Training Log Archive: Gswede

Today I am starting my month long break from organized training. I am planning on hitting up some orienteering events and perhaps doing a jog or two, but no real training. After getting my iron tested again and finding my ferritin at 33, higher than 11 but still somewhat low, I decided that a break is necessary.

It has been 4 long years of college running, and 4 more of high school. I have been very dedicated to training throughout that whole stretch and I don't feel that will change. However at this point I feel resting will help my body to develop more in the long run than continuing to press. Also it may help to feed the fire (not that I have a motivation problem).

Over the past 8 years I haven't taken more than 2 weeks off except for one injury when I took a month. Time to rest up for a great future.

A fun sprint at Cemetery hill. Still a lot to learn from as I get back into it. Some very dumb route choices that were based in trying to make a decision as fast as possible since it is a sprint, but it should also be a GOOD choice. At any rate still ran well compared to others. I can still see lots of ways to improve.

Warmup, 10 minutes easy, 3 minutes tempo, 2 minutes easy.

Cooldown

A disappointing mass start at Mt. Tom. I was orienteering fairly well for most of it. I made it through my first map in good time (around 40' for 4.2 km).

But then on my second one I ran decently until my 3-4 control where I made a 17-18' error. I think the main cause was dehydration. My mind suddenly seemed to stop working. I'm still not completely sure where I was but looking back on it I think I was within 80 meters of the control for 10 of those 18 minutes. Very frustrating and I was ready to bag the race after that.

I decided to take it as learning experience and keep going from there. If I want to get good I am going to need to humble myself to mistakes like this, figure out what went wrong, and fix it. Still need more time to contemplate the cause.

Warmup

Event 4 - Cemetery Hill Long Sprint - Splits

Event 5 - Long AH: Mount Tom - Splits

Event: Western Mass 5-Day
 

Warmup for the blue with trail striders afterwards.

This was good for one of my first races back, but I cannot continue to have races like this if my goal is to compete at an international level. I was very clean for the first section and then started making some dumb mistakes. Things like not looking at my compass and running out of the control the wrong way. Mistakes like that cost me a lot of time but they are also relatively easy things to fix. It seems to be very much about establishing good habits.

Cooldown

Warmup, 7.5 minutes easy, 2.5 minute tempo, 2 minutes easy.

A good sprint on the UMass Amherst Campus. It seemed to be mostly wide open legs with more detail as you closed in on the control. I decided just to run an easy pace at the start because even at that pace (6:40/mile, 4:08/km) I would still be rolling for a sprint, and then I kicked up the tempo for the second half. I also had to tell myself to calm down after a small bobble on the 1st control. After that it went well. Really fun race and really encouraging start to my return to orienteering.

Cooldown

Event 1 - Middle Blue - Splits

Event 3 - UMass Long - Splits

Very easy night run with Nate after the 5 hour drive up to Mass. Good for loosening up the legs. Also got to see how bad of a neighborhood we were staying in.

Solid workout. 10 minute warmup, 20 minutes at threshold heart rate, 10 minute cooldown. I was actually running faster than I expected to be for doing it on these trails. I also had a lot of difficulty getting my heart rate up to where it needed to be. It just felt like I couldn't move my legs fast enough to keep it at 175 bpm. So my muscular system was restricting my cardiovascular system. I imagine that running more on trails will help that. Probably should try to do striders on trails.

Easy loop through the Wissahickon. Got blood drawn today. We'll see soon what my iron status is like.