Stefanie's journal

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201

4 laps warm up, stretch, drills/ strides

3*(2*200m), walk 100m between reps, jog 200m between sets. If I remember correctly, these were my times:
31, 30, 31, 34, ?, ?, 33

:o Sorry, but I really don’t know what I ran those two question marks in…But they felt between 32 and 34, not faster.

I’m so excited for tomorrow, I’m going on this trip to this gorgeous place where there are steep tall rocks and monasteries are built on top of them, and we’re going to climb up the rocks and visit the monasteries. :slight_smile:

202

The trip at Meteora is supposed to be one of the most extraordinary views anyone can see, and the day I went, Saturday, was also the most foggy day I’ve ever experienced… :rolleyes: We could only see 10meters in front of us, and the rest was a thick white curtain…talk about luck, it was actually pathetically funny. Anyways, our tour guide tried described the existining unvisible scenes, and with some good imagination and the aid of a few post cards, we got the overall picture…I’m definately going again :mad:

Sunday: Weights, legs. My coach is so easy going on weights, it’s annoying. We were doing deep back squats, on the third set I did 10 reps of 55 kilos quite easily and she wouldn’t let me add weight cause we have practice tomorrow…SO??? Uhhh…

203

It’s starting to get cold…oh no!!! :frowning:
Yesterday we moved Monday’s workout to today, and did yesterday the 300s that we were going to do today. It was cold and dark, and already during the first 300 I thought I was going to have a calf and hamstring cramp, but we didn’t push it too too hard, so luckilyt that didn’t happen. Coach wasn’t timing us - that’s why. I did these with one more person (a 100m guy) and we were keeping the same pace and pulling each other; they felt pretty good. We did 3*300m with 100m walk rest, rest 15 minutes and then do the same again.
Then I didn’t have time for a cool down or do any stretches, ran outside the track, hopped on a taxi and headed to class. In the taxi I drank one liter of water and half a liter of gatorade…I think the driver felt a bit inquisitive about my thirst but didn’t say anything :o

I’m getting shin splints in my left leg, inner lower part…They’ve been there for the past week :mad:

204

My city has no indoor all-around tracks, only tracks that are up to 130meters and are a straightaway, so that’s where we went today and it was paaaacked and kind of annoying but pretty nice to see all the athletes around. The straightaway had 12 lanes, so it wasn’t that bad, but there were hurdlers doing their hurdles, pole vaulters, high jumpers and long and triple jumpers and sprinters all in this relatively small area and it was pretty crazy. It was cold too, I couldn’t keep myself warm throughout the workout which is a problem that I have (I did a good warm up and all). The only benefit that I saw from this indoor experience is that we got rid of the wind which can make the cold pretty nasty. Brrrr…

My workout was 2*(5*100m), walk back rest/rep, 10-15min/set. All of them were in the 14s. Talk about consistency… :rolleyes:

Tomorrow my friend and I are going through medical exams to see if we are generally ok (bloodwork etc). If we’re lucky, we’re going to get a hormone test too. Never had that done before.

205

This is why I HATE any doctors or any kind of medical exams:

My friend and I went to the hospital today to give blood and do general bio-chem. exams and hormone exams since our coach requested us to.
Turns out that my hemoglobin and iron levels are WAAAAY low. My hemoglobin is at 33 and when my coach saw it she looked at me like I came from Mars and we had this discussion/ argument about what I’m doing wrong, whether my diet is right or not (which is obviously not). She wouldn’t let me lift with the team today and of course I didn’t take that too well, she claimed that a person with a level of 33 is NOT able to practice, I told her “but I HAVE been practicing and I feel fine” she said “yes, and that’s very weird and unusual…”, she raised her voice, I complained, she wants me to go easy until Sunday and start eating iron-rich foods and then do the test again on Monday, which I think is stupid 1) my hemoglobin is not going to go up in 4 days of iron intake, 2) how is not lifting and running easy going to help my problem? 3) I have no insurance here…going to the doctor and taking tests every week is not something I can afford…
I think my coach is making this into a big deal… Is it? :confused:

I think I just need to eat better and things will fall into place.

Today we did a 20minute warm up and then did weights. Well, I was SUPPOSED to do weights, but the coach looked at me and said “Stefanie, don’t even think about it!! You’re only doing abs, hypers and push ups”. I argued, she insisted, she won… :frowning:

I must have done 1000 abs today…

206

Chyll chyll chyll…ur in Greece, go out and get Crunk…halla shawwwtttaaayy

207

HA all right all right I’ll chill, I AM in Greece, aren’t I ??

