Training Log Archive: BorisGrIn the 31 days ending Oct 31, 2007:
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Wednesday Oct 31, 2007 #
Running 31:00 [2] 3.87 mi (8:00 / mi)
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
Easy jog at lunchtime. Legs felt dead.
Note
With Patrick's help, I set courses for OK Linné's Wednesday Night-O tonight. I made the format be Billygoat-style, where you can skip one control. Here are the courses. I am still wondering what the best skips are...
Middle: http://files.myopera.com/borisgr/albums/264633/IMG...
Long: http://files.myopera.com/borisgr/albums/264633/IMG...
The race being on Halloween, we provided glowing carved pumpkins at a couple of controls, and tons (8kg, actually!) of candy at the finish. I think people were pleased despite the miserable weather (4C and rain.)
Oh yeah, and:
Middle: http://files.myopera.com/borisgr/albums/264633/IMG...
Long: http://files.myopera.com/borisgr/albums/264633/IMG...
The race being on Halloween, we provided glowing carved pumpkins at a couple of controls, and tons (8kg, actually!) of candy at the finish. I think people were pleased despite the miserable weather (4C and rain.)
Oh yeah, and:
Tuesday Oct 30, 2007 #
Running 50:15 [2] 5.91 mi (8:30 / mi)
shoes: Saucony 2006
Long warm-up (22 min), cool-down, and jogging between intervals.
Running 13:30 [5] 2.7 mi (5:00 / mi)
shoes: Saucony 2006
Intervals on my own on pavement. (90 sec on, 60 off, 45 on, 120 off) x 6. Ran hard. Glad I did these today rather than yesterday - don't think I would have gotten through the set yesterday. Nice, almost warm evening.
Monday Oct 29, 2007 #
Running 59:47 [2] 7.47 mi (8:00 / mi)
shoes: Saucony 2006
Was thinking of doing intervals tonight, but within a couple of minutes of starting the run realized that it wasn't happening. Turned it into a nice, easy recovery run with Andrew and Patrick, mostly around the lit trail in Stadsskogen. Saw Amelie, Sara, Micro, and Sofie during the run. As usual, Uppsala produces that small-town feeling.
T.rex training 1:00:00 [2]
Monday night gympa. Dragged Andrew along this time. Really crowded tonight, but also really fun.
Sunday Oct 28, 2007 #
Running 20:00 [2] 2.35 mi (8:30 / mi)
shoes: 2007 model Falcons
Warm-up and cool-down for Smålands. Pretty short cool-down, stopped to talk to Swisscheese for a while. Nice to see him!
Orienteering race 1:31:30 [4] *** 13.0 km (7:02 / km)
spiked:25/28c shoes: 2007 model Falcons
Smålandskavlen. OK Linné's 3rd team.
I got to to run the last leg, after Ulrik and Björn ran the night legs, and Simon Eklöv and Patrick did 3 and 4 during the day. I went out in 75th place and felt pretty good right away. The first couple of controls went well, and on the longish leg to 3 I saw two guys who had started ahead of me clearly going in the same direction. Sped up a bit to catch them, spiked the 3rd control, and went off to 4 just behind them. What followed was a classic relay mistake: running to catch these guys, I stopped concentrating on the map and, of course, the next control was forked. Came to the wrong forking and proceeded to try relocating for the longest time, confusing open yellow hilltops with normal white forest. Ended up wasting what looks like about 6 minutes! Ran ok for a couple of legs after that, then made two more mistakes in the butterfly, costing another 4 minutes in total. Disgusting. Finally settled down after that and ran well for the second half of the course, passing a few guys and not really missing anything. Still, an awful result - 10 minutes of mistakes!! Pretty disappointed with myself, especially since the terrain was fast, technical, and very runnable - quite comparable to what we have here in Uppsala.
The team ended up 80th.
Results: http://www.smalandskavlen.nu/dokument/upload/2007_...
