Training Log Archive: BorisGr

Backbana after work, right after the rain stopped and the sun came out. Good effort, but it was really slippery, and I was tentative on the downhills. I also stopped for a minute to chat with Rob Hart, who was running home from work.

Janne's backbana in Uppsala - Splits

Warm-up

Real Swedish summer is back. It was 12C and raining steadily when Simon picked me up to go train. He drew a middle distance course on a nice piece of northwest Lunsen, and we ran it. I started in a nice, steady tempo to get into the map and then picked it up once I heard Simon catching up behind me. Held him off for a few controls, orienteering well, and then ended up racing him head-to-head for most of the rest of the course. I tried to take different routes whenever possible, but this mostly didn't work, since in Lunsen you pretty much just want to run straight. A fun training - I was grateful to have company, would never have gotten out in the forest on my own.

QR: http://www.dxdeluxe.se/linnekartparmen/show_map.ph...

1055/2000

Event: Salpa-Jukola 2011
 

Snuck out for a trail run on Lunsen with Martin between Venla and Jukola. Made a big circular tour of Lunsen, starting in Sävja and going through Lunsentorpet and back. Really nice run and company, and beautiful forest as always.

Then back to the computer screen for 8 awesome hours of Jukola coverage. The highlight was definitely Thierry chasing the leaders on the long night leg:

"- The main problem I had was that I did not know if it was the leading group I caught up when I caught up with runners. Each time I caught somebody, I asked the people if this was the lead group or not. They usually did not even answer, so I kept running fast."

I can just imagine Thierry strolling past with no visible effort as Novikov, Axelsson, Nordberg are huffing and puffing along, and starting to char with them about how the race is going.

Halden was impressive. Losing Nikolov, Nordberg, and Karlsson in the off-season would crush most clubs, but they came back stronger than ever. Haldin, Wingstedt, Lundanes on the last three legs were unstoppable.

Great to see Linné near the top from start to finish (http://online3.jukola.com/tulokset/en/j2011_ju/kil...) - it made the night much more exciting and nerve-wracking for me. Really inspiring to see these guys running so consistently well throughout the whole night. Millinger did a great job on the last leg, running by himself the whole way and holding off Hubmann and Khramov almost all the way to the finish for a fine 8th place.

So now that I've been not selected for the most fun races of the year, I've started putting in my best training weeks this season without any goals. So can someone suggest good races for me to aim for in the fall?

C • races 24

Long run after work. From Ångström, along Ultunaåsen, around Sunnersta, then along the lake to Skarholmen, a loop in Vårdästraskogen and back via Gula Stigen. Perfect running conditions: sunny and cool. Uppsala is very green and beautiful and also mosquitoy right now.

C • Gula Stigen 1

Warm-up and jogging back to the car, plus jogging between the relay hand-off spots.

A really fun training on Lunsen called "Czech-style relay".
The idea is this: you take a long, linear trail and set a course such that every leg crosses the trail. Teammate A starts on the trail and runs to control 1 and then to the spot where the 1-2 line crosses the trail. In the meantime, teammate B jogs along the trail to the same 1-2 trail crossing. There they switch, and teammate B runs to #2. This continues all the way to the finish, at which point everyone turns around and does the same thing on the way back, with A now visiting the controls B went to and vice versa.

This makes for a really fast-paced, stressful relay, with each leg taking about a minute (we took about 51 minutes for 44 controls between us). I ran this in a team with Simon, the other Jukola reserve. We ran really well and ended up 3rd, beaten only by runners from Linné's top two Jukola teams. The head-to-head aspect of this was awesome, as you had to navigate at super-high speed while keeping an eye on your competitors. This was really excellent relay training.

Simon's map: http://www.dxdeluxe.se/linnekartparmen/show_map.ph...

1035/2000

Intervals with Linné. I did 8 of the planned 10 2-minute intervals. These were run on undulating trails in Eriksberg. I felt ok, but started feeling my shin after a few fast downhills, so decided to cut the workout short. Now at home I don't feel the shin anymore, so I think that was a smart choice.

