Sisu Year-Round Group: Roller Skiing Classic

You may notice the discrepancy between my the title of this activity and activity type: I don't have classic roller skis, so I skated through the drills. Drizzle and moderate temps were a change to the steamy weather that was with us since spring. A sign of fall, and the actual ski season? Another hint of change of seasons is dusk catching up with us towards the end of the session.

The workout included

• Striding w/o poles over short distance with increasing lengths, about 6 repetitions 
• Striding with poles, tricky to get that rhythm going. Coach Mike showed us how it's done.
• The entire hill, 6 repetitions.

Skate roller skiing on wet surfaces is somewhat dangerous because of the slipperiness, especially when leaves cover the trail. I was extra careful to make sure to stay in control. Eventually I will upgrade to a combi skate and classic roller ski. 

Iowa City Jog

Took moving Colin, my firstborn's move to the University of Iowa as an opportunity for a jog along the Iowa River. Since coach Ben of Sisu Ski Foundation pointed out that my aerobic workouts were sorely lacking I started with that part of my training plan: a slow ten mile run with dog, always an eye on my heart rate readout, making sure it never got above 130 bpm.

Both Mellie and I thougth it hard to run that slow and odd to be never out of breath.

Sisu Year-Round Group: Dryland Quickness and Power

SISU Weekly Updates

When:  Tuesday August 16th, 6:30pm  
Where:  Battle Creek Winthrop St.
What: Dryland Quickness and Power
Coaches: Ben

Got scolded by coach Ben over my benchmarks: he says my work comes too much out of anaerobic effort and suggests to put in a 140 minute workout with  heart rate at 120 bpm

Today's session was cut short by rain.

• Warm-up jog 
• Up-hill runs with resistance, 2 series: 
• V1 simulation
• Sideways skipping 
• Bounding 
• Bounding with resistance for 4 steps

On the way back there was a lightning strike nearby that put the holy fear of god in me if I believed in it.

Sisu Year-Round Group

Adding two workouts from the Sisu Year-Round Group.

August 4, 2011: Roller Skiing Skate at Lower Afton Road, Battle Creek East

Glad I made this session a day after returning from Belgium since this was the last roller skiing session in the series. The exercises included two repetitions each of the following:

• Warm-up ski from the water park parking lot
• Crunches with resistance
• Crunches without resistance 
• Legs-only with resistance
• Legs-only without resistance 
• V1 with resistance
• V1 without resistance
• V2 with resistance
• V2 without resistance
• Agility with quick turns around cones

August 9, 2011: Benchmarks 2 at Battle Creek West 


(For the initial benchmarks go here)

• 4 laps of 1.2 km (plus 1 cool-down)
• 2 sets of leaps over 50ft without poles
• 2 sets of leaps over 50ft with poles

On the leaps: my stomach muscles cramped up the first time I did this, not this time!

Around Wesertalsperre Eupen

Wesertalsperre at 7:30

After I contacted my old school friend Reinhard via Facebook, he suggested we should run around the Eupen reservoir. What a great way to catch up! We talked about our jobs, kids, and the old times at Koenigliches Athenaeum Eupenall while running along the forestry roads around the reservoir. It was a perfect morning for a run like this, calm and crisp. I wouldn't have wanted to do this run under a midday sun.

After the run

Two More Runs from City Center Eupen

Since returning from France I did another couple of runs from my brother's place, similar to the runs I had previously done.

On 7/31 I ran from Bergstrasse past the old ash oval where I had been introduced to track and field, the monstrous new football bleachers and Am Galgen (At the Gallows--they changed the name to something benign, my dad told me that when he was a kid it was still standing there) towards Schoenefeld, one of the roads that leads into the forests on the south side of Eupen. I entered the Eupener Wald to follow part of the old fitness parcours towards Langesthal, exiting the woods at am Blech. I climbed towards the trail below the Kehrweg, crossed the Frankendelle and took Schorberg and finally climbed to the Moorenhoehe. A good run taking advantage of some of the terrain the Eupen area has to offer.

On 8/1, I redid the jog along the northern edge of Hertogenwald, entering the woods from Malmedyer Strasse SE of the Kabelwerke. Like on previous occasions I exited the Hertogenwald near Membach and took Limburger Weg past Loussack and the Waisenbueschchen back to the city.