Training Log Archive: Kseniya

Forcing my legs to move. Definitely did not have ~100 m of climb on this as GPS says.

Carter Caves Middle - 4.2 km, 230 m climb

Did not sleep well last night and was incredibly out of it this morning. Terrible hotel coffee did not help me in combatting sleepiness. Took a Gu prior to the start and that helped a bit. My legs were feeling very heavy and lacked any spring. This course gave in tougher physically but I still tried to push hard the whole way. Navigationally, it was just OK and I did make mistakes that could have totally been avoided. #7 was a stupid mistake where I saw Alex, who started 3 min ahead of me, leave in the direction of the next control and lost concentration and whatever rough bearing I did have, veering left and running right by the control. Told myself to not make such mistake again. The green threw me off a bit on #8; next few controls were good. Coming into #12 I see Alex again, and again I falter. First, by running hard into a stick in the green with my side body and second, by messing up the next control. I was going into fine but then started doubting position on the slope, stopping short and losing time. Told myself again to keep focus and stop being an idiot. The last loop was purely physical, however, and I did not have much energy left in my legs. Road/trail to #14, lower trail to #15, trail to #16, countering and trail to #17, wait for it, trail to #18. Strong uphill finish.
Counted 300 m of climb from the map..

So my focus was actually quite decent on legs where I was not trying to catch up to Alex. TF, this was a valuable experience to learn from. Entering and exiting the controls was good. Route choice selection could have been better.

Cool-down with Alex. I caught her at last.

Middle - 7 Green J 10 F-21 - Splits

Carter Caves State Park Long - 8.6 km, 400 m climb

My period started this morning and I had to take some ibuprofen to alleviate the pain. I put it out of my mind and was super calm and focused for this race but then got really nervous before the start. Had to tell myself to not rush to first control, hit it fine. Took the trail to #2, bouncing straight into it. #3 was a painful mistake; I ran close to the control but due to misreading or mis-mapping of the green I ended up being higher and left of it and had to backtrack. Dropped down to the trail around the hill to #4, felt slow. Executed #5 well by going straight to the stream and attacking from the junction. Followed the stream bed to the trail to get to #6, climb was painful but I ran it all the way up. Encountered an M20 runner, Edwin, and ran with him on the trail to #7 but dropping sooner to attack the control basically straight on (risky move but paid off). Back on my own to #8, going around on the trail and up through the green. Route choice failure on #9; went straight over the hill instead of the road, losing energy and time. Ali caught up to me going in to the control and I tried to stay with her for the next leg but lost her out of sight. Hit #10 no problem. So proud of myself for taking the lower trail to #11, had a really good split here and didn’t have issues in the control circle as many other people had. Saw Ali here again but then she stopped right in the middle of an unmapped stream due to her eye contact malfunction and that threw me off a bit. Mistake on #12, bleh. A bit tired at this point but told myself to push until the end. Climbed the hill to #13 behind Ali but lost her again shortly thereafter. Went straight to #13 and it was lovely woods running here. Good to #14. Couldn’t read anything on the map to #15, just running with the traffic, strong finish.

Not terribly happy with how this race went due to the mistakes but satisfied with the effort.

Long - 10 F-21 11 M-20 - Splits

Event: Flying Pig XIX - U.S. Individual Champs - Sprint-Middle-Long
 

Jogging around the Model Carter Caves map. Ran underneath an arch on the way out and on top of it on the way back. Nice to shake out the legs after long drive.

Morehead State University Sprint - 3.2 km, 70 m climb

Ok, I admit, I was not enthusiastic about racing the Sprint. I was not feeling so great and wanted to spectate more but had to go out and do it. Once I started I actually had decent focus and was able to push myself well.
Had a mistake on #8 coming out of previous control and going in the wrong direction. I got distracted by oncoming car traffic that was not stopping no matter how menacing my glare was.
Did not read ahead on how to get to #10 and so had to slow down a bit.
Also did not read ahead on route choice to #21 and had to back track in order to avoid getting stuck.
Most other controls were good. I felt out of practice for this discipline.

Sprint - 7 Green J 10 F-21 - Splits

Went to see my chirohealer today, and now it's time to dance and fly and believe in myself. :)

C • Rock it! 13

Eagle Rock easy run with strides. Legs still in pain, hopefully this run helped loosen them up for the races. It's possible I developed actual shin splints from all the hard surface running this winter..

Found a really good class on yogaglo that focuses on re-balancing the pelvis and hips. This is exactly what I needed because the left leg has been feeling very detached and all-around in pain, mostly in unusual places like shin and groin. Furthermore, left side of the lower back has been bothering me recently and that is all related to the hip/pelvic area. Everything is interconnected. Although this session helped a bit, it was not a cure.. Need to repeat this class multiple times and be careful with training and racing.

Legs not sufficiently recovered from the weekend, so no full-on tempo, just a fartlek type session on west essex trail. Didn't feel all that great. It was cold this morning.

Lower back and left achilles soreness