Week in numbers

Running: 100k
Bike: 5-6k
Volley: 6hours
Weights: 2x

Longest run since November

Quote of the day: If running feels good, you didn’t push hard enough. It’s supposed to hurt like hell.

I felt great this morning, even after yesterdays adventure race.
My shins were little sore but other than that I felt I have not been doing anything yesterday. Which is good on one hand, but it means that I didn't push hard enough (well, it was a team race, so we had to stick together:).

Weather was gorgeous today- sunny, although chilly. And I was really looking forward to my run this time. I planned on doing 25k (maybe 20k if I feel that I need to recover from yesterday), but I had hard time stopping since I wanted to enjoy the weather. I did 30k @ 5:09pace (8:14/mile), which is not that bad and I felt very good. I was actually surprised because it felt I was going much slower.
I am little sore now, but for me it is normal after long run. It will be gone tomorrow.
Some thoughts: If I run 30k at 5:09 pace (8:14mm), it is only 9s (or 14 for counting in miles) off my marathon pace, which many people say is not a good idea because I do nor recover properly but I am used to run my runs at 8mm from Brown and I do not see a reason why I should try to run slower on my easy long runs. I guess this means that I should increase my marathon pace next time:)
Also, I do not drink or eat anything during my long runs. I know that a lot of people bring gels or power bars with them for longer runs. But I am just not used to that. I wonder whether bringing water or a snack might have a positive effect on my running...


I have the shape of our planet!!!! Because of the time zones, all Olympics live broadcasts are during the night and early morning!!! Grrrr. Hate it. I cannot stay up all night and do not go to school in the morning because I want to watch Slovak biatlonists kick major German ass. Although I am not hiding that I am glad I have not seen how the Canadian women kicked our ass in hockey (18-0).

Prologue Raid Central 2010

Quote of the day: Runners just do it - they run for the finish line even if someone else has reached it first.

What a day! Running through the woods all day freezing my ass off...
Today was my first adventure race ever. It was awesome (although really cold, I started with 3 cloths layers and ended with 5 and our water in bottles got frozen), I am really sorry I cannot participate on the 5-days long adventure race in April...

Our team was definitely one of the best teams and if we did not get lost we might have finished in top 5. I am frustrated but I will get over it eventually.

We were teams of 4 people from different schools and I did it with some guys from Paris Arts et Metiers (or something like that).
First race: 9k run. We and other 3 teams started really fast but eventually slowed down then we saw that the others were far behind. We finished this part as the 3rd team and 1st team with a girl in a team (yeahhhhh!).
But next race was orientation course where we got a map and a compass and were supposed to get to 17 check points. Unfortunately, they did not indicate where we were and we had real problems. We left in a wrong direction and it took us 45min to get to the first check point. We managed to get to all of them within set limit of 2 hours but 45min was too much and most team got ahead of us.
Next was run and bike- 12k divided into 3 "sprint" parts. That was even crazier than just running because there was snow and the forest paths were slippery and full of roots and rocks that we could not see under snow...real adrenalin! But we did pretty well because one of the guys is a competitive mountain biker and we -the others- are not bad either.
Then there was shooting, but not from rifles as we though but from these funny things that you had to blow into it. I scored 0 (which added to our misery).

We finished strong but we were all miserable that we got lost....We really were one of the best teams (in spite of having a girl-me-in our team, yeahhhh).

I feel pretty good, only my shin muscles are sore, weird. Otherwise not sore at all. I probably did not push myself enough:)

What's happening to me?!?

Quote of a day: "There's no such thing as bad weather, just soft people."

I did not have time to post yesterday's running "progress". I did weights and ran 7k. I was planning to do more, but things somehow did not work out as I wanted to.

Today: easy 8.5k run, nothing else because I have a short adventure race tomorrow. I am little scared, because it has been off and on snowing past few days and I am not sure how I am going to handle mountain bike part in these conditions. Hope I will not kill myself.

