Training Log Archive: Kat

Harriman training, day 4. Kseniya and I did a long trail run on the Hogencamp map. Excellent physical training (hills, rocks, etc.) and decent navigation practice as well, since we lost the trail a few times. Kseniya is in really good shape! With good runs, I bet she could beat just about anybody at the US Champs.

Running to the start.

C • Saturday. 1

Harriman training, day 3. Long distance practice on Rockhouse with Kseniya. This time I was much better prepared. I taped up my feet, wore thicker socks, and made sure that I was hydrated and feeling good before we started. The beginning went well and I was orienteering decently, but I made a huge mistake on the long leg to #5. It was a vague gradual hillside with green patches and I got confused while trying to avoid the green and wound up searching about four hundred meters away from the control. Eventually I figured out what had happened and went in the right direction. I was pretty tired after this, but I managed to get the next few cleanly. Feet were sore by the end, but not as bad as yesterday.

Running to the start/from the finish. It actually took us almost half an hour to get to the start, since the parking lot was not on the same map as the course and we spent some time relocating in the green, but I'm putting it down as less time because walking through green, tough as it is, does not really qualify as physical training.

Harriman training, day 2. Ran part of the men's middle distance course from WOC 1993, Pole Brook Mountain. It feels like the woods have gotten greener since 1993, because looking at the map I was expecting mostly white woods, but in reality my impression was that Kseniya and I spent most of our time battling through green. Perhaps it is because the blueberry bushes occasionally come up to my waist?

Just an hour and a half before running I was throwing up and battling painful stomach aches. I did not feel nauseous out in the woods, but I was feeling very weak and extremely dehydrated. I was ok for the first part of the course, but by the last few controls I was feeling pretty bad. It was nice to get back to the car and drink some water!!! Good training, anyway. Just need to eat a good meal tonight and get some sleep.

C • Woods 7

Have to take the GRE today. This week is, conveniently, my easy week.

C • Bah! 5

Running on the trail along the lake, to the start of the course.

Harriman training, day 1. Middle-distance practice on the Hogencamp Mountain map. Kseniya and I took it easy and we took turns leading, switching for each leg. Very good technical practice and I was happy not to get completely lost! In fact, although we slowed down at each control to make sure we were in the right spot (no streamers), we were moving fairly quickly the rest of the time. I noticed that I zigzagged a lot through the terrain today - definitely something to work on next time. Hopefully in a few more days orienteering will feel natural again. I almost forgot my compass when I was packing today because I hadn't done it in so long!

Jogging back to the car after the last control, on trails. Right before we got to the parking lot, I hit my big toe really hard on a rock. There is a dark purple bruise there now. :(

Spent the day with my family.

Flight to New York.

Grade 19/20, resistance 9.

Everything except dips and abductors (the machine was broken). Quads felt a bit tired, but nowhere near as sore as I expected. Managed to do 3x15 reps with 20 lbs just fine.

Biking up the Diversion Channel and then partway along Comanche with Mike. Our last bike ride together and indeed the last time I'll see him this summer. Saying goodbye made me really sad.

C • Land of Enchantment 2

(Distance and pace are complete estimates - will be updated later.)
Long run with Matt. We started at the bottom of the Tram, ran around on trails to the Pino trail, went all the way up on that, then took the Crest Trail to the ski lift area and then hiked (painfully and slowly) straight up through the grass to the Tram. I had one Gu after about 35 minutes and another after about 1:45 and I felt ok. There were clouds over the mountains even when we started and we were rained on halfway up Pino, so that our clothes were soaked and our shoes were heavy for the rest of the way. This slowed us down some, as we had to be extra careful on the rocks, and my hands turned numb after a while. The only reason the rest of me was ok was that we kept moving. At one critical junction I made a wrong call and we wound up on the wrong trail, losing a lot of elevation and winding up on the grassy open ski area, about 800 feet from the top. The last several minutes were really slow - it got ridiculously steep there. But as soon as we reached the trail at the top, we managed to run the last bit to the Tram. We were very happy to have made it there without having problems with darkness or lightning (which seemed to be at least two miles away). Woohoo!

