Training Log Archive: AliC

Travel to NAOCs. Woke up at 3.35am after going to bed at midnight, not exactly ideal.... Also bummed to be not meeting up with Dan here in Minneapolis on my way as his flight from Phoenix was canceled last night. =( Oh well, flying is often wrought with changes-in-plan.

Last time doing ankle stuff at physio. Right ankle is way stronger, very happy to have put the time into it. Left ankle is still improving. The one muscle/tendon/ligament that is sore from having flipped it awhile ago, and then a few times since, is still sore, but definitely not as bad as it was...

To/from physio, this time straight to lunch- busy, busy!

An actual noon run for the so called noon-runners (only an occasional occurrence)! 7 miler with Sanjay, Rob, and Cody, pace was a bit fast at the end for Cody who is more of a short-distance guy, but good run!

Little pre-wedding run with one of my brother's mates from high school here down in Richmond- hot and humid already!!! Today's his and Katherine's big day- wooooooooo! =)

Christmas loop run at home with sister Steph! Good to hear her tales of Tanzania- she saw tons of animals, climbed Kilimanjaro, and went to lots of remote villages. Running there sounded interesting, lots of kids and even adults would follow her, utterly surprised and entertained by what she was doing. One village had no roads, so she did lots and lots of jump roping, sounds like!

Legs felt a bit tired from yesterday, but just fatigued, not sore.

10 min abs also with Steph, after a lovely quick dip in the pool. Also 1 min fish flops at the end.

To and from ankle physio, nice day!

Ankle physio stuff. Left ankle definitely feeling lots better with stuff now- think it's healing/strengthening!

C • so glad to hear the ankle i... 4

Short hills at Mt. Orient from Amethyst Brook.

Good stuff, was happy to be out there! Did 6 x 1 min, 6 x 30s, trying to be quick, explosive, and going up up up!

Quick little run. A day conspiring against me at work... blah.

C • work does tend to have a ha... 4

5 min abs, 1 min back

To/from physio. Resting HR highish, otherwise day off today.

Actually had an appointment with physio this time, so she could check in with how I'm doing. She was pleased with my ankle strength, but agreed that my right ankle is now lots stronger than the left, and that I should work on my left as well. She was a bit worried that I still manage to crunch it even with good strength, and said I should go back to the doc to check in on that.

Also got a set of exercises to work on without the equipment there, for the travel period coming up! Lots of jumping, hopping, balancing!

****Things Learned****
1) When changing direction based on a feature, just do a quick compass check. At least rule out going ~40deg the wrong way!
2) Note that stuff may not be visible if you're a bunch lower- like a reentrant that looks really obvious on the map but is 4 contours higher...

Training at Pawtuckaway- route planning course from Ross

Planned routes with Lori, then went out. Most went well, two not so much. Crunched right ankle once, not too badly. And now understand why people complain about Pawtuckaway deer flies. Extra bonus try-to-focus part of the exercise! I would so trade back for stinging nettles over deer flies... Way more pain, but so much less annoying!

1
Plan: Down trail until end at a boulder then to pool, cross reentrant, head left of hill to 4 big boulders.
Reality: Pretty much fine, although not everything added up to me close to the control.
2
Plan: Around lake, at second bay, take a bearing to the biggish swamp south of the control, as soon as its visible, head to the north sadle-ish thing then to the control.
Reality: Around the lake just fine, not sure I actually used the swamp I meant to though...
3
Plan: Trail, around swamp, up rock wall to junction, then in through depression, reentrant.
Reality: Deviated from plan while going up up up along rock wall, decided to go off on bearing from the very distinct little reentrant, saved just a bit of distance, and did wel in the circle this time.
4
Plan: Down first long big reentrant, then hopping over to swamp, then up the reentrant to the control
Reality: Got distracted by a little reentrant on my way to the big one. Then, problem- reentrant along swamp I intended to use was actually 4 contours higher than the swamp and thus really not visible from swamp level!!! Oops. Turned up based on distance and ended up ok, if a bit north to be perfect.
5
Plan: Bearing to little pond, bearing to cliff, straight south bearing to wet pit among boulders.
Reality: Fine to pond + cliff, then went too low just at the end. =( Maybe confused south with perpendicular to the cliff? Use compass!
8
Plan: Use chain of marshes-linear marshes, turn off to control when I hit the saddle.
Reality: Terrible!!!! Started in the linear marsh, crossed the trail, then somehow lost it, popped into maybe a reentrant and got totally totally confused. When I relocated on a giant boulder I wasn't initially sure if I were left or right of the line (there were two giant bolders nearby). Argh!!! So I repeated this one. When I went backwards, I went right on the line, which was quite fast (3.37 as opposed to 8.01), but think it was more downhill that way. Then made myself execute my plan, and it went fine (4.47). Still not sure when I popped out of the linear marsh. Think straight was a better plan.
9
Plan: Fly to trail, run on it to hill, then use marshes until the very end.
Reality: Basically worked just like that, although really walloped my knee on a rock flying to the trail.
10
Plan: Trail. Reality: Worked.
11
Plan: Up reentrant aligned north-south, around right of the little hill to boulder.
Reality: Also not good! Up reentrant fine, then decided a big pond was a little pond and did strange things because of that. Repeated and realized what I did and went correctly.
12
Plan: Trail to stone wall.
Reality: Turned off a bit before stone wall to cut corner, ended up on slightly earlier hills, but ok.