I am becoming a real volleyball player and I am ashamed of it: I have decided to go on a volleyball trip to Barcelona instead of running a trail race/or Paris marathon in April. What's happening to me?!?
But I am going to look up some races that I can do in April.

Getting ready for Saturday

Quote of a day: “I over-train! So, I can over-eat!!!”

Crazy weather today- snow, sun, rain, sun, snow...
I squeezed in only 6k run today because I had less than 1 hour between 2 classes to run, take shower and eat lunch.
But 6k is ok, I should taper a little for Saturday- my very first adventure race. It is one-day race only though, but it requires running, mountain bike, more running and shooting. Should be fun.

I am off to 4-hour long volleyball practice...

Same old mutual destruction

Quote of a day: "Running is my Brownie Sundae"

Tuesday and the same interval workout as past 2 weeks- 6 x 2 loops (cca330-350m 1 loop) w/ 1 loop jog. The only thing changing is my pace!
I have felt like a crap all day today and I was considering asking our coach to let me do long easy run. But that would be like quitting, right?
I warmed up, did some stretching and drills (veeeery slowly) and then started the intervals with one guy (who says that "we are in almost the same shape and therefore we mutually destroy each other doing these intervals". But I think it is good!).
First interval was pretty slow to see where we are, since it has been snowing and we were not sure whether it is safe enough and not slippery.
We did 2:40, 2:31, 2:29, 2:27 together, which is faster than last week and the week before and then I did the last two alone in 2:25 and 2:24. I am proud of myself. This was a very good workout (according to my standards) and quite difficult because I had to force myself to run (and enjoy it).
I hit the gym afterwards although it was reserved to rugby players during that hour. They kinda looked at me weirdly because, well, I was a girl among like 20 rugby players during their gym hours...Nobody kicked me out though. It was not that bad because they were slowly leaving and by the end there were only 4 and later only 2 of us there. I did some exercises for legs, back, triceps and biceps.

Today was a I-did-a-good-job-and-feel-good-about-myself day!

I have not realized...

Quote of a day: "My social life doesn't get in the way of my training."

I am glad I took it very slowly yesterday because I felt like I was flying today!
I had a minor back-side-of-a-knee problem this morning and I had to stretch it out. People looked at me as if I were crazy because I did this during my Accounting class. But come on, you have to work with what you got.

I went for an easy 15k run this afternoon. Well, easy. It felt awesome, my legs were light and I was in a pretty good mood. As I sad I was flying and I have not realized that I was running at 4:50-something pace until approx 8k in and then my pride kicked in and I did not want to slow down.
I felt really good, it did not seem/feel too fast. I finished 15k at 4:53 pace.

And omg, my legs are starting to kill me now! My quads are getting sore and I have problems to sit down and stand up. Well, that's what I get when I do stupid stuff and try to be a bad-ass.

Off to volleyball practice now, maybe I will loosen up (but I am skeptical about that one...).

Week in numbers

Running: 107k (67miles)
Bike: 80min
Volley: 7 hours
Weights: 2x

"Some people don't have the guts for distance racing. The polite term for them is sprinters."

I was tired this morning but I did not have to force myself to go out and run, I was glad to go for a run. My plan was 28k on flat surface. I knew that this was not possible because no matter where I go, there are hills everywhere...
I went really really slowly, like 5:45 pace but it was fastest I could do after yesterday.
First 15k was ok, but then my moral dropped (I was starting to be tired, cold, thinking about my broken 5+ year-long relationship, hungry, tired, thirsty, tired) and I was considering heading back to my room. But I forced myself to do at least 25k.
Therefore I headed further from campus because I knew that even if I decide to head back, I will still have to do run longer to get back.
At 23k my moral was back to normal, and I even got a glimpse of a sun...
At approximately 25k I met this older man who asked me for directions. Well, good choice...But I did my best. Apparently, he went for 2-hour long run but got lost. And since the weather was not that great he has not met any runners or bikers, so now was at 3:30. And still had at least 12k to go...(if my directions and calculations were right.) He really looked miserable. He told me he was cold, hungry and his knee was hurting like hell. I would give him some food or a ride but I did not have any. I hope he had found his way back.