Got home, took a long, hot shower, went out to Flying Star with Matt and Laura to have dinner, and now it's time for some stretching, right before bed.

C • Flying Star 1

Home --> Alameda parking lot (following the bike path along the river) --> UNM. I safety-pinned a small red towel around my bike seat, so my butt felt ok this time. I'm sure bike shorts are even more comfortable, but this worked surprisingly well. There was a lot of wind for the first section and a lot of uphill in the last fifteen minutes, but otherwise ok.

Went to the pool and did an easy 500 yards to cool off (broken up into 50s and 100s). I was hoping to swim for half an hour, but my arms were sore from weights yesterday so I cut it off early.

I don't normally log the commute from UNM to my house, since on its own a 10-minute bike ride doesn't really feel like training, but today it did (since I did it right after the other stuff and it's uphill).

Did all of the usual stuff. This is the first time I've done quad strengthening exercises since La Luz - my legs are just now finally sort of beginning to feel normal again, with some freshness and some zip. This makes me think back to the weekend before La Luz, where I did a (shorter) mountain race on Saturday followed by another long mountain run on Sunday. Even though I took it real easy the next few days, my legs did not feel completely fresh the day of the race. I was not willing to sacrifice my fun runs the previous weekend in order to taper and, having no prior experience with long races, I didn't think I needed to. But in the future, should I ever seriously want to prepare for a long race, I think I will have to start being careful at least two weeks in advance. Not necessarily cut out all hard stuff, but certainly get rid of anything that requires a lot of recovery time.

A run with Howard around the Academy. This was excellent heat training - in the sun the entire time running on mostly sandy (slow) paths. All of this would be great if I were actually preparing for racing in the heat, but of course I'm not. Maybe it is beneficial anyway? If nothing else, I am more confident about running in dry, hot conditions now, although even easy runs like this one are done with a camelbak!!

Set out along the Diversion Channel with Mike, then turned around after the bend and started heading back. I attempted to do some biking intervals - did 6x(Comanche-Candelaria) fast, using the ride back to Comanche as the recovery. It was windy. Times were: 1:23, 1:19, 1:16, 1:16, 1:21, 1:17. I'm sure real bike intervals are supposed to be longer, but this isn't possible along this part of the diversion channel - too many roads to cross!
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1246365
(I calculated that 1:16 for 0.46 mile = 2:45 min/mile = 21.8 mph. That doesn't seem very fast, but I was trying!!)

C • Good job! 5

Run with Matt, incorporating the ARR Monday night run. First ten minutes up Indian School Road to the trailhead, then a bunch of rest waiting for the others, then another 26-minute loop around the Embudo trail (past the waterfalll!), then scrambling up and down a ridge, and then back home on trails and paved road. The scrambling was pretty funny - I told Matt that we should climb this one ridge just because we'd been looking at it while stretching. We wound up dodging cacti and skidding on rocks and sand, but the view at the top was gorgeous!

C • One of my best runs at college... 2

The Big Howard loop around the foothills with the usual Sunday group. This was possibly the easiest Sunday run yet. No steep hills, no technical rocky sections, just rolling terrain and nice trails. I went to three different cafes after the run, one right after the other. The second one was the best - amazing peach and raspberry smoothie!

C • That sounds like my kind of tr... 3

To Sportz Outdoor.

To Walmart.

To home. Uphill.

Biking to the Alameda parking area, the first 18 minutes on roads and the rest on biking paths along the irrigation ditches next to the river. Very enjoyable ride at first, but then my hamstrings began to feel a bit tight and my butt started to hurt, so I had to keep shifting slightly. (I have not yet invested in a pair of padded biking shorts.) I was pushing myself the entire way - definitely training and not just "riding."
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1240445

C • Hey Kat! 4

And out-and-back run along the trails near the Rio Grande (an extension of the course I did on Thursday). At first it felt a bit creepy to be running there by myself, since the Rio Grande is where body parts are found every now and then, but after I some other people out on the trails (riding horses and biking) I felt better. I didn't take any water with me on the run, since I didn't want to carry anything, but I really should have. I started to feel dehydrated after forty minutes.

