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Mapping the world, one waxy strand at a time…

Tag Archives: Training

Relativity

12 Comments Posted by on February 1, 2012

How do you gauge a workout?

Do you rank it as a 1 or a 10 by some internal barometer that determines whether it was good or bad?  Or do you assess how you felt based on the performance of your training partners and teammates?

I’ve been tossing around these questions in my head for a few weeks, as I think back on the past season of racing and begin to gear up for the current one.

I would classify 2011 as a banner year for me (both in terms of racing and in terms of life, but I’ll stick to racing here).  I felt confident and competent on the race course in a way I never had before.  I felt strong.  I kept up with my teammates.  I was a contributing member of the team.  I traveled to my first international race (which, admittedly, sort of sucked).  I competed in my first USARA national championship.  And when all that was over, I PR-ed in the marathon by 9 minutes.

Sure, there were some crummy moments, some blips during racing and training, but when I think back on the year as a whole, I’m proud of what I did and what I was able to help our team accomplish.

When Brent thinks back on 2011, though, he remembers a much more spotty season.  He struggled to find a rhythm with training as he started graduate school last January, and he felt like it undercut his performance on the race course.  He’ll point to good moments and positive experiences, but in general, when he describes the past season, he does so with an eye toward improvement and redemption.

All this makes me wonder – is my experience of success linked to Brent’s of frustration?  Did I feel more like a contributing member of the team because another teammate (Brent or whomever) wasn’t having his best day?  Was I able to keep up because someone else was moving more slowly?

How much was my personal barometer calibrated to respond to someone else’s?

This past weekend, Brent and I set out for a fifty mile ride.  It was only my second (and Brent’s third) outdoor ride of the year, but I’ve been logging some quality hours inside, and after my legs warmed up, I felt reasonably good as we rode down the windy towpath.  Even though Brent pulled for the lion’s share of the ride, I was keeping pace with little trouble, and when he needed me to, I was able to pull in front and take the lead for a couple miles at a time without slowing dramatically or wearing myself out.

About 10 miles from home, I pulled up alongside Brent and  asked, “How would you rate this ride?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like, on a scale of 1-10, how would you rate it?”

He was skeptical at first, but once I assured him that I had no ulterior motive for asking, he said, “I guess about a six.”

“Me too,” I said, “I was thinking a six, too.”

As we spun up the final hill toward home, we chatted about where we’d go for lunch (Iron Hill Brewery) and the documentary we were planning to watch that night (Paradise Lost III), and I stopped thinking about the relativity of that scale.

But still, I wonder.  Was Sunday’s ride an indication that it’s not, in fact, relative?  That my barometer is, indeed, calibrated internally and that it’s just a coincidence that my best race experiences have coincided with rougher days for some of my teammates?

Or was it that we both felt fine – not spectacular, but not bad, either – and so there was no comparison to be made?

 

 

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The Three R’s

9 Comments Posted by on May 5, 2011

Well, the 2011 racing season is underway, and the intensity will only build over the next two months.

In the middle of April, there was the 26-turned-16-hour Rev3.

Last weekend we knocked out the 10-hour Yough Extreme.

In a week and a half, Brent, Bruce, and I will be tackling the 24-hour GOALS ARA Cradle of Liberty.

Last year's cradle, in the 95-degree heat

Three weeks later is the 30-hour NYARA Longest Day (sure to be one of the highlights of the year!).

From the 2009 Longest Day, my first overnight race

And from the morning after... Poor Keith and his sunburnt head.

And then, just three weeks after that, our five-day Costa Rican bonanza.

That’s a lot of racing.

A lot of recovering.

And a lot of rebuilding.

Between the Rev and the Yough, I followed a sort of equal parts recovering and rebuilding, but I’m not sure whether that was the best strategy.  I didn’t do anything long, but I did get in some quality maintenance miles and a couple key hill and speed workouts.  That was partly intentional and party because of the end-of-semester frenzy.

