Training Archive: CristinaIn the 31 days ending 2006-12-31:
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| F | S | S | M | T | W | H | F | S | S | M | T | W | H | F | S | S | M | T | W | H | F | S | S | M | T | W | H | F | S | S | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sunday Dec 31 | ||
| Note | |
| 2006 and (2005)
Training hours: 287 (233) Orienteering: 80 (64) Running: 118 (84) USOF Ranking pts*: 68.2 (59) Fastest non-sprint min/km: 9:24 (10:29) Lots of good stuff in 2006. I managed to get in a good amount of orienteering, and more training... though not as much as I would have liked. At least all the numbers go in the right direction and I can continue the trend in 2007. The only significant thing I did less of in 2006 was strength training, but that was mostly upper body work in 2005 for CIOR, so I'm not sure I'm missing out there. The most significant aspect of 2006 was actual O improvement. I know I've gotten better, and there are some numbers that show that, but I think I'd like to come up with some other quantitative ways to show it. If I increased/improved by the same percentages this year, then 2007 totals would be: Training hours: 354 Orienteering: 100 Running: 166 Ranking: 78.8 Min/km: 8:35 That's not necessarily a guideline or a goal template, but it's interesting to see that even another year at the same rate is totally doable. No asymptotes for me yet. ;-) | ||
| C • Congrats 6 | ||
Saturday Dec 30 | ||
| Running (road) 35:00 [2] 3.8 mi (9:12 / mi) +50m 5:30 / km | |
| shoes: Asics Trail | ||
| There. That should do it vs. Seabass for the week.
Kind of messy out, sort of half rain/half snow, plus it was dark. And I didn't realize that the bottom half of Goodman's Hill didn't have a sidewalk. Ran up Green Hill and Goodman's to town center, then all the way back down Goodman's to Rt 20 and back home. Off to a New Year's Eve Eve party now! | ||
Friday Dec 29 | ||
| Note | |
| I think this is a first - Seabass has logged more training in the past 7 days than I have. Better get off my butt tomorrow. | ||
| C • record snow? 2 | ||
Wednesday Dec 27 | ||
| Running (trail) 1:13:00 [3] * | |
| slept:6.0 shoes: Asics Trail | ||
| Went for a run at Blue Hills with Sam and Hillary. Pretty nice morning, actually sunny for once (though it didn't last) but a little cooler than it has been, upper 30s or so. I ran with a map in my hand but didn't really look at it that much. I figured if I tripped and fell I'd never catch them again.
It was nice to run with other people, not only because they're good company but also because that helped me make sure that I didn't totally slack off on the ups (I just let Sam talk while I wheezed away). Kept what I would call an honest pace the whole way - not as slow as I tend to run on longer runs, but still mostly conversational. My mom keeps feeding me delicious food. Oy, being a Luigi is tough work sometimes. | ||
| Note | |
| Absolutely no orienteering content here, but the movie I saw last night was so good that I figured I would share some recommendations from recent viewings. Last night we saw Live and Become, about which I can only say, "see it!". Other recent films, rated on a binary scale:
Bee Season - 0, even though it's got Juliette Binoche! Brokeback Mountain - 1 Adam & Steve - 0, even though it's got Parker Posey The Holiday - 1 Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont - 1 | ||
| C • Binary Rating System... 10 | ||
Monday Dec 25 | ||
| Running (road) 43:15 [3] 5.0 mi (8:38 / mi) | |
| shoes: Kayano XI - grey | ||
| Another warm day in MA. Pulled myself off the couch long enough to go for a really nice run through Sudbury. Mid 40s or so. Shorts in December? Yikes.
Up Goodman's Hill to town center, down Hudson to Old Lancaster, then Concord to Boston Post Rd and back to Green Hill. Actually ran *up* the driveway, just to make sure I hit 5 miles, which I think is a first (running up without having run down). I got two milk frothers today from two different people. I already have two milk frothers. I don't froth milk. I guess I just look like someone who really likes to froth milk. Damn charisma again. My favorite gift was the family calendar that my sister and I gave mami. I think it's good enough to sell, because we're just such a beautiful family. Downloadable version. | ||
| C • Nice calendar 10 | ||
Sunday Dec 24 | ||
| Running (trail) 1:03:00 [2] | |
| shoes: Asics Trail | ||
| Yep, it's warm in the northeast. Went for a run at Nobscot while mami walked. Temps in the upper 40s, clouds there and about. Pretty nice day, trails weren't too wet at all.
