Training Log Archive: miclaraia

Finally hit 26 miles this week, exciting stuff happening over here in Connecticut.

Becky put together a course to work a combination of skills. It started out with a line-o and then transitioned into a control-pick and finishing up with a few long legs. I had asked her to shadow me so I could get some quality feedback on the things I was doing right and wrong.

It took me a while to get into the line o at the beginning. For the first few minutes I was only ruggedly following the line, skipping over some of the more precise details like going left of this rock and right of that one. Towards the end, as I got focused and more in touch with the map, I got more precise in following the line. Becky suggested I do something like that every time I go out to force myself to zone into the map.

I had to cut the exercise short because my leg wasn't feeling too great. Also Becky noticed an imbalance in my gait, but only whenever I switched back to easy running. The difference disappeared going up hills or when I had to work hard, but then when I loosened up it came back. I presume it's just how my body adapted to my injury over the course of a few months. I'll have to keep an eye on it and try to retrain my legs to run more evenly.

This has been a really hard week of training, my body is completely drained and I was having trouble going up and down the stairs throughout the day. I think I'll take a day off tomorrow.

Phase 5 again. There was a bunch of noise from a loudspeaker coming from a loudspeaker somewhere. I got curious and deviated from my usual path to figure out what was going on. Followed the source of the sound for a while and ended up at the local middle school at the weekend kiddie football/cheerleading event.

In other news, it's started getting really hot and humid again. Not too happy about that.

I ran the canal trail again today, phase 5. I was ambulating along, not going very fast for my first rep when I noticed a fairly large group running a ways ahead of me, and I mad it my goal to catch them. All of a sudden I was filled with this energy, I had to force myself to slow down rather than speed up the next few sets. After the second set of 5 minutes I managed to catch the tail end of the stragglers of the group, but they pulled away from me as I had to slow to a walk for my 1 minute recovery.

By now I had realized that these guys were almost certainly from the local high school doing their Saturday morning practice. I could see a tightly packed group of boys way ahead of me, the varsity squad. I embarked on my third set of 5 minutes, running harder than I ever have in the last 3 months of injury. I averaged 3'56 min/k on my watch, but I was pushing 3'30 min/k for the majority of the set. One by one I picked off the younger kids, swiftly passing them, but not paying them any mind because my goal was still ahead. Slowly, every so slowly, I made up ground on the varsity guys, and alas, after 4 minutes I had made up the 200, no, 300 meters between us. I still got it in me, I told myself as I surged past them.

I maintained my pace for the remainder of the 5 minutes, and then turned on a dime and headed back the direction I came. I got a few nods of respect from the squadmen as I passed them again, and I slowly let myself slow back down to a recovery walk after an extra 30 seconds.

I crave competition, I long for a challenge every once in a while. I've been entertaining the thought of entering a local 5k for a while, but I wasn't sure if I would be ready in time. While this experience hasn't confirmed nor denied my readiness, it's showed me that I need to find some way to run with other people to give myself an extra drive. I managed to find the motivation to push myself as hard today as back in May for Track and Field, and all it took was seeing a large group of runners ahead of me.

I think I will try to run with the local cross country team in the future, or at least find myself some running group in the area to train with. The next step in my return to running program call for 15 minutes of sustained running, which would finally allow me to run with other runners again.

I'm excited for what the post-recovery future looks like.

C • Uh oh.... 2

FitNotes Workout - Saturday 29th August 2015

** Cook Squat **
- 10 reps
- 10 reps
- 10 reps

** Barbell Calf Raise **
- 135.0 lbs x 10 reps
- 115.0 lbs x 10 reps
- 115.0 lbs x 10 reps

** 1/2 Squat Jump **
- 95.0 lbs x 8 reps
- 95.0 lbs x 8 reps
- 95.0 lbs x 8 reps

** SL Step Down **
- 8 reps
- 8 reps
- 8 reps

** Laying Wall shake **
- 60 reps
- 60 reps

** Front Squat **
- 135.0 lbs x 7 reps
- 135.0 lbs x 7 reps
- 135.0 lbs x 7 reps

** Glute-Ham Raise **
- 90.0 lbs x 10 reps
- 150.0 lbs x 8 reps
- 170.0 lbs x 8 reps

** Split Squat Jump **
- 30.0 lbs x 8 reps
- 20.0 lbs x 12 reps
- 20.0 lbs x 12 reps

** Bench Press **
- 95.0 lbs x 8 reps
- 105.0 lbs x 8 reps
- 105.0 lbs x 8 reps

** Pull Up **
- 10 reps
- 10 reps
- 8 reps

** Bicycle Crunch **
- 20 reps
- 20 reps
- 20 reps

I was unbelievably tired for core today, which is weird because it's only midday. I didn't bike all too much this week, so maybe the extra strain on my body from lifting might be the cause. I'll have to see next week.