So far, this week, I took the day after the race as a rest day, followed by an easy ride Monday, strength training and core Tuesday, and a ride yesterday.  I’m battling a bit of an end-of-semester bug (finished teaching at 12:15 Tuesday and, like clockwork, started to feel a sore throat coming on by 1:00…), so I tried to keep that in check by keeping yesterday pretty easy.

Today I’m scheduled for strength training, intervals, and mountain biking, tomorrow a potential trail run, and Saturday a monster ride with Brent.

But really, I’m not sure whether this is quite right, either.

How do you maintain and build from one long race to the next, while still giving your body the necessary recovery and rest?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

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Holy Hills (Alternately titled Of Racing and Relationships, Part V)

7 Comments Posted by on March 5, 2011

A confession: Biking with Brent makes me anxious.

We had enough minor snafus early on in our experience racing together that I still get a bit gun shy when it comes to training together.  I’ve gotten past it, for the most part, with running, but the prospect of riding – especially on trails – still brings with it bouts of uncertainty and sends my confidence into the gutter.

Which is why, after a fair bit of back-and-forth about plans for this morning, I decided to join Brent for a tough hill ride in and around the Wissahickon Gorge…

…and also why I spent last night tossing and turning as I worried about what the ride would hold.

We left the house just before 10 AM (an extra dog for the week and some small house repairs delaying our start a bit) and headed straight for the trails.  In the heart of Wissahickon runs a 5.33-mile gravel path, appropriately called Forbidden Drive as cars aren’t allowed to pass through it, and jutting up on either side of that path are steep, sometimes technical, hills into the neighborhoods above.

I hadn’t ridden outside since November, hadn’t ridden on trails since September, and hadn’t done a serious hill workout since August.

I was shaking in my bike shoes.

We rode down to the half-mile point of Forbidden Drive and started our first climb, the hardest of the day – a steep, long, technical ascent with tight corners and protruding pipes and rocks.  The park was muddy from snow melt and my tires slipped and slided as I pushed my way up the hill.  I was struggling to find my balance as I navigated the twists of the trail, and I unclipped three times before making it to the top.

Brent reached the top before me, but he, too, came off a couple times during the ride up.

“That’s the hardest one,” he said.  ”And you did great.”

I’m all about positive reinforcement when I mountain bike.

We headed back down the way we came, and I surprised myself with my ability to go easy on the brakes and ease my way over the rocks.  I got a bit tripped up on a particularly tight turn, but otherwise I made it back down unscathed, and we headed down the path to the next hill.

That’s when I remembered one of Bruce’s nuggets of advice that I’ve been collecting over the past couple years: when riding on trails, always keep your tires soft.

We paused to let some air out of my tires and then took to the next hill, not nearly as steep but far more technical a climb.  ”If you come off here,” Brent had told me, “it’s going to be really hard to get back on.”

Bruce’s suggestion worked wonders, and my tires glided over the craggy rocks and gnarled branches.  I came off once, briefly, but jumped right back on, and made it to the top with relative ease.

“I did great!” I exclaimed when I popped up at the top right behind Brent.

I’m also all about self-congratulations when I mountain bike.

“Seriously!” Brent replied.  ”I’ve never seen you ride this well!”

We continued on the trails until we’d backtracked to the first hill, and then rode back down that one to the path.

“This time, try not to let so much distance get between us on the way down,” Brent coached before we began the descent.

I focused everything I had on my fingertips, willing them not to squeeze the brakes, and sure enough, when we hit the bottom, I wasn’t far off of Brent’s back tire.

Progress!

The third and the fourth went similarly smoothly.  I was keeping up with Brent on the ascents and descents, and feeling strong on the rocky terrain.

“It’s official,” Brent joked after we flew down the fifth hill. “By summer I’ll be the weakest rider on our team.”

“It’s the tire pressure,” I told him.  ”All about the tire pressure.”

I’d never felt so comfortable on my bike.

We tackled a total of 14 hills this morning over 3 hours and almost 25 miles: 10 horizontal miles and nearly 15 vertical (map and elevation chart here, since I can’t seem to paste them into this post).