I've been feeling like a slacker lately. It's not that my training is too sluglike, but I lack any kind of plan. And that makes me feel unfocused and slackerlike. Yuck. | ||
| C • Plans 2 | ||
Friday Dec 22 | ||
| Note | |
| Photos from Saturday's South Sandia Peak excursion here. They're not very exciting, kind of cloudy and blah. But, the video of the wind is sort of fun! | ||
Thursday Dec 21 | ||
| XC Skiing 45:00 [2] | |
| Well, a bit of an unintended adventure tonight. Online highway status of the road up the Sandias seemed good ("crews clearing and sanding all afternoon") so I headed up. Started out okay but got sketchier and sketchier as I got higher, up to the point when I realized that coming back down in my little front wheel drive vehicle in the dark was going to be downright dangerous. Turned around at the first available place and, no more than a few hundred meters down the road, slid off the side into a snowbank. Yesss.
Turns out a lighter and waterproof matches aren't much help when what you really need is a god damned shovel. Spent about 20 minutes digging myself out with my hands and feet, watching about a dozen people drive by without so much as slowing down to see if I needed help. Finally, a very nice fellow airman stopped to help with his shovel and brute pushing strength. Just as we had almost gotten me out, someone in a big car stopped and pulled me out in a matter of seconds. I guess there are nice people out there. And bigger, manlier cars. So, skied at Ciénega, mostly in the dark. It was really nice. About ~14 inches of snow most places, with a completely bare road on a south facing open area. Should have just stopped there in the first place. | ||
| C • Gee, I hate when... 2 | ||
| Note | |
| Looks like I'll be in the sim the night of Jan 5th, which means I'll probably not make it to Aptos. At least I'm getting a lot of warning on this one. Alternative plan might be to go to Anza-Borrego the next weekend instead (keeping it to only ONE trip to CA in January). Hmm. | ||
Wednesday Dec 20 | ||
| XC Skiing 58:00 [3] | |
| Snow snow snow! The roads were actually pretty bad today, no joke. They closed the base, which is a good thing because it took 3x as long as it should have to take Seabass to the airport and I would have been late for class!
Waited til the afternoon to go out again, city roads in much better shape by then. Initially tried driving to the east side of the Sandias - instantly much more snow... and much nastier roads. So I just came back and skied from Copper. Looks like lots of people had been walking their dogs on the trails but I did see one other set of ski pole marks. Except for a few moments of glory my skiing was neither fast nor smooth, but the scene was fantistico. Really quiet out, guess the snow scared people away (or maybe it was the fox I saw) and the clouds were breaking in the west, just in time for sunset. Pretty awesome view. Usually this time of year I'm looking forward to going home to get in some skiing. But this year I guess I'll be bringing running shorts instead of skis. :-| | ||
Tuesday Dec 19 | ||
| Other Cardio (ice skating) 50:00 [2] | |
| slept:8.0 weight:144lbs | ||
| Too windy for outside activities, too many interstates closed for a long drive, so Seabass and I braved the snow and hit up the ice rink. Felt good to skate, though I could swear it was colder inside than outside, which is just wrong on a day like today. Made sure to get in a solid non-stop 20 minutes of honest effort in the middle to make it a worthwhile cardio activity.
It was really amusing to watch Albuquerque drivers go 10mph and pump their brakes. At least they were being really careful. | ||
Sunday Dec 17 | ||
| Running (road) 25:00 [2] 2.75 mi (9:05 / mi) | |
| slept:10.0 shoes: Kayano XII (pink) | ||
| Um, so, my legs aren't sore at all and it felt really great to run. WTF? | ||
| C • If you're in reasonable shape ... 2 | ||
| Note | |
| Gotta put this here before I forget it! It's great!
"¡Pobre Nuevo México! Tan lejos del cielo y tan cerca de Texas." | ||
| C • Nuevo México 3 | ||
Saturday Dec 16 | ||
| Hiking 2:40:00 [3] 7.2 mi (22:14 / mi) | |
| shoes: Asics Trail | ||
| This rocked. Parked at the southern terminus of the Sandia Crest Trail and headed out for a "little" loop. Crest Trail - detour to S Peak and back - Cañoncito - Faulty - Crest. Makes roughly a rectangle on the east side of the southern part of the Sandias. About 18 miles total, with some unexpected excitement. Hiked up with some running (~7 miles) and ran most of the rest (~11 miles), basically whenever it wasn't too steep and the footing was good.
