Training Log Archive: Becks

Was determined to get out there today, and set off at 9ish to do a long run through Rock Creek State Park. Absolutely beautiful piece of woodland, gorgeous day. My legs were stiff from all the walking and standing yesterday, but I was still doing a semi decent speed for L3, and I saw a black squirrel which was pretty cool. Did a small sub threshold middle section (this is going to be threshold as the training plan progresses), then ran back. Got back from running and went to the Smithsonian Zoo, where I saw Sloth bears, gorillas, and these absolutely amazing big shrew things. It was a really fun day.

Didn't get round to actual running today but had a very outside day with a ton of walking around. Walked from way up Connecticut Avenue to the Mall to the rally. I was a bit disappointed with the rally - it was amazing that so many came along, but this meant I could hear very little and saw absolutely nothing. Mostly could just hear people yelling "louder." The bits we could hear seemed to be pantomime comedy, without any of actual cutting satire you see in both shows, but more worryingly, totally lacking in any coherent message. Apparently the final address was much better in that respect, but by then I'd gotten bored of staring at the backs of people's heads and hearing every 20th word, and like many others we'd wandered off. Then walked around DC a bit, explored some of the monuments, went for dinner at DuPont Circle, and then walked to Rob's cousin Emily's house which we thought wasn't far but actually took an hour. By the end of the day I was exhausted, but really liked what I saw of DC and would like to go back and explore without the extra 200,000 people!

C • DC is an amazing city 2

Less tired today but still a bit sleepy. Only two snoozes on the alarm! Think resting was definitely the right thing to do.

C • me too 1

Bleurgh. I have been asleep since 9.30 last night, and could only force myself awake at 8.30 this morning. I really think I raced too hard at the weekend. I am going to rest and start a new week on Saturday, when I go for a jog around DC. Any suggestions people?

REcovery jog round the base of East Rock then to the gym. Legs are still tired and feeling a bit spaced in general. Maybe that's because the ground is covered in crazy coloured leaves and it's difficult to see properly!

Warm up then strength at the gym (copied from Bex's week!).

3 x 8 Squats 105lb
3 x 8 press ups 10lb
3 x 8 SLDL 65lb
3 x 10 DB Row 20lb
3 x 10 Medicine ball dead bugs (green ball, weight helpfully rubbed off)
3 x 8 5 secs side plank pulses

Leg it back home for a shower and bagel.

Thanks to a) feeling still totally wiped and b) the road digging continuing throughout the night and well into the morning, I am taking another rest day today. Mum and Dad have gone home via a night at ndobbs's place and NY - boo, so we get the bed back - yey!

Well deserved rest day. Completely shattered today, all spacey.

Someone has just started digging up our road. At 9.30pm. The entire apartment building is shaking. This is not cool.

My legs were very tired before setting out today, and I was full of bloatey period rubbish. However, when I got out there I was doing okay - again, no edge of speed (used all that up yesterday), but maintaining a decent pace and feeling okay. Was clearly tiring, as I spiked the first 6 out of 7 (a little hesitate at 6 at the bigger boulder), and after that the spike turned into the 30m in the right kind of area wobble, and then finally into serious time loss at 14. Still, the woods were beautiful, I was happy to be out, and watching Mum blip the West Pointies: http://www.blipfoto.com/wendles56#comments
made it an excellent day out.

Does anyone know if my Mum won a prize?

C • I'm pretty sure they called your mum's name 9

Red Sunday - Splits

Event: Fall Foliage Festival
 

So, today I took last week's pushing too far, ran too fast, and it resulted in some very silly misses and a big fat DQ. At no point in the course did I ever see number 6!It was in the middle of an entirely straight and long line (>1km) line between 5 and 7 but still, everyone else pushed it. Was rushed from the start and worried about qualifying after a bug early couple of errors, and ended up eliminating myself entirely when an easy safe run would have got me in no problem. D'oh.

Start - 1: Up the trail, get put off by the lack of huge boulder (hidden under the start triangle), go off too early, at too steep an angle, hit the wall, get back up to control. Bye bye 2 minutes on a 1.5 minute leg.

1-2: Safe round the tracks, control no problem from the junction.

2-3: Round the contours, lovely little leg.

3-4: Nice easy contour leg.