By the end, my quads were yelling, my throat was dry, and my shoulders were tight.  But I was still pushing the pace, and still climbing strong and steady right beside my husband.

As we were heading down the last stretch of Forbidden Drive to our final climb, Brent said, “So do you feel better?”

“I do.”

“Do you feel more confident?”

“I do.”

“Do you feel more ready to race this year?”

“I do.”

“Do you feel less anxious about riding with me?”

“I do… at least for today.”

Baby steps.

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Soulmates

12 Comments Posted by on March 4, 2011

This afternoon, when Brent and I took our canoe out for its weekly walk, a woman remarked, “I read about you two in the paper.”

“Pardon?” I asked, not sure I had heard her correctly.

She went on to recount an article that had appeared in the local newspaper recently, about a couple of area teachers who train by carrying a canoe around their neighborhood.  The school she named is one that people often confuse with the school where Brent teaches.

Baffled, we continued on our way, trying to figure out whether it was possible that someone had seen us out the week before.

“Seriously, that must be it,” Brent said. “It’s not like there are two couples running around the neighborhood with a boat overhead.”

As it turns out, there are.

In January of this year, the Philadelphia Inquirer ran a story about two local teachers who take nightly walks around the neighborhood with their red canoe.

“It’s a terrific whole-body workout,” the guy is quoted as saying.

Looks like our Old Town may have found its soulmate.

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The Year of the Extreme, Month Two

16 Comments Posted by on March 2, 2011

I enjoyed charting January’s training numbers earlier this month, so I thought I’d check back in and see how February turned out.

If you’ll recall, Brent and I put together some rough monthly goals in preparation for July’s six-day adventure race, Raid the North Extreme (now if we could only figure out the teammate situation… but that’s another story for another day)

We’re aiming for:

-Long rides (40+ miles or 3+ hours) every other week.

-Climbing (2 hours) three times a month.

-Paddling (3+ hours) twice monthly.

-Technical mountain biking (1-2 hours on trails) once a week.

-Core/strength work three times a week.

-Three runs each week.

-Long hikes twice a month.

-Bushwhacking twice a month.

-Night training twice a month.

In both quality and quantity, February was a banner month.

I got in a 3+ hour ride every week, culminating in last weekend’s middle-of-the-night century.

We climbed a total of three times and would have gone more this month if it weren’t so expensive.  I’ve decided to give up my gym membership, and we’re contemplating putting that toward a membership at the rock gym.

Running’s been business as usual, but it’s time to start building up some mileage over the next several weeks.  Perhaps a trip around the loop this weekend?

Still no paddling or technical mountain biking, but we got in two long hikes, and both happened to be at night – two birds with one stone!  Throw in that century ride, and that’s three night workouts.  Now if only they’d stop shooting deer in our woods, we could head back out on the trails with the dogs…

I’m still working on finding a strength training routine, and didn’t get in more than two core workouts a week, but I’m finding ways to squeeze it in.  And while true bushwhacking is challenging in the winter when the woods are pretty clear, there were short stretches of off-trail travel here and there.

So what’s in store for March?

With the weather finally breaking and these kinds of hills awaiting us in April, it’s time to take those long rides and runs outside!

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Midnight Cowboy

16 Comments Posted by on February 26, 2011

As I was leaving work last night, I sent my friend Val a text message.

“I can’t decide if I want you to talk me into or out of starting the century ride at 10 pm.”

Now, on the surface, this may have sounded ridiculous.

But hear me out –

(1) It was only 7:30 PM when I got in my car.  That meant that I was on my way home two hours earlier than anticipated.

(2) Our first race of the season – just six weeks away – is going to be a fast-paced 28-hour event in Shenandoah.  While I feel reasonably confident that I can tackle the distance, in reality, I’ve only actually done four overnight races (admittedly, one of them was three days long), and I still feel like I can use all the sleep-deprivation training I can get.

(3) Brent’s out of town, so there was no one I’d be disturbing by blasting the television.