Got off to a shaky start when I couldn't find the Cañoncito hidden trailhead secret private property dirt road. I was a little sketched by the "KEEP OUT" signs and not keen on the idea of doing ~1 mile each way on some gun-toting dude's dirt road that might not even be the right one. So I decided to start on the other bottom corner of the rectangle. The South Crest Trail is really neat, offering up some great views, a waterfall or two, and the South Sandia Spring, which did have water! Made it up to the crest uneventfully and was greeted with Laramie strength winds that I think even Mr. Swampfox would have admired. Went in and out of the wind until I got close to the peak. There's no real trail to the peak, but the area south of it is open meadow so it's easy enough to head over. It was crazy. Made my way most of the way until I couldn't figure out the way up and started to think that I was being stupid, up there with those winds. I decided to turn around about the same time that my mind started composing the article/obituary, "Though she was an experienced outdoorswoman,..." Yeah. So no picnic on top of the peak, that's for sure. | ||
| C • bad influence 8 | ||
| Running (trail) 2:40:00 [3] 11.0 mi (14:32 / mi) | |
| shoes: Asics Trail | ||
| And that brings me to the running. Once the crest trail dropped back a bit behind the crest the wind was no longer an issue... but the snow was. Snow? Yeah, I don't know where that came from, but it was there. Luckily it wasn't very deep and there were plenty of footprints showing me the way.
Took a little break when I got to the Cañoncito Trail to have my alternative "picnic" of PBJ and water and check in with homeplate (Seabass). At this point I figured the rest would be cake - down the Cañoncito and across Faulty, what could be hard about it? Well, there was a lot more snow on Cañoncito than I could have imagined, and no human footprints. Luckily for me, deer like the same trails that I do, and I figured as long as I was going down/east I was okay. No ice, so it wasn't really slippery, but still slower going than I thought. Snow thinned out and almost disappeared by the time I got to Faulty. Took a quick break to change into dry socks and get out my Nano. Faulty is rolling without much in the way of views, and I figured some music would help me finish out the last ~5-6 miles. Though my legs were pretty sore, I actually felt pretty good heading back into the parking lot. Still running, and I felt like I could keep going. After I finished I treated myself to some pizza at South Crust Pizza Company. (That's really their name! Isn't it great?) It was super yummy, and the owner was very nice, probably because he grew up in MA. ;-) If you read this whole thing then maybe you need to find a new hobby...? (I know, I'm not one to talk.) | ||
| C • Yeah, right... 15 | ||
| Note | |
| Cool 2x vertical exaggeration GoogleEarth snapshot of the route. | ||
| Strength/Core (stretching) 12:00 [1] | |
| C • That does rock 5 | ||
Friday Dec 15 | ||
| Note | |
| I got an email today with the subject "Rim Job". Apparently I recently suggested to my friend Andrew that we do a R2R of the Grand Canyon sometime. Seemed innocent enough since "sometime" is sort of open ended. Thing is, Andrew's almost done with his grad studies in AZ and is leaving in early January for ... wait for it ... Texas! So now I have been confronted with my proposal. Thing is, it's winter. The north rim is cold and snowy and all roads and facilities are closed. His solutions, verbatim:
Solutions: 1. a 40-mile XC ski out to the main highway (no I'm not kidding) 2. R-R-R (about 50 miles) We have since discussed these options and, especially given our desire NOT to backpack/carry a lot, have decided that though we are crazy, we are not stupid. Well, okay, not *that* stupid. So now the search begins for some other badass way to ring in the new year (target date was Jan 2ish). Stay tuned. | ||
| C • R-R-R 2 | ||
Thursday Dec 14 | ||
| Cycling (indoor) 30:00 [2] | |
| slept:7.5 | ||
| Just some evening spinning in the complex gym. Read Mother Earth News. | ||
| Strength/Core (strength) 15:00 [1] | |
| Tried out all the weight machines in the little gym. All in 15 minutes. True strength training slut behavior. And I'll even be sore tomorrow. (bong) | ||
Wednesday Dec 13 | ||
| Swimming 25:00 [2] | |
| slept:7.0 | ||
| Late morning swim between classes on defensive systems. Thrilling stuff, really. Just alternated 100s and 200s of EZ and pulling. Trying to get myself used to swimming again.
I finished at about the same time as a water aerobics class. A dozen flabby senior citizens + half a dozen shower heads = chlorinated Cristina. | ||
| C • My hs swimming coach recently ... 2 | ||
| Running (trail) 1:01:00 [3] 5.7 mi (10:42 / mi) +200m 6:00 / km | |
| shoes: Asics Trail | ||
| Afternoon/sunset run. Parked at Copper and took the Foothills Trail north via the back side of U Mound. Turned around just past the Embudo horse bypass. That trail is an amazingly sweet and challenging chunk of singletrack. I was having so much fun that I didn't want to head back to the parking lot. All those classmates of mine who think running isn't any fun don't know what they're missing.
