Training Log Archive: Kat

Warm-up run. Legs felt dead from the Friday strength session and also felt low on energy in general.

EVENT: West Woods regional
COURSE: W21L, 9.1 km, 220m climb, 18 controls
MAP: West Woods, 1:10,000, 5m contours
TERRAIN: Good visibility, mostly sloping gradual hills, runnable woods and lots of low brambles.
MY RUN: No real mistakes to speak of. Most of the controls just involved going on a bearing and finding a depression. Despite looking at my compass, I quite often had to correct by ~50 meters near the control. Very, *very* tired quads right from the start. Walked quite a bit on the hills and wished I could do the same on the flats, but wouldn't allow it. Completely dead by the end. Did the best I could on the day, given my tiredness, so I'm satisfied, but wish I might have been able to go faster!
RESULTS: 4th, behind Seline Stalder, Anne Edwards and Vicky Stevens. I might have possibly been second if not for the fatigue, but it would have been a close race.

Biking to the big roundabout (up Headington Hill!). Tired legs, but made it up there for a sports massage.

C • massage 1

Run up and down the river after helping out with entries for the City Race all day. Left foot was killing me - had to stop about ten times to stretch. Wish I knew what the problem was! No matter what combination of shoes or insoles I try, something with my feet seems to hurt. Either the arch, or the sides, or the heel...Argh.

Several laps around the grassy outskirts of the track. Feet felt mostly ok, but I am still very conscious of them.

The usual, except calves.

There's definitely something wrong with my feet, but I'm hoping that the present pain is just an aggravation and will go away as long as I'm careful. So lots of stretching, soaking in hot water, and possible massage. Will see if that helps.

It was bound to happen. After forcing myself out the door so many times in a row, there was bound to come a day when I failed to train. Today was it. I got dressed and went out to go to the gym, but needed to stop by the Maths Institute first to hand in a form. By the time I left the Institute it was pouring rain and I only had 1.5 hours before a class. I decided it would be best to just go home, get dry, and do some work. I've done my fair share of training in rainy, cold, or otherwise miserable conditions. Some days it just isn't worth the effort.

Four loops around Christ Church meadow. Felt pretty quick, probably both because I was moving fast and also because it was dark. The outsides of my heels (especially the left one) hurt. I forgot to mention this on Sunday, but I had bad foot pain for most of the race, and I suppose this is why I'm still feeling some now. Usually my feet are ok, but if I land hard on the outsides (which happens constantly when trying to jump over heather), there is sharp pain upon contact with the ground. I have experienced this problem throughout the last year and have no idea exactly what's wrong. I'll just stick to running on more even surfaces for a while and hope it goes away for the time being.

Very slow shuffle today - didn't have any energy in the legs. Ran to the Maths Institute to drop off a problem sheet, then three loops around University Parks while looking at a 2005 World Cup map. I saw Scott strolling around the park and checking things out on the updated city map. The map looks pretty and the courses should be fun, but I do wish the map wasn't printed on the waterproof paper that seems to be gaining popularity recently. Personally, I despise it. The map does not stay folded and drawing routes on it is difficult (most types of ink will smudge). Also, when I fold it, the corners are lethally sharp and dig into my palm. Ugh. I want a return to the plastic covers or the nicer version of the waterproof paper (e.g. as used at the MV National event on Feb 25, 2007).

Yet another compromise has been reached between maths and orienteering. I can't afford to take a week off from lectures and classes, yet I really want to do at least part of Linne's winter training camp in Portugal. So just now I purchased tickets for a four-day weekend (Thursday-Sunday) including two days of training and two races in early February. I'm looking forward to it already!

C • I want to go to Portugal too! 3

Running to/from the Sports Center.

OUAC circuits. Learned a new and effective exercise! Resistance running - you run with someone else holding you back (in my case, with a pair of warm-up pants wrapped around my waist) while you try your hardest to make forward progress. Good stuff.