Wednesday Oct 31 |
 | Running 21:50  2.3 mi (9:29 / mi) | |
| shoes: Nike Pegasus |
| Two laps around South Park. Legs felt tired and stiff at first, but better once I'd warmed up. |
| Running 18:20  2.37 mi (7:43 / mi) | |
| shoes: Nike Pegasus |
| 10x(steepest part of South Park), with the quick jog down being the recovery. Of course, this being South Park, the hill wasn't exactly a killer, but it was most definitely uphill and the going was extra tough because by this point it was completely dark and I had to focus on placing my feet so as not to trip on any roots. I was very pleased with this session. It was the first time *ever* that I have done hill reps with consistent times.
49 (58)
50 (58)
50 (59)
49 (58)
50 (58)
48 (60)
49 (60)
50 (72 - was asked directions by some people passing by)
49 (62)
48 (60) |
| Running 9:35 [2] 0.96 mi (10:00 / mi) | |
| shoes: Nike Pegasus |
| Easy cool-down, criss-crossing up and then down the middle of South Park. Sort of cool to be running on a grassy hill in total dark, but I am looking forward to going out in the daylight again. Hopefully once the GREs and the City Race is over, I'll be able to relax somewhat. |
| Stretching 6:00 [0] | |
| |
| |
Tuesday Oct 30 |
| Running 42:24 [2] 5.15 mi (8:14 / mi) | |
| shoes: Nike Pegasus |
| Started running after the sun had gone down and by the time I finished it was completely dark. I was surprised me how cold it was - my hands and ears froze within minutes. It was an interesting experience running over grassy paths on Port Meadow in the dark - meant I spent less time looking at the ground ahead of me. |
| Stretching 5:00 [0] | |
| |
| |
Monday Oct 29 |
| Cross-Training (elliptical) 45:00  | |
| shoes: Nike Pegasus |
| A productive session - reviewed some multivariable calculus for the GREs. |
| |
| C • When is it... 2 |
| Strength Training (gym) 22:55 [1] | |
| shoes: Nike Pegasus |
| Core, hamstrings, calves, shoulders, and triceps. (Quads still very sore from the weekend!) |
| Stretching 5:00 [0] | |
| |
| |
Sunday Oct 28 |
| Running warm up/down 14:00 [2] 2.33 km (6:00 / km) | |
| shoes: Orange Adidas O-shoes 07 |
| |
| Orienteering 1:21:35 [3] 9.3 km (8:46 / km) +115m 8:16 / km | |
| shoes: Orange Adidas O-shoes 07 |
| Did the brown course at a BADO district event. My legs felt tired after yesterday, but overall I am just about healthy! Since the course was quite boring, but the area generally very runnable, I used the entire thing for compass practice. I took precise bearings and then tried following them. Worked out reasonably well most of the time. |
Saturday Oct 27 |
| Running warm up/down 11:50 [2] 8.33 mi (1:25 / mi) | |
| shoes: Mizuno XC spikes |
| Warm-up with Sophie, a new member of OUCCC. |
| Running 29:30 [5] 6 km (4:55 / km) | |
| shoes: Mizuno XC spikes |
| Birmingham Cross Challenge.
Five minutes into the race, I decided to quit. Of course my muscles felt fatigued, but that was to be expected. The main reason I wanted to stop was because of the awful stomach cramps. (I didn't eat breakfast until 10:30 and then, because I was so hungry, wound up eating too much.) If this race was in some way important, then I would have continued to push, but I knew even before I started that there was a chance I wouldn't feel well and I realized that it would be wiser to listen to my body and take it easy. So now all I had to do was find some place in the course where I could stop without being noticed by loads of people. The course is made up of loops around grass fields, so if I stopped in the middle of a loop, I would just have to walk/jog all the way back to the center where the finish was. So I would keep telling myself that I would quit after the next loop, but then there would always be people cheering and crowds spectating and I couldn't do it. I kept this up for about ten minutes - just looking for the right moment to drop out. But despite the pain, my legs just kept going and I couldn't quite summon up the courage to make a full stop. After I hit the halfway point, I gave up on my plan of quitting and decided to finish. I started passing girls after this point - I passed a few on the uphills (improvement over last year!) and passed a few on the downhills. I passed three Oxford girls (who really had no business being ahead of me in the first place) and then, finally, thankfully the race was over.
