This is the sound of settling.
This week was the first week of class. The mileage was pretty abysmal, and I only ran 3 days. One, maybe two, of the off days can be attributed to shin splints, and one to hillwalking, but I'm still disappointed in myself. I think my best bet for running consistently is to run/work out with the Haries every day (except when they don't meet, which seems to be Friday/Saturday/Sunday, unless there's a race on Saturday.) I'll try that next week.
Monday, 9.21
Freshers' Relays! A sizable group of runners met up and divided themselves into three groups: "quick," "medium," and "jogger." I opted into the "medium" category. One person from each group combined to form three-person relay teams, and each person ran 1 mile in the Meadows (flat, paved course). I treated myself to a heavy, greasy meal about an hour before this (a fish finger sandwich, fries, and cherry cobbler...), so needless to say I wasn't feeling too fast. My split was 6:02, though, which isn't too bad. The first half felt good, but I died toward the end and was passed by a tall elite-looking girl. My "quick" teammate used to be a fell runner "for England," which I assume means he was quite speedy. He's still pretty fast. Unfortunately our jogger was actually a jogger whereas some other teams got joggers who were more like runners, so we didn't get medals (given to top 3 teams, excluding two teams of drunken (fast) guys from the Orienteering Club who crashed the event). No matter! It was just for fun. ;-)
Tuesday, 9.22
Off. The Haries did an interval workout. 12x350meters. I decided not to join them because I have some pretty uncomfortable shin splints. I think it's from walking so much. It would have been nice to do something speedy, but I just wasn't feeling up to it. Also, their workouts are kind of inconvenient. They're at 6:15pm, which is generally when my flatmates and I cook dinner. Tonight Lauren and I made a tofu + vegetable scramble that was tasty but a bit too healthy so I pigged out on cookies afterward. Packaged cookies ("biscuits") in the UK are so much better than they are in the States. They will be the death of me. I went to the inaugural Hillwalking Club meeting, where I ran into a girl from the running club, who introduced me to her flatmates as "the hardcore runner girl." I was flattered. :-)
Wednesday, 9.23
Off. Shin splints and mourning the loss of my desire to do anything productive.
Thursday, 9.24
Hill repeats with the Haries in Holyrood Park (gah! alliteration!). 5x30 seconds, 5x60 seconds, then some people did another set of 5x30 seconds but I opted out of that set because the first two sets killed me. It was nice to up the intensity, though. My shins felt better today on the lovely soft grass, and after two days of rest. There were two girls who were consistently ahead of me. One was way up there with the guys and the other was sort of right in front of me, sometimes beside me or a little behind me (I wasn't very consistent). I think I can definitely stay with the second one (I forget her name, but she's always wearing a pink shirt.), and maybe even the fast one, who is called Becky and is a first year from Liverpool studying physics and "maths." It's something to strive for anyway. With the warm up and cool down this was probably only 4 miles, but as Becky says "mileage doesn't matter when you're dealing with quality running like we just did." These hill repeats reminded me of high school cross country. The hill we ran on today is reminiscent of the hill on the southwest edge of the soybean field across the road from Castle. I'm now rather nostalgic for those days, when Emalie, Katie and I would book it together up that hill. It was always so hot and so miserable but so fantastic and rewarding as well. I don't think I've had many workouts at Caltech that were as high quality as those. I miss the feeling of satisfaction at the end of a hill repeat workout like that, or those long runs when Emalie and I would stay with the guys, or that track workout of "12" 400s (all under 90 seconds, most under 85). After the 11th, Ed made Katie run one all-out and told her if she ran it under 70 the rest of us didn't have to run the last one. I think she ran it in 69. And then there were popsicles.
Friday, 9.25
Got ready to go running then saw Lauren in the kitchen and complained to her about my lack of desire to run or do anything and told her that I'd probably only run for 20 minutes or so. Then she got all encouraging-like and told me that I should run 9 miles and that once I get going I'll feel better about it. And so I did (Well, it was 74 minutes and not super fast, so probably more like 8.5, but it rounds up, right?). Started out with a warm-up out to the Meadows and around a bit, then stretched. (This stretching was much-needed. Everything felt a little sore/tight/unnatural after Thursday's hill repeats.) Ran in the meadows until my watch hit 35 minutes, then ran out to Holyrood and did one partial loop, ending at the northern end near the Scottish Parliament building and coming back on High Street. (Bad idea. Way too many tourists about on a Friday afternoon clogging the sidewalk.) Old Town was rife with smells of delicious foods and stores advertising things like fudge and deep-fried Mars bars. I figured I deserved a fried Mars bar after that run, so I dragged Lauren along and tried one. (It was so delicious and sinful.) Then we went to the gym to get semester memberships (a bit pricey at 60 pounds, but at least we'll feel obligated to go often enough get our money's worth)
Saturday, 9.26
Off. Busy + poor decisions.
Sunday, 9.27
Hillwalking day trip to Crianlarich area. Walked up Ben More. The walk was about 12km and took about 5 hours. It was probably the most miserable experience of my life. On the way up we chose a very steep, direct route that had me climbing (like, with my hands) for a good portion of it. The way down was more roundabout and actually walkable. For about 15 minutes at the start of the descent we were hit by 60-70mph winds that had me fearing my untimely demise. Add to that the omnipresent misting/raining, and you can imagine that I found the walk rather unpleasant. But afterward I felt pretty good about conquering the hill and the harsh Scottish weather. Had some hot chocolate and sat by the fire at a pub after.
