Training Archive: Cristina

In the 31 days ending 2008-08-31:

activity	#	time	miles	km	+m
Running	13	9:43:20	49.21	79.2	400
Orienteering	7	8:06:11	11.5	18.5	455	20 /	36c	56%
Cycling	3	1:55:00
Strength/Core	1	10:00
Total	24	19:54:31	60.71	97.7	855	20 /	36c	56%

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Sunday Aug 31
	Orienteering 1:30:00 [2] ***
	shoes: Paul
	Training at Cuivre River, course by Eric that was supposed to alternate long legs following linear features and short, more intense legs. I definitely alternated intense and less intense, but not aligned with the course. There were a few legs that really felt great. Sent Josh off with Seabass today, I think that worked well. One by one I'll convert all my friends...
Saturday Aug 30
	Orienteering 1:15:00 [2] ***
	shoes: Paul
	Morning training at Hawn, control picking. My brain wasn't with it today, but I'll take this as a "breaking in" session. Shaking off the cobwebs by gathering fresh spiderwebs.
	Orienteering 40:00 [2] ***
	shoes: Paul
	Afternoon orange course set (and streamered!) by Eric at Hawn. A little more with it now, but I felt tired running. Before this I managed not to find 1/3 of the controls on the mini-course set by Spike. F-
	Orienteering 1:15:00 [2]
	shoes: Paul
	Evening at Cliff Cave, criss-crossy trails course set by Mary. I went out with Josh, who was a natural. It was his first time orienteering but he read the map really well. It's fun to introduce orienteering to someone who can jump right in. Took a few "shortcuts" off trail and found some places that deserve a new category of spiderweb rankings. A '4' just won't cut it.
Friday Aug 29
	Running (road) 20:00 [2] 2.1 mi (9:31 / mi)
	ahr:171 max:181 shoes: Gus
	Okay, I did it, four complete days off. I didn't really enjoy it. My knee seems okay when running, but it was only 20min. Now, after the run, it's buggy when I bend it... just like before. Great. Morning run around da 'hood. About 8, but it hasn't been brutally hot and the sun was behind a cloud. Yum. Not sure if it was the handlebar slam that hurt my knee, but if it was I really don't know what I'd do about it except deal. Boo.
Wednesday Aug 27
	Note

	I'm giving my knee a total break. It hurts the more I bend it, both as far as amount of bend and frequency of bend. So, cycling is worst - it bothers me as soon as I try to ride. But running is only bad after the fact. It's not a bad time to take a few days off, there's a lot going on.
Sunday Aug 24
	Note

	I had no idea it had become so widespread and accepted. Wait patiently.

	C • Widespread. 2

	C • Worse before better... 1
	Running (trail/road) 1:55:00 9.1 mi (12:38 / mi) +400m 6:55 / km
	ahr:168 max:192 shoes: Asics B&Y
	Early morning out to Sabino Canyon. Not as early as I would have liked, but early enough that when my alarm went off I had a serious WTF moment. Canyon was mostly shaded the whole time and there was a breeze, too, which was AWESOME. But I still didn't have any legs today. More mornings, I guess. Went out Bear Canyon to Phoneline, up (very slowly) for an hour and then back down, except I took the Phonline Link to the road and got in a mile and a half of (much) quicker road running to finish it off. I tried to pretend I was finishing the half at Wright-Patt. It was a great finish, I was wicked fast. Deadly critter sighing of the day, an Arizona Coral Snake: (click for bigger) I couldn't find my shuffle this morning but I had my fuel belt (go me! I even drank all of the water!) so I stuffed my phone in the pouch and listened to the few things I'd put on it. That also meant that I had a camera with me and was able to snap this little guy. He was hanging out on the rocks next to the trail and didn't scurry away all that quickly. He looked tiny, but that's about as big as those little guys get.

