Training Log Archive: Lori

Running with Presto from my apartment to the river and then did the JFK-River St. loop crossing every bridge. This was the first time since I've been sick that running has felt good, although I'm definitely not recovered yet what with the wheezing, coughing, sneezing, voice loosing, etc. Why does Israel spend so much money and energy on the IDF when they have germs like these? I'd think twice about invading Israel if these are the kinds of illnesses they have to offer. :-)

C • New IDF Fighters 2

Normal abs stuff.

Nerve glides and back extensions.

Presto and I met up with Sam, Ross, and Jeff to run the semi-permanent course again. It definitely went better than last time, although it wasn't error free. I was generally doing pretty well with a bit of hesitation here and there up until 9 where I got sloppy and overran the control by about 100m and took a bit of time relocating. I got my head back in the game and was doing pretty well again until 14, where I had some trouble in the circle. Going to the finish I went a fairly stupid way because I was trying to find an easy way across what looked to be pretty thin ice, and I had no desire to get wet in the freezing cold weather. It was fun to see Sam and Jeff out there a couple of times :-).

Nerve glides and back extensions.

A couple of us were going to go to Prospect Hill today to set up some night-O controls but the forecasted whiteout conditions stood in the way of our plans. So with group training canceled I ended up staying in lab until about 7pm at which point it was really cold and windy as well as snowing very pointy snowflakes. Since I was supposed to go orienteering today, I decided to design a Harvard course instead. This was a good thing for multiple reasons because I think if I had attempted to do a river run, I may have been blown away. As it was, I was having trouble running in a straight line due to the wind. Aside from the fact that icy snowflakes were careening into my eyeballs at high speeds, basically forcing me to run with my eyes closed, I also forgot to wear my headlamp, so in order to read the map I had to find a somewhat protected area with a street lamp, which basically made this a memory-O. I also couldn't run very quickly because the sidewalks were sheets of ice with snow on top. Presto was amusing to watch though because he was having a great time. I also enjoyed watching the people who were enjoying watching Presto :-).

Nerve glides and back extensions.

Running with Presto from my apartment to MIT via Broadway and then back via Mass Ave. My legs are still kind of tired and sore from this weekend, but they are significantly less sore than yesterday. It's mostly my hip flexors and butt muscles, so I felt fine as long as I didn't try to lengthen my stride. Still sick and more tired than usual, but I wasn't having as much wheezing as I was this weekend, so I think things may be moving in the correct direction (or I guess it could just be that it isn't as cold today...).

Cruciatus stretches and back extensions.

Went out with Alex and Presto to run the semi-permanent course at Middlesex Fells designed by Brendan. My legs were sort of strangely (or at least abnormally for me, perhaps not so strange considering that I had been skiing instead of running) sore from yesterday. My quads and hamstrings were basically ok, maybe a bit on the tired side but nothing particularly painful or problematic, but my hip flexors and groin were quite sore (as was my upper body in general, but I didn't really need those muscles :-) ). While this might have been basically ok for orienteering under normal conditions, hip flexors would have been nice to have available considering that I was running through the snow. Anyway, this slowed things down especially towards the end but didn't make things impossible by any stretch of the imagination. I was doing pretty well at the beginning, although the long leg from 1-2 seemed to take FOREVER. The first control that I had any trouble with was 6, where I decided to try to get away from the ever present Brendan/Ross/Sam/Alex footprints. I ended up at a different trail junction than I was expecting and lost a bit of time here. I did the same thing at 7 and hit the swamp at a different place than I was expecting to, and then I decided to just stick to what I thought was the best route choice without worrying about trying to not stay with footprints. I started getting really tired around 10 and my sore muscles were starting to get REALLY sore and distracting me, so I was starting to get generally less accurate, although I didn't make the kind of mistakes I made at 6 and 7. It was more just having to slow way down to read the map.

Presto was really funny out there because every time we came upon Brendan/Ross/Sam/Alex footprints, he would start sniffing really excitedly and send off "Aha! I found a friend!" vibes :-).

Skate skiing (perhaps against my better judgment...) for the sake of speed. Getting some last tidbits of advice from Alex before the Ski-O and then skiing around Weston painfully with Brendan. My legs and arms were really tired by this point and the Ski-O hadn't even started!

Ski-O at Weston put on by Alex and Ed. I was REALLY tired by the time I started this, and I felt like I was trudging through the whole thing as evidenced by the fact that I could have run this quite a bit faster than I skied it (although that's probably the case even fresh...). Eventually my legs and arms were tired enough that I basically just got in the classic tracks and did what Alex calls the "robot drill" so that I could just use my abs, which were about the only thing that wasn't tired, to get me around. It was fun and next time maybe I'll be a bit less tired before starting!

Cruciatus stretches and back extensions.

Jogging from Riverside to Weston Ski Track. Apparently people in Newton don't clear sidewalks and there was an entire road that was basically a solid sheet of ice.

Classic skiing in the morning at Ski Like a Girl! It was fun to actually get some instruction from someone other than my dad, although as it turns out my dad's instructions were quite useful :-). I learned some things about body position and practiced a lot of gliding on one foot and double poling.

