Training Log Archive: BorisGr

Really need to remember my headphones next time. Watching Paternity Court (yes, that's an actual TV show) at full volume is not my idea of a good time.

Time to get back to it. Did a warmup on elliptical and then my PT routing at the gym at work. The bone bruise on the knee is preventing me from doing full squats, but I could do most other exercises pretty well. The trick will be managing to do this on a regular basis...

US Middle Distance Championships, Dutch Lake. This race, along with the Billygoat, have been the two races I looked forward to most this year and visualized as I worked to rehab from last year's back surgery. The bone bruise on my kneecap that I suffered at the Billygoat set me back far enough that there was no chance of me being competitive at the middle distance champs, but I was still excited to go out and run in this great terrain.

I really enjoyed myself out there. Even though there was again a lot of deadfall, I was moving a bit faster than yesterday, and so it didn't feel like as much of a hindrance. I liked the terrain and the map a lot. I thought that the course was fun, but the middle part too easy, using the lakes as massive attackpoints instead of involving them in the route choice and not placing controls right next to them. Still, I had a great time out there. I made a couple of mistakes: about 45 seconds on 2 and another 45 on 11. Otherwise, it was my speed holding me back. Nice to see excellent races by Will and Kevin to finish 1 and 2!

RouteGadget: http://www.ctoc-boise.org/gadget/cgi-bin/reitti.cg...

Blue Middle - Splits

Red course at the US long distance champs. Fun and technical terrain with a lot of deadfall on the ground. The kind of terrain that's way more fun when you are in shape. I wasn't, and so a lot of the course was a struggle physically. But the bits that I could really run were a blast. Did ok technically until losing contact for a while on the long leg to 16. Relocated fine, but lost time along the way - this terrain punishes you when you aren't confident.

Great day for orienteering, but the mosquitoes in the arena made it less enjoyable for Alli's family who were helping out with Inara and Odin.

Red long - Splits

Event: 2017 Gold Rush Meet and USA SML Championships
 

US Sprint Champs, Blue

I was about as unprepared as I've ever been for a US Champs race, and it showed. Pretty clean race, but just slow, so slow. Still, fun to be racing and finding controls. Finished over 5 minutes behind Jourdan.

Afterwards, Alli, Barney, Inara, and I walked the White course as Odin sprinted around and found the controls.

Blue sprint - Splits

Score-O with the family: Alli, Barney, Inara, and me. We had a blast and even got all the controls but one! Not the most enjoyable terrain, but the lake, the beach, and the company more than made up for it.

Red course at Riverside State Park in Spokane. It was a hot day and I was feeling sore and tired from all the sprints the day before. Planned to take it at a trot and did just that, but still made a bunch of mistakes along the way, including 5 minutes on one slope control where the map didn't make much sense.

Some nice hanging out with the Campbells and Will afterwards. Odin and Anna bonded pretty well and decided to do the score-O together the following day.

Event: PNWOF Spokane Events
 

I missed the Fishtrap Goat due to family activities and common sense, and instead drove out there the day after with Will and the Campbells. I went out with Anna for a few controls to see how she orienteered in this terrain. She was doing well when focused, but the focus disappeared fairly quickly, and she instead stayed behind to watch a coyote den with Jon and Peter. I then did a few legs of the goat by myself, immensely enjoying the terrain and the natural setting.

I shadowed/led Odin around the Sprint 1 course at the Bowl and Pitcher at the EWOC races. He enjoyed himself and was very quick to figure out how to orient the map.

After getting back to the "arena" with Odin, I jogged back to the start to see if they would let me run late. John Harbuck was there, graciously waiting for me. I ran the sprint and made a total mess of it, but still had fun. Got crushed by all the fast people. David Bakker won in 13:28.

After finishing the first sprint, we grabbed our stuff and drove back to fetch Alli and Inara. For the second sprint, the challenge was to have me, Alli, and Odin all get to start within the one-hour start window, while an adult stayed with Inara.

I went first, getting to the start before it opened. There was a line of people already there. They asked me why i wanted to skip ahead of them, and I told them I wanted to get back so I could walk my 9-year-old nephew around the course. That was better than other people's excuses of "50 cent beers" and "late for happy hour."

This sprint went much better, and I was fairly clean, if not speedy. Ended up 3rd, two minutes behind Will. I managed to beat Brian May, who made some mistakes. This would be the only time I'd even be close to him this whole week. He is very impressive!

The second sprint with Odin. I think he was tired - every time he tried to run, he tripped and fell - about 5 times altogether. He still had fun and was very brave about the scrapes and bruises.

Event: CascadeOC Ultimate Orienteer #9: Goat
 

Event: CascadeOC Ultimate Orienteer #8: Middle
 

Orienteering!

We made it to Spokane and drove to Moses Lake in the morning for Cascade's Ultimate Orienteer event, a middle distance. This was my first attempt at running since the Billygoat, and I was not sure how I would fare. The body ended up holding up ok, if slow and rickety.

Fun terrain, though tough running in the sand dunes and a lot of burrs still stuck in my socks almost two weeks later. Made a couple of mistakes, mostly due to underestimating the green and overestimating the water levels.

Ended up 9 minutes behind Will, or about 1.5 minutes/km, which is the closest I would come to him all week.

Map: http://rg.cascadeoc.org/rg2/#181&course=7
WinSplits: http://obasen.orientering.se/winsplits/online/en/d...

Event: Ottawa Spring Training Weekend
 

Basically haven't trained at all since the Billygoat. Knee still hurts, but I could probably find a way to do things without aggravating it. Mostly the motivation to make the time has been lacking. One too many comeback attempts. On the bright side, hanging out with Inara and Alli has been wonderful.