smallish (~600 racers) French ski marathon in the Southern Alps. So so so much fun!!!!

I started in the 2nd line, because I have no French marathon ranking points. But I caught the 1st line by the end of the double pole zone and was happily skiing with the top 5 ladies after the first few hundred meters.

Top 5 of us skied together for the first quarter until Planchenet (not spelled right...), then Elisabeth, who ended up winning took off, very strong. I didn't try to follow, didn't feel like that was a pace I could keep. The remaining 4 of us were together until Névache where many spectators were and where you actually ski through little winding streets of the town- fun! Then on the big uphill aftewards, we lost the woman who came in 5th.

I led on the uphill and was feeling really strong, but on the downhill I couldn't keep up!!!! Which brings me to the really annoying point that my skis weren't as fast as the other women. So frustrating! So I couldn't break with the woman who came in 2nd, she just glided away on the downhills. Then was skiing with #55 for the whole rest of the way- she would put on some distance on the downhills since her skis were also faster, but I could easily keep up on flats/uphills. We kept switching the lead, and unfortunately, she had a bit more clue of where the finish was than I did. As it was, she passed close to the end, then we had a downhill, she pulled away and I couldn't catch her in the finish chute.

Was totally a blast nonetheless!!! Want to do it, or perhaps the Transjurassiene next year...

C • Congratulations!! It reall... 6

After buying a new strap in a ski store in the ski station La Féclaz, out to ski with Frédéric and Séverine and Emilie (their baby). Emilie was being pulled in a pulk. Wonderful skiing. Maybe the first time this season I've been able to ski without worrrying about rocks?

After a hearty and delicious lunch at a restaurant we skied to, back out. I did a half hour with the pulk- made it much much harder to go uphill! Good training, although possibly not awesome for technique.

There were tons and tons of people out on the trails- it's French school holiday! Unlike in the states, skating is really the norm for everyone- I think only about 5% of folks out there were classic skiing.

From hostel over to the Hotel Denner, where I dropped my bag with laptop at the front desk for my supervisor to bring up the mountain. Then over to the end of Hans Bockler Strasse to wait for Cassie an American grad student who knew the trails up to the top of Koningstuhl.

Went up up up, first on stairs, then more gradually. Wasn't super fast, but a lovely run/hike with more and more snow as we got higher. Fantastic way to commute to work! And great to chat with Cassie, she's a cool girl.

5 min abs, 1 min back at MPIA- they have a little mini gym and showers. Perfect!

Cold morning run, across the bridge, through the university a bit (who knew they had stables?) then out a bit further along the Neckar river and also back around the river. Mixed in some 6 x 1 min intervals, but not feeling the speed. Haven't done things shorter than 1 mi in some time...

Arrived in Heidelberg, checked into hostel, then went out for a run. There was a tear-off city map at check in, so I made myself a little o-course exploring bits of the city. Made it lots more fun! Got a few strange looks, and one guy started running along side and said "Look I'm faster". What I'm most mystified by is how he realized I was English-speaking from how I ran. Or maybe carrying map -> tourist -> speak in English?

10 min abs on hard floor

I have resolved I'm not going to let this be a totally crap training week despite being here for work. Will have to wake up early and run likely, as evening gets taken up by dinners with colleagues.

Warm up part 1, before we were told race was being delayed .5h. Then warm up part 2, before race was further delayed. Then a wee bit more before I actually started.

Warming up for ski-o is much more boring than for a normal ski race. Can't preview the course, limited to just loops and loops and loops!

C • Cold acclimation 3

Long ski-o @ Craftsbury

Started first, 4 min in front of Alex. Could tell on 4 and 5 that she was catching me as we passed going in/out of controls, then biggish mistake on 6 and saw her far ahead on the lake as we went to 7...

Just really made a wrong turn on 6- it was in the open and it was hard to tell what was real ski trail and what was dashed-line ski trail because everything was covered up with about 2 inches of snow... still I should have figured it out a bit easier!

Was getting tired towards the end, but tried to keep fiesty and with it and racing! Punched an extra control at one point too- need to get a bit better about visualizing what's ahead trail-wise and where I expect my control to be.

And despite my slight panic of needing to catch my flight, I'm sitting here in Logan writing this with about an hour to spare, whew!

Red Long Distance - Splits

4-5 loops around the warm up loop? Actually felt warm by the end, which I suppose is the point!

