Training Log Archive: BorisGr

Elliptical at the work gym during lunch.

My exercises.

NAOC was a whirlwind and a blast! It was so much fun to share a house with such an awesome group of friends, new and old. I wish we had more time to spend with all of them! (The weekend was busy: racing, wedding reception, announcing, picking teams for the sprint relay, board-related meeting, team-related meeting, checking in on juniors, hanging out with friends who came from overseas to see us, two 10-hour drives.)

I really, really enjoyed announcing, especially at the sprint relay. Nevin and Meghan were great to work with. There are things we can improve on, but it would be great to reprise this team at NAOC 2018. And I now have a pretty solid dream of doing English-language announcing side by side with Per Forsberg at Tiomila. What do I need to do to make that happen for real?

C • thanks 18

US Sprint Relay team selector and assistant hard at work, courtesy of Dan Weintraub: https://www.flickr.com/photos/igniferroque/2935020...

C • I'm glad you were able to lend Barney a hand 1

C • Dan Wientrab from Williams ... 2

Morning elliptical at the gym.

My exercises:
- one-legged standing hip drop
- step back lunges
- squats
- planks
- dead bugs
- side planks

C • What to do to rebalance? 2

My physical therapist filmed me running on a treadmill in his office. It was immediately obvious to even the most causal observer that I should not be running. The entire right side of my body caves inwards with every step to compensate for the weakness in my core and stabilizing muscles on the right. So no more running again for a while.... This has been a long process of recovery, and I don't really see the end in sight.

C • Recovery 7

C • Consistent strength work fe... 1

A lot of lunges, squats, and leg raises. Some very obvious weaknesses became apparent.

At the gym at work. My attempts at racing are over for the year. Time to do some real rehab and start preparing for Yukon 2018.

Our juniors are awesome.

C • Juniors 8

NAOC Long Distance - Burnt Mountain. Green X course.

Right from the start, two things were clear:
1) This was going to be one of the most fun areas to run on in the US.
2) My body did not recover from the middle distance, and my right side felt very weak from the start.

I decided to focus on orienteering and not worry about trying to move quickly. This meant that there was a lot of jogging and some walking, but the controls all seemed to be right where I expected them to be. This was the case through the end of the long leg, when I started feeling a lot of pain on the right side. I jogged the next two controls, and still had good focus - I had a 3-minute lead on Niels Lyng-Olsen at this point. But then it all unraveled on the way to 12. I made a parallel error and then just took ages to recover, spending most of the time walking. It ended up costing me 9 minutes - when is the last time I had a mistake like that? WOC 2007? I jogged the next leg and then walked it in, deciding that there was really no sense in running hard, as any running felt painful and pretty uncomfortable.

Still, I loved the course and the area and would love to see a Billygoat here in a couple of years, when my body can hopefully handle one.

Route Gadget: http://www.vmeyer.net/gadget/cgi-bin/reitti.cgi?ac...
Check out Niels' route on the long leg to 9! He smoked me by 2 minutes on that.

C • Awesome 6

Long - Green X - Splits

Event: North American Orienteering Championships 2016
 

This was NAOC, and a middle distance WRE, so I approached the race as seriously as I could given my lack of fitness and preparation. I did a long warm-up and took the time to walk and jog around the warm-up map, which made me think that the woods would be pretty green.

NAOC Middle Distance.

26th out of 55 - just barely in the top half of the field; 14th American. WinSplits shows me as having made just over 3 minutes of mistakes, which is way too much for this race.

I was the first starter, which I think was a sizable disadvantage in terms of terrain tracking up. But none of that is enough to explain away the fact that I am simply to slow to be competitive these days. Although I felt like I was racing a little too rushed and never quite in synch with the map, there were a few legs that I felt I executed well, but I still managed only 3 top-20 splits.

Still, I really enjoyed the course and felt that Glen Tryson did an excellent job with the area he was given. I had a lot of fun, and really enjoyed the control-pick nature of the course.

There was nothing I or my countrymen could do to stop the Canadian dominance on this day. Still, while this would not really change the results for the purposes of the BK Cup, it is disappointing that rules dictated for Thierry to start at the very back of the field, as opposed to separately from the Regional Championship field. The result was that Damian got a massive ride for most of the course, all the way to a North American title and a guaranteed WOC position. It is entirely possible that he would have won anyway - he raced extremely well the entire weekend - but this outcome leaves a slightly unpleasant aftertaste in my mouth.

My route is on RouteGadget: http://www.vmeyer.net/gadget/cgi-bin/reitti.cgi?ac...

