Training Log Archive: AliCIn the 31 days ending Jul 31, 2007:
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Tuesday Jul 31, 2007 #
Cycling 31:00 [2]
Cycling back from the train station after an awesome trip to Leiden!
Monday Jul 30, 2007 #
Cycling 30:00 [2]
Cycling to the station. Always, always takes 30 minutes...
Strength (Kayaking) 20:00 [1]
Went flatwater kayaking around the canals in Leiden. So gorgeous- you get a very, very different perspective on the city from the water!
Counting this as strength as it wasn't realy aerobic, but man do my arms hurt!
Counting this as strength as it wasn't realy aerobic, but man do my arms hurt!
Sunday Jul 29, 2007 #
Running 1:54:30 [1]
Ouch, sore from softball yesterday! Now those are muscles I don't normally use...
Loosened up in the first bit, then had a good run. Did the Blue to Orange to Yellow loops. The Orange has a long boring bit at the beggining on a logging road and the Yellow goes on (gasp!) a paved road in the middle, but they both have fun sections too (fun means there is a few feet in elevation change =)).
I am absolutely positive now that I need new running shoes. It felt like my shoes had absolutley no cushinioning when I ran on the pavement... luckily I don't have to do that much! I think I'll try to hold off until I head back to the States to buy new ones- less than a month now!
Loosened up in the first bit, then had a good run. Did the Blue to Orange to Yellow loops. The Orange has a long boring bit at the beggining on a logging road and the Yellow goes on (gasp!) a paved road in the middle, but they both have fun sections too (fun means there is a few feet in elevation change =)).
I am absolutely positive now that I need new running shoes. It felt like my shoes had absolutley no cushinioning when I ran on the pavement... luckily I don't have to do that much! I think I'll try to hold off until I head back to the States to buy new ones- less than a month now!
Saturday Jul 28, 2007 #
Rowing 1:20:00 [3]
Wowzer, so this time we had a coxswain in our quad, and she spoke exclusively in Dutch! Right. I sat 3 seat, and just followed whatever stroke did, as I had no clue what the cox was saying!
We did some intervals, but I'm not sure how hard they were supposed to be or how long they were, so I'm just saying the entire workout was level 3 although it was definitely more mixed...
Techinique-wise, my sculling bladework still needs help, but it's not too terrible. Felt slightly self-conscious rowing in front of this giant and strong Dutch woman who had been in the Olympics for rowing!
We did some intervals, but I'm not sure how hard they were supposed to be or how long they were, so I'm just saying the entire workout was level 3 although it was definitely more mixed...
Techinique-wise, my sculling bladework still needs help, but it's not too terrible. Felt slightly self-conscious rowing in front of this giant and strong Dutch woman who had been in the Olympics for rowing!
Friday Jul 27, 2007 #
Running warm up/down 43:00 [2]
Warm up, down and rest between intervals.
Running intervals 18:00 [5]
6 x 3mins on the Red Loop.
Gave myself alternating length breaks 1 min, 2 min, 1 min...
This was a pretty hard session. I felt like I had sort of gotten into a rut with the pace I was running intervals at, so I wanted to step it up a notch and run a quicker pace for some shorter invervals. Think it worked- they were some good tough intervals!
Gave myself alternating length breaks 1 min, 2 min, 1 min...
This was a pretty hard session. I felt like I had sort of gotten into a rut with the pace I was running intervals at, so I wanted to step it up a notch and run a quicker pace for some shorter invervals. Think it worked- they were some good tough intervals!
Strength (Core) 14:30 [1]
8 min abs only, and I think I forgot to do my second set of push-ups... Was in a bit of a rush as we had to go food shopping for chocolate-chip cookie ingredients!
Thursday Jul 26, 2007 #
Running warm up/down 35:00 [2]
Warming up and down running in the drizzle, just after a ceremony putting the ashes of the first radio astronomer, Grote Reber, under the telescope here... He was a cool dude.
Strength (Spenst) 35:00 [2]
Spenst! Jumping up, down, around, doing step ups, hurdling little posts demarcating the running/horse path from the bike path, explosive leg strength workout, basically.