I got to to run the last leg, after Ulrik and Björn ran the night legs, and Simon Eklöv and Patrick did 3 and 4 during the day. I went out in 75th place and felt pretty good right away. The first couple of controls went well, and on the longish leg to 3 I saw two guys who had started ahead of me clearly going in the same direction. Sped up a bit to catch them, spiked the 3rd control, and went off to 4 just behind them. What followed was a classic relay mistake: running to catch these guys, I stopped concentrating on the map and, of course, the next control was forked. Came to the wrong forking and proceeded to try relocating for the longest time, confusing open yellow hilltops with normal white forest. Ended up wasting what looks like about 6 minutes! Ran ok for a couple of legs after that, then made two more mistakes in the butterfly, costing another 4 minutes in total. Disgusting. Finally settled down after that and ran well for the second half of the course, passing a few guys and not really missing anything. Still, an awful result - 10 minutes of mistakes!! Pretty disappointed with myself, especially since the terrain was fast, technical, and very runnable - quite comparable to what we have here in Uppsala.
The team ended up 80th.
Results: http://www.smalandskavlen.nu/dokument/upload/2007_...
Friday Oct 26, 2007 #
T.rex training 1:00 [1]
Carrying two very large pumpkins around ICA Maxi and back to the car.
C • hmm 2
Orienteering 2:06:12 [2] *** 12.62 km (10:00 / km)
shoes: 2007 model Falcons
Hanging controls for next week's Halloween Wednesday Night-O on Hagby, most of the way with Patrick. Nice area, it's the same place where I am setting courses for next fall's Linné national event, so that's reassuring. Quite tired the whole way. Rest day tomorrow.
Thursday Oct 25, 2007 #
Orienteering 37:34 [1] 3.76 km (10:00 / km)
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
Hanging controls for the sprint intervals at Polacksbacken. Lina came along to help out.
Running 8:00 [1] 0.67 mi (11:57 / mi)
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
Random jogging around between and after intervals.
Orienteering 23:14 [5] 5.2 km (4:28 / km)
Sprint intervals around Polacksbacken with a headlamp. There were 6 loops, ranging from 650-950 meters, with 4-6 simple controls on each one. We took 90 seconds of rest between loops. Good training, though I did not feel too fresh.
Loops:
4:08
3:51
4:20
3:33
4:13
3:05
Loops:
4:08
3:51
4:20
3:33
4:13
3:05
Wednesday Oct 24, 2007 #
Running 35:00 [2] 3.89 mi (9:00 / mi)
shoes: Rob's shoes
Warm-up/cool-down
Running race 17:21 [5] 5.0 km (3:28 / km)
shoes: Rob's shoes
This week, instead of the now-almost-weekly lunchtime backbana, Björn proposed that we do a time trial on the track. He wanted to do 10000m, but I decided I would run 5000, since it's a distance I've run on the track as a benchmark a number of times before and knew it would be a good test of current shape. My PR coming in was 17:31 from a year ago, but I knew it would be hard to break, given that I've been training pretty hard the last few days and that it was quite cold and windy at the track. Still, I settled into a nice and comfortable pace early, running behind Björn, then was in pain, as usual, around laps 7-9, and then felt pretty strong finishing for a new PR of 17:21. Still pretty far from the sub-17 I really hope to reach, but at least it's progress. Might have to try a 10km on the track sometime this fall to see if I can go faster than the 37:14 I ran in the road race last week.
Splits:
83.9
83.1
82.5
83.8 (5:33 mile)
84.0
83.5
84.5
84.7 (5:37 mile)
85.1
85.0
84.0
81.8 (5:36 mile)
35.1
Comparing splits with my 5km on the same track a year ago (http://www.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp?userid=13&p...)
is interesting: ran almost the same speed for the first 11 laps, and almost all the time difference is in the last 600 meters.
Splits:
83.9
83.1
82.5
83.8 (5:33 mile)
84.0
83.5
84.5
84.7 (5:37 mile)
85.1
85.0
84.0
81.8 (5:36 mile)
35.1
Comparing splits with my 5km on the same track a year ago (http://www.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp?userid=13&p...)
is interesting: ran almost the same speed for the first 11 laps, and almost all the time difference is in the last 600 meters.
Running 10:00 [2] 1.18 mi (8:30 / mi)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Warm-up and jogging to the parking lot from the finish.
Orienteering 43:15 [4] *** 5.8 km (7:27 / km)
spiked:4/6c shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Wednesday Night-O in Morga, the weird, hilly part of Lunsen.
Decided to run the middle course this week after last Wednesday's disaster, in order to get some self-confidence back and take the course at a comfortable pace and not feel rushed. It went pretty well, though I still bobbled the first control by about 30 seconds and then missed #4 by about 1:30 or so, and the orienteering wasn't very difficult. Still, it was nice to have a decent run, even if on tired legs.