As soon as I finished, I wanted to go quitely into some bushes and retch, but at that point Tessa Hill spotted me, having finished 12 seconds ahead of me, and came over to say hi. My surprise at seeing her took my mind off the pain for a moment. She was very nice. :)
Of course it is disappointing that I had such a painful (and slow!) race today, but I am still glad I did it. That's the beauty of racing against yourself - no matter how slow your time was, if you pushed yourself as hard you possibly could, then you feel ecstatic at the finish. |
| |
| C • better not eat at all 2 |
| Running warm up/down 7:45 [2] 0.82 mi (9:26 / mi) | |
| shoes: Mizuno XC spikes |
| |
Friday Oct 26 |
| Note | |
| (rest day) |
| Could train today, but I've already trained five days in a row and I don't want to overdo it. Have a lot of work to do anyway. |
| |
| C • training 2 |
Thursday Oct 25 |
| Running warm up/down 7:40 [2] 1.6 km (4:47 / km) | |
| shoes: Nike Pegasus |
| Four laps around the track, easy but not lazy. |
| Running 6:34  1.42 km (4:37 / km) | |
| shoes: Nike Pegasus |
| Wanted to do a bit of fast running, but still don't feel ready for a real workout, so did 3x400m at a pace slightly slower than interval pace. I did the first two while looking at a Lunsen map, and then drawing the controls on a blank map during the rests. It definitely slowed me down to look down, which was part of the point (kept me from going too fast). I did the third one without looking at a map, so it was faster.
1:34 (51)
1:38 (59)
1:32 |
| Running warm up/down 3:59 [3] 0.8 km (4:59 / km) | |
| |
| Two easy laps around the track. |
| Strength Training (gym) 30:34 [1] | |
| |
| Everything except hamstrings, which feel sore after Tuesday. |
| Stretching 5:00 [0] | |
| |
| |
Wednesday Oct 24 |
| Running 47:29  5.4 mi (8:47 / mi) | |
| shoes: Nike Pegasus |
| Four times around South Park, mostly at an easy pace. The third time up the hill, I took the section I used for intervals last spring at tempo pace. Time was 2:51, which is quite good, actually, considering that I was holding back.
Right foot hurt occasionally, but I did not feel like I was making it worse. But, alas, not wearing the insoles means that there's no support for pronation, so my knees felt sore towards the end. Argh. Fix one problem, cause another. It's very rare when everything feels in balance. |
| Stretching 5:00 [0] | |
| |
| |
Tuesday Oct 23 |
| Cross-Training (elliptical) 15:00 [2] | |
| shoes: Nike Pegasus |
| Grade 19/20, resistance 7--9. Looked at a Lunsen map. Gym was really crowded this evening! |
| Strength Training (gym) 42:00 [1] | |
| |
| Now that my muscles no longer ache when I ride the bike around town, I figured it was ok to start going to the gym again. My hamstrings and calves have definitely gotten stronger after this summer. My quads as well, but not as noticeably. |
| Stretching 5:00 [0] | |
| |
| |
Monday Oct 22 |
| Running 54:50  6.33 mi (8:39 / mi) | |
| shoes: Orange Asics |
| A run along the river and back, part of the way with Scott. I felt almost normal running today, at least for parts of the run. Then, after about forty minutes, my right foot was hurting so much that I had to stop. I stretched my calves, took out my insoles, and it was better after that. The fact is those insoles have been bothering me for the last few weeks, but I forgot to bring any other insoles with me to Oxford, so I was wearing these all the time and I guess it wasn't good for my foot. I'll get new insoles and see if that helps. |
