Training Log Archive: runninghils

Went out in Brenda's Minnesota II on Lake Margrethe. It was fun, though the 4x15 minute intervals are hard to maintain mentally. HR was lower than last time I did this - probably since I did it first rather than after a hard ride. I wasn't seeing any cardiac drift residue this time.

Ran into Steve out on the lake. He once was in the running for getting on the olympics for kayaking, so he knows his stuff. He gave me some great tips on my technique that I can now work on to improve my efficiency! Cool!

Ran from Brenda's house to Hanson hills and did an out-and-back on the outer loop with my MS-1 pack. I started out really struggling to get HR up for the first half hour. Would go hard on a hill and look down and see 153! What the heck? Also, felt like I was moving slowly. After about that half hour, I was able to finally feel like my legs were OK and ready to run and the HR started getting into the expected range. It's good when you feel like your run gets better as the miles go on. Distance was approximated based on watch's offset on trails since foot pod was dead. New batteries are ready to install.

Warm-up
Strength: Dead lift - 2 every 3 minutes
205*215*225*235*235

Workout: 5 rounds for time
7 box jumps (25" box)
7 handstand push ups (first 4 rounds with 2 boards+ abmat, added board on last round because form was breaking down)
Time: 6:00

Pull-up/dip complex alternating 3 each. stepped it down to a purple band on dips because red was getting too easy. Finally feel like blue is getting better on strict pull-ups, but not enough to move down to red.
normal,narrow, wide, reverse, mix, mix, narrow, wide, false grip (did false grip with grey... but it was a little silly easy... maybe green next time)

8 repeats on Fairview Hill - about 4:30-4:40 per ascent. I think I'm doing these a bit faster than the first few times when typical time was about 4:45-4:50. Doing 8 was fine, though I wish I had remembered my water bottle because my mouth gets dry when sucking wind up the hill.
Amazing the difference a week makes. Last week, I was a stressful mess with work stuff. This week, I have been happy and in a much better place mentally. I always especially enjoy the ride home from the hill.

Whew! Cutting the recovery interval (and adding 2 more intervals) makes a difference.
10 min warm-up
12 x 3 minute intervals, 1 min jog recovery.
cool down return home

Went into it a bid dehydrated, but didn't realize it until I was about 3 miles in. Oops. HR was typically about mid-170s on the interval, dropped into high 150s by end of recovery minute. Was tough and that recovery minute went fast, but it actually went really well, I thought, and was a good run.

One thing, though. I was really angry early on because some jackass refused to move over even an inch when coming at me on the road. There was nobody coming from the other direction, and the shoulder was very overgrown right there. He hugged the white line and I had to jump into the overgrown weeds to avoid getting hit. Even after I jumped in the weeds, asshole still hugged the white line. It was like he wanted to hit me. Seriously, what kind of terrible excuse for a human being is willing to hit a runner with their truck just to prove a point that "it's my road and you don't belong on it."

C • A$$holes 4

Strength:
5 rounds of 2 overhead squats.
55*60*65*65*65

Workout:
3 rounds for time:
400m run
10 power cleans (95 lb)
12 pull-ups (red band)
Time:11:57

Skill:
alternating 3 pull-ups, 3 dips (strict, with red on dip, blue on pull-ups) with various grips: normal, wide, narrow, reverse, 2x mixed, wide, narrow

C • WT 6

One big group today. Intended not to pull, but I did and just kept it short. Group broke up when Jeff got a flat and all the race team guys stayed back with him while he changed it. That was good because I don't like how they do the ride - sprint and slow down rather than steady pace.

Felt great to keep up without any issues on a very fast day - lots of time spend at 25 mph+. A few times, finished my pull, got to the back, and was really struggling to get back on, forced myself to go really hard for a few seconds and I stayed on! I think that I am doing a lot better on this ride and am not falling off the group and can actually pull more than before. Woo!

Steve: Do you get tired of the same routes?
Me: Yeah, sometimes.
Steve: Wanna do a new route that's about the same as the Sanford Lake loop?
Me: Sure. Sounds good.
Fast forward 90 minutes... we're still 20 miles away from the cars. What's another 7 miles? Practically exactly the same. Ha!

Warm-up 30:35, AHR 134
Tempo 1:01:10, AHR 149
Cool Down, return to car 57:25, AHR 133

Well, riding with Steve today really helped me keep the pace/effort up. Good move for this ride. Warm-up was definitely faster and higher effort than I would normally do on my own (as was the cool down) For the tempo section, when I was in back, I rode off to the side a bit to not get TOO much draft benefit. Max in this section was about 161, typical when pulling was about 153-155, tried to not draft so much to get below 146 or so. Steve thought we were going faster than tempo pace, but I was trying to target a higher HR based on my zones test. Seemed to not be able to hold the pace when I got up to 160 or so.

New workout - alternate 15 minutes steady, 15 minutes tempo

Decided to use my 4-piece paddle today because it has a smaller blade size and I thought I could get better turn-over. Of course, when I bought my first good paddle, I told him that I wanted the biggest blade available, not realizing it's like pushing big ring on your bike all the time. Anyway, I think this was a good move - especially for the longer-length high intensity sections.

It was great getting to take the canoe out rather than the kayak. Good stuff... Also, happy to be told "Yeah, I could feel the canoe moving forward with every paddle stroke on the interval sections." I've experienced that phenomenon when paddling with guys, but never known myself to be the source of it. Sweet.