Week total: 14.5 miles (+7.5 miles strenuous walking)
Monday, 9.21
Freshers' Relays! A sizable group of runners met up and divided themselves into three groups: "quick," "medium," and "jogger." I opted into the "medium" category. One person from each group combined to form three-person relay teams, and each person ran 1 mile in the Meadows (flat, paved course). I treated myself to a heavy, greasy meal about an hour before this (a fish finger sandwich, fries, and cherry cobbler...), so needless to say I wasn't feeling too fast. My split was 6:02, though, which isn't too bad. The first half felt good, but I died toward the end and was passed by a tall elite-looking girl. My "quick" teammate used to be a fell runner "for England," which I assume means he was quite speedy. He's still pretty fast. Unfortunately our jogger was actually a jogger whereas some other teams got joggers who were more like runners, so we didn't get medals (given to top 3 teams, excluding two teams of drunken (fast) guys from the Orienteering Club who crashed the event). No matter! It was just for fun. ;-)
Tuesday, 9.22
Off. The Haries did an interval workout. 12x350meters. I decided not to join them because I have some pretty uncomfortable shin splints. I think it's from walking so much. It would have been nice to do something speedy, but I just wasn't feeling up to it. Also, their workouts are kind of inconvenient. They're at 6:15pm, which is generally when my flatmates and I cook dinner. Tonight Lauren and I made a tofu + vegetable scramble that was tasty but a bit too healthy so I pigged out on cookies afterward. Packaged cookies ("biscuits") in the UK are so much better than they are in the States. They will be the death of me. I went to the inaugural Hillwalking Club meeting, where I ran into a girl from the running club, who introduced me to her flatmates as "the hardcore runner girl." I was flattered. :-)
Wednesday, 9.23
Off. Shin splints and mourning the loss of my desire to do anything productive.
Thursday, 9.24
Hill repeats with the Haries in Holyrood Park (gah! alliteration!). 5x30 seconds, 5x60 seconds, then some people did another set of 5x30 seconds but I opted out of that set because the first two sets killed me. It was nice to up the intensity, though. My shins felt better today on the lovely soft grass, and after two days of rest. There were two girls who were consistently ahead of me. One was way up there with the guys and the other was sort of right in front of me, sometimes beside me or a little behind me (I wasn't very consistent). I think I can definitely stay with the second one (I forget her name, but she's always wearing a pink shirt.), and maybe even the fast one, who is called Becky and is a first year from Liverpool studying physics and "maths." It's something to strive for anyway. With the warm up and cool down this was probably only 4 miles, but as Becky says "mileage doesn't matter when you're dealing with quality running like we just did." These hill repeats reminded me of high school cross country. The hill we ran on today is reminiscent of the hill on the southwest edge of the soybean field across the road from Castle. I'm now rather nostalgic for those days, when Emalie, Katie and I would book it together up that hill. It was always so hot and so miserable but so fantastic and rewarding as well. I don't think I've had many workouts at Caltech that were as high quality as those. I miss the feeling of satisfaction at the end of a hill repeat workout like that, or those long runs when Emalie and I would stay with the guys, or that track workout of "12" 400s (all under 90 seconds, most under 85). After the 11th, Ed made Katie run one all-out and told her if she ran it under 70 the rest of us didn't have to run the last one. I think she ran it in 69. And then there were popsicles.
Friday, 9.25
Got ready to go running then saw Lauren in the kitchen and complained to her about my lack of desire to run or do anything and told her that I'd probably only run for 20 minutes or so. Then she got all encouraging-like and told me that I should run 9 miles and that once I get going I'll feel better about it. And so I did (Well, it was 74 minutes and not super fast, so probably more like 8.5, but it rounds up, right?). Started out with a warm-up out to the Meadows and around a bit, then stretched. (This stretching was much-needed. Everything felt a little sore/tight/unnatural after Thursday's hill repeats.) Ran in the meadows until my watch hit 35 minutes, then ran out to Holyrood and did one partial loop, ending at the northern end near the Scottish Parliament building and coming back on High Street. (Bad idea. Way too many tourists about on a Friday afternoon clogging the sidewalk.) Old Town was rife with smells of delicious foods and stores advertising things like fudge and deep-fried Mars bars. I figured I deserved a fried Mars bar after that run, so I dragged Lauren along and tried one. (It was so delicious and sinful.) Then we went to the gym to get semester memberships (a bit pricey at 60 pounds, but at least we'll feel obligated to go often enough get our money's worth)
Saturday, 9.26
Off. Busy + poor decisions.
Sunday, 9.27
Hillwalking day trip to Crianlarich area. Walked up Ben More. The walk was about 12km and took about 5 hours. It was probably the most miserable experience of my life. On the way up we chose a very steep, direct route that had me climbing (like, with my hands) for a good portion of it. The way down was more roundabout and actually walkable. For about 15 minutes at the start of the descent we were hit by 60-70mph winds that had me fearing my untimely demise. Add to that the omnipresent misting/raining, and you can imagine that I found the walk rather unpleasant. But afterward I felt pretty good about conquering the hill and the harsh Scottish weather. Had some hot chocolate and sat by the fire at a pub after.
Week total: 14.5 miles (+7.5 miles strenuous walking)
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