Training Log Archive: BorisGr

Kat and I are engaged now!

C • Congratulations! 30

5 days to go.

The 30cm of snow outside is melting now. Perhaps by the time I can start training again, there will be no snow left.
The butt muscle feels the same, by the way.

C • Butt feeling the same. 1

14 days to go. School, school, school, rain, snow, slush.

15 days to go. Went to Murano Island, where they make all the Venetian glass. Pretty spectacular! The long journey home took the rest of the day. Landing at Skavsta with -1C out was a rude awakening after the fantastic weather we had in Venice.

16 days to go. Today was the big "race". Went to the Doges' Palace in the morning and showed up to my start on the Men's Elite course in t-shirt and jeans. Felt very much like a hobby elite.
Walking the race presented its own unexpected challenges, as I kept planning ahead and almost forgetting what I was doing on the current leg. The orienteering was still tricky, even at my walking pace, but ducking to avoid tourists became a bit easier. Didn't do the whole course - would have taken me 2.5 hours. I'm very curious to figure out what minutes per km I was walking at, though.

Event: Venice Street O
 

17 days to go. More sightseeing in Venice. Met up with Michele in the afternoon and spent the rest of the day with him and his Italian posse. Lots of fun!
San Marco Square at night was unforgettable and managed to render me speechless.

C • Would that work on Balter? 1

18 days to go. Got to Venice with no problems and spent the evening wandering around the tiny streets and trying to get lost.

19 days to go. Went down to Stockholm and played charades with Neil, Andrew, and Kat. "Pittsburgh Steelers" didn't go over so well. "Frog Tower" was excellent, though.

20 days to go. My only training today was carrying Minna to and from the vet to get her shots.

C • feel any difference? 8

Went to meet Kenneth Jonsson, the club's doctor, at Akademiska Sjukhuset today. After examining me (and using me to test a student, with tricky questions such as "Do you think his butt injury could have been caused by excessive smoking?"), he decided there is no reason to do an MRI, as he did not think my injury had anything to do with back problems. Instead, he recommended a cortisone shot and said that if that doesn't work, he is out of ideas. So I got three shots in my butt, and now I have to rest for 21 days. We'll see what happens. Anyone know what cortisone does and what the side effects might be?
Kat and I will make a fine-looking pair at the Venice Street Race, her not able to run and me not allowed to.

C • cortisone 8

21 days to go.

Strength at the gym with a gimpy Kat.

A long run by myself through the muddy trails of Nåsten and Hammarskog. Kung Björn's Hög - Högbyhatt - Ekensberg - Stabby - Skogstigen - Hammarskog - Dalkarlskärret - Uppsala Näs kyrka - Lurbo - Hågadalen - KG - home. Tired.
Oh yeah, I now seem to be in charge of Linné's juniors. I can teach them how to get injured and stay injured.

C • In charge 7

I can't believe this day has come. "Pilates for Dummies" with Kat. Man, I am inflexible!!

Warm-up and cool-down.

Tullinge's November Races down in Stockholm. Felt a bit guilty for leaving an injured Kat home, but she had a sick Csaba for company, so off I went on a foggy, warm (+8C) November morning. The middle distance race was a nice one, with lots of short legs, and several different types of orienteering thrown in during the 5km course. I mostly orienteered well, but this was the kind of terrain where even a 15-20 second mistake will cost you places, and I made a few of those, including one on the last control, where I overestimated the greenness of the green and took a wussy route around, letting Neil to get ahead of me in the results. Grrrr.
The afternoon was spent at Neil's new place, trying to watch bootleg chinese DVD's and watching Andrew sleep on the couch. The excitement never ends with the Irish.
Map: http://my.opera.com/borisgr/albums/showpic.dml?alb...
Map with routes: http://my.opera.com/borisgr/albums/showpic.dml?alb...
Winsplits: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/en/default.a...

An inadvertent rest day as Kat slipped and twisted her ankle quite badly on the way to training. Spent the evening taking care of her.

C • Miskolc... 2

Got to the gym early, so did some strength after warming up on the erg.

Spinning class.

