Stefanie's

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570

Tuesday, Dec. 14th, 2010

Last Supper was nice. I expected it more mind blowing, but I suppose thatā€™s what age does to beautiful things, despite all the restoration. Not everything ages like wine :stuck_out_tongue: (only me, haaaaaahahahah)

Anyway

0-1 degree yesterday; I think itā€™s the combination of cold and anxiety of last days before going home (to my oldest sister getting married :eek: ) that adds up to all these niggles of this day and the day before, including: sore left quad (I think this is due to EMS, but why just the leftā€¦? I intensified them equally. Anyway, this is more rhetorical, itā€™s no so important, and itā€™s almost gone by now), low right shin pain, and sudden slight cramps on right calf (with overstretch potential, but I seem to catch it on time each time, either by relaxing, or become aware of technique more - It is my word of wisdon the past 2 years that niggles are blessings; they guide you towards what to do better technique-wise :o)

  • 15-20min biking to park

  • 20min warm up

  • 10min dynamic stretching

  • 8 x 100m hills w/slow walk back recoveries

  • 3 x 70m uphill running Aā€™s (ouch)

  • 15-20min biking back

Today I might not have time to anything due to all-day-long university happenings (yearly review day). Weā€™ll seeā€¦ All I know is that itā€™s -4 out now, and Iā€™d rather sleeeeeeeeeeep.

571

Wednesday, Dec. 17th, 2010.
As predicted, too busy to do anything training-wise, other than sleep for 2hrs in the middle of the day :o

Little by little, people Iā€™ve become close to are departing from the residence for Christmas vacation, some ā€˜foreverā€™ and itā€™s a strange feeling, as most of us have been anxious to go home, but now thereā€™s a bitter-sweet sensation. All are such nice people, but Iā€™m sure weā€™ll cross paths again at some point

Speaking of which, year 2 of phd is officially passed and over :smiley:

Now really looking forward to my sisterā€™s bachelorette party this weekend - weā€™re going to a nice hotel at a far away beach and doing spa during the day and night dancing, while all meals will be buffets =))

Today:

  • 15min + 15min biking

Now predicting that my mom will tell me that I lost weight and then sheā€™ll try to over-feed me, as always, but I feel strong nevertheless, and I like the six pack Iā€™ve developed despite all the chocolate that Iā€™m eating lately :slight_smile: (for my momā€™s sakeā€¦ :o)

On the other hand, I should perhaps increase my salt intake; I have symptoms of low blood pressure, and sometimes Iā€™m this close to fainting (if I take longer than normal to eat something).

Now itā€™s 2am and I must finish reading 100 pages of a book on the formation of modern urban architectural formsā€¦ hmmm

Or maybe I will skip the task and worry about it in a week when I will be in Greece with no book, and a 100euro price to buy it on amazonā€¦ :confused:

The problems of life :rolleyes:

572

Thursday, Dec. 16th, 2010

  • 10-15min warm up

  • short tempo circuit
    100+100+100+
    100+200++100+
    100+100+100 +++
    (soooooo tiredā€¦ havenā€™t been sleeping much the past 2 nights)

monkey bars:

  • 3 x 12 dips
  • 2 x 12 chin ups
  • 1 x 12 pull ups
  • abs

(really short training dayā€¦)

My taxi picks me up at 4.30am tomorrow morning :eek: (travel day) Time for bedā€¦

573

Friday, Dec. 17th, 2010

Travel day and much more

Saturday, Dec. 18th, 2010

  • 20min warm up
  • 5 x 100 stairs (doubles, so 50 contacts each )
  • 1 x 150m hill

Travel to hotel/spa resort for my sisterā€™s bachelorette party

  • jaucuzzi

  • sauna

  • hamam

  • heating chairs

  • party :stuck_out_tongue:

Sunday, Dec. 19th, 2010

(travel back in the afternoon)

  • 25min easy run with sister
574

Monday, Dec.20th, 2010

  • 30min hard run on grass with fellow 400m athletes
    drills
    4 x 30m A skips
    4 x 30m B skips
    4 x 20m running As into 20m stride

tempo:

  • 10 x field diagonals, w/ 60m rest

  • 3 x 12 leg curls

  • plenty of abs/push ups

note: felt weak during the tempo diagonals, but tomorrow will be a better day!
I like my Thessaoniki-group a whole lotā€¦

575

Compared to what other group? :smiley:

Perhaps that 30 min hard run had something to do with how you felt during the diagonals?

576

and the drills, why the drills after a hard 30 min run, that will help with good form :rolleyes:

577

Drills felt excellent John !!!

Iā€™m actually almost about to get sick, hence the weak-feelingā€¦ some kind of virusā€¦ Iā€™m trying to avoid it by drinking vitamins and fluids, and blah blah blahā€¦

Today Iā€™m doing 150s, I think, depending on the rest of the group :slight_smile: Iā€™ll make them few and hard, regardless, to start getting into special prep stuff. =) And the weather is so great. I wish this virus went away.

Nick, haha youā€™re right; I guess compared to whatever group I find in Athens, or whatever random company I get in Milan :o But nothing beats training with these guysā€¦ (so far).