Good fun, would have better with a training partner or two...
Good fun, would have better with a training partner or two...
Wednesday Jul 25, 2007 #
Running warm up/down 27:07 [1]
Warm up for the time trial and back. Rolled out of bed and pulled running shoes on, beautiful sun-burning-off the mist morning...
Running race (Time-Trial) 20:13 [4]
Did the Yellow Loop time trial, and was 16 seconds slower than last time. Which is somewhat disappointing, but I have been ill, so I'm not that troubled.
I'll do this time trial once more at the end of the summer- see if I can improve more!
I'll do this time trial once more at the end of the summer- see if I can improve more!
Running warm up/down 27:30 [1]
PM: Around the white loop, easy pace. Nice and sunny out, amazingly!
Strength (Core) 15:00 [1]
Normal core stuff, forgot boufous though! How could I...
Tuesday Jul 24, 2007 #
Running long (Distance) 1:33:00 [1]
Long, easy run. Went right after a torrential rain shower, and it actually didn't run on me the whole time I was out! I took the Whitbarrow map with me, and looked at it frequently which was good for keeping the pace easy like I wanted too. It's still a really hard map for me to figure out. There's so much detail on it, and lots of parts require me actually stopping to figure out what in the world the contours think they're doing....
Officially registered for 4 of the Belgian 5 days last night. Super excited! Even if I can't get a ride like I hope to, I can catch a train to 30 km away and rent a bike and bike there.
Officially registered for 4 of the Belgian 5 days last night. Super excited! Even if I can't get a ride like I hope to, I can catch a train to 30 km away and rent a bike and bike there.
Monday Jul 23, 2007 #
Running warm up/down 36:00 [1]
Out to and back from my favorite Red Loop- I'm back in Holland!
Running intervals 24:00 [4]
A somewhat random session.
My throat isn't 100% yet and I don't want to push it too hard and induce another asthma episode, so I didn't want to do full-out intervals. So I did maybe 8k pace intervals:
5:15 on, 1:00 off
4 on, 2 off
4 on, 1 off,
5:30 on, 1 off,
5:10 on, 1 off
As I said, somewhat random! Defintely still a bit wheezy, but don't think I damaged my throat more, at least! It's good to be out training again- training was very sporadic in Oxford, between getting ill, the conference, plans to see people, and flooding...
My throat isn't 100% yet and I don't want to push it too hard and induce another asthma episode, so I didn't want to do full-out intervals. So I did maybe 8k pace intervals:
5:15 on, 1:00 off
4 on, 2 off
4 on, 1 off,
5:30 on, 1 off,
5:10 on, 1 off
As I said, somewhat random! Defintely still a bit wheezy, but don't think I damaged my throat more, at least! It's good to be out training again- training was very sporadic in Oxford, between getting ill, the conference, plans to see people, and flooding...
Strength (Core) 13:00 [1]
The normal, except only 8 minutes of abs instead of 10. Had to make it on time for dinner- Monday is pizza night!
Saturday Jul 21, 2007 #
Running 50:00 [1]
To Port Meadow from Helen Rd., then around the Nature Reserve twice. The tow path to Port Meadow is very flooded in places- I took my shoes off for the first bit that was ankle-deep, but gave up on the second and just started running through them- would never have gotten there otherwise! Definitely knee deep right by the bridge to Port Meadow. Felt ok, throat is still a bit iffy from the cold.
Running intervals 10:00 [3]
Not really intervals, just wanted to wake my legs up a little, so did 5 x 2 min at 5k pace. Not at all hard, just a bit quicker.
Thursday Jul 19, 2007 #
Running 38:00 [2]
Run along the river to Port Meadow, around the nature reserve and back with SGB, before the conference.
Felt pretty ok, except when running through the park almost back to the house- and I had major problems breathing. I'm not sure exactly what brought it on, but it wasn't very fun. I've had breathing problems before, but that was different- I couldn't breathe out and it was caused by my vocal chords getting too tight. This was defintely asthma as I couldn't breathe in.
My guesses for why it happened- I've got a cold, and we just had entered a field of freshly mown grass, which I'm probably allergic to or something....
Felt pretty ok, except when running through the park almost back to the house- and I had major problems breathing. I'm not sure exactly what brought it on, but it wasn't very fun. I've had breathing problems before, but that was different- I couldn't breathe out and it was caused by my vocal chords getting too tight. This was defintely asthma as I couldn't breathe in.
My guesses for why it happened- I've got a cold, and we just had entered a field of freshly mown grass, which I'm probably allergic to or something....
Wednesday Jul 18, 2007 #
Running 10:00 [3]
Sprint to catch the bus back to Oxford from Blenheim Palace!! We were set to catch it from right outside of the gate the bus dropped us off at, but apparently that gate is locked after 4:45.... What do they expect normal people to do that can't run around to the other exit in 10 minutes??
Running warm up/down 25:00 [2]
Run to Hill End with SGB (3 miles? less? more?) and some bouncing around before the start.
Orienteering race (Summer Series) 34:00 [4] *** 4.6 km (7:23 / km) +110m 6:36 / km
21c
And orienteering back in the UK! Hill End is a bitty area with some open park stuff and some confusing trails in patches of somewhat yucky woods. I had X, Y then Z backwards, and the first two were fine, not so confused and made decent route choices and at least didn't falter even when I made the wrong one, have to just keep going.
Then came the backwards Z loop. I knew exactly where the first control was, so I didn't concentrate and ended up somewhere entirely different than where I thought I was going. Recovered, then messed up again on the next control. In retrospect, it really was just being over confident and thinking I had things figured out as I'd been past all the places those first two controls were. Still need to look at my compass! Anyways, then there was a long uphill leg, and I was way tired-er than I thought I should be. Maybe it's being used to the flats of the Netherlands, but I think the cold didn't help. Saw Jon in front of me and just couldn't manage to chase him down, which I think I could do if healthy!
Oh, and had a spectacular sprint finish with Emma, but I was coming from the uphill side and she from a flat, so despite my slide into the finish (think baseball style into home plate!), she just got me.
Then came the backwards Z loop. I knew exactly where the first control was, so I didn't concentrate and ended up somewhere entirely different than where I thought I was going. Recovered, then messed up again on the next control. In retrospect, it really was just being over confident and thinking I had things figured out as I'd been past all the places those first two controls were. Still need to look at my compass! Anyways, then there was a long uphill leg, and I was way tired-er than I thought I should be. Maybe it's being used to the flats of the Netherlands, but I think the cold didn't help. Saw Jon in front of me and just couldn't manage to chase him down, which I think I could do if healthy!
Oh, and had a spectacular sprint finish with Emma, but I was coming from the uphill side and she from a flat, so despite my slide into the finish (think baseball style into home plate!), she just got me.
Orienteering 7:00 [1]
Collecting controls for the first half of the X loop. Good to be able to look at the map while going more slowly.
Running warm up/down 25:00 [2]
Warm down and back to the house.
Tuesday Jul 17, 2007 #
Running 33:38 [2]
Few laps around Uni Parks. Had to fit it into the crazy schedule for the conference given by my supervisor which kept me busy from 8am til 6pm straight, then should have been 7pm-9pm and 11pm-1am, except I got out of those, actually. So just a really quick run between 6 and 7!
On another note, my throat seems to be healing, and I don't feel ill. Yay!
On another note, my throat seems to be healing, and I don't feel ill. Yay!
Monday Jul 16, 2007 #
Strength 53:00 [2]
Club circuits!! Fun times, good to do strength with people! And another astrophysicist from the conference joined us for a bit.
I have a very scratchy throat, so taking things easy...
I have a very scratchy throat, so taking things easy...
Sunday Jul 15, 2007 #
Running (Over-Distane) 2:10:00 [2]
Yay! A *hilly* long run. Ran over to and then around Whytham Woods for over two hours. Good workout, and my arms weren't sore at the end like they have been on my flat OD runs in Holland, I think arm motions are less repetative when you have up and downs.