Middle Distance at Beaver Brook Farm

Lotsa fun. There are times that are so fast paced, decisions every junction and then other times you are really just skiing hard for quite a bit, going for it.

I had one bad mistake, on number 3. Took a left too early (having misinterpreted snowmobile trail) and then went into the woods on the wrong little trail, found a control I was convinced should be mine, but wasn't, and then continued on for a bit, being confused, passed my #4, still confused and went the wrong way, then found myself at a junction and actually relocated and went back, finally finding the control. 5 minutes extra. Whoops.

Some other fumbles, but not bad. Lost 30 sec going to 10 before 9.

Really did enjoy it. Wish there were more races besides tomorrow left in the season!

Map holder was much better today, but think I have to get used to it. When I really wanted to see the map I held it with my right hand, like I normally do with foot orienteering.

So many thanks to everyone who made it happen!

C • Do you classic or skate? C... 4

Little clinic on skate skiing with John, Bob, Kseniya and oops, one other woman, bad name memory. Working on keeping weight forward without poles, with poles, flat uphill, then a few other little things for each!

Red Middle Distance - Splits

Event: U.S. Ski Orienteering Championships
 

3 x around Dot's loop at Morse Farm. Didn't feel that great. Why not? Had a day off yesterday.

Red course @ Morse Farm

Woo, ski-O!

Didn't remember until I pulled in the drive that I'd been there before- skiing one day with family over last Christmas break. Still didn't know it very well because most of the trails weren't open then, just the basic field loops on the lodge side of the road.

Felt pretty good and navigated fine. The trickiest bits were the quick left turn right after the start (not much time to get into the map- I almost skied by!) and then #4- the intersections before it were tricky. I ended up choosing a trail based on the woods and the fence, luckily being in the right place to make that choice in the first place...

Shins cramped up right at the start, have no idea why, but got better, not worse, so wasn't a problem!

First time with a map holder, which was good, but not yet great because it kept slumping down and had to keep picking it up to get a glace at the map. Still much better than safety-pinned map though!

Model event at Craftsbury Common.

Good fun, a little extra tricksy due to ongoing chainsaw work, I skipped the last control, which was probably good as they were in the business of tree-felling.

Nice to get a feeling for what green lines mean what as for trail thickness and things.

Skiing around a bit more afterwards, used the solid green trail to actually ski a bit more continuously. Nice to be on skis!

Red Morse Farm - Splits

To post office, to gym, back home.

On the Espresso bike again- the Oh Mama! course. Still lots of fun. So much different when you have to steer to stay on the course. Like a video game almost!

And Cage workout again. Tried to keep it shorter due to physio's recommendation. So only did 3 instead of 4 miles.

5.44
5.48
5.48

Not great times, might be tired from the racing + long workout still over the weekend. Oh, although the second one was chaos- cheerleaders everywhere!!! Jogging in whatever lane they felt like, totally oblivious. Then they also had to drag these mats about which took up major sections of the track for a few laps. Should have hurdled them, but didn't have quite enough energy.

C • Hurdling cheerleaders 6

And physio visit. Joe tested my ankle. Still have the pain with extreme flexion. So so frustrated!!! I thus *still* shouldn't trail run. In fact, Joe suggested I don't run at all, which caused me to become slightly hysteric and break down crying... he modified it to don't run over 5-6 miles in the end...

I just don't understand what is so wrong that it hasn't healed in 1.5 years. Ok, most of that time I was crunching it fairly frequently, but haven't for the past 2 months now.

The pain wasn't that intense, pretty mild actually, but still definitely there, while the left ankle has no pain at the same angle of flexion.

Cool! There's a machine at the gym that's a cycling arcade game. You steer around the course and everything, chasing down other cyclists. And the resistances increases when it looks like you're going uphill. Super cool. Least bored I've been ever on an exercise machine maybe.

While clothes were in the drier. (Cycling was while they were washing.) Nice and convenient there's a gym right next to the laundromat.

Ski weekend = so much fun!! So nice to have people up there! And the snow was great, best snow north of DC? =) Can't believe the weirdness of this winter!

Actually got a better warmup in this time- a bit sore from yesterday's racing, but not bad once I finished warming up. Cheered hard for Stephi when she came through for her lap too, then saw her finish as I was just about to start!

10k skate interval start Eastern Cup (+ EISA Carnival) @ Trapps

And again, a totally decent, although not fantastic race. 16 out of 158, 3 min behind the winner. So further percent back than yesterday- I've always been better at classic, but I thought today was a better race. Guess not! I felt strong on the hills, but weak on the flatter bits- I don't have the upper body strength to have a very powerful V2 at the moment... Still, I'm perfectly happy with the result, given the lack of ski-focused training.