Thursday morning I will film the plyos and drills; I just arranged a date with my sister :wink:

578

Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2010

Nice 15degree weather :slight_smile:

(all on track)

  • 15min warm up

  • stretching (dynamic and static)

  • 3 x 60m strides w/trainers

  • 2 x 60m strides w/ spikes (first time in 2 months in spikes, on the track)

  • 150m (30"rest/50m walk) + 150m (30" rest/50m walk) + 150m (6-7ā€™ rest)

  • 250m (30"rest) + 150m

These things are only possible with fellow athletes running alongā€¦:slight_smile: Good stuff. 150s started in 21", perhaps the slowest was 23". (I am estimating these from the guyā€™s times, who were in front of me (theirs were 19-19-20).They also did a 300m in the end (after 10ā€™ rest).

p.s. pretty lactated in the end. I had missed the feeling.

579

Does your training group follow CF principles.

580

No they donā€™t, but it works well because I use their ā€˜lowā€™ days (which are long run and weights) to do my tempo, and the other days of speed and special endurance coincide with what I should be doing (or I adjust their plan to my needs/abilities whenever I have to.
But anyway, I train with them only whenever Iā€™m in Thessaloniki, and my year is also divided in Athens and Milan, soā€¦

p.s. I know there are 100 comments one can make on the way I treat my training, which ā€˜supposedlyā€™ follows the CF plan, but being all over the place, and needing a group sometimes, etc, I try to work it out my ā€˜ownā€™ way sometimes. :slight_smile:

581

http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_657105&v=T6ya7ZRlrEo&feature=iv :cool:

582

Great song Nick :smiley:

Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2010

(doubles are not happening, apparentlyā€¦ My sister is getting married on Sunday, and it seems like the whole world revolves around her these days - and the past 10 months :o :rolleyes: > much to help with, but itā€™s mostly enjoyable!)

They are doing ā€˜maintenanceā€™ at the grass these days, so todayā€™s tempo had to be on the track, which did not feel so lovely (minor shin splints and bunion pain) but oh well.

  • 20min easy run with the group
  • static stretching

Long circuit
100++100++100++
100++++(bathroom break) 200++100+100+
100+200++200++100+
100+200++100+100+
100+100+100++++
(the pluses are accurate actually, where +=walk 50m. I just did the first 4 with the guys, hence the longer breaks).

  • 2 x 6 chin ups
  • 4 x 12 leg curls
  • 4 x 12 dips
  • plenty of abs and back exercises
  • 1 x 8 SLDLā€™s
  • 1 x 12 bench press
  • 1 x 12 lateral pull downs

Still slightly sick. (weak, and tingly throat) but I think it wonā€™t get worse.

583

how does the coach feel about that?

Sid lives :stuck_out_tongue:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIXg9KUiy00

584

The coach is not MY coach. She used to be, back in 2004, but now I just train with them when Iā€™m here, and theyā€™re happy to have me around - because they like me :o and I like them.
I really appreciate this group (the coach and her major guy - this year for the first time they also have a younger one who looks VERY promising), because they help me so much when Iā€™m here (if you think that Iā€™m the only person on earth who is allowed to train with them, the coach times me when I want, etc). Iā€™ve known them for nearly 8 years, and they almost feel like family.
Training in Thessaloniki becomes a pleasure with family around, and knowing that these people will always be on (and off) the track to help me.
On the other hand, Iā€™m free to do whatever I want, because she (coach) doesnā€™t have responsibility over me, and weā€™ve discussed this in the past. (how could she? Iā€™m mostly not here)
I suppose the situation does not become ā€˜simpleā€™ until I find myself based somewhere year-around.

And since Iā€™m announcing my appreciations; whatever I say about Nik and his help over the years is not enough :stuck_out_tongue:

I was chatting with an old friend in the weight room today, and I mentioned to her that although my training is not ā€˜seriousā€™ like the rest (perhaps this seems so because Iā€™m on my own, and whatever I do will never be serious, training-wise; I strongly believe that serious training needs serious supervision, in whatever sense, at least for me, as the stimuli immediately multiply just by one watching/caring presence aloneā€¦ anyway) this sentence got way out of handā€¦
ā€¦ā€œalthough my training is not ā€˜seriousā€™ like the restā€ā€¦ I do it religiously enough to allow me to train at a level where I feel that Iā€™m not wasting time with just doing something for the sole sake of pure fitness. (not that thereā€™s anything wrong with that, but it just does not fit my character - at this point of my life, at least).

p.s. John, that was a horrible video :rolleyes:

585

hahaha its a classic and the last 20 seconds legendary!

586

You made my day with that videoā€¦

587

I didnā€™t have the courage to watch till the end :p:p:p

I have video footage on some drills/plyo/stride here: (Charlieā€™s low skips included; p.s. I donā€™t know if this is an ā€˜officialā€™ drill, but he showed it to me to help me with dorsiflexion!!)
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=23027

588

Itā€™s been my pleasure, Stef!

EDIT: I would be cautious with changing surfaces in general and with plyos from now on, as weā€™ve discussed before.

589

I can definitely related with you here. Iā€™m on a track club that loves running long, slow intervals. But there are points where I can cross my workout with theirs (in a very creative way). For example, last night, the club ran a 300, 250, 250, 200, 200 with 7 minutes of rest between the intervals. Now of course the ā€œqualityā€ of any of these runs was definitely skeptical. So while they were still warming up and running the first two intervals, I ran 3x50m on 5 min rest. I then joined them on their second 250, which I treated as a special endurance run by running all-out. I love being a part of a team, but I just canā€™t get myself to train in a way that I completely disagree with. So this approach has seemed to work the best for me; however, I still get that look from the others that says, ā€œWhat, do you think youā€™re better than us?ā€ What can you do?