(4) The thought of a totally free Saturday was really appealing.

So when Val, ever the enabler, wrote back with, “Do it!” that was really all the encouragement I needed to put my plan into action.

I stopped at the grocery store to stock up on diet coke (I actually wanted diet mountain dew, my caffeine of choice during night racing, but they didn’t have any bottles of it), loaded up the DVD player, and hopped on the bike just a few minutes before 10.

Bright eyed at the start (sorry for the blurry pictures to follow - a self-portrait from a smart phone does not an artful photo make... and don't mind the magazine - I started getting a free subscription to Shape a couple years ago and it never stopped! I actually didn't even open it during the ride.).

The biggest problem with riding through the night (aside from not going to sleep until 4:00 in the morning) is that the things that might serve as distractions during the day – people watching, emails and blogs, chatty husbands – are non-existent when you begin when everyone’s either out or going to bed.  So, I was all by my lonesome in the darkened upstairs office, my only company one of the most underrated shows in television history.

My view for the next 100 miles

I alternated the ride between a tough hour of hills and intervals and a half hour recovery as I became reacquainted with the Pryors. I’d intended to vary the entertainment, too, but seriously – teenage angst, family drama, Philadelphia trivia, and 1960′s political turmoil, all wrapped up under the banner of American Bandstand?  What more could you ask for?

In general, the ride went pretty smoothly.  I pushed hard and felt strong, and most of the hours flew by.

Sure, there were moments where I felt like this:

Two hours in, I almost called it a night.

But just as many like this:

Channeling my inner-Marvin Gaye. I may also have rocked out to Bob Dylan, Jay and the Americans, the Beach Boys, and the Angels. Thank goodness the curtains were closed.

With a day’s worth of food in my stomach at the start, I actually didn’t feel the need for much replenishment.  I mostly stuck with pretzels, water, and diet coke, though at 1:00 AM I pulled out my newest secret weapon – the cliff bar I’d stuck in the freezer at the start of the ride.

I inadvertently discovered these when Brent and I hiked Mount Greylock over the holidays.  They’re way better cold, and it takes several miles to gnaw your way through a whole one.  Great way to pass the time!

When I came back up from the kitchen, I found this scene in our bedroom:

Guess he couldn’t handle the excitement.

I finished the ride at 3:30 AM, spent some quality time with the foam roller, (perhaps stupidly) opted for a quick shower over an ice bath, and fell into bed a couple minutes after 4 o’clock.  I woke up at 8 AM feeling as though my stomach was eating itself, and now, a giant bowl of oatmeal later, I’m back on the couch, ready to tackle Disc 3 of American Dreams.

Not a bad start to the weekend.

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Intervals, AR-Style

10 Comments Posted by on February 9, 2011

This morning I was supposed to link up with Laurie for some ever-exciting hill repeats on the trails.  But when I woke up to 16-but-feels-like-6 degree weather, I knew I had to reevaluate.

Like most of the country, this winter in Philly has been brutal, and my annoyingly asthmatic lungs haven’t been enjoying it.  On several occasions over the past couple months, I’ve had to slash miles or turn a run into a hike because of the bitter air.  This morning, I wasn’t in the mood to be demoralized.

So instead of heading out to the trails, I took to the gym and challenged myself to come up with the perfect treadmill workout for adventure racing and trail running.

During a 24-hour race last year, Brent and Bruce and I were evenly paced when we were running, but as soon as we transitioned to hiking or walking, Bruce would fly ahead.  When I asked him how he did it, he said, “just push the treadmill to 5.0 and walk fast enough to keep up.”

Sounds simple enough, right?

So today, I decided to integrate hills and Bruce’s speed work.

Here’s what it looked like:

Warm-up at my usual conversational treadmill pace.

1/2 mile at 8.0 elevation, maintaining that same pace.

1/10 mile recovery.

1/2 mile of speed walking at 5.0, no incline.

1/10 mile recovery.

