Training Log Archive: catherineols

The plan: jog 20 mins and do map work.

The problem: by 2 minutes, my shins were painful enough for me to second-guess the whole "going for a jog two days before WIOL" idea.

The investigation: I tried running in 1-minute spurts with 1-minute walking between, trying different ways of running (speed, stride length, impact zone on foot and other foot mechanics, leaning forward/back, etc) to see if any one way of running hurt more or less. Nothing made much difference.

The solution: jog. If it hurts, stop, and walk instead. After a while, try jogging again. If it starts to hurt again, stop. Don't jog if it's asphalt.

(Interestingly, after walking 2 or 3 mins to get off the asphalt bit, I tried some quite fast running on grass, which felt better than gentle running on the dirt path.)

The result: probably about 50% running and 50% walking overall. Shins hurt perceptibly as I write this. Will ice, cross fingers for Saturday, etc.

I also drove off with my glove on the top of the car and had to go back to find it (successfully!)

Also, google maps is really cool for figuring out distances, since I did kind of an odd loop this time.

Before-bed stretch 'n' strength =)

Wall-stretch calves, straight and bent leg

Planks front-side-side-front 1-30-30-1 (I couldn't figure out how to make a back plank work, Holly or Tori could you show me how?)

Wall sit 1 min

C • back planks 1

Elliptical - different machine from before - 80 rpm @ lv 4 or 5 (I forget)

Heart rate is according to the machine, so I don't know if it's accurate or even reasonable. It seems ridiculously high to me, but I know nothing at all about heartrates that I didn't learn from 10th grade health class...

Walking around the gym to cool down afterwards I felt a little numbness in the tendon underneath my "pointer" toe... it was REALLY weird... anyone know what's going on?

C • Numbness 1

Lv 6

Calves, quads, hamstrings, shoulders, butterfly

Planks: 1 min front, 30s each side, 1 min front no breaks
Wall sits: 4 x 30 s

Annual GLOW dance last night at school. Lots of jumping up and down to "Sandstorm" and Cascada and other such songs.

Once again, here's me logging things that AREN'T training because they hurt my shins. Again, yes, dancing is a mild workout, but mostly I'm logging it because my shins huuuuurt darnit. Rawr.

C • LOG IT! 2

R.I.P. Banana slug. Beneath my bike tire. Today, 4:07 pm.

Just a quick after-school ride to try out the new handlebar configuration on the bike. It feels MUCH better. But, gah, it's so cold, and there's so much traffic, and it gets dark WAY too soon! I left as soon as I could after getting home but only got in about a 20 minute ride before it started to get much too dark to be out there. Gah, stupid commute time. If only I went to a public school 10 minutes from my house instead of coming home an hour and a half after school ended...

Senior run-through. Haha. Great fun. The senior class ran screaming around the campus and through all the buildings dressed up as warriors. 'twas a blast =)

Once again, I would normally NOT log this, since it's not exactly training. But... it messed my shins up badly enough that I don't think I can run again for another week at the ery least. They're in really quite bad shape right now. CIA! CIA! (thanks for the acronym, Eric! =P)

*sigh* so, more elliptical and biking.... and I was doing so well, too... -___-;;;

C • log whatever the heck you want! 6

Haha. Am I allowed to list shopping as well? William and I spent virtually all day wandering around downtown, Pike Place, etc. No, it's not training at ALL, or even a "workout" ... but my shins didn't like it very much. In fact, they dislike it enough that I thought it worthy of posting, since it'll probably affect my training for the rest of the week.

Intensity level "0" anyone? =P

Trying, trying to do a little something every now and then. But the busier I get, the harder it gets... I'm sure everyone's been there. I get frustrated that I can't seem to make the time to run every other day... but with traffic and homework and (lately) Science Olympiad.... meh.... I guess I should stop complaining and just be glad I'm actually working out on a regular basis unlike last spring when I did absolutely nothing at all between WIOL meets.

My shins are still not totally happy so I decided to pick a softer route than the sidewalk - the Lake Hill Greenbelt Trail this time. Oooh, and what a joyous route it was. I also grabbed 2005's Texas Interscholastics map to do some visualization. It was a VERY good idea. When I'm reading a map, my running pace automatically settles down into something moderate and sustainable rather than "I'm only running 20 minutes so I'd better run faster", the latter of which does bad things for my shins. Map-reading also forces me to stop for a handful of seconds every now and then to get a really good look at the next leg (which correlates with the fact my podiatrist recommends adding in some walking stints with my jogging). Only by paying attention to the map instead of my speed, heart rate, time, or distance can I really let go of the need to run faster and just spend those 20 minutes at a shin-happy pace. A splendid discovery!

That said, I still can't wait until my shins are okay and I can run at a more normal pace. If my shins weren't a factor I would have wanted to do that whole loop once or twice more... the temperature was fabulously chilly (is it strange that I love running in cold weather?), I was barely tired, and I hadn't yet finished my course. Alas! Baby steps, baby steps... I'll get there eventually.