4-5: No idea what happened here. Should have been a contouring leg, but I did that and ended up way too far below. Then got confused and over corrected, ending up above the control on the rocky spur. Finally saw it hidden in some scrubby stuff. Lost 1.5 mins here. Now very worried about qualifying and legged it.

5-6: Never happened, as I had no notion that 6 ever existed.

5-7: Was very fast. Too fast. Doh. Screwed up the control a bit too, a re-entrant over.

7-8: Fine.

Was so angry with myself at the end, total disbelief. Luckily AliC calmed me down and I realised I would still get ranking points for the second race, even though I was ineligible overall. So there was still something to race for. Still, really annoyed.

Link to map from Cristina. 5,6,7 not an example of exemplary course planning:

http://sprintseries.org/doma/show_map.php?user=cri...

So I pre ran the second course then I could help out at the start (a very redundant role, but excellent to catch up with Lori, SGB and Presto). Started slowly, maybe a bit too cautiously, as was hesitating like the first day of last weekend.

Start-1: Lost significant time at number 1 by not daring to take the best route through assembly, then slightly missing the actual control due to faffing.

1-2: Slow but bang on. Reading the detail well.

2-3: A little hesitate but generally good.

3-4: Bleurgh. Wrong angle for my attack point, ended up on the one contour hill with crags that I didn't realise were crags. Ended up at the wall again and dropped into the right re-entrant. This is when I realised the contours were 2.5m, and everything made way more sense then.

4-5: Banana via the trail but as I'd hit that control from the trail before (in the prologue on the way to number 1), it was quick. In fact one second off fastest split fast. Mental.

5-6: Fine

6-7: Amazing route choice round the trail actually not that fast compared to Super Ali going straight. Surprised.

7-8: Slightly wobbly route to the trails, then peg it round. Accidentally overshot my attack point, but came from what turned out to be a better one, as I never saw the phantom swamp of doom that everyone else got hit by!

8-9: Slow but fine.

9-10: Overshot AP but again this gave me a great line in from the small trail. Lost significant time to Ali (who was chasing me down after her collision with the swamp of doom), but probably because my legs were jelly up the hill. Not run this fast in a while!

10-11: Zippy. Good.

11-12: Zippy and good. Just enough left in the legs to sneak in in front of Super Ali. Another 100m and she would have definitely had me.

Much better. My legs are getting quicker and quicker, and confidence is slowly returning. Racing is fun! There are so many girls capable of winning races right now. It's great.

Red_finalY - Splits

Easy jog around Callaghan early in the morning. We then spent the whole day walking round Boston and Cambridge, and my legs are now super achey, Probably didn't need to bother with the run.

Run round Callaghan State Park with Dad. 10 x 30 second wind ups again. Lovely evening, just missing all the storms. I wish this place was (newly) mapped! Dad keeping up well on the wind ups, it was pretty hilly out there!

Drive up to New Hampshire with Mum & Dad, and a bit of walking around Flume Gorge and the basin. I almost lost my camera but I didn't. That was good.

Warm up to the track with two sets of strides.

An absolutely appalling 4km time trial. Thing is, didn't feel too bad, just have no edge of speed. And I get bored on a track. Positives - I raced well on Sunday with not a trace of my old speed. A good winter of training will hopefully get me closer to where I was three or four years ago in Edinburgh, which should add significantly to my racing. It was pretty evenly paced, not losing too much at the end. Negatives - there's no hiding it, that's a poor time. And track running is really boring.

Splits (laps):
1.38
1.41
1.41
1.41
1.41
1.41
1.42
1.43
1.44
1.36

Quite depressing, but it's only October and I have a long winter of hard work ahead!

Jog back home trying to figure out why I'm so slow.

Nice easy 70% max HR recovery run round Science Hill and East Rock. Another gorgeous autumn day, and legs feeling surprisingly sprightly. Clearly still excited from yesterday.

Another steep jog/walk to the start. The view from the top was incredible, gorgeous colours, mist hanging in the valleys, the hills getting bigger and bigger in the distance. Lovely.

So, today the aim was to actually go out there and race. Faffing was officially banned, and I was officially getting closer to that there Sam girl. I would also try not to be beaten by any veterans (albeit really quite superb veterans). And I managed. Although Sam was still way ahead, pulling out a truly awe inspiring 59.56, I lost a lot less time and was far more satisfied with my race. Clawed ahead of that pesky Ali character too, which I was surprised I could do. Best of all, AP reckons I lost less than a minute in errors (I think probably more like 2), which means I am capable of doing this racing thing, and when I have a good winter's training behind me, I might actually get near Super Saeger. Point by point:

Start - 1: Knew the trail and the spur were pretty clear, and went for it. Attacked over the spur and dropped into the re-entrant. Confidence boosting in the exact place I screwed up in yesterday.