Did a 35min run today half on the track, half on a trail.
Visiting the doctor tomorrow morning to see my test results. My hemoglobin is a 33.3 in a normal range of 36-52 and my iron is 47 in a norm. range of 50-130. And my TKE is low too (10) and I have no idea what that is…

208

Had to do a long run on Friday too, although I felt FINE to do a regular workout…but my coach wants me to retake the blood test first on Monday to see if my iron and hemoglobin scores are any higher cause she can’t understand how I can have such energy and get through practices with my test results.
So I have two days to take as much iron in as I can!! I ate liver today, which I HATE. I actually ate mustard with liver.

No practice today, OR Sunday, cause our team is falling apart for various reasons and our coach wants us to stay home and just load our batteries. Me and my iron problems, our good 400m champ is feeling unusually tired, a distance girl hurt her foot, our distance champ ran into a sprinter who was resting and they had a crash and the distance dude hurt his back and knee…goodness… :rolleyes:, another 400 guy twisted his ankle…

I’m having trouble digesting my liver…

209

We DID have practice Sunday, but coach tried to keep it a secret from me because she wants me to rest (more rest??) and I would feel bad if I knew everyone else was practicing. But of course I found out about it (hehe :wink: ) called her, and convinced her to let me lift weights. She only let me do some leg exercises, abs, hypers and push ups.

My next blood test is on Wednesday to see if my iron and hemoglobin levels have raised. I actually ate liver on Saturday which I hate, and beef on Sunday and I’ve been eating dry apricots and prunes and almonds and dark raisins and I’ve been taking an iron supplement…all these should help right?

Today I did 10*100s (was supposed to do 6, but convinced my coach for two more, and then sneaked in another 2 :slight_smile: ) and the coach said that my times were better, I looked more relaxed and I should keep eating… :rolleyes:

210

1000 meters of speed work in an “easy” workout!

211

Yeah it’s not too bad and the one I enjoy the most :slight_smile:

Tomorrow is the second blood test :eek: oh boy oh boy…and i get the results the same day. I hope my levels are a bit higher so I can convince my coach that i’m doing the right thing so i can practice normally again. I also get my hormonal test results tomorrow.
Coach wouldn’t let me do 300s today so I’m rested for my test tomorrow (I still don’t understand what rest has to do with hemoglobin and iron levels… :mad: ) so I only ran for 20min on the grass, after doing a 4 lap warm up with the other trackies.

I have shin splints in my left leg…

212

This is depressing…my blood test result showed a hemoglobin drop from last week…it went to 31.5 from 33 :confused: where the iron went from 47 to 49. I called my doctor and he said not to worry, since there’s always a + or -percentage error. Fine, but when my coach finds out about the 31.5 tomorrow I’ll have to really FIGHT to practice… :frowning:
Why me??? I really feel FINE…
I’m NEVER doing blood test again…Look what I got myself into… :mad:

213

I confused the english terms…It’s not my hemoglobin that is 31.5, but my hematocrit, which is measured in % units. The normal range of hematocrit is 36-52%. The normal range for hemoglobin is 11.8-17.8 g/dl, and my first test result showed a 10.6 (don’t know about the second one, forgot to ask my friend, who has the results…).

214

Wow, haven’t been posting in a while. Sorry to unsatisfy my enthusiastic fans… :rolleyes:
Health updates: I was sent by my coach to a blood doctor, he diagnosed me with iron-deficiency anemia, he analyzed my blood, said my white blood cells are weak, gave me iron and vitamin C pills, asked me if i have ever taken doping pills (good god!!!)…(the answer is NO) and i’m redoing a blood test in a week to see if there’s any improvement.
I had to rest for 4 days (weights were allowed) and now have been practicing normally since Monday.

SO PRACTICE: Monday was very good: in the morning I did a 30min easy run, long stretching session, lots of drills, and then hit the weights.
Evening practice with team: 2*(4*100s), all in low 14s and one 13.77. My coach said if my hematocrite goes up I’ll be something else. :wink:

Tuesday (today): a practice I’ve never done before in my life: 2*300s at full speed, with 20minutes rest. Both were done at 45. The second was 45.60, I don’t even remember the first, I think the second one was faster, oddly enough, cause I had lactic acid running in my body after the first one.

My left shin is kinda killing me…any suggestions? I’m not taking time off…
Currently icing…

215

anti-inflammatories can help with shins, also massage helps a LOT. It hurts like hell while you’re doing it (or having someone else do it) but it gets things moving. Ice is always good!

recovery-related issues like this will probably improve as your blood count does.