I completed the circuit three times, and contemplated a fourth before checking myself out in the mirror and noting the tomato staring back at me.  My quads were quaking and my lungs were raspy and I think people were looking at me funny.  I decided to warm down and call it a workout.

It was the most varied run I’d ever done on the treadmill, and it certainly felt productive.  My cheeks stayed cherry-red for more than an hour after I left the gym.

I have to say, though, I’ve never done hill work on the treadmill, and I have no idea what it should look like.  It’s a workout I’d like to add to my weekly routine, but I want to make sure that I’m doing it right.

What are your thoughts?  Have you ever done hill repeats at the gym?  What’s your technique?

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A Year of the Extreme, Month One

8 Comments Posted by on February 1, 2011

So, we’re one month into 2011 and less than seven months away from towing the line at the start of the Raid the North Extreme.  Having set some monthly training goals in preparation for this year’s big event, I thought I’d pause and take stock of how January panned out.

At the beginning of the month, Brent and I decided that we would each shoot for –

-Long rides (40+ miles or 3+ hours) every other week.

-Climbing (2 hours) three times a month.

-Paddling (3+ hours) twice monthly.

-Technical mountain biking (1-2 hours on trails) once a week.

-Core/strength work three times a week.

-Three runs each week.

-Long hikes twice a month.

-Bushwhacking twice a month.

-Night training twice a month.

Looking at it strictly by the numbers, this month didn’t turn out quite as planned.

That pesky back issue prevented me from running and core work for nearly two weeks.  There was no paddling or mountain biking or night training to be had.  While I found myself off-trail several times, the piles of snow and the sparsely-vegetated woods made for only marginally legitimate bushwhacking.  We didn’t begin climbing until the middle of the month and so only got in two sessions for January.  And I had no three-hour bike rides.

That said, it actually felt like a pretty successful four weeks of training.

Sure, running was erratic, and the bulk of it took place on the treadmill – but in its place I broke out the snowshoes at least three days each week, contending with snow and cold and hilly trails.  And I easily surpassed the twice-a-month hiking quota.

And while there were no long bike rides, I actually got on the bike at least four times each week, far more than I’ve ever regularly ridden before and at a much higher intensity.  I rode by time, rather than mileage, since it was all indoors, and I ended up getting in four two-hour rides and half a dozen 1.5-hour outings.  Overall, I averaged three legitimate rides per week.

I’m still finding my rhythm with core work and strength training (enjoying the former and fighting through the latter).  But after a few months off from either, I’m happily noticing small changes and bits of progress.

Brent’s month was similarly altered, more so by injury (he spent much of the past four weeks fighting plantar fasciitis) than by weather.  But he was on the bike five or six times a week, and developed a pretty impressive strength and core routine.  I feel lazy just thinking about it.

So what’s in store for February?  Probably a fair bit of the same, since there seems to be no end in sight to this cold, snowy winter.  Some day we’ll see dirt again, and when that happens, runners beware – Billy the Kid and I are taking the trails by storm!

By the way – stay tuned for an exciting giveaway later on this week.  If you’ve been contemplating testing the adventure racing waters, now’s your chance!

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An Epic Weekend

10 Comments Posted by on January 31, 2011

When we began to put together the race calendar for this year, we set our sights on a two-day snowshoeing/orienteering race in New York the first weekend in March, and a 12-hour adventure race in South Carolina a few weeks later.

I’ve done both of these races in the past and loved the experiences, both as targets for early-season tune-ups, and as built-in training days in preparation for longer events.

In recent weeks, though, we’ve learned that:

(a) the snowshoeing race was moved to another weekend, conflicting with other plans, and

(b) the South Carolina race doesn’t line up with spring break as it did last year, making it too expensive a venture with the added costs of flights and bike shipping.

This means that our first real event of the year won’t be until the middle of April, and it’ll be a doozy – a 26-hour adventure race in the Shenandoah wilderness.

At this point, I feel reasonably confident that unless something goes wrong, I’ll be able to complete the distance.  Still, I want to be as well-prepared as I possibly can, taking into account the wintry conditions we’ve been facing in the northeast.