Drinking Gatorade and stretching in the shade...

Biking back, although this time to the University. This way was harder because I was more tired and dehydrated, the wind was occasionally in my face, and I had to go uphill once I started going east. I was not pushing myself as hard as on the way out, but I was still keeping a fast pace.

The reason I took three days off from running this week was because my quads really hurt from the downhill running I did on Sunday (it hurt to walk Monday and Tuesday!) and I wanted to make sure they were ok before I started using them again. It seems to have worked, because that annoying soreness (different from typical tired soreness) is gone.

C • Downhill 4

To Paseo Del Norte and back along the Diversion Channel with Dan. My quads felt much better today.

Increased grade to 6%.

Everything but quads and arms. Did one new (back) exercise as well.

Doing a few laps of this before swimming is great motivation. I couldn't wait to start gliding through the water.

Endurance set (all easy freestyle): 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 500
(Averaged about 1:40/100 again.)
2x{25 fly, 25 back}
100 easy
TOTAL: 2,200 yards

I looked at the Colorado maps today, the US Long Champs in particular. I miss orienteering!

C • O 2

Running around the grass field right next to the Johnson center, testing out the shoes. For some reason, my left knee hurt a lot, so I stopped.

Right after running outside, I went into the gym and got on the treadmill. This is the first time I've run on one for more than thirty seconds and it was an interesting experience. I played around with the speeds. For the first ten minutes I alternated speeds between 6:30 - 8 min/mile. Then I spent two minutes at 8-minute pace, getting my breathing back to normal, and did a progression (changing each minute) of 7:30, 7, 6:45, 6:30, 6:15, 6:30, 7:00, 7:30. Then I spent 5-6 minutes at 8 min/mile. Bizarrely, my knees did not hurt on the treadmill.

Achilles/calves felt really tight after the treadmill. (I knew this would happen, which is why I only spent 25 minutes on it and sped up slowly over the course of time.)

Jogging with Matt along the course.

The ARR August handicap race. Unlike the last one, this one was mostly flat. It was an out-and-back course with a bit of pavement at the beginning and then single-track dirt trail in the shaded area along the Rio Grande. There were two 5-meter hills and parts of the trail were sandy enough to slow me down, but otherwise it was a pretty fast course.

I was one of the last two females to start. Colleen Kirsling started alongside me and we chatted for the first minute. Then I went ahead of her (in order to avoid staring at her feet once we hit the narrow trail) and she stuck behind me the rest of the way, only falling back a bit towards the end. This woman is somewhere between 55-60 years old and she almost beat me! My amazement with the southwest continues. This summer I have met a very large number of people aged 40+ that look twenty years younger and run even faster. Very cool. Very impressive.

I kept up a solid effort throughout the race, but I can't say it was all-out. I was talking in the beginning, didn't push as much as I could have in the second half, and didn't bother sprinting to the finish. But I think this was a good choice because I'd already done some speedwork today (not knowing that I would do this race) and because I want my legs to be ok for this weekend!

I took a split at the turning point: 11:30 out, 11:17 back. Perfect!

Cool-down with Matt and Laura.

Biking up the diversion channel and then alongside Paseo Del Norte to Jefferson. This didn't take as long as I thought it would.

After my bike ride, I had half an hour to cool off before my appointment with Dr.Parks. This is the first time I've seen a podiatrist - in the past I've gone to sports doctors and physios. This guy was not as brilliantly useful as I could have hoped, but he did say several helpful things:
1. He agreed with me that finding a good-fitting shoe and getting proper pronation control and arch supports is a must.
2. He said that the swellings I have on each foot (on the insides of the arches) seem to be muscular in nature and will probably stay there as long as I continue to run, but as long as I avoid wearing shoes that press into them, it should not be a problem.
3. I asked him if I was in danger of developing plantar fasciitis. His answer was a very definite yes. It's obvious that I am already having several types of pains in my feet (occasional heel pain, arch pain, arch swelling, tightness), so bigger problems would be the next logical step unless I change my shoes and take better care of my feet.
4. I should stretch my achilles and try some foot massage.

