Thanks Ang! Now I canāt get that song out of my head! Looks like a great recipe though. Iāll try it out!
Great training log Stefanie. I just started reading it. Do you ever go back and read it from the beginning? Looking over my training logs from the past is always interesting.
Thanks macsprint! I read the first four pages after you said this, and ā¦ oh boy 
Enough said, haha.
First of all, what worried me was the fact that I wrote in 2008 that maybe Iāll try a throwing event when Iām 28-30years old, and now Iām 27, so that worries me :o (not). I postpone the age to 34, and that wonāt necessarily be sprinting, but adding in more random long distance races, because Iām not so bad at them, for the amount of long distance training I do (practically none). But sprinting is the best, and Iāll always train as a sprinter - I just like the concept more.
Secondly, I dontā know why the heck I was taking GREās after finishing my mastersā¦??? PhD required GREās again? Oh wellā¦
Thirdly, my attempt then to pick up the violin again and pursue my degree, shattered to pieces, and now again, and in both cases, the reason being lack of time. Now I said that I will do it after I finish my Phd, weāll seeā¦ !!
Fourthy, I like how I analyzed things that I found important. It constantly still happens in my head; time to put things in writing again, because life does flash by like a light stroke and itās refreshing to go back and dwell on its effects.
Iāll train later when the temperature peaks here. Kisses to all 
agree 100% despite all the frustrations and hassles it brings. IMO (my opinion is never humble :p), sprinting and specifically the CF model is the best and healthiest way to train. By that I mean
CNS management is crucial
Always question the possibility of injury and ask, is it worth the risk?
Hi / low days and never high - high
Recovery is extremely important and needs to be planned
Run very fast (95%+) over short distances
Weights follow speed and are adjusted to how you feel at the time
You can never run too slow in the recovery sessions but donāt go over 75% of your best over that distance on that surface which should be preferably grass
If in doubt rest
Food is fuel
I know that isnāt everything but if more people who want to get fit and stay healthy followed that they would be better off. Here speaks a 48 year old in great physical condition! 
Great summary John
thanks for your contribution.
And you as well Stephanie.
Truth is Sprinting is an amazing way to stay in shape but proper judgement must be constantly managed as only a tiny bit need be maintained and managed to benefit from sprint training.
cheers,
Ange
I am loving this journal
Caution: itās late and Iām tired and sleepy, for this following post, so I donāt know what will come out.
Saturday, Nov.6th, 2010.
Iām not sure I will get this change again in my life (I am one to believe that we chase after our chances, in a good amount of degree), but despite the momentary monotonous feeling of thinking over the same phd subject matter, from the morning until the night, and sometimes in my sleep too, I am truly grateful (is it Thanksgiving yet?) to have this opportunity of āfreeā schedule, to structure my day around studying and training.
And dwelling upon the ancientsā virtuous life-model of taking care of ābodyā, āmindā and āspiritā, perhaps the first two are fully functioned right now, in opposition to a grand majority of the human population, while the third will always be a constant struggle for anyone wandering on this planet earth.
With that being said, I wanted to share the fact that I really enjoy my research; itās a combination of things I like, minus the training, and I find it a real challenge. It deals with the structure of public open urban spaces, definitions of ācivic artā, and creating a new methodology of putting together quality public open spaces for the contemporary city. It blends architectural design, philosophical paradigms, form perception, and art theories. And this is important for me to note down, because all of 2009 was a constant question mark of āwhat the heck am I doing here in Milanā; needless to say that my presence here was a result of chain- events that unfolded not so harmoniously, accompanied with psychological mild turbulence :o
Iām probably writing all this down because Iāve been dealing with this phd all day today, from 10am until midnight, with a two hour break for training etc. Ughhhh :rolleyes:
But because I donāt want people (and myself, after years), to think that Iām a zombie that only studies and trains, hereās the latest painting I completed (about a month ago, but oh well): :o (itās a Norman Rockwell reproduction)
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Ok, training, training:
> 25min warm up jog on grass (I love this park right near my residence - only two loops around for 25min)
> 10min dynamic stretching
> 5 x 30m A skips
> 5 x 30m B skips (I am doing these again, after Charlie told me to drop them, because I think I am doing them more correctly now, but I guess I should post another video soon)
> 5 x 30m running Aās leading into a 30m stride
> 5 x 30m scissor kicks leading into a 50-60m stride
> 3 x 4 pulls ups
> 4 x 10 dips
> about 200 abs (I was doing 1200 abs just a couple of weeks ago, I should bring my game back nowā¦ I wish I had a med ball here.)
