Training Log Archive: Becks

Just when I thought my day was turning out quite nicely after all...

"I don't think this paper has any chance of being accepted. You should analyse only the genes you want to see changes in, and forget the other 9500 that you detected in your experiment."

Paraphrasing, of course. Except not the first line of the e mail. It's now 10.11. Deadline is 12.00. Rob is currently writing a very angry e mail. I am currently trying not to punch a wall. He has had this data for six months. And now he wants more time. Except it's my name at the top, and it therefore reflects badly on me.

This man is so bad for my health. I am so angry right now.

C • It sounds very much like th... 1

11.36pm. No word. Guess I'm not submitting after all then.

Arse.

Wasn't going to run today, as I presumed I would be tired and was definitely stressed out over getting this paper all together for the deadline. But then Boris arrived, and I couldn't not run if Boris was here, so we headed out just as it got dark. And everything felt surprisingly awesome. So that was nice.

Nothing in the tank today, so decided to jog round but get it right. And that plan worked until I forgot I had a plan, and resulted in two big errors. Tried to run harder after Katta got away at 11, but then realised halfway when nothing made sense that I was navigating to 13 instead of 12. Oops. Fluffed the relocate too. Then had my map folded poorly and thought 17 was on the side of a spur, and not in a re-entrant. This was really confusing until I realised when I opened the map up, then ran straight to the control. D'oh. Mini un confidence at 8 too when I couldn't see the crag on the map.

Nice course today though! I don't like Georgia vines and weird plants that stick fluffy barbed spikes in you.

Ed and I had a fun night at a local restaurant with an insane waitress then Ed fell asleep whilst reading and it was totally adorable.

Great weekend. I am going to get better at this running thing again!

Minimal warmup confirmed there was nothing in the tank. Ru'oh!

Middle - Red - Splits

Well, let's start with the good. I made it round, which I genuinely doubted I would! And was moving, slowly but surely at the end. And halfway round I had a revelation that I had Lyme Disease, then I got hit by a car, and since then, it's kind of alright if I can't run as well as I used to. Shouldn't be so hard on myself. And after that revelation I chilled out a bit and took it easier and it was actually fun.

Saying that, I made some howlers. Still not sure how I ended up way too far right to 3. Unconfident but okay to 5. Dropped too low off spur instead of staying high across it going to 8. Then I overshot 11, despite taking the "safe" route along the river. Nothing made sense after I overshot, but after PG and Mike Minium said that bit of the map was dreadful, I don't feel so bad for struggling to relocate. Then the map was just incomplete at 15, which didn't lead to much confidence going in.

It's difficult to not be depressed about how badly I compared to everyone else. But if I can be still moving after 12.2, I clearly have a decent base to build on. And after seeing Alex whizzing off down that track, I feel a bit more inspired to train now too.

Miminal warm up jog. It was warm and my course was long, so wasn't too bothered about the warm up.

Long - Red - Splits

Event: US Individual Championships (Sprint/Middle/Long/Trail)
 

Made the mistake of going on a warm up with Alex to test the head cam. It was a bit long for me! But time spent with the Jospe is always worth it.

C • long warmup 2

Ho hum. The Sprint course at U West Georgia was fun, but it was too long as predicted. I did alright at the start, mostly on top of the trickier navigation (although two of my non-spikes come from what I now believe to be sub optimal routes), but then massively fluffed the route choice legs, the first by a little and the second by a lot, and got very bloody legs as a result. The whole loop after the spectator I was exhausted. Too much with no intervals behind me. All that sound very negative but I did enjoy the flow at the start, and the tricky bits.

Short recovery jog. Already feeling done in. Oopsie!

Sprint - Red/Blue - Splits

"Light" sprintervals with Boris, on a course ably designed by adalgleish. Was running better than expected, lights feeling a bit wobbly but hoping that's the pre breakfast effect. Boris is very good for my training motivation.

Exciting moment of shuttle rage this morning. They sent a small van for a 9.30 Orange line pick up, and it was full after my stop. Some guy decides to race after the bus for three stops anyway, and eventually, when she refuses to let him on for the third time, throws his full cup of coffee as hard as he can at the window. It is frustrating but man, you clearly needed that coffee! On a side note, I really need to stop being scared of the roads and start cycling to work again.

Fun moment of the day number two, I get to the front of the queue at Starbucks, and the girl there goes "Yey, it's my smiley person!" and proceeds to tell all the staff how happy I always am.

Seems a smile really does goes a long way!

I get to see Boris tonight! Maybe that's why I was so happy.

C • Smiley 4

C • Cheerfulness 3

Yey! Today was a special treat and I got to run with M & M AND Boris. It was pretty great. We took a slightly different West Rock route and although it was supposed to be easy, I pushed consistently on the hill and actually felt good. There is hope yet. Maybe extreme rest is the key after all? :D

After the run we invited ourselves for tea and Rob joined us, and there was much fun to be had. Yey!

12.2km, 16 controls. I am going to die, either of running too much or boredom.

Also, our sprint got longer. When your sprint selection race is 600m longer than the predicted distances at WOC,and would take running 4.12mins/km to run in 13 minutes in a completely straight line, it's probably too long.

I am still looking forward to the weekend. But it is going to kill me.

C • At least... 15

Rob and I combined a trip to Trader Joe's with an explore of Racebrook Tract. Marie was right - exactly what we need right now! Great little run and Rob is getting stronger all the time. I felt pretty crappy all night but running felt good, so I'm now almost convinced it's just allergies.