C • ojojojoj 2

Dr.Parks recommended I visit a specialist running store to try some different shoes, so I biked to Heart & Sole. The bike ride was very inconvenient - I ended up going west towards the diversion channel again, then back east to San Mateo.

The guy that helped me pick out my shoes was incredibly nice and also seemed pretty knowledgeable. He had me run on the treadmill several times so I could observe my stride on video. We noted several things, some of which I already knew:
1. I overpronate on both sides, more so on the left. "mild" pronation.
2. I turn my right foot out as I run (keeping it straight hurts my knee.)
3. I need to try size 8 shoes, because the 7.5's seem to be too tight.
We settled on a pair of Brooks, Adrenaline GTS 7, size 8. Running in these shoes on the treadmill, I could see that most of the pronation was now supported. The next step was trying out a pair of arch supports. The Superfeet I've been wearing the last couple of weeks have been comfortable, but they don't really support the arch at all, just stop the pronation. So I got a pair of Eastons. We'll see how well those work.

Biking home.

Everything except arms and quads.

Biking to the university from Mike's house.

To/from Bike World to get my bike fixed after taking a fall this morning. It only took ten minutes and the guys there were very nice about it.

I have wanted to go to the pool ever since the weekend, when the gym was closed. I've been hot, sweaty, and tired for the last several days and stretching my limbs out in the water was really good. I think I should make swimming mandatory for myself. Not so much for cross-training, but as physical therapy.
25 easy
10x50 free (tried some backstroke, but this hurt my ears)
8x25 free
100 free
8x50 free
100 free
100, 200, 250, 400, 300, 200, 100 free (cruising, consistently doing 1:40/100)
100 free
25 easy
TOTAL: 3,000 yards

Grade 19/20, resistance 8-10.

Everything but quads and calves.

Biking to Mike's house. He kept me working.

Saw the Sante Fe opera tonight! My first ever and I was extremely lucky. Very talented singers, a lively interpretation of Mozart (Cosi Fan Tutte), an incredible outdoor location, and first-row seats in the balcony! This couldn't have been better.

Placitas run with the Sunday running group. There was a record number of 12 people today, 9 of whom did the entire run. The first thirty minutes were incredibly steep and unforgiving and I was reduced to hiking very quickly. The rest of the run was either downhill or rollercoaster. I went ahead for much of the downhill part, feeling slightly reckless. Then the last three miles were on open dirt road/trail and I really felt like I was running there. It's good to see that even when my legs are so tired, I can still keep up a decent pace on the flats. We finished the run at Dan's house and then drove to a diner for an awesome breakfast. I had a huge piece of cheesecake to top it all off. *So* good.

My hips started hurting a bit in the last fifteen minutes, so I made sure to stretch my IT bands. I used to think it was going uphill that aggravates them, but none of my up-only runs have triggered it, so it must be the downs.

I'm starting to believe that maybe it is just conceivable that I may someday run a 50-mile trail race. Howard asked me about this on our first run together and I think I just laughed, but I'm afraid it's catching. Trail running is addictive. I want to run more trails, climb more mountains, see how far I can push it. People tell me it's only a matter of time. It's a rather daunting thought at the moment, but who knows what will happen? All I can say is today's run felt really short and I wanted to keep going.

C • Patience 2

Biked to the gym with the intention of doing some light cross-training for a couple of hours, but it was closed. Only other options were running (in the heat) or biking (on heavy legs). So I stayed home and ate fruit instead. Albuquerque is fruit heaven after living in Europe - peaches, cherries, grapes, apples, plums, coconuts, strawberries, oranges....

C • coconut 5

Two loops around the golf course, then an out-and-back run because I was told to get off the grass (again), this time by a lady with a loudspeaker. My legs felt very tired from the bike ride yesterday, but seemed a bit looser by the end.