Today was a āknee-checkā day, and my verdict is: CHECK. (but Iāll stick on grass for the next couple of weeks - my park has a short hill too - I know, Iāll be careful)
p.s. John, that summary was awesomeā¦
I would be interested to see the final thesis as that sounds very interesting. I am assuming that includes city planning as well?
What role do green spaces play in your thinking? Also the use of gardens in building design?
No doubt you are aware of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curitiba#Urban_planning which from what I understand is pretty cool
Hi John, Iād be glad to show you the end result. My goal is to try a publisher after I am finished, so I hope I will also have the pleasure of sending you a book with an ISBN on it
City planning belongs more to the āspatial planningā department, where my specialty deals more with āurban and architectural designā. The major difference is that planners deal with numbers, statistics, data, etc, while we deal with drawings and maps
As for green spaces, they are important. :oHeheā¦ Wow John, this is a great subject, and in my school (here in Milan), there is a whole tradition of NOT generalizing to āgreen spacesā, as there are all kinds of green spaces, and each should be put where fit. (a poor designer will name any open green space; āgreenā; but there are hundreds of things that one can do with a āgreenā spaceā¦ if you know what I mean). Gardens are also important :o In fact there is a section in my thesis devoted to āgarden formsā.
Enough with that!! I thought I came to this journal to take a break from my work
Sunday, Nov.7th, 2010
Rainā¦ .rain ā¦ rain ā¦ rainā¦ This city pretty much stinks weather-wise !!! I might as well have chosen the U.K., where people at least speak Englishā¦ ?? :o
I trained in the rain. It was almost pouring.
> 30min on grass
> dynamic stretching
(the following were done on playground tartanā¦ softest thing in the worldā¦ so nice!)
> 5 x 25m A skips
5 x 25m B skips
5 x 50m running Aās (tiring)
5 x 5x imaginary hurdle hops
(then I proceeded to the short grass hill - about 40m - still pouring)
> 3 x 40m hills (walk back recoveries)
I wanted to do more, but then an annoying man started climbing my hill, (no one else was around with that rain), staring and smiling at me rudely, so I jogged down the hill and vanished home, before anything could make me upsetā¦
Sometimes I hate being a girl and training alone in a foreign city.
God bless the EMS:
> 20min explosive strength on hamstrings
> 25min active recovery on hamstrings
> 40min strength on quads
> 2 x 20min relaxing massage on calves (both were REALLY tightā¦ that my left knee started hurting)
you have a history of attracting Mr Creepy Creeperson when you train :mad::mad:
So your calf coped ok with all that?
Stef,
that is an interesting subject and sorry for talking shop
Calf seems 100% with what Iām doing these days, but it just gets extra tight very easily ( Nikoluski was so right about stretching :o) and it bothers my knee, in a way that I havenāt felt in ages, so yesterday I didnāt train, in order to figure it out. I EMSāed (relaxing massage program) the calves, and the knee immediately felt better, so I kinda know whatās wrong now (and Iām right )
soā¦
Monday, Nov. 8th, 2010
off
EMS relaxing massage calves
(pretty tiring day anyway, I was teaching in the morning and spent all the afternoon in the library, and then more research at home)
Tuesday, Nov. 9th, 2010
EMS: 2 x 20min relaxing massage on calves
30min warm up on the grass of āmyā park
8 x 180m tempo (nothing bothered me)
3 x 8 pull ups at the monkey bars
3 x 8 chin ups (monkey bars)
3 x 25min running A skips
10 push ups
(embrace yourselvesā¦) p.s. I did work during the following, as always :o
Notes of the day:
> Iām really happy I met this Greek researcher in July, who lives on the fourth floorā¦ Heās fourty something years old, and we have become great friends; the intelligence and insight of some people is so rare, that when one finds clues of this sort, should take a moment to appreciate =)))
> Fall is really pretty, especially at my park. I was thinking, while admiring the scenery, that if I wrote about it later on in my journal, it wouldnāt be the same, because the senses would then not be real, but only a memory. Which makes me crave on some landscape painting on the site, which wonāt happen for a WHILE from now.
> Dejan comes to visit on Thursday =)
> I need water-proof socks. IMMEDIATELY. My park is always wet now. I hate getting my feet wet every single day. Do water-proof socks even exist?