Oh, and also, I took my bike in this morning to see what they could do about adjusting it. They flipped the handlebars/stem over, which apparently changed the angle. I couldn't see any difference, but it FELT much better. Hurrah! Expect to see some more biking logged in the near future =)

(This attackpoint thing is working really well for me - it holds me accountable and makes me feel guilty if my log starts looking as sparse as it does now! =P)

Event: Anza Borrego Desert O-Fest
 

Resistance level 10, avg strides/min 174, always maintaining over 170.

Since this has been a horrifically busy week for me, I had barely any time for a workout today, and won't have time again until Sunday at the earliest. So I decided to take just 20 mins out of my day and make the most of them. I hopped on the elliptical and picked a fairly quick pace that I thought I could only barely keep up for the full length of time, and stuck with it. Phew! It got reallllly tough at the end to keep up the pace, so I think I chose right.

C • Nice workout! 2

Oh my goodness, I am SO sore from yesterday! Quads, arms, shoulders, calves, EVERYTHING.

... with the miraculous exception of my shins, which are in remarkably good shape! =D

I guess it's no wonder my muscles are so sore given how much I exerted myself yesterday, though =P

(No idea how far I ran, and the time is a guess)

Capture the Flag at the Bresemans' with a ton of people. Lots of fun, except everyone there was a faster runner than I was so I spent a lot of time on defense.... usually by myself, defending, while everyone else was mysteriously elsewhere while I fended off 3 intruders.... yeahhh it was interesting. And I'm now TOTALLY EXHAUSTED!

Podiatrist appointment this morning. He added some more cork and rubber to my custom orthotics to cant them up a few more degrees and provide a little more support to my arches. The plan is to try another month, adjust again, try another month, adjust etc. until my shins become asymptomatic. "Asymptomatic"!!! I had a minor heart attack when he said that, since I had never *seriously* considered that my shins would one day just... get better... and not hurt. Is that really possible? It was unbelievably encouraging... to hear him make that commitment to work on this issue with me until it *goes away*. The UW sports medicine folks certainly didn't... they gave me the orthotics and some exercises to do, and when that didn't help, they gave me a bone scan, and when nothing turned up, they said, "oh well, some runners just have these kinds of issues and they just run through it". Which left me discouraged and resigned. Why try to do anything about it if it's inevitable? Why train, if it'll always just make me hurt more? No, there IS hope. Though these shin splints may be rather intractable, they CAN be cured. "Asymptomatic", he said, as though there was no doubt I could get there some day.

Ehm. Yes. So, today's workout. Non-impact this time.

5 mins elliptical, 10 resistance, 170 paces/min
5 mins stairmaster, level 6
5 mins stairmaster, level 7
5 mins elliptical, 9 resistance, 160 paces/min

C • I know exactly how you feel... 4

Podiatrist appointment tomorrow. I printed out my log calendar to bring with me and realized that these notes on shin pain even on non-workout days are actually VERY useful in plotting how my shins react to different levels of running.

So, here's an update, for posterity's sake. As I sit here and type, my awareness is drawn to my shins constantly. Same thing throughout the day. Not that they hurt a lot, but just that I keep noticing them, whether it's walking or tying my shoe or whatever. If I press them, it hurts quite substantially. I have no inclination whatsoever to run more while they're like this, not due to the pain, but due to the fact that I know it wouldn't be smart. ><;;

Training after school at Shoreview, organized by Holly and Tori. Max and I ran a shortened "Course 4" ie public advanced (from back in freshman year before there was JV and Varsity). I'm giving it two stars of difficulty since it was a fairly trail-based park O'.

At first we traded off legs navigating while speaking our thoughts aloud ("The control is a boulder near the road. I'm at a trail intersection, running towards the road. I'm looking for another trail turning off to the right."), which was something I thought would help Max and I with making clear plans for each leg, and then going over route choices after each. However, by the time we reached the river, we began collaborating on routes since A) the map was not wholly accurate, and B) we were lost, though the map is not wholly to blame for that =P.

My shins are a little sore, but tromping up and down muddy hillsides is infinitely better than pounding on asphalt. Not *much* harm done, and definitely plenty of orienteering benefit from it =)

C • Shins 2

Trail-only course at Bridle Trails, WIOL #4.

I had thought I would do terribly on a trails-only meet, since many others in the field are much faster runners than I am, yet I placed right behind Holly. Crazy! I attribute this to the fact that I can plan ahead while I run, perhaps *because* I run slowly and gently enough that I can hold a map in front of my face while I do it. I had planned the course out so far in advance, and made no mistakes and few near-mistakes, that it was once again only foot speed holding me down. Just more evidence that the hours I am attempting to put in regularly ("regularly" though not always "frequently" =P) in with physical training can only help me.