Grade 18, resistance 7/8. Felt very hungry despite having eaten a big lunch just a few hours before.

Everything but quads and calves.

Today I biked to the mountains!!! I followed Constitution east till I hit Indian School Road and then climbed (very slowly) up to the end, where the trailhead was.
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1214982
The first 10 minutes were relatively flat, but after that it was a gradual climb till Tramway and then a really steep bit up Indian School Road. According to gmaps I gained something like 900 feet (most of in the end). This felt like really good exercise!

I got to the foothills, but my legs were tired from the climb and my face felt very hot from the sun. I drank water and ate a powerbar, then started jogging very slowly up one of the trails. I wound up in a dead-end, with huge rock formations on all sides of me, but on the bright side I discovered a waterfall! Of course it is a very small one - just several feet high and barely enough water to get my head under - but out here any type of natural water is amazing. I'll have to come back here to take pictures one of these days.

Biking up was hard, but biking down was terrifying! My hands ached from holding down the brakes going down Indian School Road and the gusts of wind were freaking me out. I didn't relax until I was halfway down Constitution and could start pedalling again, in third gear. It actually took me about 45 minutes to get home, but I'm putting it down as 25 because the first part could hardly be called training. Perhaps strength training of my biceps, but not much else.

Stretching after the run.

Ankle strength before going to bed.

Three loops around the golf course, with ~10 second breaks in between to drink some water. This was probably the most pleasant run I've had on this course so far: nothing bit me, nobody told me to get off the grass, it was not especially hot or humid, there were not that many golfers around, and having my mp3 player along made the time pass quickly. Legs were definitely starting to feel tired by the end, even with the easy pace, but there were no new pains and the feet felt fine. Good!

Biking along the Diversion Channel with Mike, then along some roads, then back on the bike path down to the university. Perhaps once before I leave I'll make it down to the path that runs along the Rio Grande and go for a longish ride there, because riding on the other bike paths means stopping 20 times an hour at intersections and that's annoying. I really tried to push on the way back and I could feel my quads burning. I'm getting the hang of using biking for exercise! And I'm also getting better at making turns without hitting the brakes.

Grade 19, resistance 9 (10 for the last several minutes).

Everything except quads and calves.

C • Quilt 3

Involuntary rest day. I dressed to go to the gym in the morning, but then circumstances kept me busy and by the time I was finally ready to go in the late afternoon, I realized I probably shouldn't be biking outside because of the wind and very likely chance of rain. It's one of the downsides of relying on a bike for transportation.

C • ok 4

My feet are hurting after yesterday, so I am going to take today off and hope that this is just a short-term effect.

C • wounds 9

Results from the handicap race I did in July are up:

http://www.aroadrun.org/Handicap_Cal/July/Handicap...

Very slowly jogging to the start of the race from the car. Jean picked me up this morning and I stuck with her for the beginning.

The La Luz trail race.

I started off following Jean, because I knew she wouldn't start out ridiculously fast and because I knew she would cover the 1.8 miles of pavement in under 20 minutes. I think La Luz would not be even half as difficult without this first section on the pavement. In the first 18:45 minutes, I covered 1.8 miles and gained 275 meters in elevation. So when I hit the trail, my legs felt heavy, sort of like the way they would feel after biking or lifting weights. I really wanted to stop and shake them out, but couldn't.

The trail was a relief after the pavement, but still hard. For the first thirty minutes on the trail, I was just focusing on putting one foot in front of the other. I took a Gu, a few men passed me, I passed a few men and two women that had obviously started too fast.

I hit the spring in 30:45, just 15 seconds slower than the pace I'd done during my last training run on La Luz. This was encouraging, but in the back of my mind, I realized now what a huge difference it makes to do the pavement section first instead of just starting at the bottom of the trailhead. I was much more tired at this point that I'd been on the training run. But I didn't allow these thoughts to bring me down. I was hurting, but I also knew that I was on the pace and perhaps if I could just keep struggling, it might be enough. Certainly if I stopped to walk it would be all over. So I kept at it.