Calf seems 100% with what Iām doing these days, but it just gets extra tight very easily ( Nikoluski was so right about stretching :o) and it bothers my knee, in a way that I havenāt felt in ages, so yesterday I didnāt train, in order to figure it out. I EMSāed (relaxing massage program) the calves, and the knee immediately felt better, so I kinda know whatās wrong now (and Iām right )
soā¦
Monday, Nov. 8th, 2010
off
EMS relaxing massage calves
(pretty tiring day anyway, I was teaching in the morning and spent all the afternoon in the library, and then more research at home)
Tuesday, Nov. 9th, 2010
EMS: 2 x 20min relaxing massage on calves
30min warm up on the grass of āmyā park
8 x 180m tempo (nothing bothered me)
3 x 8 pull ups at the monkey bars
3 x 8 chin ups (monkey bars)
3 x 25m running A skips
10 push ups
(embrace yourselvesā¦) p.s. I did work during the following, as always :o
Notes of the day:
> Iām really happy I met this Greek researcher in July, who lives on the fourth floorā¦ Heās fourty something years old, and we have become great friends; the intelligence and insight of some people is so rare, that when one finds clues of this sort, should take a moment to appreciate =)))
> Fall is really pretty, especially at my park. I was thinking, while admiring the scenery, that if I wrote about it later on in my journal, it wouldnāt be the same, because the senses would then not be real, but only a memory. Which makes me crave on some landscape painting on the site, which wonāt happen for a WHILE from now.
> Dejan comes to visit on Thursday =)
> I need water-proof socks. IMMEDIATELY. My park is always wet now. I hate getting my feet wet every single day. Do water-proof socks even exist?
Yep, I agree.
Just remember to come back to this post frequentlyā¦ Good times! 
I will keep that in mind.
Wednesday, Nov.10th, 2010
Is this migraine age??? My mom has had them, and my middle sister also (she started getting them around my age). But I really think that the reason my head started to hurt so sharply at the end of the day, is because I hadnāt fed myself properly, and then I went training.
Today was one of those days when I realized how MUCH I still have to read, which, if not faced by deadlines, would be a pleasure thought, but now kinda stresses me out. Or just a little bit. Iām thankful to Christos, my highly-intelligent-upstairs-researcher-friend, who sometimes sleeps at weird hours, and works extensively to get things done, and when I asked him āare you stressed at the momentā (during a very tense and dense period of work) and he said ānoā¦ I never let things like this worry meā. He is actually worried because back home, (in Greece), as he says, he cannot find young researchers motivated enough to work on his projects enthusiastically, and he compares them to me, and he wishes there were more like me. Which is niceā¦ One remark that really enlightened my stress: āthe young people I work with, donāt feel like writingā¦ but researchers should be pondering on things all the timeā¦ not to the point of torture, of course, but for the sake of insightā. Sometimes, I torture myself. But now I can see more clearly. In theory, at leastā¦
So I decidedā¦ enough studying todayā¦ I will watch Greyās Anatomy on youtube tonight If I donāt fall asleepā¦
Training:
Then the headacheā¦ which might not be a hunger headache after all because three hours later and a LOT of food, it still kind hurtsā¦ 
Is the knee OK then? Easy on plyosā¦
Excellent !!!
watching Greys Anatomy would give me a migraine
Oh come on now =)) Itās highly scientific and intellectual (hence the migraine 
)
Although the weather was 6 degrees (COLD) today, the sun finally peaked out, and I found company for my warm up (Iranian friend =D ) , which brought up my spirits. Company (training company) is so important !!! And then I was expecting Dejan too, so double the goodā¦
Thursday, Nov. 11th, 2010
(all on grass, like all the other days since I came to Milan)
EMS:
I had red wine today. And now Iām eating sausages. With Dejan =)
Friday, Nov. 12th, 2010
> 40min + 40min walking
> 30min warm up jog (grass)
> 10min dynamic/static stretching
> 12 x 40m hills (maybe the hill is a little less, 37+m, but Iāll call it 40), walk back recoveries
> 4 x 70min right-right-left-left plyos (on grass)
> 40 total chin ups/pull ups
> 80 reps with resistance band (arms)
> 650 abs (some were done with a thick library book, instead of a MB, which I donāt have here :p)
I LOVE training with company (Dejan is hereā¦)
Friday, Nov. 12th, 2010
> 40min + 40min walking
> 30min warm up jog (grass)
> 10min dynamic/static stretching
> 12 x 40m hills (maybe the hill is a little less, 37+m, but Iāll call it 40), walk back recoveries
> 4 x 70min right-right-left-left plyos (on grass)
> 40 total chin ups/pull ups
> 80 reps with resistance band (arms)
> 650 abs (some were done with a thick library book, instead of a MB, which I donāt have here :p)
I LOVE training with company (Dejan is hereā¦)
Saturday, Nov.13th, 2010
6hours of walking :o
Sunday, Nov.14th, 2010
1 hour of running (no comment, please :o)
(>> raining raining all day long)
Tomorrow I have an important presentation.
Tuesday will most likely take a day trip to Vicenza, with Dejan =) Although it will be raining ā¦
This part of Italy is too wet for me.