1-2: Bit of faffing around the trail then got my act together and went for it. Attacked along the ridge and hesitated slightly early, but was right on line. A little time lost but not devastating.

2-3: Again, on a great line but hit the spur slightly lower than I thought and hesitated way before the control. Ran back to re-entrant and figured it out, this was my only properly significant time loss.

3-4: Easy pick leg - simples.

4-5: Really pleased with this. Picked up 4 or 5 features the whole way, a nice trail run in the middle to relax, then tighten up across the marsh corner, down the featureless hill, find exact point and attack control. Second fastest split on a long leg is something I don't think I've ever managed. Sam still, unsurprisingly, totally skinned me.

5-6: Was so annoyed with this! Ran so fast, bang online, then just hesitated too early in the re-entrant. Stood still for ages but was exactly where I thought I was. Bugger.

6-7: Spike!

7-8: Really pleased with this - tricky slope leg and I planned a good, safe route, and executed it well. Still a pansy at running downhill though.

8-9: Down the hill - not the best route through the crags but not too much time astray either.

9-10: A beautiful spike, but must have been running a bit less full on.

10-11: Took the safe high route but this was probably over cautious, feature was completely unmissable.

11-12: Too high, had to correct!

12-13: Simples.


So in summary, much better today. I didn't exactly feel in control on the top, mainly due to lack of ability to plan ahead as everything was full on. I consciously clicked over-ride on my faff button a few times, but never got anything like lost because I was simplifying better. Lesson learnt: I can do this. I should believe that I can!

Route gadget:

http://www.vmeyer.net/gadget/cgi-bin/reitti.cgi?ac...

C • Americans... 6

No time for a warm down as had to scoot off to pick Mum and Dad up from JFK. Yey! Looooong traffic jams in New York made me happy to be driving non-stick for the first time ever. It is great to see Mum and Dad!

Day 2 Red Y - Splits

Event: US Two-day Classic O Championships
 

Jog/walk up onto the plateau to the start of the US Classic Champs Day 1. It was a bit dark in the woods, and the climb was pretty big! Actually nervous for the first time in ages.

First off, I really enjoyed being out on the plateau today. The orienteering experience up there was incredible - so runnable, so complex, so many challenges. When I got back I knew I had been rubbish on the descent, but it was only when I saw the results that I realised that I hadn't actually been racing up there at all. I'd been cruising, trying to make everything fit, lacking in confidence and stumbling along really quite slowly. By leg:

Start -1: Dreadful route. Tried to follow the trail, then realised the instructions were right ("don't try to follow trails"), went off the trail, tried to avoid the hill and ended up doing a wobbly banana either side of the line. With constant stopping to hesitate. Yes.

1-2: Big marsh, big marsh, in down the ridge was the plan. Executed middling to fair, with a large amount of stopping to place myself. The marsh was sodding huge and completely unmissable when I got there, so I didn't bother with the hesitating the second time. By then however, I had already lost a hideous amount of time to Speedy Sam.

2-3: Control pick, confident confident OH GOD I'M IN THE WRONG RE-ENTRANT No I'm not there's the control.

3-4: Spot on. With a bit of a hesitate leaving the trail.

4-5: Inching closer to the control. On the line the whole time, but never believed it. Actually stared at the control for a good ten seconds going "it should be there, oh, it is there. Oops."

5-6: Good. A bit less hesitaty.

6-7: Actually had a plan. Executed it poorly, faffed and stopped every two seconds resulting in dropping way too low on the broad spur, relocated badly twice, then realised my error and got the control. Was way too low down in the crappy stuff. Biggest mistake in a while.

7-8: Wavered about the side of the marsh to take and probably took the wrong one. Slightly confusing line in and guess what? Hesitated.

8-9: Spike!

9-10: Eurgh. Had a plan, executed it perfectly, but yet again, hesitated every step of the way. Felt this bizarre need to be in ultra contact, which when you're hurtling down a loose super steep hillside with very little control is not the best idea.