My middle distance results at NAOC:

2010 - 8th
2012 - 4th
2014 - 9th
2016 - 23rd

Not a good trend...

C • Putting on my data analyst ... 1

Middle - Blue - Splits

Intervals on the elliptical, 8x2 minutes, with 1 minute rest.

Some stretching and leg raises.

Some needling in the hip and glute today.

There are many things I keep thinking about the US Classic Champs weekend: the great racing, the AGM and the Board elections, the many good friends I was lucky enough to see, the seemingly endless burrs on my legs that juniors helped remove, the smiles on the faces of orienteers - young and old alike - as they posed for a picture with the always-obliging and gracious Thierry.

But the thing my mind keeps coming back to is that on Saturday I chatted with a guy - Paul - who lives in the area and saw that there was an event in the park. He went and ran the recreational White course. Loved it. Said he would come back and bring his daughter the next day. I saw him again the next day at the finish with his daughter. He was all smiles - they had a great time on Yellow and wanted to do the Orange course. Time was running late, so I said "Forget going back to the parking lot for registration. Just go up to the start and ask for a map." So he did. And I saw him again as we were leaving the arena - they were back from the Orange course, had a great time again. They were asking how to find more meets and get involved in HVO. Not sure if they'll be back, but I think there is a good chance.

This is what I want from our sport. Having it be open and welcoming and flexible that people can turn up, have a great time, and be hooked. I know it's not for everyone, but surely there is more people out there who would also see that this is the best sport in the world if they were only exposed to it.

C • FYI, another part of the... 4

Day 2 of the US Classic Championships at Ward Pound Ridge.

I saw at the start that Kristin Hall was starting 2 minutes behind me on the Green Y course and, after a bit of trash-talking, I was pretty pumped.

The goal today was to be cleaner, pick better lines in terrain, and to not forget to orienteer all the way to the flag, rather than just to the circle.

I think I mostly succeeded. I had no real problems in the control circle, apart from not seeing #4 for a few seconds despite standing right in front of it. It just didn't look like a boulder from the side I approached. My biggest time loss was the long leg to 5. Looking at it, I was sure the best route was to go right on the trails, but Kristin went left and took nearly a minute out of me!

Besides that I think I had a good race and hit most of my technical goals. And most importantly, I really enjoyed myself. I really hope that I can get back to being competitive at least at the M21 level in the US again, but even if not, I feel like I will keep enjoying orienteering at whatever level of competition I am able to put up.

My route is here: http://www.vmeyer.net/gadget/cgi-bin/reitti.cgi?ac...&

Thanks HVO and WCOC for a wonderful weekend of orienteering!


Also, how awesome are my wife and dog?!
https://photos.smugmug.com/2016-Journal/09-Septemb...

C • Very awsome! 2

Sunday - Green Y - Splits

Event: 2016 US Two-Day Classic Championships and Sprint Relay
 

I ran the M-Green class on the Green-Y course at Day 1 of the US Classic Championships at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation on the border of New York and Connecticut.

This was one of my favorite places to orienteer when I was younger and lived in New York. It was then off-limits to orienteers for a long time, so I was thrilled to come back and get to run here again, even if I am far from 100% able to compete.

My route is here: http://www.vmeyer.net/gadget/cgi-bin/reitti.cgi?ac...&

The Green course was a good challenge for me, and it was very clear for me that my orienteering skills were rusty. I opened well, winning the splits to 1 and 2, but was sloppy after that. I lost around 30 seconds in the circle on 3, and picked an atrocious route choice to 4, climbing up the steepest, rockiest part of the slope. My route to 6 was good on paper, but the woods were much junkier in reality. It might have been better to go around on trails to the west.

I was clean from 7-11, but slow on the climb to 10 - I lost that split by 3 seconds despite hitting the control right on.

I then did a stupid thing to the last control and ran straight through the field, picking up lots and lots of burrs in the process - as can be seen in the picture on Thierry's log: http://tero42.free.fr/AP/20160918_theman.jpg . Kristin Hall got 20 seconds on me on this leg.

Overall, it was a solid run given my physical limitations right now. I won the Green Y course by about 4 minutes over Kristin, but she had a 2 minute mistake, so our speeds were pretty close.

C • Those burrs are impressive! 1

Saturday - Green Y - Splits

Note to self for future sanctioning committee improvements: when a year starts, send out a poll to all the clubs proactively asking them whether they plan on hosting National Events the following year, and whether they plan to bid on any championships. That way, we can minimize any conflict over proposed bids, or at least settle it in a timely fashion, without hurt feelings or lost hard work.

