Training Log Archive: jfredrickson

Event: NEOC Great Brook Farm
 

Felt great running today but the woods were a bit thick to really maintain a high intensity. Picked it up on the trails which felt really good. Lost close to 7 minutes, so definitely not a great race, but at least half of it was due to issues with the map. Still, have to be more disciplined next weekend. Full course write-up with the splits.

C • Webmastery? 6

C • #15 2

Red - Splits

XC Meet at UMASS Dartmouth.

Easy warmup around parts of the course at UMASS Dartmouth. Shins felt sore when I started but fine after a few minutes and didn't bother me again for the rest of the day. Perhaps it was because we were on grass, but hopefully it is a sign that things are healing well.

Felt really good and started out fast with the leaders, then found myself being passed by a constant stream of people for the entire race after the first 100m and before the last 100m where I finally passed two people. T-Mac and Caleb passed me at the first mile mark but were moving too fast for me to hold on just like everyone else around me.

I feel like I settled in a bit too much and didn't try to stick with people enough. My middle miles were definitely much too slow so I'll have to continue to work on that. I need to figure out why I can't seem to push it all the way up to maximum intensity in these races though. Perhaps it is because I am so used to Orienteering where I am always trying to stay just below maximum intensity. I definitely felt way too lucid out there the whole time and thinking that I should probably be pushing harder... I'll have to figure out how to make it actually happen since thinking about it didn't seem to help.

I still ran a huge PR though (my previous best 5-mile time was 29:56), and although it was only an 8k, I'm still quite happy to see that I am in fact much faster right now that I thought before last Monday. My goal for today was to break 29, so I was a bit disappointed to have missed by such a small margin, especially since I feel like I could have pushed a little harder towards the end if I had known how close I was.

Oh well, I can't complain since I thought I was still way out of shape less than a week ago. And at least I have something that I can focus on besides just training hard to improve my upcoming races...

Here's a map of the course. Interestingly enough I hit all the mile markers dead on (although I never noticed the 4th out there), but still came up short of 8km in my measurement. I couldn't have been too off in my drawing of the last two miles though since they are almost the same as the first 1.5 miles...

C • Nice run! 1

Cool-down jog around the campus loop with a couple laps on the track at the end. I started feeling really light-headed and almost euphoric at the end which was really cool although a bit unsettling. Headed back and downed 4 hot dogs as quickly as I could to gain my strength back. Nothing like a protein fix after a good race.

Official results actually had me at 28:56, so it seems I actually broke 29 after all...

Decided to take the day off to rest up for tomorrow.

Jog down to the Dolan for XC practice. Feeling sore in my shins so I did some heat treatment when I got there before heading out for the workout.

Heat treatment seemed to really help, but I decided to take Coach's bike down to the park for the workout instead of running just to play it safe. I'll try to stay off the roads for the next couple days until I can get a new pair of shoes. I just reached 350 miles so it's definitely time to find a new pair.

We ran 4x400 + 4x800 at Elm Park. Was supposed to finish up with a mile at the end, but I was feeling very tired and I wanted to save a little bit for Saturday. Didn't feel fully recovered from yesterday's long run.

My shins felt alright on the gravel path, but I started to feel a bit of pain in my left hip on the front of the joint. I've had problems with muscles in this area before so I'm going to keep an eye on that. Too early in the season to be tempting injuries.

Easy jogging between the intervals.

Easy bike ride back to campus. Iced my shins up real good after practice which seemed to help. Can't be too careful with this crap.

Quick run down to the Dolan for XC practice.

Long easy run with the XC team through some new areas of Worcester. Felt really good today.

Easy jog back home from the Dolan.

A nice easy evening jog. Legs felt good although a little sore in a couple places. I was really tempted to go and do the time trial from last night again to see if it was for real, but forced myself to focus on preparing for Saturday's race instead. I can't wait to see if I am really this much faster...