To/from start. On way out, chatting with Alex!

Map memory with Alex

First few went well, once forgetting the bit in the circle and had the wrong hill. Then totally failed on my leg from the big boulder. And tried it again, and probably messed up in the same way. Finally found the silly reentrant not following my initial plan at all.

So what went wrong? Plan was south to the pond, then east through a bit of a saddle and up south again to the proper reentrant. South to the pond was totally fine, but then instead of going east, went north-east along this annoying linear-ish marshy thing that was dry enough to pose for being a reentrant. Argh.

I repeated this one, but Alex wasn't so up for it, and didn't like the deerflies (v. understandable) so continued on alone.

Good training again, like this exercise!

Okay, went out to Nororwotuck (someday I'll learn to spell it), and meant to just do hill intervals. But then I had a map with me... so ended up orienteering a bit too. And hill interval ended up being 12 min, so only did one (legs still feel pretty tired).

Oh, but I can't run on trails- I full-on wiped out twice while trail running and twisted my ankle once. Was totally fine in the woods though, maybe should just stay in them! But think it's because I let myself have longer map glances while on trails, and pay a little less attention to underfoot. Maybe need to pick up the feet a bit higher while doing that, would at least avoid tripping.

C • been there... 4

2-3-4 of Ross's course

Finally did a good job to 2- basically followed PG's route from when he was control hanging. Think that's basically how I tried to go my first time, but I read a depression as a hill top and got confused. Went smoothly, if still slow due to fighting green.

3- went better than last time because actually started from the right place slight off line at one point, but not far and still knew exactly where I was.

4- this time, avoided all trails, went in exactly on line, nice! not sure that was faster than using the trails, but needed more attention

Eastern approach trail from the bottom trail intersection to the top of Nortoworok. Up up up! Was not speedy, but kept up running the whole way tempo-ish pace. Feel like I need more leg strength.

To/from ankle physio. Sunny! Was regretting no sunscreen...

Ankle exercises. A good set again, left ankle feeling better than Wed, hopefully getting stronger!

UMass Campus

I made up two little courses around campus yesterday, and this was one of them. I tried not to figure out how to get to all the points while planning the courses and was somewhat successful...

Legs super-tired, so wasn't quick, but still vaguely more sprint-like orienteering than I've done much of anytime except team trials recently!

Jogging back from my finish way up behind Orchard Hill, then upstairs and back down over to the cafeteria for a blueberry muffin!

Warm up to track + 2 laps.

Session:
2 x (3 x 400, 1 min rest), 1 lap jog rest

79, 78, 78
80, 79, 78

Legs felt like lead on the way out there, and hurt for sure while intervaling, think its from yesterday's 9 miler... But time to try to start getting some speed in!

Cool down, 2 laps at track, then home. Although I took the wrong road home- must be tired!

Track drills- all those high-knees, kick-bum, skip, hop-type things!

Eeep- abs still sore from abs 2 days ago, so I wimped out after 5 min.

To/from physio.

Good ankle physio workout. Worked left ankle as well as right, since its obviously weak...

Jugglers Meadow- Teawaddle Hill Loop.

None of the noon lunch runners could join me today. =( Still was a good run, the rain showers were nice because they kept it cool. My longest run (~9mi) since the onset of mono, and think I kept it at a pretty good clip. Legs are definitely tired, was hard work getting back up to the 5th floor at work!!!

C • yeah! 2

Left ankle still sensitive. Little muscle/ligament that resists the common way ankles turn over, so need to stay careful and make it better!

Will try to remember to ice...

Evening training at Norwottuck again!

Warm up run and cool down on the map. Included a short hard run up a hill on the way there and back.

Did 2-3-4-5-6 of Ross's training course at Norwottuck

I don't see many signs of improving my ability to orienteer at this place. Hmph. Partly some new trails that confuse, partly me not dealing well with low visibility and green, I think.

trail junction -> 2
Plan: south on big trail, take little trail til obivious turn, go up reentrant till bolder, take bearing and head into the circle
Reality: south on big trail, incorrect little trail (not on map?), but went down a very green parallel reentrant for awhile, saw something bolder like, and tried to go to control. don't think I was even in the right place. argh.