I may not be able to mountain bike, and I may not be able to get in any true bushwhacking with the trails and off-trails covered in feet of snow.  But I can go hard.  And I can go long.

Enter: The Epic Weekend in the Year of the Extreme.

In the past two days, I spent:

5 hours snowshoeing

2 hours climbing

2 hours biking

1 hour running.

Saturday morning kicked off with a running reunion with a good friend.  We began running together in January 2009 but haven’t logged miles in several months, and this seemed like as good a time as any to pick back up.  It was an easy out-and-back along a snow-packed trail, miscrospikes securely fastened.

Shortly after, I pulled on my snowshoes and left my house for the wonder that is the Wissahickon Gorge.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I feel so lucky to live within eyeshot of the biggest intra-city park in the nation.  We’ve got more than 50 miles of trails at our disposal, and on a quiet snow-covered Saturday morning, there’s nothing better than a few hours in the woods.

For some reason the road leading into the park is the best-plowed street in the city...

I went out on my own for a bit before linking up with Laurie for what’s fast becoming a routine out-and-back over the rolling hills and across the melting creeks of Wissahickon.

We didn't see many other hikers, but we did, indeed, share the trail with horses.

Laurie and I parted ways after a couple hours and I continued on a bit before heading home, eating my body weight in hummus, and promptly passing out on the couch for an hour.

When I awoke, Brent and I took off for the hot date we had planned for the evening – a couple hours at the rock gym, followed by dinner at one of our favorite restaurants.

Brent started graduate school this semester and, in trying to balance that with training and teaching full-time, we haven’t had as much time as usual to spend with each other.  When we have been together over the past few weeks, we’re either out with friends or curled up on the couch watching tv-on-dvd.  We thought a little quality time was in order.

This was my first time doing upper-body work since I tweaked my back earlier this month, and between that and the hours I’d already spent in the woods that day, I was pretty tired when I began ascending the indoor walls.  After a little while, though, I found my rhythm and even managed to fight my way up a tough 5.7 grade route at the end of the night.  May not seem like much to seasoned climbers, but I felt good about it.

We had intended to go from there to a local wine bar, The Wine Thief Bistro, back in our neighborhood, but when I called to find out whether we’d be able to get a table, I was told that there would be about an hour wait.  It was nearing 8 pm by the time we left the gym and we were both mildly famished, so we ended up at another local favorite, Sabrina’s Cafe.

A couple hours later, thoroughly satisfied, we drove home and crawled into bed.  I had another full day of activity to get ready for.

On Sunday morning, I linked up with my friend Patty for another couple hours of shoeing in the woods.  Last year, Patty and I ran together a few mornings a month, so we met at our usual spot and headed for the trails, joined by her eight-month-old daughter, Ellie.

How's that for hardcore?

We started out along the same route that Laurie and I had taken the day before, but after we crossed the second creek, we veered off on a smaller trail to the right.  A quarter mile later, we found ourselves on an off-trail adventure.

There was a bit of slipping and sliding, and a healthy dose of scaling and clawing, but eventually, Patty, Ellie, and I made it back to the trail unscathed.  We crossed over a newly-constructed footbridge and finished off with some bigger hills before weaving our way back to the road to complete a nice little neighborhood circuit. 

This is what happens when you try to take a self-portrait with your phone

The rest of the day was a mix of eating, dozing, and cheering on Brent’s students at a high school basketball game.  Brent and I had talked about going out for more snowshoeing together, but the afternoon got away from us.

We returned home at 9 pm and I wanted to get in one last workout before calling it a weekend.  So, I took to the bike and Brent hung out on the couch with the dogs and the four of us watched a few episodes of Glee, trying to catch up before this weekend’s post-Superbowl homage to Michael Jackson.

All in all, a productive weekend.  Certainly not the hardest or longest training sessions I’ve had, but it felt good to be out, and I felt tired by the end.  A few more of these and I should be in good shape, come April!

Everyone's enjoying the snow!

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