It's amazing to see that races still keep my inner alarm clock set. Although my alarm was set for 6:30 I woke up half an hour early feeling quite good. Meaning way better than the previous mornings where I had to fight the symptoms of my cold quite badly. The stretching during the last few days also seems to have worked, since my quads felt a lot better too. So things seemed to be on track for the Juana Run 2009. It is a five mile race and the first race of the Palo Alto Grand Prix series.
After I picked up my bib and the goodie bag, I jogged about a mile and stretched before I went to the start area. Just after 8:30 the gun went off and a few hundred runners set out for the course. Due to my cold I was aiming for a 7:30 pace, which would put me to the finish line at 37:30. The first mile felt pretty hard, actually the whole race felt pretty hard, except for the stretch between mile 2.5 and mile 3. I was really looking forward to the final stretch... After 37:00 I crossed the finish line and was rather glad I was done. Even a little faster than aimed for.
A pancake breakfast was waiting for all the finishers. A yummy finale for a tough, but nice morning.
Official time: 37:02
28/59 in age group
167 overall
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
week 8
Sat: Wanted to do the weekly long run of 11 miles, but at about 3 miles in the tightness in m IT Band I had noticed the day before and some GI issues forced me to turn around and cut the run short: Ended up running 7 miles.
Sun: Too wimpy to stick to the plan and make up for the failed long run on Saturday. Climbed at PG B instead. Did a handful of 10's topped off by a couple of 11a's. Finished the day's workout with 90 minutes of yoga with Annika. It was the first time I took her class. It was pretty nice! A good balance between relaxation and exercise. Also good for my ITB.
Mon: Climbing at PG B with Dan. 4 leads 10a-c. 1 TR 10c to cool down.
Tue: 3 miles on treadmill at PG B. Last night I researched IT Band issues on the web: It seems that a combination of strength training, stretching, applications of a foamroller and anti-inflamatories should work to keep things in check. As a first step I stretched 20 minutes right after getting up, followed by some 'rolling'. I stretched for another 2o minutes after my run, before I hit the weight room for some deadlifts and squats. The deadlifts were a surprise! It was the first time I "went heavy" and worked my way up to body weight. Not to bad for the beginning. My legs were tired after the workout, but felt good otherwise. Also learned that a few more spots opened up for the Big Sur 21 miler...Need to sign up!
Wed: Skipped the scheduled 6 mile run. Stretched and rolled for 10 min just after getting up. Went climbing with Ben at PG SV in the evening. Awesome session! A few TRs to warm up, 10a, 10d, 11a, 11c and then some easy leads (9s & 10a). Now I am wired and can't go to sleep :-(
Thu: Coughing and sneezing... AGAIN! :-( Rest day!
Fri: Rest Day, try to recover enough for tomorrows 8k Juana Run in Palo Alto.
Sun: Too wimpy to stick to the plan and make up for the failed long run on Saturday. Climbed at PG B instead. Did a handful of 10's topped off by a couple of 11a's. Finished the day's workout with 90 minutes of yoga with Annika. It was the first time I took her class. It was pretty nice! A good balance between relaxation and exercise. Also good for my ITB.
Mon: Climbing at PG B with Dan. 4 leads 10a-c. 1 TR 10c to cool down.
Tue: 3 miles on treadmill at PG B. Last night I researched IT Band issues on the web: It seems that a combination of strength training, stretching, applications of a foamroller and anti-inflamatories should work to keep things in check. As a first step I stretched 20 minutes right after getting up, followed by some 'rolling'. I stretched for another 2o minutes after my run, before I hit the weight room for some deadlifts and squats. The deadlifts were a surprise! It was the first time I "went heavy" and worked my way up to body weight. Not to bad for the beginning. My legs were tired after the workout, but felt good otherwise. Also learned that a few more spots opened up for the Big Sur 21 miler...Need to sign up!
Wed: Skipped the scheduled 6 mile run. Stretched and rolled for 10 min just after getting up. Went climbing with Ben at PG SV in the evening. Awesome session! A few TRs to warm up, 10a, 10d, 11a, 11c and then some easy leads (9s & 10a). Now I am wired and can't go to sleep :-(
Thu: Coughing and sneezing... AGAIN! :-( Rest day!
Fri: Rest Day, try to recover enough for tomorrows 8k Juana Run in Palo Alto.
More Pictures coming up!
I finally replaced my point-and-shoot-camera, which died last fall while climbing in Yosemite.
(Huh, that was the 2nd camera in two years, who shared that fate! I wonder if it's me?)
When I opened my mailbox yesterday I found the Canon Powershot 770IS! I'm looking forward to using it, especially since it features an integrated image stabilizer and 4M pixel more than my previous camera (a Powershot 660).