2 -> 3
Plan: out to trail, along til rocks on right, then into the woods over knobbly stufff, hit next trail, work around hills to depression
Reality: realized on my way out to trail that I couldn't possibly have actually been at the right place for #2, but regrouped and basically followed the plan from the trail

3 -> 4
Plan: basically didn't have a good one when I started. Oops.
Reality: Ran well on a bearing til first trail, decided I was sick of running through green, so tran on trails almost the whole way there. Was nervous about turning off too late, so turned off early, but then had more to work with and went into the control well.

4 -> 5
Plan: Good bearing, trail, cross 3 reentrants, follow a mild reentrant to the control.
Reality: All good except choose the wrong mild reentrant right at the end, ended up at a dot knoll instead of hill first, but close.

5 -> 6
Plan: Hit trail, stay on it over hill, into woods on bearing, pace count.
Reality: Trail did wierd things not on map, ended up by stream outlet of big pond, relocated, found control. Argh. Should have had more warning bells go off. Trails not to be trusted!

C • Here's the training course ... 2

8 min abs, 1 min back

The uphill bit of a super-gorgeous hike up Camel's Hump with Dan- the tied 3rd tallest mountain in VT. Views from the top were amazing- could see Lake Champlain to the West, the Whites way to the East, Sugarbush to the South and other mountains in all directions (= 3 different states!).

Again a good ankle workout, and at least aerobic work on the way up.

The uphill bit of a little morning hike with Dan (before US vs. England game) up the Long Trail from App Gap. Wet out and pretty intense trail!

Run up the Long Trail from App Gap. Intense uphill because steep, really intense on way down because of foot placement choices. Think it was really good training, both for ankles at legs + motor!!

My ankles were actually sore afterwards, actually. Oh, and also there were bits almost like a Scandinavian marsh. There was some marshy grass at the top of one of the Mad River lifts that the trail stopped by. Not really accessible enough to train on though...

To and from ankle physio.

A quick ankle physio- did most everything except all the ladder exercises. Hopefully I'll fit in some other jumpy plyo things over the weekend to make up for it.

Atkins Resevoir 7 mi loop with Sanjay. Nice run! Trail portion is really fun, pace was good. He's headed to Greece/Italy for next week, will have to check in with other running buddies...

Orchard Hills with Glenn, Sanjay and Sergio. Really, really happy with how they went, I was more or less with the guys, even pulled ahead of Sergio on the last one. Times:
4.08
4.16
4.19

Last December I did these in 4.09, 4.11, 4.12, so I'm not super far off, although wasn't exactly consistent. Encouraged!

12 backwards to almost 6 on the training course Ross set at Norttowok.

12-11-10 were all messy, 12 because the trails are inaccurate heading into it, 11 because I misread up vs. down of contours and 10 also because of an extra trail, although I hit it fine in the end, was just super hesitant.

9-8-7 all went better, and I decided to head on and go to 6 before turning in, but then got stung by two bees (or other variety of stingy buzzy thing) and decided to head in.

I'm obviously still in british-mode though- first thought was that I hit a patch of stinging nettles!! =) I looked around for them, but then bee #2 stung me, and I came to my senses and got outa there! Must have been near a nest because it was raining, so not like there were many things about.

Running back from the bee sting, a long way though, I felt like also getting a bit of a run in, because I hadn't been orienteering particularly fast.

Gentle warm up over to the track right after dept. morning coffee and then tired jog back to house to grab a quick shower before women astronomer's lunch. Was slightly late, but still happy to have snuck the run in!

I didn't give myself a real goal, not being sure at all what speed I could run. After a few laps, it looked like under 19 might be possible, but I slowed down the last mile, couldn't quite hold it.

Quite a bit off the PR of 17.40, but nice to know where I'm at (which really isn't too too terrible) and have a baseline to start improving from again!

Over to ankle physio and back.

Ankle physio. Finally back to doing *all* of my pre-mono exercises. Woo! And mixed in a bit for the left ankle too, as it's been a bit floppy recently.

I was actually way psyched not to crunch my ankle at all over the weekend, particularly after having a crunch last Wed (makes it more sensitive, usually). Hopefully this physio stuff is working.

Plan for week:
Today- only physio, mostly day off
Tues- 5k time trial
Wed- O training
Thurs- Orchard hill intervals + ankle physio
Fri- Noon running run?

Event: US Team Official 5K time trial (the first of two trials in 2010)
 

Little 5 min warm up. Also signing Dan up for a Yellow course- his first! =)

C • Well...? 3

Red @ Nobscot Scout Reservation

Many, many more contours and blue berries than yesterday! I felt good, not super quick, but orienteered mostly well. Was interesting pace to the race with quick little middle-like controls at the beginning, then some longer ones.