10-11: Hesitate, hesitate, hesitate. No problem with route choice, just no confidence on the slope.

11-12: Spike!

12-13: Dropped all the way down to trail. It was way more of a climb back up than I had anticipated. Bad choice maybe, but still not sure I'd have been faster going straight with my incredible faffing skills.

13-14: Spike!

14-15: So busy faffing I forgot to read the map at all and dropped off the trail far too soon, was too high on a rocky bit and it took me ages to get to the control.

15-16: Thought I'd take a detour down and round the hill to end on a short sharp climb, rather than take the nice undulating trail that led directly to the control. Oh yes.

So actually, it was a pretty abysmal effort. But that area...stunning.

Routegadget here - Brits have a look!

http://www.vmeyer.net/gadget/cgi-bin/reitti.cgi?ac...

Half hearted jog back with a CSU guy who's name I am yet to learn. He is a friendly chap though, as they all are.

Day 1 Red Y - Splits

Very easy leg stretch before work this morning. The rain had stopped, luckily, as we have no shower at the lab. Had to be careful not to sweat :) In the lab at 7.34, bleurgh. Looking forward to leaving town tonight, albeit only for a weekend!

Slept dreadfully last night but still managed a late morning run. Did 10 sets of inverse 90x30s just speeding up for 30s to remind the legs what quick is for the weekend. Hope the racing is fun!

C • Late morning run 3

So, we finished what we thought was the final bit of work on the grant at 5 yesterday, and went home to await the "final draft that will be sent in a few hours." It never came, so I took my bat home and went to bed at ten. Awoke this morning actually feeling okay for the first time in a good few days, and despite my training plan having totally gone to pot, I figured running time was better than sitting at desk mainlining cookies time. So just went out for an East Rock cruise to look at the views and the leaves, and it was great fun. Running well, nice and hilly but no problem, gorgeous colours, long sleeved weather but still totally clear and sunny. Incredible. Almost feel I can face another day of not getting any of my project work done now!

C • have you noticed 2

Blah.

Blah.

Battled the malaise all day today - grant things suspiciously quiet, which probably means tomorrow will be a lab till 10pm kind of day, so spent most of the day cleaning the house from top to toe for Mum and Dad's arrival after next weekend. Then had to do the laundry trek, and thought I may aswell put on my gear and run aswell. So a super quick pre dark blast round East Rock - not much, but it reminded me that beating the malaise is almost always a good thing.

Just as I was struggling with the concept of getting out the door to train, I checked my e mail, and there was ndobbs, offering me a trip out to Ansonia. So I cycled into the lab, mounted my slides, and then we drove out. The woods are looking lovely, not peak yet but loads of different colours. Did the course I did last November with Boris backwards, and was running very easily, but being a bit of a muppet in the first half. Surprised to see that I was faster last year - think I was less of a muppet then but also the climb was less severe that way round. Really enjoyed being out there in the sunshine - thanks Neil! Less concerned about next week now - over short distances my running really isn't that bad.

The lab is crazy again this week, (grant deadline next Tues) and after yesterday feeling a bit despondent. No worries, the rest will do me good after Sunday anyway. Might train again before Saturday, but will definitely train on Saturday.

C • you should work for me, my ... 4

Barely slept late night, and am now wondering if it's because I was having an eerie premonition of the e mail I received this morning.

Two thirds of the results of my PhD are now potentially not correct, thanks to someone in the lab thinking a cell line was something when it appears now, it is actually something else.

Lesson - never trust anything anyone gives to you. Always check absolutely everything about it before wasting two years of your life, and all of your savings, working with it.

Not a fucking good day.

C • Sorry to hear 13

Well deserved rest day! Surprised on waking to find legs feeling relatively sprightly, stairs no problem. A slightly stiff right ankle on the front of the foot, but that's pretty much it. Obviously didn't run hard enough!