(Huh, that was the 2nd camera in two years, who shared that fate! I wonder if it's me?)
When I opened my mailbox yesterday I found the Canon Powershot 770IS! I'm looking forward to using it, especially since it features an integrated image stabilizer and 4M pixel more than my previous camera (a Powershot 660).
Friday, February 20, 2009
Week 7
Wow! This blog is degrading to a list of workouts... :-(
Unfortunately there's not too much more happening at the moment. When I am not in NM the weather here doesn't allow for any climbing outside. I guess skiing would be an option...
Anyway, last weeks workouts:
Sat: 9 mile run on the trails in the desert around Carlsbad, NM
Sun: Rest
Mon: 5 mile run
Tue: 3 mile run
Wed: 6 mile run (back in Cali SCT)
Thu: 3 miles on treadmill at PG B, 45 minutes of bouldering, mostly long traverses to increase endurance
Fri: Rest, noticed some tightness in the IT Band of my right thigh.
mileage (Sat - Fri): 26
Unfortunately there's not too much more happening at the moment. When I am not in NM the weather here doesn't allow for any climbing outside. I guess skiing would be an option...
Anyway, last weeks workouts:
Sat: 9 mile run on the trails in the desert around Carlsbad, NM
Sun: Rest
Mon: 5 mile run
Tue: 3 mile run
Wed: 6 mile run (back in Cali SCT)
Thu: 3 miles on treadmill at PG B, 45 minutes of bouldering, mostly long traverses to increase endurance
Fri: Rest, noticed some tightness in the IT Band of my right thigh.
mileage (Sat - Fri): 26
Friday, February 13, 2009
WOD
Although today was meant to be a rest day I did the following:
2 rounds of:
2 rounds of:
- DOT drill
- 10 burpees
- 30 sec bridge
Weekly update
This week I skimped a bit on my workouts.
After skiing on Saturday my legs were super tired on Sunday so I skipped the long run of 9 miles (I can't believe that I start skipping those already!), but went to a Mexican themed BBQ at Lesley's instead :-)
Monday I spent mostly on a plane, in airports and a rental car, going back to Carlsbad, NM.
Tuesday's 3 mile run was cancelled due high winds and replaced by this workout.
Wednesday I ran the scheduled 5 miles in gorgeous weather.
Thursday I squeezed a 3 mile run in before work.
This puts me at 8 miles for the week. Now I hope that I get the 9 mile run in tomorrow and 5 fast miles on Sunday after work. This would put me to 22 miles, which would be par with the schedule!
After skiing on Saturday my legs were super tired on Sunday so I skipped the long run of 9 miles (I can't believe that I start skipping those already!), but went to a Mexican themed BBQ at Lesley's instead :-)
Monday I spent mostly on a plane, in airports and a rental car, going back to Carlsbad, NM.
Tuesday's 3 mile run was cancelled due high winds and replaced by this workout.
Wednesday I ran the scheduled 5 miles in gorgeous weather.
Thursday I squeezed a 3 mile run in before work.
This puts me at 8 miles for the week. Now I hope that I get the 9 mile run in tomorrow and 5 fast miles on Sunday after work. This would put me to 22 miles, which would be par with the schedule!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
WOD
It's super windy today! In fact it's so windy that one easily loses balance just trying to stand outside. Under these circumstances I decided not to run the scheduled 3 miles, but to do an indoor workout. Since I don't have access to a treadmill here in Carlsbad (yupp, I'm back!) I did the following:
- 15 minutes step-ups onto a chair
- 2 minutes chair jumps
- 3x 90 second abs-bridge complex
- 1 leg blaster (20 squats, 20 lunges, 10 jumping squats)
- 20 HSPUs
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Kirkwood
I hadn't been on my skis for a year, so I was looking forward to a day trip to Kirkwood with Daniela, Lesley and Marcus. There was some rain in the Bay Area the past two days, which supposedly meant snow in the Sierras. Perfect for a Saturday on the slopes!
We met at Lesley's place at 5AM, packed our stuff into her XTerra and got on the road around 5:20. Traffic was pretty mellow, providing for a smooth ride with fun conversations ranging from '25 random things' to 'pre-marital sex in the bible'.
After a coffee break in Stockton we got to the resort around 9:30. The conditions were nice: 10" of fresh powder. It was a little foggy in the beginning, but it cleared out during the morning. To start with we did a couple of runs off chair 5 before heading over to the Backside for a couple of runs. Shortly after noon Lesley and Marcus took a lunch break, while Dan and I decided that we were having too much fun to stop even for a short time. So we munched on some energy bars while on the lifts.
The weather had cleared enough to hit the powder lines through the trees. It was just amazing! i had forgotten how much fun skiing is! I was also surprised how well I was dealing with knee deep powder...