216

Thanks Kras,
icing does help. I’m buying anti-inflammatories today. I have some left from my stress fracture injuries (Bextra), but I’m saving those for emergencies, since they’re doctor prescribed and cost A LOT. But they do work…

Did a 25 minute warm up today, 15minutes on grass, 10minutes on the track, then my left shin couldn’t take it any more, my right foot bunnion started hurting and my really bad cut-blister on my right foot pinky was also bothering…what a mess… :frowning:
Stretched for half an hour, attemted drills, decided to give my shin a break cause it went “oooouch” so I went to the weight room right away.

I spent the next hour and a half there: (these are all in kg)
3* [10 leg extensions (20,25,30), 10 pull downs (40,45,50), 10 leg curls (20,25,30), 10 chin downs (45,50,55)]
3* [10 leg abductors (don’t remember), 10 machine shoulder press (don’t remember), 10 leg adductors (?), 10 tricep pull downs (15 or 20)]
3* [dumbell lunges, 8 each (13,18,18)]
3* [20 leg raises, 20 sit ups, 30 crunches, 50 different crunches]
1* [10 deadlifts (25)]

stretched for 20minutes, then did a cool down on the treadmill while i waited my friend to finish who came later…

My friend told me today that if I come back from the States in May and I’m not running a 57sec 400 she’ll spit on me :eek: cause she thinks that where I am now, I should be able to do it… Goodness, thanks for the pressure!!
I think I can do it, just as long as I stay in one piece. That is my ONLY worry.

217

Went to the pharmacist and asked for anti-inflammatories, he showed me some good ones and asked me if I have a strong stomach, I said yes (yeah riiiight…) they are to be taken every 12 hours, took one after breakfast today, and visited the bathroom about 7 times for the rest of the day and felt crappy at practice BUT the pain was A LOT more bearable so I’m going to keep taking it. Maybe my stomach was not full enough when I took it? I don’t know…I’ll give it some more trys…

Speed day today: 3* (30m, 60m, 80m). Not timed.
I think I need to start bringing spikes on speed days… I keep slipping when I start. I also need to get more explosive and…run a little faster. I still feel like I’m floating and not pushing hard enough. I need resistance speed work, that’s what I need. I’d do more plyos, but I need the shin pain to go away. And the bunnion pain too…and the freaking pinky toe has to heal…it keeps bleeding every practice and it hurts…

218

Initial workout was 2*800s, at a pretty good speed.
I start the first one going very fast, coach yells at me to slow down, I eventually decide to do so after the first 200m, my first 400 was at 75seconds, by the end I died and finished with an unsatisfactory 2:4something…I didn’t even care to retain the number in my mind…
Coach said after I was done “see what a stupidity you did?” Oh well…

Rested for 15-20minutes and then was told to do a 600m, which came out decent, at a 1:56. I actually paced myself on that one, since I joined the two guys who were running an 800.

Eeeehh…not too happy about today. Didn’t give it my all, that’s for sure.

One of the pills I’m taking is ruining my stomach…I’m in the bathroom every half hour and everything I eat goes right out the other end…(sorry for sharing this…) It’s either the iron I’m taking (Tardyferon) or the anti-inflammatories (Mesolid) which I think is what is doing it…but those Mesolids are really helping…

219

5 lap warm up with my 400m guy teammate, then we went to the weight room (with very limited weight equipment). The instructions from the coach were for me to do leg extensions and leg curls, abs and hypers and that’s it. I don’t know why I wasn’t allowed to do deep back squats like Dimitris…coach is scared that I will get injured with the bar or something…she’s a chicken in things like that… :rolleyes: THIS time I listened…

So I did 4 sets of a superset with leg extensions (up to 30kg of 15 reps), abs (different kind each round), leg curls (up to 30kg of 15 reps) and hypers (different kind each round).

Then I went for a one hour bike ride which was very enjoyable, by the city’s water. Take a look at Thessaloniki and come visit :slight_smile:

http://vergina.eng.auth.gr/upec03/thessaloniki.gif

220

Monday we practically did nothing, just a 25 minute run because many people were feeling sore (don’t know exactly from what, but oh well…)

Tuesday:
4 lap warm up, stretch
drills: high knees, butt kicks, A’s, B’s, 2*50m strides

3200m, recovery: walk the soccer field diagonally, times: 29, 30, 33
10min rest
2200m, same recovery, times: 30, 32

I wasn’t happy with today. I haven’t done an interval workout in so long (about two weeks, due to my blood test story) and I got VERY tired, where this workout should be fairly easy for me. :mad:

Also, by the end of practice it felt like my left shin got fractured or something…ouch… :frowning: I hate shin splints. Luckily, my old stress fractures on my right foot are not bothering me any more.

Oh yes; today was cold too. Before I started the second set I was literally shivering. I know I know…warm up better next time… :rolleyes: