Training from Baltic Trip

Tuesday 07JUL2015 TRAVEL TO COPENHAGEN– while travel started Monday night, it spilled into Tuesday.  We arrived in Frankfurt on Tuesday AM and then took an afternoon flight from there to Copenhagen (Cobenhaven).  Then it was a bus trip to the ship.  Once settled it and the boat was off it was evening and with the long day behind us, I was too tired and fried to run.

Wednesday 08JUL2015 OSLO NORWAY– AM – it was raining outside and while I considered using the 7 lap to the mile track on the upper deck of the boat, I elected to to try to keep my one pair of running shoes dry and hit the treadmill in the gym.  These are Precor mills that go up to 12% grade but also have the ability to go to –3.0%.  1 mile at 5% (13:28), 1 mile at 10% (14:16), and 1 mile at 12% (13:46) before finishing out the hour with another 2.4 miles flat (1425 of vert).  5.4 miles.  Prior to this I did 3 sets of the split legs squats.

PM – the weather in Oslo held enough in the later afternoon that I was able to convince KZ to get out for an exploratory jog before the boat pushed off.  4.8 miles, very easy jogging with KZ but admittedly, my legs were a bit tired from the AM running, the jet lag and the walking we had done in Oslo.  KZ made me do her ab circuit when we were done. 

Thursday 09JUL2015 AARHUS, DENMARK – rough water, actually high winds that has the boats swaying a bit.  The winds coupled with a biting rain made the track option less preferred.  It seems that the jet lag was catching up to most of the family and people did not seem to sleep well. 

Got on the mill before we headed into Aarhus, Denmark.  5 miles, with 1 at 5% (12:29), 1 at 10% (12:44), 1 at 12 % (14:06),  and then back down (13:10, 11:17) (2217 of vert then). 

Friday 10JUL2015 KEIL AND BERLIN GERMANY  - we were supposed to port in Warmanuede, Germany – but the winds were bad enough that the port could not accommodate a ship of this size.  We ended up in Kiel last night which was fine but meant we were up at 4 to head into Berlin on the train.  On the train I tried to do some squat sets to keep me moving.  Four hours on the train to Berlin, four hours back.

We got back around 9PM, and I jogged the track on the upper deck.  It is 7 laps to the mile.  I felt sort of swollen and heavy.  Ugh.  5 miles.  I did some silly bike race thing against JZ in the fitness center and it actually might have been more of a workout than then run.  And then I did the split leg squats. 

Saturday 11JUL2015  SEA TRAVEL DAY- we headed east through the Baltic on a “sea day,” meaning there was no place we took port today.  I thought I would be up early and after it on a run, but as it turned out, the lot of us all slept very late.  And we lost another hour going east so it was even “later.” 

I did not get onto the mill until the afternoon.  My challenge has become whether I run on the mindless mill or the seven laps to the mile small circle of the track on the upper deck.  I chose the mill as it there is no having to negotiate around people who seem to not know this is a running track (or go in the wrong direction) and because I can emulate some semblance of a hill in it.  The downside is that it is very warm in the gym fitness center and within 20 minutes I am sweating pretty hard.  And by an hour, I am soaked like I have been running in Dubuque-Tel Aviv-the Bahamas.  I made it an hour and a half before I relented – simply because the squishy-ness of my shoes (as they were soaked with sweat) had become fairly ridiculous. 

3 miles flat (9:16, 8:23, 8:08), 5% (11:25), 10% (13:28), 12% (14:17) (these first six miles took me 65 minutes ,,, never really working overly hard but I was sweating like a pig.  I know it was 65 because that is when the treadmill times out).  10% (13:21), 5% (12:29) and then 3 more miles flat.  11 miles total with 2217 vertical.

The mill was a complete mess when I was done.  It looked like I had showered on it.  Water was coming off me in large drips and the shirt and shorts were holding lots of water.  It is comical and these are the reasons why TZ thinks I should not use treadmills.  I had even lined up a half dozen towels up to wipe down during the event but they were all soaked too. 

I walked a bit on the track with T afterwards and did some additional exercises.

I think I can manage the mill in hour segments, but much more than that are just excursions in a sauna.

Sunday 12JUL2015 AM TALLINN, ESTONIA – I set an alarm for six but I missed it as we kept popping through different time zones so the clock actually never rolled through six AM.  I was on the mill by seven and was able to get 5 miles in, with one at 5% and then getting up to some actual running speed after that.

PM – JZ coerced me into the “chase the dragon” bike game in the fitness center and the punk beat me again on points even though I biked farther than him.  It does make the quads burn a bit so it must be some good.   We then did some time on the treadmill.  He did his forty minutes (the longest I think he has ever gone on a treadmill by probably 10 fold) and I got in 5.6 miles.  He wanted to know why I got three towels at the start of the run.  I think he understood by the end.

On the week it was 51.2 miles.  Not the best, but not the worst given the circumstances.

Monday 13JUL2015 SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA – AM up early as a water bottle was dropped on my head by a family member.  Off for a cup of coffee and then the gym (which I had to myself).  5.1 miles – all flat and slow to start (like 11 minute mile pace but quickening over the run (to sub 7) and then the squat routine. 

I thought I’d get a few miles in the evening but I crashed asleep about 7:30.

Tuesday 14JUL2015 SAINT PETERSBURG RUSSIA – AM up early as one of the kids set up a wake up call, but then did not wake up to it.  5.2 miles, all flat and building over the course of the event. 

Afternoon – back from Saint Petersburg I got in 7, with 3 flat, 2 at 12% (around 13 minute miles) and then 2 more to close out the hour.  The flat miles opened up a bit to sub seven and I put the last under six. 

Wednesday 15JUL2015 HELSINKI, FINLAND – afternoon – after a quick stop in Helsinki we retired to the boat for the afternoon.  I hit the track for 5.1, joining Sean from Ireland for a few miles.  I barely understood what he was saying half the time even though it was supposedly English.  After this distance I could not take the monotony of seven laps to a mile (which always seem to come at 9 minutes a mile), and retired to the mill for another 5.1. 

Thursday 16JUL2015 – NYANSHAM, SWEDEN – AM – 5 miles on the mill at 5 percent grade (and averaging 11 something as I woke up).

Afternoon – KZ and I tender boated over to shore and jogged around for 4 miles.

Friday 17JUL2015 – Day at sea.  Got on the mill and banged out 12 miles, averaging 6:20 pace but starting at 7 and then carving it down.

Saturday 18JUL2015 – COPENHAGEN DENMARK – travel back to CO day.