1->5 went well, some hesitations, some dealing with green.
6: really liked my route, knew exactly where I was on the little piece of stonewall near the control. Then noticed I wanted to go a bit up and the general bearing, but must have gone too high, took a bit to come down. Bummer. I guess 1 contour different really isn't too much, maybe to stay flat, look uphill?
7: fine not great, shouldn't have been so scared to go over the top of the hill
8, fine then had a dog just sitting on my heels all the way to 9. Not a mean dog, no barking, just stayed right with me, but turned around a few times to say 'stay' and 'back' which weren't heeded. Eventually dog disappeared on way to 10.
10-12 fine
13 should have gone north of lake, more direct
14- terrible!!! opted to not-trail because it looked easy, didn't think I'd run much faster on the trail. But then I didn't compass check when I obviously should have and ended up over looking down over the both red-lined out and black-lined out area. Surely that's overkill? Doesn't it need to be marked out of bounds only once? It was really hard to read under, which would have been helpful as that's where I was. I mean, I got the point to avoid it, but I really don't think you need both!!!!
15, 16 fine.

Wore my ankle brace on my left foot again, since it had been flopping (different than the crunching right ankle). Good things: no flop, no crunch. Bad things: wicked bad blisters, like 15 of them all around where the brace is. Still, blisters heal more easily than ankles!!!

C • OOB 2

Red - Splits

5K - Splits

Event: Estabrook Woods
 

Red course at Estabrook Woods.

This was the most similar to orienteering in southern England that I've done so far in New England. Trail choices were important and was not too tricky. My biggest mistake was to the low-information control #9. I pace counted (100) and think that gave me the right distance, but a bit off to the east on the bearing, must have been pretty close, but kept going farther as opposed to believing in the pace count....

Also bad to 2, too far west, but relocated based on contour detail in not forever too long. Number 14, I opted for the swamp route, which wasn't terrible (knee-height only), but I didn't do a great job of putting things together on the other side, had gone farther south then I thought already.

All in all, better than last week's prologue for sure, and probably running a bit faster than the afternoon chase, I hope!

From car to registration, registration to start, finish to download. Woo starting to actually warm-up and warm-down again!

Red - Splits

54-96-57 resting HR, so still low after this week of actually training, that's good!

Today is a day off though- tourist around Boston day! =)

Event: CSU Park-O: Boston Common
 

CSU park-O!! Happy to get to go to it. I went out in a major major thunderstorm, along with Alex and Kat. It thundered, lightninged and really, really downpoured. Made the orienteering a bit more challenging because it was difficult to see much of anything at times! =)

I flew by #2, which was a bit silly, and I think it was #13 that was in the wrong place, so contemplated that for an extra bit, checking around. I think I may have also gone through the fountain- didn't really matter, *everything* was so wet!

And, I was disappointingly slow. Getting slightly frustrated by being slow, but suppose it will turn around sometime in not-too-long now that I'm starting to train, right?

C • another thought 2

Trotting around afterwards with Boris, Ross, Alex, chitter-chatting, doing the course backwards... Much more fun than training on my own yesterday at Mt. Tom!

To and from physio, reading my way around a Leith Hill map- last year's BUCS relay. Much different than terrain here! Way fewer contours/rocks...

Pretty much back to pre-mono routine on this now! Did all my jump-roping, hopping about etc, just have one more thing to get up to 5 reps from 3. But really, I should go in more than once a week too...

First 7 controls of this year's Billygoat- wanted to execute my way to 1 and 2 better. Probably was a bit more timid running through the terrain than in the race itself.

Control, Time Today, Time @ BG
1, 9.09, 8.40- this time on path
2, 11.28, 11.27- this time straight, not to #5 first!
3+4, 8.55, 8.04- ug, oops, messed up hills on way to 3, went up aways thinking I was heading to 4 before the side of me that knew things weren't quite right won and I went back for it.... argh.
5, 2.26, 2.28 fine
6+7, 10.20, 11.35- hah, finally faster second time around! probably because I wasn't a total disaster leaving 6 this time- went for the road successfully
total to 7, 42.23, 42.12

Crunched my ankle 7->8 and decided that was enough for the day. Not a bad crunch, but it's more sensitive afterwards, so might as well not irritate it!

In general, was faster while racing, not today training.

To start, back from 7. Went up a firetower on the way back- great view!

Argh, wanted to do my ankle exercises @ physio, but they were just closing for their annual office lunch party when I got there. Still had to head back to mine and take the pizza dough out of the freezer that I forgot this morning. A bit humid out... thunderstorms to break it later?

Hopefully will re-motivate to do ankle physio later this afternoon, but some work needs to get done too!!