Tuesday night line-O, course C. Ended up by myself early on, as the fast people were too fast and the slow people too slow. After a while of fighting through the mud and the crap, came together with Anders Eriksson and ran the rest with him. Nice to have a small group, so I was actually forced to navigate the entire way. My butt hurt though, especially on the trails. Nåsten was very muddy and wet tonight.
In the sauna, everyone was asking about the US elections. I suspect most Swedes know more about US politics than I do.
Also found out today that the professor teaching my applied math course used to be the president of Luleå's orienteering club. Sweet.

C • Jukola 2

Strength at F&S with Kat.

Took the club car and drove down to Stockholm with Kat, Elisa, and Csaba. Picked up Neil on the way. Ran an old long course on Nacka from a year ago with Neil. Went reasonably slowly and felt tired and stupid the whole way. The forest on Nacka was lovely as always and the weather was great - totally sunny and +5.

Very slow warm-up on the way to the start.

Rodhenloppet!
We tried to follow in the footsteps of Patrick and Mari, who won the Mixed Long category at this pairs night-O race a year ago. Standing at the start line, we knew there'd be about 5 pairs who had a chance to win: Becka and Tommy, Joffe and Karin, two juniors Rassmus and Malin, and a pair that included the Swedish night-O champion from a year ago, Johanna Svensson. There were about a dozen other teams, but we figured we could take them.
The race: everyone starts at the same time, standing in a large circle facing each other. I managed to find the start triangle very quickly once we got the maps, and we took off. Luckily, we were standing in the "right" part of the circle, so we didn't get behind any slow people. Saw Johanna Svensson right in front of us and told Kat to stick with her. We ran very quickly on the trail in the beginning and were right behind Johanna's team as we entered the forest. Were slightly better in the circle and punched the control first, just ahead of Johanna, who disappeared on the long route choice to the left to #2, as well as Becka&Tommy and Joffe&Karin. Then followed the long trail/road run to #2, where all three of our teams stayed together for most of it. We lost a bit of time in the beginning of the leg, where I dove into the forest to cut across the railroad, but then remembered we were only supposed to cross at designated spots. Went back to the trail, cursing, only to see everyone else dive in and cross a few steps later! Kat ran very hard, and we made up the ground to both B&T and J&K, and attacked the control together with B&T. Missed it, must have run just by, figured out and went back. J&K were there, and the juniors Rassmus and Malin had gotten ahead of us. Going to #3 was hard. Everything was flooded, so the marshes were lakes, and the flat areas marshes. I don't think any of us in the pack had any idea where we were, and we came to the hygge and stopped. I realized we were to the right and went to the control. Everyone followed. We went straight to 4, as did J&K. B&T came in from the right, and we caught sight of R&M. Still straight to 5, all 4 teams together. On the way to 6, I decided we needed to go east to the big trail, as Kat was getting tired and could move a lot faster on trails. J&K went straight, but the other two teams went with us. We took a very nice line to the road, and were right with them. The juniors were running faster and got a bit ahead, and B&T were slightly ahead too. Everyone spiked 6, and ran southeast to the trail towards 7. Once on the trail, Kat looked tired, and the others were gradually pulling away. Once we went over the top of the hill, I told Kat our only chance was to push now and that we had a chance to win this. She seemed surprised, but I was pretty sure that neither J&K nor Johanna's team were ahead of us. Kat pushed very hard on the trail and we caught both R&M and B&T right before going off the trail and attacking. Now I told Kat to sit and wait and try to make a move going to 8. R&M went into the forest to the left of us and disappeared. Now it was just two teams left. Becka and Tommy were just ahead, and got a few steps on us when crossing the knee-deep, almost-frozen marsh just before 7. We hit 7, and I had memorized the route to 8 and told Kat to push. We picked a good line to 8, and I actually spotted it from like 100 meters away. We punched first, a step ahead of Becka and Tommy. Kat had told me earlier that she had no chance against Becka in a sprint, and so I took a gamble by leading us right back to the trail we had come from rather than cutting along through the woods, as B&T were doing. It didn't work, and we had no shot at catching them on the run-in.
It was a really fun race, and Kat did an awesome job of pushing herself, staying with me and paying attention to the map. I was impressed.
If we come back to do this race again, we'll try some sort of towing mechanisms - I think that would have helped.
Splits: http://toolbox.svenskidrott.se/Downloads/30075/doc...
Map with QR: http://my.opera.com/borisgr/albums/showpic.dml?alb...

C • Nice work 2