Sunday Dec 2 |
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| Woke up with a bit of a headache and sore throat, surely due to running around for almost two hours in the cold yesterday when very tired from traveling. Decided to skip the Linne training today and hope to feel better tomorrow, especially because the map did not look very inspiring.
In the afternoon I did a lot of wall climbing, swinging on ropes, crawling around in tunnels, and similar challenges at Boda Borg, a type of adventure place where groups of 3-4 people go around doing various challenges (some physical, some puzzle-solving or skill-related) and collecting stamps from the successful attempts. My team of three girls did quite well. Excellent teamwork. :) |
Saturday Dec 1 |
| Orienteering 1:20:00 [2] | |
| shoes: Mudclaw 07 |
| Orienteering in some really complex terrain south of Stockholm. It was wet, cold, and really tough going! In the beginning I kept slightly twisting my ankles and falling because I hadn't run in rocky stuff in a while, but after the first twenty minutes or so it got better. The navigation was very tough for me because I was tired (having had only two hours sleep), the map was old and the contour lines generalized, and the contour interval 5 meters, which is not what I am used to in Sweden. But I kept thinking that this was all good for me, because it reminded me of things I needed to work on. |
| Running 30:00 [2] | |
| shoes: Mudclaw 07 |
| After doing the first six controls, I decided to return to the finish because my feet were numb and I didn't want to keep the others waiting. It was a long way back and involved getting over several obstacles, including inching along a barbed-wire fence to avoid falling into a big stream. The funny thing was I wasn't the only one who did this! Patrick had exactly the same idea. |
Friday Nov 30 |
| Running 23:38 [2] 2.49 mi (9:29 / mi) | |
| shoes: Brooks 07 |
| Two loops around South Parks. Very windy day, so I felt quite slow both biking to the park and running. |
| Strength Training (gym) 42:00 [1] | |
| shoes: Brooks 07 |
| Core, arms, abductors, adductors, back. |
| Stretching 5:00 [0] | |
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| Flight to Sweden tonight! |
Thursday Nov 29 |
| Biking 15:00 [1] | |
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| Biking uphill to Shotover. I decided to spare my legs and try to take it easy this time. So I switched to lower gears and didn't pedal as hard as last time. It still wasn't easy going uphill on a heavy mountain bike, but at least my legs didn't feel destroyed at the top! |
| Running 58:22  6.14 mi (9:29 / mi) | |
| shoes: Brooks 07 |
| Ran around Shotover slowly to warm up and loosen the legs (18:13). I twisted my left ankle early on, but after I tightened my laces, it didn't happen again. Also, my right plantar fascia was very tight and I stopped to stretch my calves a couple of times. It felt ok after the first twenty minutes.
Then I did 4 long hill intervals to the very top of Shotover hill, with the jog down as recovery. The hill route is roughly 700-750m long, with about 70 meters climb. Times were 4:20 (3:22), 4:28 (3:31), 4:25 (3:31), 4:20. My legs were tired, but I actually felt like I was *running* uphill on the last one. And the best part was that these intervals actually got my heart rate up! On the last one I experienced that slightly light-headed feeling that comes from not having enough oxygen. For some reason that feeling is very hard for me to attain while running on flats, even if I am running quickly, but I feel it on the uphills!
For cool-down I ran around the top part of Shotover and then down to my bike (12:09). Felt great! |
| Stretching 6:00 [0] | |
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| This was done several hours after training, but better late than never. (Couldn't do it right after because I had to rush off to Warden's Collections.) |
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| Looked at maps from the Billygoat sprints and the actual long course itself from spring 2006. The mapping style still looks quite foreign to me (among other things the colors are brighter than what I am used to), but at least I understand the contours now. |
Wednesday Nov 28 |
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| (rest day) |
| Took a trip to London today to see Simon Costain. I found his name in Paula Radcliffe's book and after doing some more research on him, decided to book an appointment myself. I argued with myself for ages about this, because the price was quite steep, but I think it was worth it.
To date, in the last two years, I have seen 8 people regarding running injuries - three physiotherapists (all in Oxford, one through the NHS, two private), a sports doctor (in NYC), an Oxford professor specializing in knee injuries, an osteopath (in Oxford), a naprapath (in Uppsala), a podiatrist (in Albuquerque). I have also asked numerous other people for advice by email and in person. So it is fair to say that I tried, but did not meet with much success. Simon Costain and his associate Chris Williams are the 9th and 10th people and the best by far. They looked at my feet, my gait, and my three pairs of orthotics in detail and determined what would work best for me. Of course nothing is guaranteed and a pair of good custom orthotics will not necessarily make all of my problems go away, but at least I know this pair will be made correctly. |
Tuesday Nov 27 |
| Running 49:27  5.82 mi (8:30 / mi) | |
| shoes: Nike Pegasus |
| To University Parks, did part of the OUCCC intervals session, then did some more easy running and went home. The intervals session I did was 2x{2', 30" rest, 2', 3' rest} followed by 6'. My legs were really heavy from the last two days, so these felt more like tempo intervals than real intervals. I doubt my HR got much higher than 165 at any point. Still, good to be outside with other people. That was the main reason I did this - to avoid being alone! |
| Stretching 6:00 [0] | |
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| I looked at a map from Australia today. The navigation looks relatively simple (as in, not too much detail on the map), but I don't really have a feel for what it would be like to run there, what the gray areas or the vegetation is like. This is one of the many reasons I should go to Australia some day...perhaps next winter?
I also looked at a men's course on Siggeforasjon, a map somewhere near Stockholm. This map has lots of small detail and route choice is not always easy to figure out. With some legs, the route was obvious to me and I could choose hills, cliffs, or marshes that I could use to guide me. With other controls, where there was just vague contour detail and small marshes, I really had to force myself to come up with a plan of attack, because if left to my (current) natural instincts, I would just go on a bearing and hope I would recognize features as they came up. This is why I need to look at more maps!
And here is yet another article about Thierry. I like reading about him because it makes me feel like my own perfectionist tendencies really aren't that extreme. |
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| C • Siggefora 2 |
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| C • Thierry 2 |
Monday Nov 26 |
| Running warm up/down 12:30 [2] 1.43 mi (8:44 / mi) | |
| shoes: Nike Pegasus |
| Jogging to/from the sports center. |
| Strength Training 1:10:00 [2] | |
| shoes: Nike Pegasus |
| Did part of the OUAC circuits session, then did some more stuff on my own. My left ankle hurt, but then got better after the first half hour. I'll have to be careful with it this week!
I wasn't too impressed with the new circuits instructor. He did the typical exercises, but really overdid it on the legs and didn't seem to realize doing squats with legs far apart and feet facing forward is *not* good for the knees. Anyone's knees. |
| Stretching 6:00 [0] | |
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| This is the end of my two-week "training break". The break was mental more than physical - for two weeks I did only the trainings that I wanted to do and absolutely no weight training for my legs. I'm ready to move forward again now.
Last week I saw yet another physio, Graham at the Up&Running shop. He concluded I have plantar fasciitis and tibial tendonitis. None of these are surprise injuries. The first time I had heel pain was over a year ago and the first time I felt pain on the insides of my feet was actually over two years ago. So my feet problems are not new, it's just that recently the pain has flared up quite a bit and I really have to do something about it now. But the good news is that I have a plan of action and my motivation is back. |