I ended up doing 27k. Not bad.

"Hills are speedwork in disguise"

Rain is back and never in my life have I been as dirty as today...
Went for a longish hilly trail run this afternoon and it started to rain! I had still 15k to go, so I just continued and rain was getting harder and harder. Which means that the trails were getting muddier and muddier. By the time I finished my run, I had mud everywhere and I looked like I have been swimming in mud...I guess that's what all people I met in my dorm were thinking.
Other than that, my 23k hilly run was good, I felt great, hills were not killing me, which means I am getting used to them and that I am getting stronger (and faster).

Btw: I had my new NB trail sneakers and they were awesome. I did not slip almost at all. But they are pretty heavy and hard, I would not want to run in them on road.

VO2max

I woke up pretty early today which was good cos I had to get in a run before lunch because I was supposed to have 7.5 hour long class today afternoon, wow. It was really warm today, which is awesome! Because I did not run yesterday I decided to do a workout. I warmed up 2k and then did 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 min hard with 1 min jog between. I do not know my pace, I went as I felt. But it was good, hard at the end. Then I continued running and did 18k total. I felt awesome. So awesome that I have decided to go to the gym right afterwards where I diid some back extensions, crunches, abductors and adductors exercises (these are my two favorite!!!), bench press, and something for calves and quads. And after all this...I am surprised that I did not fall asleep during my afternoon class.

Day off

I took a day off today...did not go running or biking. I had a volleyball match, but did not play much, only one set.
I feel good, not tired. One day off should do me good.

Keeping it short

It's too late so just important details:
ran 13,5k very easy cos I felt pretty tired.
4 hours of volleyball practice this evening. It was pretty good, I feel like I was working!

Time to sleep now.

Out of the adventure race

I had my first Strategy class today and I am going to have the final exam on April 27, which is the date of my adventure race that I have been looking forward to since I had found about it:(
Our final exam period is at the end of May so I do not get it...Why that date?!?
And apparently any kind of sport event (including adventure race) is not a good enough excuse at business school for taking the exam earlier or later. That sucks!!!!

But I suppose there will be other adventure races in the future. And money I do not spend on this race I will use for a volleyball trip to Ibiza!!!(not sure whether it will be enough though...)

I got in a pretty good workout today. We did the same internal workout as past Tuesday- 6x 2 loops (cca 700m total) w/ 1 loop jog recovery.
I had better splits than past week: 2:43, 2:41, 2:34, 2:34, 2:31, 2:27 (vs 2:40, 44, 41, 36 and 35 last week).
Then I went to the gym to do some legs weight lifting and realized that our school gym is the creepiest place ever (no wonder people call it The Prison) and all the equipment is so old and used that it is probably not very good for you to use it unless you want to have serious joint problems in the future. However, I did few exercises and went home (I was alone there first but then rugby guys started to come in and I had no reason to stay there. You know, you cannot compare them with cute volleyball players...).

I even got in a 50min bike workout in the evening while watching this stupid Slovak show online (it is becoming a soap opera and characters are so naive, I sometimes can't stand them, but I do not have TV, so better than nothing).

My legs feel good, although a bit tired.

Cannot help it

Real school started today...It sucks, but I know I cannot have holiday forever.

I went for 13.5k run this afternoon but I felt like crap. Because I have eaten 2 baguettes with salmon, cheese and radishes and 3 bananas with peanut butter before my run. I just cannot help it. Food it too good.
Right afterwards I biked for 30min in my room while watching Grounded for life. I cannot help that one neither. That show is sooo stupid and crazy, but I kinda enjoy it.

My legs are sore. I wish I had bath tub so I could "dive" in and relax and maybe get ice bath.

I am off for volleyball practice. I should not be too hard since we have another Coupe de France match this Thursday.