I had my nano with me today, on shuffle with a wide mix. At one point I heard thunder in the distance and looked around wildly and confusedly for the storm. Of course there wasn't one, it was just Die Zauberflöte. I also might have ever so slightly pulled a butt muscle. | ||
| Strength/Core (stretching) 12:00 [1] | |
| Good stretch before bed. My legs seem to be well recovered from Sunday, but there's that new tweakiness from today. I think it'll be a-okay tomorrow. | ||
Tuesday Dec 12 | ||
| Running (trail) 30:00 [2] 2.8 mi (10:42 / mi) | |
| slept:7.0 shoes: Asics Trail | ||
| An easy post-sunset run in the foothills. Parked at Copper and headed north. Had to come back south, too. Just a bit of rolling up and down, no big climbs today. My legs are still quite sore from Sunday, mostly calves, groin, and hammies. This is a different pattern of soreness from orienteering or tough trail treks, so I had to figure out how not to walk funny all over again.
Nice and cool (40ish) and legs felt surprisingly spry. Actually brought my headlamp but didn't end up needing it. Didn't see any sketchy dudes or dogs. I'm not sure which would be worse at night. At least I can run from a sketchy dude. I've been stretching here and there over the past couple of days, but nothing too serious. | ||
| C • On fieldwork, sketchy dogs are... 10 | ||
Monday Dec 11 | ||
| Note | |
| (rest day) | ||
| "Rest" day indeed. Good thing I had more or less no plans for serious exercise today, because 7 hours in the simulator practicing helicopter aerial refueling (yes, it is as ridiculous as it sounds) plus moving all my stuff to my new place... pretty spent.
From my new mountain view apartment I can see fresh snow in the Manzanos, and lots of potentially snow-producting clouds on the Sandias... and NMO might have a ski-o at Valles Caldera this winter! Yay snow! | ||
| C • ridiculous... 9 | ||
Sunday Dec 10 | ||
| Note | |
| Tucson Half Marathon | ||
| C • race 12 | ||
| Running race (road) 1:42:48 [4] 13.1 mi (7:51 / mi) vdot: 43.7 | |
| slept:6.0 shoes: Kayano XII (pink) | ||
| Hell yeah. I had no idea that I had this in me. Felt pretty damn good crossing the finish line.
Today was the perfect day for a great performance. I'm a few thousand feet lower, the course is point-to-point with an overall drop in elevation, the weather was parfait (50's and dry, sun mostly blocked), the view was fantastic, lots of people on the course for that race day adrenaline, I was well fed, well rested... etc., etc., etc. Basically, a kick ass day for a kick ass run. I had hoped for breaking 1:50 and was planning to shoot for 8:20s. I wore my watch doohicky but basically just used it as a novelty item since I felt super great running faster. The first 7 miles or so felt almost effortless. It was very weird. I know that it was a lot of downhill, but it's still 7 miles. There were a few climbs, obvious from the splits, the biggest being the last half of mile 13. Talk about cruel. It was nothing to be scoffed at, either. After I finished I headed back up the course to intercept Seabass. Unfortunately, after only 4 miles her knee hurt enough to force her to a walk. She tried to run more, but by mile 11 (where I met her) she was just walking, and even that hurt. But, she made it in and even had a fabulous run through the finish line. Approximate mile splits (I used the mile markers on the road, not on my watch, and some of the "miles" were a bit long (+) or short (-) according the el gps-o.) 8:03 + 7:35 7:44 + 7:38 - 7:42 + 7:59 7:16 -- 7:49 8:19 + 7:31 - 8:12 + 7:50 8:24 :48 | ||
| C • Nice job. 8 | ||
Thursday Dec 7 | ||
| Running (trail) 54:20 [3] 4.2 mi (12:55 / mi) +300m 6:35 / km | |
| slept:7.0 shoes: Asics Trail | ||
| Drove over to yet a new trail this afternoon, Tres Pistolas (Three Gun Spring Trail) on the south side of the Sandias. It appealed to me because of the constant climb and gentle beginning. Ran up up up for ~2 miles and then back down. The first ~1.2 miles weren't too bad (though I was huffing and puffing) and then the broad valley ended and the switchbacks began. Had to walk bits and pieces through there. Killer.
Up took ~34, down ~20. I got back to the car and looked at a map and realized that I must have been really close to the intersection with the Embudo trail. Damn. Next time, when I have more daylight and no upcoming long races. A little chilly, it's sort of shaded from all sides. Amazingly, lots of patches of snow still. | ||
| Note | |
| Tomorrow I go get the keys to the apartment that will be my home for the rest of my stay here in Albuquerque. It will be a grand improvement from my current location: way closer to work, to the mountains, to friends, to things to do... and more space for me to do my stuff. A visual demonstration.
