Training Log Archive: cporter

I'm out in Pittsburgh this weekend to help my brother move into his new apartment (which is awesome btw) so I decided to take advantage of what Pittsburgh has to offer - HILLS!!! There is a really nice hill right at the end of Ryan's street so I decided to run that. All I can say is it was brutal. I ran a 15 min warm-up/cool-down and then ran 5 reps of the hill (a total of about 15 min), which is so steep that stairs have been built (as they have been along many streets in Pittsburgh) along the one side for pedestrians. By the time I finished my 2nd hill I actually had to start running along one of to the streets that intersected the hill to get enough rest because running down the hill was almost as tough as running up it. I plan to take a photo of it at some point this weekend and if I can figure out how to post it I'll add it to this training session.

Cardio Kickboxing - the instructor was in the mood for an intense workout and there were only three of us that showed up today so we got a great workout with a lot of personal attention. However, this meant that there was no cutting corners allowed since she kept an eye on us. Sparring was great since only myself and one of the guys in the class stayed - there were actually two instructors that stood on either side of us which really kept me motivated and helped me a lot with my form.

Ran my sprint on the UMD campus twice. Most of the legs have 2 route choices so I ran one option for each leg on the first run and then the other option on the second run. Interestingly most route choices seem to be pretty evenly matched in most cases. My second loop of the sprint was only about a min longer than my first loop, which tiredness probably accounts for (I did take a short break in between loops to stretch my calves, which were pretty tight). I'm also pretty happy that I was able to keep a fairly consistent time between the two. Since I knew I was running the sprint twice I went out fast, but not as fast as I normally would if I were running a sprint once. I thought I was running the second loop a lot more slowly, but I think that I kept a more regular pace than I did on the first loop - rather than speeding up then slowing down I stayed steady the whole time.

The only problem is the course as it stands is a little too long at 4km. I'm probably going to just move the start and adjust the location of the first and last controls - it will actually work out of the better that way too because I should be able to avoid the busiest part of campus and elminate some road crossings. Hopefully I can shorten the course to the 3.0-3.5km range with some adjustments.

Besides the legnth I'm pretty happy with the courses This is the first sprint I've set so I'm a little nervous about how people will like it. I wanted the couse to be physically challenging, navigationally interesting, and of course fun - hopefully I've achieved that. We'll all know soon enough!!!

Trail/ pavement running at Greenbelt. I added a little speed work out in the middle of the run just to get my legs moving faster. After 30 min of moderately paced running (i'd say 60%) I ran a 5 min workout of 15 sec at an all out sprint followed by 15 sec jogging and repeated that 10x. I finished off the run with another 15 min of slightly harder running than the first 30 min.

I have a quick gripe to make...on the first 30 min leg of my run I passed a guy who tried to strike up a conversation with me he even started running so that he could continue to talk to me - I think he was there with a group of bikers that were racing because he made some comment about how I should try biking since its faster (cleary he doesn't get running). Fortunately I didn't have to try to ignore him for too long since my route turned down a different path, but the whole experience annoyed me. I suppose some women would appreciate the attention, but it really annoys me - especially when it comes from another supposed athlete. If I were running on the road and passed a group of construction workers and they started wistling that would be one thing (although I'd still be annoyed), but I just find it really frustrating that I can't even go to a quiet park and run my workout undisturbed.,,

C • Liking the attention? 1

Boxing Bootcamp - good mix of cardio and strength training. Lots of squats, boxing routines with dumbells and the medicine ball, and of course abs and push ups at the end of class. It was a good workout, definetly kept my heartrate up for most of the class because we barely ever stop moving. My ab work wasn't that great though since I just did abs yesterday and was still pretty sore from that. I'm sure I'll feel the squats for the next day or so too, as well as all the shoulder and arm work we did. I was really pleased to see a little bit of arm definition in the mirror today, that's new. Generally I avoid watching myself in the mirror during our boxing routines, because I look really silly doing it with such long arms. I wouldn't want to detract from my enjoyment of kickboxing, by worrying about what I look like anyways. Still its nice to see that I'm getting somewhere.

