Training Log Archive: marie

Event: WCOC Ansonia Nature Center meet
 

warm up

WCOC Ansonia, Red course

A bit hungover, left glute hurting uphill, lots of rocky grounds. Big mistake to 6 going too far right and downhill + lots of extra loops close to the controls.
Beautiful day and great to be out there though.

FR 8.458 km

Red - Splits

In the search for a new pilates class: CT Pilates Center less than 5min away from our house. They only have one mat class per week though, Saturday morning. Pretty nice, body toning using three types of balls (big, small and weight), the traditional pilates moves but adding equipment. Did squats against the wall with big ball in between, forced you to have a good form, cool.

My left glute felt sore and twingy, think I might have pulled it during zumba Friday, there are some pretty violent ass shaking moves.
Anyway figured a trail run could loosen it up. Went up the ridge of West Rock, on top and down to the lake via the orange trail. Some parts of these trails consist of sharp rocks, slow.
Popped out on the white trail and there was an older couple with two big black poodles, un-leached. One of them ran at me, I said Hey and tried to relax (hide my fear) it started jumping and bit my arm, fortunately not through the shirt. The owners were trying to call him, and I shouted "he bit me".. finally dog went over to them, no apology :(
A lap around the lake, and chasing the last of the daylight back home.

Calla's class @ the Edge gym in Milford. We danced to "Thriller" =)

Run with Mike & Boris at West Rock. Warm out. Rain and fog, really nice and easy to breathe. Ran with o-shoes which worked well in the wet and slippery. Haven't used them for a while and noticed how bad the support is, underside of my feet is hurting afterwards.

When I got out of the shower I heard Mike was talking to somebody downstairs. Turns out to be Neil who was unable to contact us with a dead cellphone and showed up just after we took off =( He had explored West Rock on his own though.

Head lamp jog/hike with Mike. Tricky with the leaves covering rocks and roots (and finding the trails in the dark, as you can tell by the gps track).

On my own at home.

to & from the gym. warm out.

They gotta do something about this room! Thermometer said 77 degrees F, full class, lack of oxygen. I was soaked in sweat, really pushing myself though.

Same problem with the shoes pushing on the sore area on my left foot.

We stayed with Jeff & Erica + their dog Ralph in Somerville, very convenient for the Saturday event. I was a bit bummed skipping the Sunday event while long distance is my favorite. But we had a really nice time downtown Boston Saturday night and brunch + shopping in Cambridge Sunday. Guess I was lacking sleep while I slept till 11.40am (!)

Event: Fall Foliage Festival
 

warm up

F21+ (Red Y) Qualification

Turned the map and woo intense, detailed, green map for this short distance high speed orienteering.

1: Had trouble by the start triangle, stood there for a while, was hung up on finding the stonewall which was almost invisible. Took the trail up the hill, took a risky left without compass or attackpoint, got lucky and found the control.

2: Trail to the right of the line, over the hill, until it started to go downhill, cut through the reentrant, rounded the hill with the cliffs

3: Went left of the line, above the dark green, crossed the stonewall

4 & 5: Straight on (saw Cristina here and Ali leaving 5)

6: Started going on the trail to the left up the hill but changed my mind and went on the small trail to the right along the hill. A bit hesitant, made a left after crossing the 2nd stream. Crossed the trail and went on the left side of the marsh, which was slow, got stuck in bryers. Doesn't make sense looking at it afterwards, would have gone right.

7: Through the start, left trail up the hill, took the small trail left, down the little hill, followed stream to the cliffs. Saw Ali again.

8: Cut out to trail and followed trails to last control. Was fooled to continue running downhill but realized finish was other direction. Sprinted against Ali and Sergiy (who screamed: "I can't be beaten by girls!")

Well this was a good enough race to win :) Nice to see that I'm capable even though this wasn't really an important race. I didn't have a 100% clean race but cleaner than the others.

FR 3.508 km

cool down jog, part of it with Ali

warm up

Left foot very sore under the ankle, tried to move the tongue of the shoe away to take pressure off.

F21+ (Red Y) A-final

The results from the qualification race meant I started last.
So much for keeping it together..

Too much attention made me stressed and I made a lot of silly mistakes.