Oh right, the most important point: training opportunities and time available for training will both increase dramatically. That's the idea, at least. | ||
| C • move 29 | ||
Tuesday Dec 5 | ||
| Running (trail) 1:00:00 [3] | |
| slept:7.0 shoes: Kayano XI - white | ||
| Sunset run in the foothills. We got out of class two hours earlier than expected, which meant that there was enough sunlight to hop over to the end of Copper for a run. I must note that the reason that we were done so early is because King navs are awesome and the pilots know it. Chizz.
Hadn't run this far south in the foothills yet. Very nice area, lots of ups and downs and, of course, awesome views. I'm going to love living near there. (3* days!) Made my way over towards this very weird agave metal sculpture thing on the side of I-40. Got there, but it was on the other side of the fence and seemed to have no accompanying signage. Still have no idea what it is or why it's the first thing people see coming into the city. Only had road shoes with me, which isn't a big deal, but I can definitely tell the difference on this granite gravelly stuff. Took it a little more slowly on the downs, with one exception. There was this woman in sweaty sweats who was moving at about half my speed on a trail parallel to mine going up to a saddle. The trails met on the other side and she was about a step ahead of me when we got there. Rather than let me go ahead right off the bat, she looked at me and turned it up a notch as she headed down. So I turned it up a notch and leaped out ahead of her... and she didn't come close after that. I felt like a jerk for cutting her off, as it were, but I've never seen anyone act so snotty on a trail. It was weird. Some dude was walking his dog unleashed. I was going to say something to him but then his dog ran away. Far away. Ha! Serves him right. | ||
| C • Dogs 2 | ||
Monday Dec 4 | ||
| Note | |
| Groin and whatever is on the outside of my hips sore today. No training, though not because of that - long day today, including 2.5 hours in a very cold plane (it was about 20F outside), during which time I had to take off my boots and alternate sitting on my feet to keep them from freezing. It was awesome.
This Chopper HTFU stuff has permeated a bit too deeply. This morning I told my green banana to ripen the f*&! up. | ||
| C • ripen 2 | ||
Sunday Dec 3 | ||
| Running long (road) 1:30:52 [3] 10.0 mi (9:05 / mi) | |
| slept:9.0 shoes: Kayano XII (pink) | ||
| Afternoon long run along the Rio Grande. Nice day, temps around 40 and a full moon rising over the Sandias! Sort of a "confidence-builder" before next weekend. Intended to run each mile just a little faster, but that was a bit complicated so I settled for a negative split. First 5 miles in 46:30, second 5 in 44:22, with an 8:30 last mile. It was tough-ish, but I found that at the end running a little faster (around 8 pace) actually felt pretty good, like it was a better groove. Breathing harder, but it felt more maintainable somehow.
I should mention that, sadly, my groin was sore from yesterday's short skiing escapade. Fortunately it wasn't too bothersome during the run. Pizza! | ||
| C • Great run! 1 | ||
| Strength/Core (stretching) 10:00 [1] | |
| Before bed (and way too late). Spent the time wondering how it could be that I got so much done this weekend but still feel like I have way too much to do. | ||
Saturday Dec 2 | ||
| XC Skiing 35:00 [2] | |
| I found snow! The dudes at REI though that the only way I'd find enough to ski on was if I found a real shady spot that had freakishly received more snow than anywhere else, plus a few inches of snow drift from the immediately surrounding area. But they were wrong, there was plenty of snow! I had a hunch that the Ellis Trail would be skiable (it's an old service road) and I hunched correctly. Okay, there was barely enough to ski on, with several dry patches and rocks sticking through the snow, but I skied. AND, I wasn't even the only one.
I felt like I'd done something despite being such a short trip. I guess it's good to ease into it. And now...back to that homework. | ||
Friday Dec 1 | ||
| Cycling (road) 1:25:00 [2] 19.5 mi (4:22 / mi) | |
| Rode to the transmission shop to get my car. A pleasant enough ride. It's amazing that in such a beautiful part of the country I can ride 10+ miles on isolated bike paths and have absolutely nothing pleasing to look at. I mean, there are the Sandias, but that's on the other side of the factories and concrete. I guess along the drainages makes sense for bike paths, but it is definitely not scenic.
Pretty chilly out, and since 95% of my road cycling experience is from riding in Tucson, I have no idea how to dress when it gets cold. Luckily it was just over 40F so I didn't freeze despite my (relatively) scanty dress. Good thing I don't ride fast. Route. | ||
| C • Reunited 3 | ||
