Training Log Archive: W

Trying to get into the swing of long runs again, since I all but stopped doing them over the summer, except for maybe, most long distance races in Europe! Anyway, nice crisp fall day for around past mustalampi and then a tour around and to the top of Laajavuori. Lots of rolling trails with ups and downs, and really not very many people. Hip flexors pretty tired by the end, which drives me a little crazy because I feel like I religiously do hip core. Like, after every workout.

Event: 2015 Seattle Adventure Running Tournament
 

Well, I daresay whatever high I was on, has finally worn off. Or maybe I should have taken a gel, I'm not sure.

I was in sort of a quasi-end-of-season break for a few days, but that didn't stop me from pedaling an unfortunately long way over to Vaajakoski for a little XC race. There was 100 euros up for grabs, which was cool, but I was pretty sure someone else faster would win it. So maybe I took the race too casually. Either way, the start happened and I seemed to cruise to the front, with one fellow behind me. But, really, after 2k I was already feeling really tired. The legs didn't have a lot of energy, I could feel my calves being tight already, and by the end of the first lap, we were going at a pretty pedestrian pace and I was not feeling great.

Eventually other fellow (who turns out to be one of the best XC skiers in Finland) took the lead, and on the last uphill made a gap of about 20 meters, which I was quite certain down the last downhill I would in no way be able to close, so he just pulled away. We were well enough ahead that once he was out of reach I was not really pushing any more and he put a total of maybe 100 meters by the finish. Not exactly a high-speed finish for me. I really would have liked those 100 euros and I tried, but my legs just got too-lactate-y by the end, even my arms and upper body were feeling really tight.

So, I feel like whatever was fueling me the last few weeks has run out, and I will be thankful to maybe not race this weekend (although technically there are two races on Thursday). I figure those three days off were good enough for the time being, and tomorrow I'll really start training for the half-marathon (although recent life changes might make that not possible, either).

Instead of winning 100 euros, I won a 50 euro gift card to a sports shop in Kyyjärvi, which would be great, if Kyyjärvi wasn't TWO HOURS AWAY. And its not like its in the direction of Helsinki or Tampere. Its north, towards Kokkala. When in the world am I going to go there in the next 6 months?

Its been a busy busy few days. This week has been a symposium on "combined endurance and strength training: from theory to practice", which I wasn't allowed to attend. But I snuck in anyway.

Unfortunately, many of the talks were based on studies with recreational runners. Some interesting take home messages for me were:

- Combined session Endurance and Strength training is not a bad idea, but going S + E definitely diminishes the quality of the endurance training.

- Evenings are, in general, best if you're going to do an ES session, which is similar to previous suggestions that evenings are better for S anyway.

- Hypertrophy strength is not so great for runners (obviously). Endurance strength is a solid injury preventer, but the best performance gains come from either maximal strength (70-100% 1RM, 4-6 reps, 2-3 mins rest) or explosive strength (0-60% 1RM, low reps, high velocity - in the load phase, 3-4 mins rest).
These really needed at least 6 weeks to be effective, though.

- Plyos are also a good idea - and he referred to one particular article which lists the exact workouts they did to produce the study "Short-term plyometric training improves running economy in highly trained middle and long distance runners" (Saunders et al. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research) - I figure the title is all you need to know.

Anyway, since I'm planning on putting strength back into the training program, this was super interesting stuff.

A few days off, then its back at it with more racing! (a little 7k trail race). And then there's another one on Thursday at noon. (who holds an event on a Thursday at noon?)

C • I've heard... 3

Night-o season has begun! YAY! And, NOOOO!

See, one thing I quite like about sprinting is that its safe for my joints. And by bones. And my toes. And my skin. Night-orienteering around Jyvaskyla is the complete opposite of that. Its dangerous and painful. But night orienteering is also awesome, and for my first go of the year, I was really happy with how some of this went.

I asked for some advice for what to work on for this training, and the focus was to use HUGE features. Just stick with big ones, and check off small ones, and then be good with the compass. For a few controls that actually worked really well, strong on my compass, and big features. In some cases the big features were actual flat plateus on hillsides, which I rarely recognize in the daylight, let alone in the dark. I suppose here, though, I had to keep my eyes on the immediate vicinity, and so I was able to recognize that right around me, it had gotten much flatter.

It wasn't perfect, no doubt, but that was great for a first night-o. Maybe next time I'll try to do it at higher speed.