1: Went big trails left, got off the trail and must have passed right above the control, looped around, out to the trail again, located yellow spot and went slow down to the control

2: Upset after messing up 1st, slow and hesitant through green uphill, hit trailjunction by dark green hill, no problem from there

3: Straight on but hesitant

4: No problem

5: Planned to go straight, but veered a lot left and saw trail, corrected. Stood by the reentrant for a while before looking at the description realizing the control was at the spur.

6: No problem

7: Ran through the assembly area, didn't slow down and messed up, got the trails wrong and it took me forever to figure it out

8: Sigh! After the bom on 7 I more or less gave up. Just wandered through the bryers straight (instead of going back out to the trail right, from where I attacked 7) then ended up taking the trail diagonal towards 9, cut over to trail parallell to 8-9, took junctioning trail until trailbend

9: How do you do a leg like this safe? I went slow using compass and contours, but I believe there was some luck involved for me to walk right into the control

10: Got to pass by the group of preppy hikers again (saw them going in for 8), big trails around the hill to the right of the line, with lake on my left attacked the contol slightly left of line

11: Planned to go straight but veered too much left so ended up taking big trail, downhill to bend, over the hill

12: No problem

I had stomach cramps from eating to close to running fast, noticed it more on the trails. Another proof that I had been running fast was that I had "kavle-hals" (relay-throat) afterwards, a dry tickle cough.

FR 5.27 km

cool down jog, over to the lakes with Cristina

Red_qualY - Splits

Red_finalY - Splits

New teacher and style. This was more of a body toning class. Using dumbbells for some moves. The ones who went to the Tuesday class said it was yoga-like and very slow.
I think I will look for a different gym or studio with pilates.

Fun class, not too crowded, a mix of old and new songs.

I must have twisted my ankle last Saturday.. because putting my shoes on Sunday was very painful on the left foot right under the ankle. Didn't think of it during the race though. Monday Karen, the PT, noticed that it was bruised, and it's painful to touch. Feels like I have an extra little bone there on the left foot, that I can't find on the right.
My indoor shoes goes up above the ankle so it was bothering me a bit.

Two laps on the outer loop at the Racebrook tract trails. Trees are beautiful right now, and the sky was pinkish orange from sunset. Left quad still stiff.

Jog around Maltby lakes with Mike. Oh, it's so pretty here now! Still lots of lactic acid in my quads. Downhill=ouch. Did a few short pickups back and forth on the soft pine needle covered ground.

using a pilates ball and dumbells

Guess I chocked my legs with all the tough running over the weekend (after resting from running the last month and a half). Quads extremely sore!

PT visit:

I explained how my legs were tired and sore but that the injured area seemed okay or even better after the weekend, while it hurt less sitting in the car on the way home. Karen said maybe the running on soft ground did help me and loosen me up.

I told her about the back spasms I've been having, going pretty far up on the left side above the injury.

She checked my spine when I bent forward, back and to the sides. As I was bending to the right she noticed that the spine wasn't curving as nicely as to the left. She gave me a new exercise/stretch to do that also will relief the disc in that area which she believes is pushing on a nerve.

My hipbones were pretty well aligned. She pulled my left leg straight out as I was laying on my back. I got another exercise/position to push the tip of the sacrum into the back. Have to keep doing the position where I put my legs up to rest on something, knees bent to relax this stomach muscle on the left side - as well as the other exercises and positions! And keep sitting (moving around) on a ball at work.

She said go ahead and run! As long as it feels okay :)

up, up, up to the start. didn't give myself enough time. got up there and they called my name. didn't have time to exhale.

When knowing what to expect from the map and the terrain I changed my strategy and went more straight on instead of standing around thinking about route choices.