Another 3k ish course in Ansonia. Today I tried to focus on always knowing exactly where I am, as well as practicing holding a good compass bearing. Had a few bobbles on the course but I hit every control with pretty good accuracy.

I think I'll have to work on preparing for the control circle a bit in the future, because a few times I compassed ot the area pretty well but wasn't entirely sure of what to expect. Might just have to get better at reading detail while running too.

Moved on to phase 5 today, and I chose to run in the neighborhood rather than the canal trail. I wasn't wearing my knee brace again today, but it actually went pretty well nonetheless. I tried to avoid running down a pretty big hill so one of my rest periods was a bit longer than what it was supposed to be.

Another 1 hour out and back. I was super tired because I started lifting again this week and my muscles were beyond sore. I noticed that I stopped and turned around roughly 1-2k earlier than usually when I do 30 minutes each way.

Feels good to finally have an athletic rhythm again.

Oh it feels good to finally be back in a gym. I signed up for a 1-month plan at a nearby Planet Fitness. The pros are that it's a pretty nice facility and really close to home so I can bike over there in no time. The cons are that they don't have any crossfit style lifting racks. They do have Smith racks, the ones with the poles and suspension guiding the bar, but those are essentially useless for 90% of the things that I need a rack for. I can't to hang cleans, jerks, deadlifts, squat jumps, or any other dynamic lifts with the highly restrictive nature of these racks.

I ended up just using the benching bars to do my lifts, which put a lot of stress on my wrists from cleaning the bar up to my chin before the lift and back down after the lift. This works out fine for now, but once I start putting on weight it might start causing some problems.

FitNotes Workout - Wednesday 26th August 2015

** DB Lunge Squat **
- 25.0 lbs x 8 reps
- 25.0 lbs x 8 reps
- 30.0 lbs x 8 reps

** Hip Abductions **
- 100.0 lbs x 8 reps
- 100.0 lbs x 8 reps
- 100.0 lbs x 8 reps

** Split Jerk **
- 75.0 lbs x 8 reps
- 85.0 lbs x 8 reps
- 95.0 lbs x 8 reps

** Broad Jump **
- 3 reps
- 3 reps
- 3 reps

** Leg Swing **
- 0 rep

** Box Step Up **
- 95.0 lbs x 8 reps
- 95.0 lbs x 8 reps
- 95.0 lbs x 8 reps

** Hamstring Curl **
- 100.0 lbs x 8 reps
- 120.0 lbs x 6 reps
- 100.0 lbs x 8 reps

** Box Jump Down **
- 6 reps
- 10 reps
- 10 reps

** Incline Barbell Bench Press **
- 75.0 lbs x 8 reps
- 75.0 lbs x 10 reps

** Bent Over Row **
- 60.0 lbs x 8 reps
- 95.0 lbs x 10 reps

** DB Lateral Raise **
- 10.0 lbs x 10 reps
- 10.0 lbs x 10 reps

** Double Crunch **
- 20 reps
- 20 reps

Phase 4

6 200 meter strides. Felt pretty good for the first few, but by the 5th and 6th ones I was starting to lose form. I had to focus a lot on maintaining good form, especially in my left leg. I noticed that I could prevent my knee from wobbling on impact if I focused on activating my external rotators and hamstring rather than just focusing on my gluteus medius. I

phase 4

1 hour out-and-back on the canal trail. I passed an older biker at some point and he latched on to me. When we came up to a crossing he told me he was very impressed because he's never seen somebody going 25 mph for that long on a mountain bike. Needless to say I was pretty happy with myself for the rest of the ride.

Another phase 4 run. No idea what happened as I'm writing this almost a week later, but I presume it went pretty well