| Strength Training (core) 5:00 [1] | |
| |
| |
| Stretching 5:00 [0] | |
| |
| |
Sunday Oct 21 |
| Running 46:19 [2] 5.15 mi (9:00 / mi) | |
| shoes: Orange Adidas O-shoes 07 |
| Ran a long loop around Port Meadow, looking at a Swedish relay map from the spring. Such good terrain! It's amazing how much I miss Sweden sometimes. |
| Stretching 5:00 [0] | |
| |
| |
| Note | |
| |
| My legs felt significantly better today, but I am still not completely recovered. It is surprising that this illness is dragging on for so long. The symptoms in the beginning did not seem very severe - some light fever, very runny nose, sore throat, etc., but nothing that required complete bed rest. And yet three weeks later I'm still feeling the effects. At least I'm getting better. Slowly, but surely. |
| |
| C • Autumn 2 |
Friday Oct 19 |
| Running 32:54 [2] 3.66 mi (8:59 / mi) | |
| |
| Three loops around Christ Church meadow while looking at a map of Fiby. Legs feel fatigued, although overall I felt stronger. Still coughing occasionally. |
| Strength Training (core) 5:00 [1] | |
| |
| |
| Stretching 5:00 [0] | |
| |
| |
| Note | |
| |
| I've decided that my biggest weakness in orienteering thus far is slowness with interpreting the map. It can be hard for me to understand the contour detail and visualize what's coming up ahead even if I'm standing still sometimes, so I concluded that more than anything else I need to work on sightreading maps. (I use the term "sightreading" because interpreting maps reminds me of sightreading music.) So I'm going to try to do lots of map visualization and force myself to think ahead. I need to get out of the old and comfortable habit of reading maps as I go along. It's not easy by any stretch, because it basically means changing the way I orienteer, but I think it would make my navigation significantly better. So I'll try. |
| |
| C • Good plan 3 |
Thursday Oct 18 |
| Running 44:53 [2] 4.85 mi (9:15 / mi) | |
| shoes: Orange Asics |
| Four laps around Christ Church meadow while looking at a Lunsen map and forcing myself to read and mentally say what I would see during each leg. Lovely weather. |
Wednesday Oct 17 |
| Running 45:30 [2] 4.92 mi (9:15 / mi) | |
| shoes: Orange Asics |
| Easy run by myself along the river path. Chest feels much better, but legs still very tired. Saw loads of swans today and while I was smiling at a pair of them, some guy sitting on a bench smiled at me. Almost thought about stopping to chat with him, but didn't want to interrupt the run. |
| |
| C • Men by the towpath 10 |
| Strength Training (core) 5:00 [1] | |
| |
| |
| Stretching 5:00 [0] | |
| |
| |
Monday Oct 15 |
| Note | |
| (rest day) |
| Most of the symptoms from being ill are gone, but the fatigue and muscle soreness will likely be around for another 1-2 weeks. I'll just keep taking it easy in the meantime. |
Sunday Oct 14 |
| Orienteering 56:03 [3] 6.1 km (9:11 / km) +140m 8:15 / km | |
| shoes: Orange Adidas O-shoes 07 |
| BKO district event at Hawley & Hornley Commons. I jogged around the blue course, which felt like real effort after the first ten minutes. A few times I had to stop and walk - so tired!