1: Slight right side of the line, cut out to the trail, went up on the hill to depression on the left, followed depression down reentrant, along the cliffs to the marsh
2: Slow and hesitant, followed the trail for a while, stopped a lot to check where I was. "Got lucky" and crossed the 2nd trail right by that little yellow spot, nice and slow to the control from there.
3: Went to the right of the line, again many stops, didn't notice when crossing the trail, understood where I was as I went down to the right of the row of cliffs, crossed stream, up in between hills and to the left
4: Checked another boulder before I saw the control
5: Loong leg. Planned to go straight on and use the trail in between the marshes. I veered off too much to the left and had to correct to avoid crossing the 1st big marsh. Found the trail just before the 2nd big marsh, stayed on it for a little bit and then set my compass. Now I'm having a black out, pretty sure I attacked 5 from north, but don't understand why I crossed the hill and how I got there from the trail..
6: Straight on
7: Straight on, but veered right and checked out the little marsh SE of the control first
8: Tricky one! Started out okay but lost count of the cliffs and went too far left, corrected.
9: Hmm, cliffs.. wanted to go to the right of the line where it looked "cleaner", afterwards Balter pointed out the trail to the left. But I went straight, down through the cliffs, crossed the 1st stream and the 2nd right below those cliffs, hit the trail, found the trail junction, compass.
10: Straight, noting the trails, contours etc, slow cause I figured this one could be tricky
11: Right side of the line
12: Straight
13: Straight

FR 8.162km

Again not that tired when I finished.

Routegadget:

http://www.vmeyer.net/gadget/cgi-bin/reitti.cgi

För er där hemma så ni kan titta på kartan och banorna!

Day 2 Red Y - Splits

Event: US Two-day Classic O Championships
 

from where the bus dropped us off to the start

Car ride up Friday night was not pleasant while the sitting hurts.

I had decided to take it easy and stop if it was hurting. It was uncomfortable with the hunched over type running, under trees etc but otherwise it felt surprisingly okay. Not too many rocks in the terrain. I did take it really easy when sliding down cliffs or if I needed to go across rocky grounds.

So with no pressure, just enjoying the beautiful woods! And where it was nice and runnable I couldn't resist to speed it up!

1: Went a bit to the right of the line
2: Right, to the trail, hard to follow the trail, lost it a couple of times, went to the trail bend between control 3 & 4 and attacked 2 from there. Samantha was just leaving the control as I got there, think she started 5min after me.
3: Before I was ready to head to 3, Sam was way gone
4 & 5: Slow and steady. At 5 I saw Marie-Kat.
6: Marie-Kat & I took different routes. I kind of got lost to the right of the line, couldn't find the trail. But we met up at 6. Off course I was on the wrong side of the control-marsh, didn't check my definition.
7: Took off thinking "this is a tricky one", was moving in the right direction but couldn't locate the green. As I was over shooting the control, going down the hill, I saw Samantha leaving it, still kept going downhill. Made a loop and came back to find it.
8: Went left of the big marsh, checked feautures but stopped too early, took me a while to figure it out.
9: Straight on
10: Right side of the line, crossed the trail and then went a little left of the line, down to the lowest point and just followed the hillside to the control.
11: Downhill, tried to avoid cliffs and rocky grounds. Saw Marie-Kat again.
12: Straight on
13: Followed the trail until hill on the right flattened out and cut across
14: Trail
15: Trail, got off it and crossed two steams, was too high, relocated when I saw the open area (red lined on the map)
16: Down the hill, hesitaded by the trail but went down the reentrant and had to climb up the powerline to the last control. Sigh!

FR 8.443km

So, slow with a lot of stopping, a few mistakes, was able to speed it up when I felt like it. Not really that tired afterwards.

Felt similiar to the terrain back home.

jog from the finish back to the assembly area

Day 1 Red Y - Splits

Sad last class with Rosalie. I had to hold back my tears when hugging her good bye. She's been great. Two years ago, this group of ladies were some of the first people I got to know in New Haven, so they mean a lot to me.
After class we had all brought in cookies and had a little gathering. I had tried a new recipe "pumpkin/cranberry cookies" which turned out more like scones - they were a hit and so were the "chocolate balls" :)

At Ansonia with Will & Boris. I was at the wrong place looking for my first control, went back to the right place on my way back.
Scared and a bit uncomfortable when running over rocks but felt alright on the soft ground.

Had to cut it short while we were having potential customer Scania visiting for an audit. It was nice to speak Swedish at work :)

to & from the gym

Rode up to Devil's hopyard with Mike. Another beautiful day. We switched bikes and the TREK touring bike that looks bigger actually fit me better. Not sure if I'm rid of this cold yet, lots of slime in the back of my throat, trouble breathing.