Stephi was super-duper cheering for me up almost all the tough hills. Helped so much! Ross, Sam and SGB caught the very finish I think, where I probably looked totally exhausted...

Back and forth on Fox Track, coaching Heather, Kathleen and Eric. Eric helpfully got skate-length poles so could start with making v1 asymmetric and fully committed to the pole-ing ski and also started to teach him the rhythm of v1 alternate. Heather and Kathleen are doing really well with a full range of motion, not just walking while skiing- they're now working on allowing the toe off the ground in the back, like I worked with Caroline on yesterday.

Since there's no snow in Amherst, wanted to get in a nice long ski particularly motivated with the French marathon I'm doing in 2 weeks now. Woo!

Skied the 5k race course and added the 2.5k add-on that makes it 7.5k. Then up to the Cabin! And around Slayton Pasture and then down Haul Road, but detour back up Oslo where I ran into the Hosmers and chatted for a bit. Then back down Bobcat and continue on down Haul Road back- *love* the chute bypass- best fun downhill turns this side of the S-turns at Oak Hill. =)

Was tired at the end. Very tired. And the lodge meadow was doing its best to be utterly inhospitable with strong wind, blowing drifting snow and cold temps. I bundled up, grabbed skis and headed to the car for a 3.5h drive back home....

Barely squeaked in a warm-up amongst fretting about kick wax. Helpful CSU folks helped me wax though (yay!) and also helped when I came back needing a bit more kick. Skis were pretty good, just very slightly slippy.

5k skate interval start Eastern Cup (+EISA Carnival) @ Trapps

On the new 5k race course for the first time! Good fun, but tough with lots of climb at the end. Think I skied it pretty well. There was a weak spot of double pole just after the 4k mark, but brought it back together. Stomach actually cramped up a bit which almost never happens with skiing. Curious.

Finished 14/223, only 1 min back from Ida Sargent, who has recently done pretty well at U23 championships, so pretty psyched about that. If I just had a bit more upper body strength think I could chip away at that...

Skied on my super-old favorite classic skis. Love them! But eventually will have to use something else... scary.

After racing, did a warm down with Steph. Ran into Mark Johnson (Janna's little bro). Last saw him in Norway right after the Birkebiner! He's back in the States, now skiing for Williams.

For the afternoon, went over to Sleepy Hollow to join everyone. First time *ever* skiing there- was nice! Didn't get to see many of the trails though, would be fun to go back and explore.

Went back and forth on Lower Saddle Trail, coaching folks. Discovered Eric was using his classic poles for skating, so then suggested he ski mostly without poles- they were forcing him into a wierd hunched body position. Ross and Sam both working on full weight transfer from ski to ski and making the V1 poling motion asymetric. SGB working on keeping more and more forward and smoothing out the stride, working a lower tempo, longer glide. Caroline's looking much better, suggested she start to let the back foot come off the ground a smidgen in the back, to allow her to keep her weight forward.

Just at the end (when a setting sun made it quite cold!) went off and skied the ungroomed Upper Saddle Trail by myself. Maybe not a great idea on race skis, but was careful and didn't ding them up.

Must.Work.Out.

Also organizing a journal article discussion today, which people already started yelling about at coffee yesterday- eep! So decided I better re-read the article, did about 10 pages of it while cross-trainering...

10 min abs
2 min back
1 min triceps

To super-low key college-kid-DJ'ed radio.

Cage Workout

20 min warm up, 6.25 tempo mile, recovery between intervals (3-4 min), and 11 min cool down

Mile intervals:
5.41
5.48
5.49
5.49

Not quite as quick as 2 weeks ago, hmmm. Stomach wasn't too happy though.

Normal crowd was there, plus new guy Aaron from Greenfield. 3 members of the Amherst HS girls' indoor track team were also working out - 10 x 150m, and their coach is maybe interested in coming out orienteering, once his hip is better! And, instead of cheerleaders this week, we had the ultimate team and some polevaulters- they were way more respectful of minding the track, have to say...

Worked too late. Went to gym. Did the arc trainer for 15 minutes and then the strange swingy elliptical-type thing for 15 minutes.

Question: Do people get as good a workout in if they are watching TV at the same time? I certainly felt like I lost some focus...