C • Granny socks! 3

Was named first alternate for OK Linné's 3rd team for Jukola. That seems to be the pattern for me this year. However, I can't disagree with the selections: http://www.oklinne.nu/index.php?page=uk/uk_main.ph...

C • So are you going? 2

Registered for the WOC spectator races. H21A. Woo.

C • yupee!! 2

One loop on backbana after work. Reasonable effort today, worked hard. Time was 30:28, almost a minute faster than two weeks ago. Progress. Maybe there is something to this whole "training" thing.

Janne's backbana in Uppsala - Splits

Warm-up

Järla IF's club champs on a map called Flatenbadet to the south of Stockholm. I took the train down from Uppsala and joined Bara and Martin for their club champs. The course consisted of a lot of route choice legs on trails and sections of navigation on the detailed, steep hills. For the most part, I was navigating well but sort of felt like I was running in a fog, never getting that racing feeling that gives you an extra gear. I also think I chose good routes, especially on the long legs. It would have been a good result, except I lost focus going to #15 and made a parallel error. It took a long time to recover, and I lost 3:30 on that. Not good.

Ended up 16 minutes behind the winner, Petter Hemmyr, and 7:30 behind Dave Healy. That seems like a lot, though he has clearly gotten better.

An excellent afternoon and evening with Andrew at Bara and Martin's afterwards. Really enjoyable.

Winsplits: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...

1019/2000

Before and after the sprint

Uppsala Double Sprint - Leg 1

This was an urban/park sprint set by Mari in Kvarngärdet, close to where I am staying in Uppsala. I had a good run and made no mistakes. It was really fun. I also brought two people from work to try orienteering, and they seemed to have a good time.

Afterwards, I picked up a few controls and then had a nice long lunch with the Troeng clan, including the newest edition, little Måns Troeng. Excellent day.

Splits: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...

1002/2000

C • Måns 3

Recovery run after work on parts of Björn's backbana course. Legs felt very heavy at first, but loosened up during the run. Left ankle sore, so I cut the run short.

Warm-up

OK Linné's test race for Jukola. I hadn't really thought about running it until now, but seeing my clubmates and talking about past Jukolas and boat trips over to Finland got me excited again. I think I'll have a hard time cracking Linné's 3rd team, but if I get selected, I'll go.

The test race was at Östfora, a tough area with good visibility but difficult runnability. Very soft underfoot, with a lot of marshes, blueberry, and lots of cut down areas and brashings throughout the woods. My navigation was ok, except for an obviously poor route followed by a bobble in the circle on 1 (1:00 total), then running right past 3 without seeing it (0:30), and getting off the line to 10 (0:30). I also twisted my left ankle hard after leaving #7. Should have taped.

Results: far down the list as expected, but not embarrassingly bad time-wise. Linné has a huge depth of really good runner right now, very impressive.

Splits: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
Route: http://www.dxdeluxe.se/linnekartparmen/show_map.ph...

984/2000

Intervals in Stadsskogen after work. I ran 6x3 minutes, with 90 seconds rest.

Running a long distance training on Lunsen on a beautiful summer evening is just pure pleasure. I was running around the woods there and just smiling - this is orienteering at its best. Somehow, my navigation came together too, and I was spiking everything along the way. I am particularly pleased with hitting the long legs (2,4,18) pretty much right on. Why couldn't I navigate like this at Blue Mountain?

My plan was to run for 90 minutes, and so I cut out a couple of the loops from the course.

Anyway, this was some of the most fun orienteering I've done in a long time. It didn't even matter that I forgot to bring any running clothes and had to borrow everything from Tomas and that there were no controls in the woods.

QR: http://www.dxdeluxe.se/linnekartparmen/show_map.ph...

968/2000

C • wow 12

C • you get in lots of good orienteering training! 2