Sadly, the course was pretty boring. It was mostly path running and darting into unpleasant woods for a control. :( But I suppose it's better than running on trails without any map at all. |
| |
| C • Good health 2 |
Saturday Oct 13 |
| Orienteering 58:01  3.6 km (16:07 / km) | |
| shoes: Orange Adidas O-shoes 07 |
| Local event on Brill Common, light green course. I walked the first half with Cat, explaining different features and talking her through the controls. Then I jogged the second part on my own. I'm trying not to think about it, but it is very frustrating to feel so weak and slow when just two weeks ago I was in my best shape ever and felt like I could run up every hill. :( |
| Stretching 5:00 [0] | |
| |
| |
Friday Oct 12 |
| Running 50:58 [2] 5.36 mi (9:29 / mi) | |
| shoes: Orange Asics |
| Run to Port Meadow and back. Went quite slowly, but at least i could call this a run rather than a shuffle... Towards the end, another runner passed me and made me feel slow. I sped up a bit, but quickly realized this was not a good idea and slowed back down. I'm recovered enough that I can run again, but I have to keep it very easy. At least it's a start. |
| Note | |
| |
| Knees and hips felt sore. I assume it's because I haven't run in a while and hope the stiffness will go away in a couple of weeks. |
| Stretching 6:00 [0] | |
| |
| |
Thursday Oct 11 |
| Running 22:40 [2] 2.32 mi (9:45 / mi) | |
| shoes: Orange Asics |
| Easy two loops around Christ Church meadow. Felt weak and slightly dizzy by the end, but good to take advantage of the nice weather. |
| Stretching 7:00 [0] | |
| |
| |
Wednesday Oct 10 |
| Note | |
| (sick) |
| Still waking up with a sore throat, but I am definitely feeling better on the whole. I entertained myself this evening by looking at Peter's routes from the Highlander and then looking at Thierry's site.
http://tero1.free.fr/
The latest news (after the World Cup) is "Oups, I did it again..." Haha. Corny, but I still like him. |
Monday Oct 8 |
| Note | |
| (sick) |
| Still having coughing fits, but sinuses feel clearer.
I looked at Scott's map from the Warwick city race this evening. It looks like a good, fun course, but there are way too many controls. The Oxford city race is going to be better. :) |
| |
| C • too many? 1 |
Sunday Oct 7 |
| Note | |
| (sick) |
| Watched the sprint in the afternoon (very exciting!), then traveled back to Oxford. Feeling quite ill again tonight. I can't believe this cold/flu has been dragging on for this long! It may well be another week before I can train again... |
Saturday Oct 6 |
| Running 13:33 [2] | |
| shoes: Orange Asics |
| Easy morning run with Sandra. I felt slightly better than yesterday, but throat was still very sore and I didn't feel I could go faster than the jogging pace. |
| Note | |
| (sick) |
| It was a hard decision, but I decided not to run the world cup race. My symptoms changed daily, so it was hard to predict how I would feel, but when my leg muscles ached after climbing the stairs, I knew that there was no way I could go out there today. I wasn't even sure I could finish the course, let alone race it. And after looking back at my training log and seeing what happened the last two times I ran when in a similar situation, it became very clear to me that today I should just rest. |
| |
| C • hey kat 3 |
Friday Oct 5 |
| Running 15:00 [2] | |
| shoes: Orange Adidas O-shoes 07 |
| Half ran/half walked ~3km to the training map. Felt very weak and muscles ached, but had some hope that a bit of easy running and some fresh air would do me good. |
| Orienteering 25:00 [2] | |
| shoes: Orange Adidas O-shoes 07 |
| Half ran/half walked parts of the training course with Boris. The navigation was pretty easy and the map was very clear, so no real problems. But it was hard to focus because of my scratchy throat and the tiredness. We walked home. |
| Note | |
| (sick) |
| Morning flight to Switzerland. |
Thursday Oct 4 |
| Note | |
| (sick) |
| Absolutely abysmal day. The one good thing is that I went to see the college doctor and now have several different drugs to take. |
| |
| C • Get well soon! 5 |
Wednesday Oct 3 |
| Note | |
| (sick) |
| Spent the day running errands. I'm excited to be back in Oxford, but also annoyed that I am still sick. Sore throat and runny nose persist. Ugh. |
| |
| C • Oxford 3 |
Tuesday Oct 2 |
| Note | |
| (sick) |
| Flight to England. |
Monday Oct 1 |
| Note | |
| (sick) |
| Still sick, although feeling slightly better than yesterday. |
| |
| C • Feel better 2 |