	C • Click for bigger?!? 5

	C • Nice snake! 1
	Note

	I've been watching some bits and pieces of the Olympics online. This is good, because I pick what I want to see. And I can see bits that don't get shown on tv. So far, my favorite Olympic moment is watching Matthew Mitcham's excitement at the 10m platform medal ceremony: http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/player.html?asset... (I hope that works.) The best part is at 6:45 when he asks if he's allowed to go give his mum a hug. (!!) I'm not going to watch everything, so I hope I find other good bits by randomly clicking. I've been quite disappointed that handball doesn't seem to have had any tv coverage - none of the online clips have commentary, which would be nice to have for this handball newb, fascinated by how much fun it looks.

	C • HB 8

	C • Video 4
Friday Aug 22
	Running (track) 13:00 [2] 1.5 mi (8:39 / mi)
	shoes: Gus
	Paced someone on their fitness test. Too hot for this stuff at ~8:30. I was sweating bullets.
Thursday Aug 21
	Running tempo (road/dirt) 1:05:00 7.0 mi (9:16 / mi)
	ahr:177 max:193 shoes: Gus
	Another night run from home around the golf course. Twice again. WOG started tonight but it just seemed too hot and sunny at 6 to do a real workout, which I wanted to do. Probably should've gone, just to get into the habit again... plus it took me a long time to finally get out the door, about 9pm. Down to 88 or so by then. Didn't feel as awesome as Sunday but not too bad. 15 min warmup 4 strides 2 miles pace (7:43, 7:45) 2 min rest 1 mile pace (7:46) 2 miles back home easy avg/max hr for the 3 pace miles were: 184/190, 191/192, and 188/193 and that's what it felt like. Just a little high, but heat and hydration probably make a difference. Fnarf!
Tuesday Aug 19
	Running (road/dirt) 47:00 [2] 5.0 mi (9:23 / mi)
	shoes: Gus
	Night run from home. Ran more than half way around the golf course and then turned around to make it a little longer. Felt pretty good, though I could definitely tell it was a little hotter (90ish) and a little wetter out than Sunday. Knee felt quirky in the beginning but seemed okay as I ran. That is all.

	C • watch list 6
Sunday Aug 17
	Running long (road/dirt) 1:02:00 7.2 mi (8:36 / mi)
	shoes: Gus
	Evening run from home. Ran to the bike path and then two laps around the golf course (ooooh, switching it up! two laps!). Not really a long run, but I haven't been doing any systematic long runs on the road so I figured I'd ease into it. Left just after sunset, temp down to 87, no burning sun, and I felt awesome. My hamstrings did feel pretty tight which I suppose could be from the cycling yesterday, though I'm thinking more likely from some hammy stretches we did yesterday in the clinic. Didn't seem to be a problem, though. After a bit of a warmup I ran a mile at "half-marathon-ish" pace just to see how that felt. Without a fancy watch I just happened to run a 7:36. That's twilight zone right there. I don't actually think that I can run a 1:40, but if I feel this good running that fast when it's in the upper 80s after a long day with crappy food, I may just have a good run in Ohio. This is also a huge relief after last week's aborted cruise/pace interval workout. I thought I'd lost my mojo. Knee started bugging me at the end. What's with that? Today we wrapped up the coaching clinic with a lot more hands-on type stuff, developing training plans and dealing with a difficult "client". Good stuff. What was most interesting is that even though the instructors advocate a training approach that's similar to basically everyone else's, the fundamental message was different (or at least expressed differently) and I really liked it. Not to mention that it really makes sense given my experiences training and racing. I guess it could be summed up as "you get faster buy building a base - speedwork helps you develop the skill of running fast". That doesn't change what workouts you'd do all that much compared to, say, a Daniels training plan, but the message sure sounds different and it shifts the priorities. Chizz
Saturday Aug 16
	Cycling (road) 35:00 [2]

	Up to Campbell and River for the first day of the RRCA coaching clinic. When I signed up for the clinic I didn't know that this would be the first weekend I'd have at home in two months. It seems like a worthwhile thing to do, learning some stuff, mostly reinforcing things I'd learned elsewhere, and I do have my evenings to try to get caught up on stuff. Not too hot in the morning but frustrated that me knee bugs me when riding.
	Cycling (road) 35:00 [2]

	Back home. Discovered that it is indeed possible to get to the river path from Columbus by bike (or foot), but that that section of the path is not paved. Not sure it saves time to avoid the lights if I have to ride on the dirt... and then probably cross the river on the same bridge anyway to get to the paved stuff. A little warmer on the way home, mid 90's, but not too bad on a bike. I think I should actually put into practice advice from today and put some ice on this knee. Better late than never.
	Note

	Spent a couple of hours weeding tonight, mostly the front, mostly in the dark. I made tremendous progress and I am very sweaty. Actually produced less sweat than I would have thought but removed about 400% more weeds than I would have predicted. Unfortunately, about half of the front is still sporting the ever-so-popular 'abandoned lot' look. Good thing there's no HOA to slap fines on us. We'd be broke!
Friday Aug 15
	Running (road) 26:20 [2] 3.0 mi (8:46 / mi)
	shoes: Asics Trail Attack III
	Morning PT. We were supposed to play ultimate football with the Group but there were about 473 people on the field and that did not look like fun to me. I did two laps around the loopy path instead. Not very exciting. Not enough sleep and not enough water last night. Arm and knee noticeable but not a problem.
	Strength/Core (stretching) 10:00 [1]

	Meget bra.

	C • bra 6
Thursday Aug 14
	Running 50:00
	shoes: Gus
	Running around Reid Park like a madwoman trying to set out controls for the Poker-O. I screwed up big time and didn't have it all ready in time - couldn't get out of work early, but I should have had more set up ahead of time anyway. And then all the (night-o style) controls got re-tangled and there was no hope of finishing in time. I just mass started everyone 45 minutes after the first starts were supposed to be, which worked out fine... but damn, I hate being late. The poker-o was followed by our AGM. Pretty uneventful, too much so, really. Our club is lethargic. Phlegmatic? I've always wanted to use phlegmatic. That would be appropriate in this case, I think. Unfortunately, I don't know much what to do about it and won't be around enough the next many months to do anything anyway.
	Note

	First thing to make me really smile this week.
Wednesday Aug 13
	Running (road/dirt) 40:00 [2] 4.1 mi (9:45 / mi)
	shoes: Gus
	Sleep: C- Morning efficiency: B- Out the door at about 8 but it was overcast, so the temp was okay (mid-80s). Bike path. Felt fine except for having to stop to rest my arm, which is very bruised and got tired very quickly and difficult to hold up. Weird. At least my knee felt normal. I like running. If I end up not flying tonight I might do it again!
Tuesday Aug 12
	Note

	I'm a mess. Too much to do, too little time, and my brain is scattered. And it hurts. I need an extra month between August and September. I came back from the weekend in Laramie so motivated to train, and then I get here and it's like I've slammed into a wall at 90 mph and I'm still trying to go. Tomorrow morning I am going to do a real run. Let's see if this works.
Monday Aug 11
	Cycling (road/dirt) 45:00 [2]

	Rode over to Reid Park on my mtn bike to check out my control locations for Thursday's event. I had the "map" of the park with me (an aerial photo) and was out and about for about 75 minutes. I'm setting a Poker-O and some of the locations are going to depend on whether I decide to use real controls or just streamers with a punch (and a playing card). I can't decide. I think the risk of tomfoolery/vandalism is pretty low, but then there's the visibility issue - with real bags most of them will be visible from forever. And since it's not a point-to-point course it might be nice if they weren't so obvious from so far. OTOH, the photo isn't so clear that every individual tree can be picked out, and I don't want people to struggle to find anything. Hmm.
	Note