Event: Hudson Highlander
 

Well, I made it round. I generally found the Highlander a pretty depressing indicator of my present fitness, but there were some exciting points along the way. The start was cool, loads of people, just hung out mid pack. Things stopped making much sense halfway to 1, then I realise I was navigating to 6 instead. Going to number 1 luckily made way more sense! Nice leg along the hill tops to 2, then up and over to 3. At 3-4 we hit the green and the pack spread out bigtime, I lost sight of Sam and Hilly, but thanks to Jo B managed to take a great line through the green and emerge on the other side relatively unscathed. On the way to 5 Sam and Hilly suddenyl appeared from behind, having fared less well in the green, but I decided not to keep with them and stick at my pace. I think this was probably an error. Long leg to 6 was beautiful, but I missed my AP and had to hack through some green to get back on track. Cross the marsh to 7 where I see Bendover, who got very stuck back in some more evil green. With him to 8 but he's running much faster, and I fall in again with 4 guys from West Point "252 degrees to the next one." Drop to the road, catch up Mr B who's earlier route choice got him ahead, but he's turned his ankle and it struggling a bit down the slope. Along the road he picks up, and I chase him and the West Point boys into the map exchange.

After a quick banana it's onto the trail run. Slow and steady the whole way, feeling hamstring a little here, beautiful woods but generally a bit dull. Halfway through Jo's painkillers kick in and he's out of sight almost instantly. At the end of the trail run I manage to fall off the trail, nothing makes sense, am caught by Kevin & Hannah, and we stumble into the control. Then back up and over the trail, down a gorgeous spur with an incredible view, and into the woods. This is more fun, Kevin & Hannah both going well and spurring me on to keep going. On the way downhill to 16 though, Hannah decides it's an apt time to practice her commando rolls, and bashed her head across a rock in the process. We sit for about 5 minutes, but she seems fine and carried on walking the loop. I jog ahead, but the West Point boys are now way gone, I'm totally alone, tired, and I have some really long tough legs ahead. I spike all the rest of the controls on this map, but it's difficult not to at snail's pace and I know the other girls are together and running way faster. Not a fan of this bit of Harriman, and am dismayed when I see them running back out onto it for the final loop. Wanted to go somewhere nicer! Ali looks so fresh and I am already dead...

Have a long change over, chat with Will who had just finished, eat lots, and then back out on the final loop, thinking "I've paid for the T shirt, I'm going to get my money's worth!". Miss 22 thanks to following the West Pointies (d'oh) who I had caught at the end of the last lap. Spike the tricky 23, 24, get stuck trying to cross the river at 25, no problems with 26, 27 is easy. Just a case of making everything fit whilst struggling to move. Catch Giovanni on the way up to 28, then as I leave the green I hear an almighty yell behind me. Giovanni looks worried, and out pops Pavlina who has just scared away a bear that was right next to us all! After this I'm done, mentally through, I just sit in behind Pavlina who is still running like a mountain goat and desperately try to cling on.

And that's it! I can smell the burgers, see the happy smiley faces, and it's all over. 49 mins down on Ali, who ran a great race to be first girl. I'm calling it 39 after the few mins sitting in the forest and wasting time at changeovers. But it wasn't much fun, I was never able to push myself physically enough to make the orienteering a significant challenge. Still, today I "ran" for the longest I've ever run, which I guess is an achievement. Next year though, I want to be able to race Ali & Sam for at least the first 10km. Today even that was out of my reach.

C • Well done! 4

Highlander - Splits

Decided that, in order to sleep in after the humungously expensive and very tasty NY steak experience (thanks Tim and Cj!), I would get to Brooskvale under my own steam as opposed to imposing my laziness on others. However, my rough estimation of the distance was way off, and the cycle took almost twice as long as I would have liked. Took Whitney all the way up and then the Farmington Canal (longer but eons more pleasant) all the way back. Not too scary in the ghetto, had to carry the bike up a siding to get back onto the trail after the works bit.

Hence, did far more exercise today than was sensible. Not good!

Bleurgh. How much was I not feeling it out there today?! Nothing in the legs, brain on another planet. Spiked all the control sites but ran a bit down the wrong trail twice in between! Poor show. Felt tired and sluggish.

Not sure what's up - running feels good on trails during the week, but the last two O courses have been awful. Maybe I'm just not terrain fit? Today I think I was suffering from too much protein, not enough carbs and not enough sleep, so I'm hoping that tomorrow won't be a complete disaster. Would have liked my HRM today to see what that was doing, but annoyingly left it in the lab. Got a bit of a feeling of impending doom about it now though! Eep.

Green - Splits

Slept through my alarm, was annoyed I couldn't grab a quick cycle before 8.45 meeting, and then the heavens opened with crazy rain and I was glad I was saved the cycle.

Not sure how I'm going to make it to work in any way resembling dry though...