C • Sanctioning 16

C • Competitive events schedule 21

Elliptical at the gym at home. Listened to more of the Hardcore History podcast about Anabaptists.

Did a full set of my exercises after the workout. Dog was not helpful.

Event: DVOA Hickory Run Sand Spring
 

Event: QOC Lake Accotink
 

Alli and I finished off the weekend by going out together on a Green course. We mostly walked, with a bit of jogging in the beginning. Alli did most of the navigation, and I made suggestions and corrections once in a while. She did great - I think she has improved a lot since we've moved back to the States.

On the way home, after picking up Barnacle, we stopped by Clem and Dasha's place and spent a couple of hours with the delightful Forestik.

C • borscht 3

Green - Splits

Event: 2016 Seattle Adventure Running Tournament (9/10 - 9/11)
 

Event: DVOA Hickory Run Sand Spring
 

DVOA Training Camp at Hickory Run.

The first session was contours-only, led by Clem. There were six little loops, each between 500-800 meters, with 3-4 controls. It was a really nice area, and it was fun to be orienteering again. I took it very easy, mostly jogging, and still making mistakes along the way. Great training.

Second training session of DVOA's Hickory Run Training Camp.

In retrospect, I probably should have skipped this one, given my very limited allowed mileage right now. It was a star relay, but the legs were a little too long and too difficult to make it feel like a relay. Clem did modify the format to have teammates go out at the same time to hang controls, and then run back to the start/finish, switch and move the controls. I did this in a team with Patrick Shannon, whom I hadn't seen in a long time. It's fun to see familiar faces come back to the sport after years away.

I didn't feel like I was getting a whole lot out of the exercise, and I was getting tired, so I cut it short after three legs.

I think this would be a great training with shorter and somewhat easier legs, so that people would not be standing around waiting for each other quite as long. Still, it's always nice to get out in this great terrain.

This was the Night-O during DVOA's Hickory Run Training Camp. I was pretty excited about it and decided to do the long course and treat it, at least somewhat, as a race. For an added challenge, I had the weak, crappy light with me, and Alli had the good one on her intermediate course (which she rocked!)

I started out with a lot of hesitation, trying to remember how to orienteer, and blew 2 minutes on #1, due to (a) stopping short and (b) stopping to revamp how my lamp was attached to my head and how the battery was carried.

After #1 it went much better, and I was very pleased to run pretty cleanly on legs 2-10, albeit excruciatingly slowly. I got tired towards the end of the course, and shed a bunch of time on 11, first getting stuck in the green on the way out to the road, then being slow on the road, and finally taking a stupid attack through a green swamp into the control.

Still, I was very pleased with the race and had a really fun time. I ended up 3rd, almost 8 minutes behind Sergei Ryzhkov, but managing to scalp Wyatt in the process.

Being out of shape is very frustrating, and I am still not at the point where it's just a matter of training more. The core muscles on the right side of my body are not used to working at all, and so that side is much weaker than the left. There is still a lot of work ahead before I can start training for real, and I just need to be patient. Still, finding controls in the woods at night is so much fun!!

Results: http://www.dvoa.org/events/results/html/rslt16/hic...

RouteGadget: http://www.dvoa.org/cgi/gadget/reitti.cgi?act=map&...

Advanced - Splits

Recumbent bike "intervals" at the gym at work, 10x1 minute.

Alli and I are headed to Hickory Run for the DVOA training weekend. A lot of the Mid-Atlantic Junior Team members are coming. Looking forward to it!

Squats, planks, side planks, dead bugs, and the weird exercises where I poke at each of my vertebrae to try and activate the tiny muscles that run parallel to the spine.

Stationary bike at the gym at work. Charlie Stern was there too, so we discussed our progress on the way back from injuries.

9:30. Barnacle's paws were a bit sore in the morning, and so the decision was made to keep him off-leash for a bit to see if it would help him move better. It did.

10:00. Within a half-hour of us starting to hike in the morning, he was gone. At first we didn't panic, figuring he would come back like he usually does, but we did speed up the pace a bit. When we got to the next junction with no sign of him, a bit of panic set in. We split up, exploring the different trails, and eventually learned that he followed the way we had planned to go, as oncoming hikers had spotted him.

10:30. At this point Hannah, Alli, and I set off after him, while Kevin returned from exploring a different trail, and Martin waited for Chris (who got a later start) to catch up.

11:00. After passing several hikers who had seen a solo beagle, the trail went dry at a river crossing. We dropped our stuff here and searched all around the river and the nearby campsites. Alli and I were starting to get desperate. I ran into Chris walking up the trail, and we decided that he would head up a side trail that none of us had explored yet, and that Barney hadn't been spotted on.