Jogged around the UMD campus to check out possible control sites for the sprint that I'm designing for QOC's summer series. It's a good thing I checked out the campus too. There are a couple of construction sites on the campus right now that I'll need to design my courses around - one site is actually over where I was plannig to have the start/finish for the sprint, but since the map that I am using to plan the course already has a score-o on it I decided to just use the same start/finish. I ran off and on for about an hour - generally from one potential control site to another. I had some pretty long breaks in between legs since I sat down a coule times to evaluate what I had decided and what else I wanted to check out on the map. I'd say I ran at least half the time or more, but I wasn't really paying attention. It was nice to have a light running day though since I've had a number of consecutive hard days - I also had my kickboxing class earlier in the day so I still got a respectable amount of exercise in today. Here's to hoping that my sprint is challenging, but fun for everyone.

C • Thanks for the effort 5

Core Workout Class - Mostly did worked with the stability ball, and did planks and several variations of reverse crunches today.Concentrated heavily on the obliques too. I didn't like this class as much as past ones and I don't think I got as good of a workout either - most of the exercises required lifting legs and shoulders simultneously which distracted me from concentrating on my form and keeping my abs tight. The variety of exercises from week to week is nice, but I do wish we at least had a core set of exercises that we did every week so that I could keep track of how much I am improving and so that I could at least count on some quality ab work.

Tempo Run - I finally go around to getting a new pair of running shoes so I can run on pavement again with only mild discomfort in my knees. For my tempo, I wanted a pretty flat run so that I could keep my pace consistant so I ran along the Northeast Branch Trail (don't be fooled it's paved). After a 15 min warm-up I ran 5x3 min at 80% race pace with 1 min recovery in between. I'm pretty sure I ran faster than 80%, especially on my last 2 reps, but I was feeling pretty good. The heat was really not all that bad either. Most of the trail was heavily shaded and with the breeze it was almost comfortable, at least until my cool down, ironically. I don't know what it is about workouts, but I always seem to get overheated after I finish them. Presumably, because I'm not paying attention to it when I'm running my hardest at the end of a workout - then it all catches up to me in the cool down. Oh well. I was running in just a sports bra and the lightest, most breathable pair of running shorts I had so it still wasn't that bad.

On a side note, I have a theory that the contractor that designed my town house must have been a runner. Our spigot (that's probably misspelled horribly) is located right next to the front door making it very convienient to cool off after running on days like today.

QOC Beer Chase at Jug Bay - I can now say that I am a veteran of the infamous "Chase". It was certainly as much fun as Valeri said it would be, although fortunately it was not as difficult as I had expected it to be. The intense heat was certainly more challenging than consuming beer on the course, but even the heat was not as bad as I thought it would be out in the woods. I don't think that the alcohol had much of an effect at all until I finished my course (then I felt a little woozy and light headed). The course itself was a lot of fun. It consisted of three loops (3.4, 3.3, and 0.9km) and the first two were very similar. They followed the same route, and controls were hung on the same features that were usually within eyesight of each other - therefore you had to be certain to check your control codes. I was pretty happy that I only hit the wrong control once during the whole race. I also tried to avoid the packs that formed for each loop, especially since they seemed to be leaving controls just I was coming into them, yet I would beat them to the next one. Not following also paid off on the second loop since I had already navigated my way through practically the same loop once so for many controls I could just rely on memory to get there with minimal map reading. This was especially helpful since by the second control of the second loop I had left my pack behind (sorry Dave and Jan), but I did pick up another runner and we stuck together for the rest of the race. The thrid leg was just a test of endurance, which I would say I just barely managed a passing grade on, but I made it through, albeit slowly. I can't complain about my race at all. I had a great time out there and finished pretty well. The dip in the river after finishing, a nice picnic, and of course, the excellent company all made for a terrific day. I really don't want to go back to work tomorrow :(

C • Nice job! 3

Long - Splits