Saturday Jul 14, 2007 #
Running 30:00 [1]
Grrrr. A most aggravating morning. Started by running from SGB's to Astrophysics, then realized I didn't have my Bod card, and no one else was going to come by work at 8am on Saturday morning. So I ran back, fixed lots of little annoying things in my transfer report, and sent it as pdf to my supervisor. Then went out running, and realized 15 minutes into it, that I already needed to come back, eat breakfast and go to the train station to meet my friend.
Friday Jul 13, 2007 #
Running warm up/down 48:00 [1]
From Astrophysics out through Uni Parks, over rainbow bridge to Marston to South Parks where I did intervals and then came back.
Running intervals (Hills) 20:00 [5]
Up the left side of South Parks, around a tree at the top (3min), then down to a bench, and up to the tree again (2 min). 4 x 5 minutes total.
Since the South Parks hill only takes 3 minutes to get up, I go back down the final bit and do a second short interval to the finish, to make a 5 minute interval with a bit of down.
Felt pretty good.
Since the South Parks hill only takes 3 minutes to get up, I go back down the final bit and do a second short interval to the finish, to make a 5 minute interval with a bit of down.
Felt pretty good.
Thursday Jul 12, 2007 #
Note
(rest day)
Spent from 7 am til 9pm in the Astrophysics building. Kind of sad, but went to many interesting lectures from 9:30-6, and the hours before and after were spent finishing my transfer report.
Wednesday Jul 11, 2007 #
Note
(rest day)
Travel to Oxford. Also involved lots of moving, and a walk up a hill in the South Downs, which was pretty!
Tuesday Jul 10, 2007 #
Running warm up/down 35:00 [2]
Warm up, down, and 3 minutes between intervals.
Running intervals 25:00 [5]
2 x ~3k red loop, same workout as Sat, June 30th. This time I really pushed the first one and ran it in 12:17, the second was slower at 12:44. Last time I ran 13:08 then 12:37, so definitely faster this time, but also now know the loop well enough to push it hard the whole way! We'll see if I keep improving on into the rest of the summer!
Strength (Core) 10:00 [1]
Did my abs watching the end of today's Tour de France stage. Very, very exciting. I always cheer for the guys in the breakaway bunch. I just feel that if you have led the race for so long and have expended so much more effort than everyone in the peloton that you should win. They got caught in the final kilometer today. =(
Monday Jul 9, 2007 #
Running warm up/down 20:00 [1]
Field Sports (Soccer) 1:00:00 [2]
Yay! Astrophysics soccer happened this Monday, despite a major thunderstorm at 3:30.
We were kicked off our normal (gorgeous) field in the nearby village, as a team that actually matters was apparently practicing. Instead, we played in a clearing by a parking lot in the middle of the national park. The grass was shin to knee height, and the water was ankle deep in places. It was fantastic! And Hayley lended me a pair of better shoes, so I didn't fall down as much as I would have in my running shoes. The field was a bit shorter though, so it wasn't as good of a workout as weeks past.
Leave for England Wed morning, yikes!
We were kicked off our normal (gorgeous) field in the nearby village, as a team that actually matters was apparently practicing. Instead, we played in a clearing by a parking lot in the middle of the national park. The grass was shin to knee height, and the water was ankle deep in places. It was fantastic! And Hayley lended me a pair of better shoes, so I didn't fall down as much as I would have in my running shoes. The field was a bit shorter though, so it wasn't as good of a workout as weeks past.
Leave for England Wed morning, yikes!
Sunday Jul 8, 2007 #
Running (Over-Distance) 1:45:00 [1]
Bit sore from rowing yesterday, but actually felt fine once I started running. Absolutely gorgeous morning- I was out early enough that it was still misty, but the sun was cutting through and evaporating the mist as I ran.