Skate skiing at Ski Like a Girl! with Alex instructing this time. Man, this was hard! I felt incredibly clumsy and awkward, but it definitely got better as the time went on (it would be hard to have gotten worse...) although I still don't feel graceful by any stretch of the imagination. It looks so easy when Alex does it :-). We learned V1, V2, and V2 alternate. I basically got V2 alternate. V1 I think I can do the rhythm for more or less, but since I can't manage to get up hills while still skating, it isn't all that useful at the moment... I was having trouble getting my arms forward quickly enough to do V2. Apparently there are these muscles in your arms called triceps :-).

At the end we did an ice cream making relay, where we had an ice cream making ball attached to one of our ankles, so we had to double pole. I was first for my team, and I was all set to go but sort of forgot that the ice cream ball was adding a lot of weight to one leg, so I took off...and fell flat on my back. I did manage to get back up and take back the lead for my team, though :-).

Cruciatus stretches and back extensions.

January - Splits

Running with Presto from my apartment to the river and then did the JFK-River St. loop. My legs were feeling ok, but my breathing wasn't so great today: lots of coughing and mucus getting in the way of breathing and stuff, but it was nice to be moving faster. I can't wait until this is all gone!

Running with Presto from my apartment to the river and then did the Eliot-Western Ave. loop. I was feeling a lot better on this run than the last couple. My legs didn't feel as tired (although still more tired than usual) and my breathing wasn't as labored. I did start getting fatigued towards the end, though, so I've definitely still got some recovering to do, but I think I'm on the way up. It was wintery mixing the whole time, so it was a very cold and wet run. Presto was not pleased.

Cruciatus stretches and back extensions.

Upper body and abs. Turns out that on top of everything else, I am allergic to penicillin, which is of course the antibiotic I am on, so now I am covered in hives. I was planning on going running, but the doctor was concerned that the reaction get any worse (anaphylactic shock, etc.), so he told me to go home and take a ton of benadryl, which knocks me out quite effectively even at lower doses and basically made running impossible. Luckily I had already done most of this strength stuff earlier in the day, so I was able to get the last bit in before the benadryl really kicked in.

Running with Presto from my apartment to the river and then did the JFK-River St. loop. I'm still feeling really tired, but my knee didn't hurt this time, so I think it was a temporary thing.

Abs stuff. I left out most of the stuff that involved my legs since they were (sadly) tired from the run.

Cruciatus stretches and back extensions.

Decided I was finally feeling well enough again to go running, so Presto and I went to the river to run most of the JFK-River St. loop. Turns out I have a sinus infection on top of some sort of really bad viral thing. I've been on antibiotics for a couple of days now, and although I'm still tired and stuffy, I'm starting to feel ok. I felt really weak and slow on the run and my knee started hurting at the end I'm assuming because I was tired and running funny. Hopefully as I continue to recover, I will get back into the swing of things fairly quickly.

Cruciatus stretches and back extensions on the roller.

So sick. My lymph nodes are so swollen, it hurts to turn my head. I was planning on going orienteering today, but since I can barely walk across the room, I decided orienteering was probably not the best of plans. Hopefully this will go away soon...

I went to the physical therapist again for my hip. He said my left leg is almost normal now, but my right leg still has quite a ways to go. He also gave me some stuff to do on a foam roller to loosen up my lower back since that is apparently connected as well. My little toe on my right leg has been really tingly since I started this, but he said that was normal and would go away once I got things all straightened out. He also said I didn't need to come back, which is good since I will be in Boston soon :-).

I was going to go running today, but unfortunately I'm feeling pretty sick. Apparently being in close contact with 40 sick people and then flying/being in airports for 27 hours straight isn't a very good idea...

Riding camels! It required a surprising amount of lower body strength. The ride was actually longer than this. Camels are strange, and my camel really wanted to go much faster than we were allowed to go. It was also weird to see snails living in bushes in the desert.

Climbing around in underground cave systems built by the Jewish rebels near the place where the David and Goliath story took place. Very small tunnels: in some places I had to slither along on my belly and in most places I had to crawl...I'm glad I didn't have to live in there.

Awesome hike in the mountain desert along the coast of the Red Sea in the Eilat Mountains. When we got to the top of the highest mountain, we could see 4 countries: Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt! Jordan wanted to make sure we knew where they were by putting up the BIGGEST FLAG EVER. The view was completely amazing!

Running up Masada!!! A couple of the people in our group didn't wake up to their alarm, and we were dangerously close to missing sunrise on Masada, so a couple of us ran up the Roman Ramp to make sure we got to the top of Masada on time :-). We made it!

Hiking down the Snake Path on the eastern side of Masada. I hadn't had much for dinner the night before, and we didn't eat anything until we got to the bottom of Masada, so I was shaking pretty badly by the end, but the view across the Dead Sea and into the desert is AMAZING.

Awesome hike in a canyon near the Dead Sea. As our guide said "Don't step off the path for any reason. People have died here...but don't worry...you'll be fine."

Climbing up and down the cliffs in the canyon and then helping get a bunch of the rest of my group down the cliffs. This would NEVER have been allowed in the US!

Running in Jerusalem! We were extremely limited in where we were allowed to go for security reasons, so I stared out by just running up and down the stairs and then out of the hotel and around in like 50m diameter circles. Eventually the group leader saw me and took pity on me and allowed me to go to a park about a block away for 20 minutes. It is VERY hilly in Jerusalem (or as the Israeli's say "mountainous" - they have a problem with scale...), so this was a pretty good workout :-).