After we met up with the other two guys we hit the bowls off of chair 6 and did a few runs over there. By that time I knew I would have a hard time getting my smile off my face in the evening.
Another couple of runs my legs were fried, and Lesley was the only one of our group who still wanted to keep going, but we all settled for some hot chocolate before heading back to the car and back to the Bay Area.
Although I was super tired when I got home at 8:30PM I was not able to sleep... in my mind I was still in the mountains, carving turns between rocks and trees, and making plans for going back soon! It was well past midnight before I finally fell asleep.
We met at Lesley's place at 5AM, packed our stuff into her XTerra and got on the road around 5:20. Traffic was pretty mellow, providing for a smooth ride with fun conversations ranging from '25 random things' to 'pre-marital sex in the bible'.
After a coffee break in Stockton we got to the resort around 9:30. The conditions were nice: 10" of fresh powder. It was a little foggy in the beginning, but it cleared out during the morning. To start with we did a couple of runs off chair 5 before heading over to the Backside for a couple of runs. Shortly after noon Lesley and Marcus took a lunch break, while Dan and I decided that we were having too much fun to stop even for a short time. So we munched on some energy bars while on the lifts.
The weather had cleared enough to hit the powder lines through the trees. It was just amazing! i had forgotten how much fun skiing is! I was also surprised how well I was dealing with knee deep powder...
After we met up with the other two guys we hit the bowls off of chair 6 and did a few runs over there. By that time I knew I would have a hard time getting my smile off my face in the evening.
Another couple of runs my legs were fried, and Lesley was the only one of our group who still wanted to keep going, but we all settled for some hot chocolate before heading back to the car and back to the Bay Area.
Although I was super tired when I got home at 8:30PM I was not able to sleep... in my mind I was still in the mountains, carving turns between rocks and trees, and making plans for going back soon! It was well past midnight before I finally fell asleep.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Another week...time flies!
Ok, here's the next weekly activity/training update:
Saturday:
5 miles running on the SCT at race pace. The 8 min miles felt tough today...especially mile 5.
45 minutes bouldering at PG Belmont rating 10 (I sucked!)
90 minutes Yoga class. Was awesome... nice and relaxing, just what my legs and I needed!
Sunday:
I was way to tired to get out of bed for a long (8 mile) run this morning, so I decided to switch Monday and Sunday on the training schedule, and cross trained by hiking up Mission Peak .
Monday:
'Long Run' of 8 miles: Figure 8 consisting of "The Dish" and "Campus Loop" starting from the driving range.
Tuesday:
3 miles on the treadmill at PG B.
Climbing at PG with Daniela. I haven't climbed in a while, and haven't lead in even longer. So I was overgripping a lot. After about 5 leads my forearms were shot... Added a couple of topropes at the end.
Wednesday:
5 mile run around campus.
Thursday:
Climbing at PG Belmont with Ben. Forearms still toast... some toproping on the harder side.
Although the running schedule asked for 3 miles today, I did not run and decided to do Saturday's 5 mile pace run on Friday, due to exciting weekend plans.
Friday:
5 miles at race pace. This time it felt way better than previous Saturday...
Mileage this week: 26 miles (Sat. - Fri.)
Signed up for the 'Juna Run' in Palo Alto on Feb 28. Should be a nice fast 5 miler!
Saturday:
5 miles running on the SCT at race pace. The 8 min miles felt tough today...especially mile 5.
45 minutes bouldering at PG Belmont rating 10 (I sucked!)
90 minutes Yoga class. Was awesome... nice and relaxing, just what my legs and I needed!
Sunday:
I was way to tired to get out of bed for a long (8 mile) run this morning, so I decided to switch Monday and Sunday on the training schedule, and cross trained by hiking up Mission Peak .
Monday:
'Long Run' of 8 miles: Figure 8 consisting of "The Dish" and "Campus Loop" starting from the driving range.
Tuesday:
3 miles on the treadmill at PG B.
Climbing at PG with Daniela. I haven't climbed in a while, and haven't lead in even longer. So I was overgripping a lot. After about 5 leads my forearms were shot... Added a couple of topropes at the end.
Wednesday:
5 mile run around campus.
Thursday:
Climbing at PG Belmont with Ben. Forearms still toast... some toproping on the harder side.
Although the running schedule asked for 3 miles today, I did not run and decided to do Saturday's 5 mile pace run on Friday, due to exciting weekend plans.
Friday:
5 miles at race pace. This time it felt way better than previous Saturday...
Mileage this week: 26 miles (Sat. - Fri.)
Signed up for the 'Juna Run' in Palo Alto on Feb 28. Should be a nice fast 5 miler!
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