Hike with Anne-Louise, Mike & Barbara. Did the orange loop that went by the vista point and devil's oven.

Beautiful day. Perfect running conditions. Too bad I'm broken. Short jog with Anne-Louise.

Calla's class in Milford. Still felt some remains of the cold.

PT visit:

Hipbones were aligned and sacrum wasn't twisted. Left side lower back/glute still very sore. She put me in some positions to relax the muscles. I have a hard time copying them on my own while it's supposed to be passive, leg should be totally relaxed. Also did some moves to loosen up the pelvis. We talked about the importance of symmetry. How just as your right- or left-handed, you're also favoring one leg. I need to balance it out. Also talked about how everything in this area gets looser and possibly more sensitive week before and during period.

Pain has changed form the constant ache spreading up the back and down in the thigh to more of a muscle pain. Still feel it most of the time. Not bad when warmed up and jogging though. Anyway we said that we'll wait two weeks until next visit.

C • Progress 1

Night jog with Anne-Louise at East Rock. She was excited to try out her new Mila headlamp that is supposed to be 5x stronger than the regular headlamps. Something wasn't right though, even though battery was fully charged it wouldn't work. I was also trying out my headlamp for the first time, got the same kind as Kat and it was working well for both of us.

Jog around Lake Wintergreen with Mike. Left side felt stiff, not sure if it was just the bruised area from my fall last Saturday.

Didn't get much sleep last night. Head cold. Mike talked me out of going to pilates (hate missing one of the last few classes with Rosalie). Stayed home from work and have been sleeping all day.

to & from downtown. got exhausted. and it was raining.

Runny nose. Bad taste in my mouth.

Event: Hudson Highlander
 

Today both Mike and I woke up feeling sick. Stuffy nose & sore throat. Yuck.

Easy ride around the Racebrook Tract with Mike. Nice trails, wide, not too much stuff in the way (like roots & rocks), beautiful woods surrounding. Unfortunately a big stick flipped up and broke the derailleur hanger on my bike.

Event: WCOC Brooksvale meet
 

Woke up with a sore throat.

From Westville to Brooksvale Park on the Farmington Canal Trail. One part of it was closed for construction so we had to go on busy route 10.

Jogged the White course with Heather.

Green course. PT said I could try jogging and see how it feels. I figured woods running should be more gentle. And so I was jogging and trying to feel how everything felt. Definitely felt the best when I was of trails on leaves-covered ground, trails and stepping on rocks felt worse.
I didn't use a compass which wasn't working that well on this map (it's so confusing in some areas). Specially would have needed it going to 3, 7 & 8.

On my way to 7 I was moving along with the marsh on my left side, passed the trails and where the stonewall was on both sides of a trail, then I thought I passed the stream, got close to some stonewalls and patches of green and couldn't orientate. Just headed back out to the trail, went in one direction to find something on the map. Attacked that control from SW following that stonewall in the green(!)
Was going to step over the stonewall at one point, the stone I stepped on rolled away and I fell right on my left butt/hip, hit it on the rocks. Got really scared, thought that it might shift my bones while it all seems to be so fragile and sensitive. So stupid. Kept jogging to loosen it up though.
Left 7 in the wrong direction, was thrown off by the greens and probably by my fall. Stopped early for 9 and suspected I wasn't on the right trail.

FR 6.931 km (didn't remember to press lap at that many controls)

Walked and picked up a few controls with Anne-Louise.

Brooksvale Park to Westville. Made an early stop to eat at a BBQ place.

Green - Splits

Pretty sore after the PT visit yesterday

Was going to go do Calla's class in Milford after work but Anne-Louise wanted to come so I looked up a Friday class in New Haven at zumba.com.
A studio on State St called The Fitness Haven, just having some kind of opening event with free classes this Saturday. $15 for one class, pretty expensive. Really fun class though. Two girls instructing, one in the front and one doing easier modifications. They both had dance backgrounds: jazz, ballet, hip hip and so on and you can tell in their style. Some tricky stuff but I like it like that! The studio wasn't optimal with the mirrors on the short end.
Anne-Louise really enjoyed it and she thought the instructor looked very much like Signe Søes.