11:30. I give up on searching around the river crossing and head up the side trail after Chris, especially after hearing conflicting reports from that direction.

12:00. I run up this trail, asking everyone I see if they had seen a beagle or Chris. The first reports are that Barney was spotted about an hour earlier, three miles away, and that Chris was about half an hour ahead of me. The next few reports give somewhat similar times and distances, and I keep running. One pair of hikers give very definitive information that Barney turned onto the trail we had hiked yesterday and was booking it. I try to do the same.

12:30. The reports are getting more encouraging. The dog is twenty minutes ahead, and Chris is five minutes ahead. Then, suddenly, one pair tells me that Chris is with the dog! Another report tells me he is chasing the dog at a full sprint. Yet another tells me that the dog is chasing Chris...

1:00. I am encouraged at this point, but also getting tired, as I am not fit and have no food or water with me. After a few more reports of dog and Chris together, the sightings suddenly cease, right around the spot where we had filled our water bottles for the last time the day before.

1:30. After the reports cease, I start searching around the area where they were last seen, running/walking back and forth and yelling for Chris and Barney, with no success.

2:00. I am crushed and exhausted. I am imagining all sorts of scenarios, but see no other option for myself than to keep following the trail we took yesterday, past the campsite, all the way up to where I had left the rest of the group.

2:30. This feels like some sort of death slog, as I am very weak and thirsty, but just keep moving for the remaining four miles or so. After a while, a group of hikers, whom I had passed earlier in my search, offer me some water and snacks, for which I am grateful. Still no signs of Barnacle.

3:00. I finally drag myself back to where I started, only to find that both Chris and Barney had been back for over an hour. Chris had saved the day.

I was very tired and angry at the dog, but eventually the feeling of relief at not having lost him won out. We managed to hike out of the woods (taking a shortcut to the road while the Culbergs and Martin went ahead to get the cars) without much more adventure, and with Barnacle attached firmly to his leash.

We got out: https://goo.gl/photos/1NphcrrKz7iTVvuW9

C • Goodness 11

Event: 2016 Corn Maze Champs
 

We started walking around 10am after a leisurely breakfast. We were moving well, and the weather was beautiful.

Here are some pictures:
https://goo.gl/photos/LnKBwwoHEoDmukHs5

https://goo.gl/photos/22Q29azMYNVAsTtj7

https://goo.gl/photos/3tLqeo1APZ3xxSLN8

https://goo.gl/photos/ZvQ611zkAF1iupuq7

https://goo.gl/photos/zaz6d8NYtkJAMXRp7

https://goo.gl/photos/nJJLm5MKSw2jTk97A

The plan was to hike for about 8-9 miles, and then settle down at a campsite by a creek. We stopped for lunch around 1pm, and continued heading south. As we approached the creek we were going to camp by, it became clear that all the acceptable campsites were taken, and so we marched onward. After we filled up with water at the last creek crossing, Chris and the Culbergs went ahead to scout campsites, and Martin, Alli, and I kept going at our own pace, slower than the rest.

We managed to take the wrong trail and climb up a hill where the trail dead-ended, adding an extra mile and a half and a whole bunch of climb to the route. By the time we caught up to our advance scouts, who had already found a campsite, we were pretty beat, having walked about 11.5 miles on the day.

After setting up camp, we had a nice evening by the first, discussing all sorts of issues, including the value of a human life in Russian culture.

Water acquisition: https://goo.gl/photos/xYAA2sKrw5z6Nd126

Kevin landscapes the campsite: https://goo.gl/photos/vjUMz1p2a6YY4q9FA

Dinner time! https://goo.gl/photos/PFiNnHu2aftwp6zs5

Fireside (not for the beagle-averse): https://goo.gl/photos/bggC32bNfSVymUyi8

Tired: https://goo.gl/photos/g3iczBYwza4bFf1B7

Chris' hammock: https://goo.gl/photos/d29UGN9NuKykWqzcA

C • 404 8

We went backpacking!

Alli, Barnacle, and I were joined by Martin, Hannah, Kevin, and Chris for a weekend of adventure in Dolly Sods Wilderness in West Virginia. It's a beautiful place, with an ecosystem very different than elsewhere in the DC area. There were parts that reminded me of Scandinavia, with large open meadows and bogs and moss growing. Just a spectacular place that must be breathtaking in the fall.

We hiked just over a mile in from the trailhead and set up camp.

C • Ecosystems 9