Most of today will be spent indoors, working on my transfer report, unfortunately. =(
Most of today will be spent indoors, working on my transfer report, unfortunately. =(
Strength (Core) 16:00 [1]
Saturday Jul 7, 2007 #
Rowing 1:00:00 [2]
Rowing intervals 18:00 [4]
Out rowing with the Assen rowing club, a 25 minute drive from the telescope. Hayley, one of the astronomers here, learned I rowed at bridge night, and invited me to come as they were short a woman to row in the quad.
It was really great fun. Although I've always been a sweep rower, I think I'd like sculling lots more. Its a more beautiful action- sweep rowing is so lopsided. I was a little awkward as I haven't sculled much, but I only caught one crab, and it wasn't while we were on power, so no problems. Instructions were English/Dutch mix, but I seemed to get the gist of most of them- especially the one about ducking your head as you pass under the bridge!
The workout was mostly steady, with 4 pieces mixed in. First two were 2 min medium hard, then 2 min hard; the last two were 3 min hard at the end instead of 2. There were times during the pieces that you could tell we were really moving the boat, which was exciting. The boat itself was a bit old unfortunately- had been rowed in for the world championships in 20 years ago!!!
It was really great fun. Although I've always been a sweep rower, I think I'd like sculling lots more. Its a more beautiful action- sweep rowing is so lopsided. I was a little awkward as I haven't sculled much, but I only caught one crab, and it wasn't while we were on power, so no problems. Instructions were English/Dutch mix, but I seemed to get the gist of most of them- especially the one about ducking your head as you pass under the bridge!
The workout was mostly steady, with 4 pieces mixed in. First two were 2 min medium hard, then 2 min hard; the last two were 3 min hard at the end instead of 2. There were times during the pieces that you could tell we were really moving the boat, which was exciting. The boat itself was a bit old unfortunately- had been rowed in for the world championships in 20 years ago!!!
Friday Jul 6, 2007 #
Running warm up/down 37:00 [2]
Warm-up and down and recovery between intervals. Right calf felt a bit wierd on the way back, but not real bad, might be tight tomorrow.
Running intervals 16:00 [5]
5-3-5-3 on the red loop, 2 min recovery between. Tried to really push them, but the trail being absolutely waterlogged made it hard. I started in a lull in the rainstorm, but of course got poured on in the middle of the first interval! Came back soaked and muddy to the delight of my housemates here...
Thursday Jul 5, 2007 #
Running 59:00 [3]
Ran out to and around the blue loop. Felt yesterday's time trial a bit, but was just slightly fatigued, not sore. *Amazingly* it didn't rain on me, not a drop, the entire run!! Which is good, because I brought my camera out and snapped some photos of cool stuff. Almost got a photo of two deer, but the combined reaction time of me and my camera was too slow...
Strength (Core) 16:00 [1]
Go core!
Wednesday Jul 4, 2007 #
Running warm up/down 28:00 [1]
Running race (Time-Trial) 19:57 [4]
Time trial around the yellow loop, as there's no orienteering on Wednesdays from here on out. =(
Trail was really wet, I ran pretty hard, but really wish there were more hills in the loop.
Trail was really wet, I ran pretty hard, but really wish there were more hills in the loop.
Tuesday Jul 3, 2007 #
Cycling 45:00 [2]
Cycling to the AstroFest in Havelte with George. We pushed it so we'd be on time, drafting off each other and switching in the wind and everything! (Which seems very silly to do on a clunky Dutch bike, but still worth it!)
Cycling 45:00 [1]
And back from the AstroFest, in the rain. A bit slower, as George and I were arguing about gravitational waves, superbubbles, and ionized gas... Also a slightly different route.
Strength (Core) 16:00 [1]
Yep, core stuff...
Monday Jul 2, 2007 #
Running (Recovery) 27:00 [1]
Easy run, soccer got canceled due to a thunderstorm. Did some easy plyos as I went, more to loosen up than build strength.
Sunday Jul 1, 2007 #
Running (Over-Distance) 2:10:00 [2]
Long Sunday run, Blue loop to Orange loop to White loop. Blue loop is still my favorite- the sand dunes are just so cool. Shoulders started tightening up in the last 15 minutes again.
Strength (Core) 16:00 [1]
The usual core stuff!