I was past the overlook in another 25:45 minutes (forgot to take a split until a bit after). Again, this was just 15-30 seconds off the training run pace, so I was still good for time. There was a water stop at this point and I grabbed one of the cups and poured it over my head. That felt nice. I felt a sudden burst of energy (it helped that here was the only downhill part of the race) and streaked down, passing three people. It's too bad this downhill part only lasted fifteen seconds. I hit the rocky uphill section and was passed back by all three.

It had rained a lot last night so the rockslide was very slippery. During my training run, I had half run and half walked the first few, then walked most of the last few. This time I hiked pretty much all of it. This is not to say that the wetness was entirely at fault, though. It is very difficult to run over rocks going uphill and it takes a lot more strength than I had at the moment. I took another Gu early on here, but that didn't make me feel better.

There were 18 switchbacks along the rock slide and some passing happened here. I passed a few people (including Dean, who was very encouraging), some people passed me. By this point I no longer cared about my time or finishing or anything else. I felt sort of delirious, which in a way made the going easier because I was no longer thinking much. I kept going up because there was nothing else to do, it was sort of automatic.

I hit the Y (0.6 miles left to the finish) in 1:51:15. Last Thursday I did this last section in about 9:45 and this was when I felt pretty energetic and also when I was trying very hard to break 10 minutes. There was no way 8:45 could happen today. Before the race, I thought that if I could just get to this last part, where I knew I was close to the finish, I could push it. This always happens in cross-country races and even after two-hour orienteering races. But this was just not possible today. The last bit of the trail is really steep - there is a gain of 207 meters in the last kilometer. I hiked as fast as I could, climbed the steps on all fours (which I think makes it easier), and finally, finally made it to the finish. (Last split was 10:53.)

This was without a doubt the hardest race of my life. (As well it should be, since it's one of the top ten difficult trail races in North America.) I've never done a marathon, but I have heard people talking about hitting the wall at 20 miles and having a really difficult time the rest of the way. Well, this felt like hitting the wall in the first mile, and then keeping it up for another two hours. Running for the first 75 minutes of this was just ridiculous and I still can't believe I did it. This, by the way, means that I have now officially achieved my goal of running uphill for over an hour!

I am especially proud of this race because it's the first time I've ever really prepared for a race and I think I did it perfectly. I was as ready as could be on Sunday morning and I gave it my all. Honestly, I couldn't have done much better. And I think part of the reason is that I had this two-hour goal in mind, but I was flexible with it. This goal meant that I pushed myself harder than I would have otherwise (so even though I didn't break 2, I was probably closer to it than I would have been), but I was not disappointed in the least when I got to the top. In fact, I felt ecstatic. This was an amazing experience and I am absolutely certain that I will come back to Albuquerque someday to run this race again.

Biking to/from the Fleet Feet Sports store to pick up my race packet. I also bought myself some new socks and a pair of Superfeet insoles. Randy mentioned these on the discussion board and I was intrigued. So I'll wear them for the next couple of weeks and see how they feel.

C • La Luz Results 3

Left knee started hurting a bit towards the end, so I quit a bit early.
Resistance 7-9, grade 19/20.

C • Good luck on Sunday!!! 4

Resistance 8/9, grade 18-20.

After I left the gym, I discovered that someone had jammed my bike lock with what looked to be red candy. I eventually got it open using a screwdriver, but it took quite a bit of effort. To make matters worse, the front tire was completely flat. Thankfully, it looks like they just let the air out instead of slashing it. I'll have Mike take a careful look at the bike tomorrow to make sure there are no other nasty surprises.

As furious as I am that somebody touched my bike, I realize that they could have done worse. Much worse. I'll be leaving my bike in my office from now on when I go to the gym....

C • Bike thiefs 2

Three loops around the golf course, with a break in between each to have some water. I meant to do this in the morning, but then I lazed around in bed till 7:30 AM and didn't have time. So instead I went out at noon. It was hot and sunny, but not as bad as could be because it rained quite heavily last night.