	It's time to admit that I hit my knee sensationally hard at Fantasy Island. I figured it was just a whack and a bruise and that it would go away like any other hard hit. It was bothering me a bit last week but after this weekend it was back to painful. I could feel it especially while riding this evening. I guess I hurt something that gets irritated when I run or bike and thus gets more inflamed (?) when I do stuff. Which really stinks. Boo hiss.
Sunday Aug 10
	Orienteering race 1:25:59 [3] *** 10.8 km (7:58 / km) +220m 7:14 / km
	spiked:20/22c shoes: Paul
	US Champs Day 2. This seemed like it went really well, I was quite happy when I finished as I had nailed all but two controls and I felt much better physically than yesterday. Of course, it was pretty damn flat and easy to run in, so that's not hard to believe. I thought my mistakes (controls 10 and 20) were very small when I finished but I think now that they were much bigger, just based on the amount of ground I must have covered. Time always moves more slowly when you're making the mistake. Sandra ran ~67. By my rough calculations, based on road/track speed differences alone, I should have been able to run 78. That leaves 8 minutes that have to be accounted for based on orienteering efficiency. The mistake at 10 probably wasn't much more than a minute - more of a long hesitation and coming into the control too low. The mistake at 20 was as boneheaded as can be and must have cost me more like two or three minutes. That still leaves at least 4-5 minutes of orienteering efficiency loss. That's easy enough to believe, just not running quite as much and as fast as I could if I were able to read the map and see things ahead faster; I slowed down plenty to be careful, which isn't necessarily a negative but needs to be reduced. In more complex terrain this number is probably much greater than the speed difference number, but it's still disconcerting that in such a wide open area I can lose so much on orienteering skills alone. I already knew I was slow and I guess it's not a bad thing to be constantly reminded that I can't navigate fast, either.
Saturday Aug 9
	Orienteering race 1:15:12 [3] *** 7.7 km (9:46 / km) +235m 8:28 / km
	14c shoes: Integrators (silver)
	US Champs Day 1. Had some trouble on the early controls - I was trying to move too fast for the amount of oxygen available... or maybe that's just too fast for my state of map reading ability. Lost several minutes on several of the early controls. Not a good start. Finally got into the navigational groove only to physically keel less than half way through the course. I really stumbled around a lot after that, with okay orienteering. Not the best day, but an Infinite improvement over last year's day 1 where I didn't even find the first control.
	Running warm up/down 10:00 [1]


Friday Aug 8
	Orienteering 45:00 [1] ***
	shoes: Paul
	Mary and I arrived in Laramie early enough to head over to Pelican Bay for some eye calibration. The detailed rock sections scared me plenty to be careful.
Tuesday Aug 5
	Running tempo (road/dirt) 40:00 4.1 mi (9:45 / mi)
	shoes: Gus
	Morning run around the bike path, about 6:30. A little haze and clouds to keep the sun off but there was moisture in the air (!) that made it a little unpleasant. About 80 but dp was about 60 (!). Not the best, not usual for Tucson, but hardly bad. Legs felt really heavy from the get go. Did 15 min easy and then a 6 min cruise interval, shooting for tempo/half marathon-ish pace. This was a shock to my apparently not completely healthy system. I couldn't run 7:40-7:50 pace without huffing and puffing and seeing my HR sky rocket to 194. One min easy (really easy) followed and the second interval had to be cut short at 3 min. I slogged all the way home, using tremendous will power not to walk. Even at an 11 min pace my HR was at 187. Definitely not normal. The cold shower at home wasn't cold enough. More rest, more water, I guess. I finally pulled off the half of the toenail that I smashed in the Czech Republic. I don't know what took me so long, it was getting kind of annoying. And I must have done something really special at Fantasy Island last week - knee still tender. Is it just me or does it seem like August and September are going to go by at ludicrous speed?

	C • humidity!!! 1
	Note

	This is going to seem strange, but I'm looking for some (hi-res) action shots of me (myself? I?). I seem to have a couple that I've saved off of web galleries, but most of them are... hideous (my fault, not the photographers'). I would say that I want them so that I can print them out in poster size and wallpaper my bedroom with them, but that would be a partial lie. Does anyone have any that I could snag?
Monday Aug 4

	Event: 2008 Laramie Daze & US Champs
	Running (trail) 40:00 [1]
	shoes: Asics B&Y
	Late morning run at Saguaro East. Didn't rush to get out the door early this morning because it's not supposed to be that hot today (hi 91) and I needed some serious sleep recovery. Unfortunately, mid-80s in 9am sun feels a lot hotter than it sounds, and I don't think I was rehydrated from yesterday's flying. I started slowly and never really felt better. Ran for 40min and then just hiked it back to the car. At least the views were spectacular.
Friday Aug 1
	Running (Road) 55:00 [2] 6.11 mi (9:00 / mi)
	shoes: Gus
	Morning run near the hotel. Islip, I think.