Training Log Archive: hkleaf

Legs feel pretty beat up. Ankles are slightly bruised from banging against the icy crust while orienteering yesterday. Knee is also a little sore. So I'll have to postpone my trip to Middle Creek for another day.

Event: OCIN TROL 6 - Miami-Whitewater
 

OCIN/TROL Event - Miami Whitewater Forest, Harrison, Ohio.
Green Course: 4.7km, 11c. (1:10 000, 5m)
Course Setter: Mike Minium
Mid 20s, mostly sunny.

The course was extra physical due to the ~6-8" of deep snow still on the ground. The original plan was to run the first 30min as part of my running program, and then walk the rest. But the steep climbs/deep snow made that impossible. So I just jogged/ran whenever I could, mostly on the flats and downhills. Navigation was tricky at times, as the snow made it more difficult to find/distinguish the subtler features. However, I also felt it helped simplify things for me, especially with those controls in the badland areas. There were a few hesitations, but overall my navigation was fairly clean. I went low along the contours to #5, which was probably slower than the high (left) route. Then I got pulled left of the line to #6, but reached the ridge top right at the big saddle, so used it as my attack. After that, it was pretty smooth sailing to the end. I was happy to stick with my plans and not let all those snowy footprints distract me during the course. Interesting that a lot of times I was breaking my own trail to go straight. It was tiring but also a ton of fun to be running around in the snow!

Saw a reddish furry creature scurrying in the distance (Leo said he saw fox prints, so perhaps that was it?), and later a pileated woodpecker while standing around by the finish. No deers sighted, but did see lots of tracks and hoof prints.

Routes: By hand | GPS

C • GPS/hand map 2

Picking up Green #5, plus 4 other White controls on the parcours trail. My feet were pretty wet and frozen from standing around waiting after finish. Luckily, they gradually warmed up as I moved around. Knee was showing signs of being unhappy by the end, so I was glad I didn't take on more/harder controls to pick up. Total time spent was ~55min, some of which I've discounted for standing around, taking pictures, and chatting with a couple hikers.

Left side only.

Green - Splits

Received another dusting overnight. Continued chipping away at that ice sheet in the driveway.

Level 10, Manual, 173c. as a warm up for my PT exercises.

My own session at UAF. Did a variety of things, which I'll try to list them all below. Next time I should bring along a note pad.

Single-leg press @40# (3x15 Left leg only)
Hip abductions @90# (3x20)
Hip adduction @100# (3x20)
Lunges w/ (2) 10# dumbbells (4x30)
Hip extensions @60# (3x15 Left leg only)
Squats while balancing on upside down Bosu (3x15)
Hamstring curls w/ exercise ball (3x20)
Jumps, landing & balancing on Bosu with left foot (3x15)
Sideway jumps, landing on one foot (3x20)
Jumping (both feet) straight up and down (3x30)
Jumping (both feet) forward and backward (3x30)
Jumping (both feet) left and right (3x30)
Jumping (left feet) straight up and down (3x30)
Jumping (left foot) forward and backward (3x30)
Jumping (left foot) left and right (3x30)

Avg: 2:07.5, @6, 124c
Brief warm up as I waited for the spin class to finish up.

Nothing too hard. Just trying to keep the HR in the 150s range.

Continuing with my running program. I did 30min @7mph (8:34/mi), followed by a 10min cool down (5min jog @6mph, 5min walk @4.2mph), all at 2% incline. I wore a brace, and the knee seemed to hold up just fine. HR is still on the high side for this pace though.
451c.

Wore my HRM to sleep last night to have a read of my resting-HR. Interesting that it's not a smooth graph. Instead, there were many high spikes throughout, presumably from my tossing and turning in bed? The lows generally settled in the 48-51bpm range. There was a 25min period within an hour of my waking when the HR dipped significantly below 50. It averaged ~40, with a low of 31 for that period. I'll assume this was a glitch for now. In a few weeks, I'll try again so that I can compare results.

C • HRM 4

After half a day of freezing rain yesterday, we received another 4" of fresh snow this morning. Removing that top layer was relatively quick. It was the .5-1 inch of ice below that was the killer. My arms are pooped, and I'm only half way done!

Morning session. Removed ~7" of mostly fluffy stuff. Worked up a sweat. Also caused me to be late for my PT session.

Very quiet at the clinic. I guess many simply didn't make the trip.

Stretches
Treadmill warmup 10min
Side steps w/ red band (8 lengths)
"Monster" walk w/ red band (6 lengths)
Squats balancing on Bosu (3x15)
Jumps landing w/ left foot on Bosu (3x15)
Lunges w/ 10# dumbbells (6 lengths)
Two-legged jumps on Reformer, 5 of 8 resistance bands (3x15)
Ice 10min

Since the jog-run sessions went off without a hitch, Kristin gave me a new running program. I am to run every other day for 8 weeks, starting at 30min per session, and very gradually build up to 45min by the end. Pace to be 8-9min/mi. I really hope to be making quicker progress than this, but will follow along for now.

Evening session. This time mostly icy stuff. Worked up even more sweat. My back muscles are now sore...

~25F, wintry mix, some wind - It's my day to run. I had been itching to go play in the snow. Since the roads were pretty bad anyway, I forgo the trip to the treadmill and just ran outside! First real run outdoors in 2 months! It was cold and icy, but my Yaktrax did a superb job. Started and ended slow as a brief warm up/down, the pace in the middle portion was still quite relaxed. I was a little tentative about the knee, so just took it easy and thoroughly enjoyed the fresh air, stillness, listening to my foot strikes in the crunchy snow/ice.

Also took the opportunity to test out a new headlamp. Not all that impressed with it, but then it was a bargain at $5.88 so I couldn't really complain. Will have to take it out on the trails at night to better evaluate its performance.

Happy New Year! Taking it easy today to let the legs recover a bit.

Left side only.

Ankles and core.