Results: http://www.oklinne.nu/onsdagsnatt/results.php?id=3...
Decided to run the middle course this week after last Wednesday's disaster, in order to get some self-confidence back and take the course at a comfortable pace and not feel rushed. It went pretty well, though I still bobbled the first control by about 30 seconds and then missed #4 by about 1:30 or so, and the orienteering wasn't very difficult. Still, it was nice to have a decent run, even if on tired legs.
Results: http://www.oklinne.nu/onsdagsnatt/results.php?id=3...
Tuesday Oct 23, 2007 #
Running 1:20:14 [2] 10.03 mi (8:00 / mi)
shoes: Saucony 2006
A long run on "The Yellow Trail", a trail that starts at the Studenternas IP track in the north and goes all the way down to Skarholmen, by the lake. We ran with headlamps, and the trail was quite muddy and rooty (is that a word?), making it hard to run. I felt strangely out of energy and turn back towards the clubhouse along Gottsunda Gipen when I felt like I've had enough. I wonder if the lack of energy is due to not eating pasta (or any other carbs) for dinner last night, for the first time in weeks (months?) ?
After training, we had a men's meeting to talk about Smålandskavlen, the winter ski camp, and the end-of-winter training camp someplace warm, such as Spain or Portugal. Is it bad that it's only October, but I am already getting excited about a warm-weather camp?
After training, we had a men's meeting to talk about Smålandskavlen, the winter ski camp, and the end-of-winter training camp someplace warm, such as Spain or Portugal. Is it bad that it's only October, but I am already getting excited about a warm-weather camp?
Monday Oct 22, 2007 #
Running 54:05 [2] 6.36 mi (8:30 / mi)
shoes: Rob's shoes
Warm-up, cool-down, and jogging between intervals.
Running 10:00 [5] 2.0 mi (5:00 / mi)
shoes: Rob's shoes
Fast intervals with Patrick on the lit trail in Stadsskogen. We ran (10x30 sec on / 30 sec off) x 2, with 5 minutes jogging between the sets. Felt good to go fast, feels like it's been a while.
T.rex training 1:00:00 [2]
Gympa (or is it Jympa?) at F&S with lots of Linné people, including Mari.
Sunday Oct 21, 2007 #
Orienteering 2:21:04 [2] 17.63 km (8:00 / km)
shoes: 2007 model Falcons
An old Tuesday night line-O (course X) on Nåsten with Patrick and Mari. We had one compass between the three of us, so the compass made the rounds, and the person carrying it got to lead. We got sort of lost a few times, but mostly did pretty well navigating. It was also about the most comfortable I've ever felt reading a detailed 1:15 map on the run. Don't know if it's just familiarity with Nåsten or actual improvement in my map-reading skills, but it was nice regardless. Felt pretty good running, even if we ended up being out a bit longer than the "two hours +/- 20 minutes" estimate that I gave Patrick and Mari early on in the run.
Saturday Oct 20, 2007 #
Event: Blodslitet
Running 25:00 [2] 2.78 mi (9:00 / mi)
shoes: 2007 model Falcons
Warm-up and then cool-down with Andrew
Orienteering race 31:36 [4] *** 4.85 km (6:31 / km) +53m 6:11 / km
spiked:15/18c shoes: 2007 model Falcons
Oktoberracet 2007, OK Enen, Enköping.
An almost entirely flat (I counted the climb for a laugh - about 53 meters!) course with occasional knolls and boulders scattered throughout. Mostly fast woods.
I started quite early (4th starter) and was pretty cold in the beginning, but got warmer as the race went on. Had a very good race for the most part. Didn't feel like I was running too fast, but felt in control most of the time. For most of the course, the controls kept turning up exactly where and when I was expecting them to, which was nice. I did make one big mistake - on #8, I first took a poor route choice, picking an around trail option rather than going straight, and then executing poorly when I didn't see the ditch I was planning to use as my attackpoint. Ended up losing 2 minutes, which is pretty irritating. Still didn't see the ditch after I found the control it was supposedly next to. Amusingly, the guy I caught at #3 followed me the whole way, including through the dark green during my mistake on 8. Ran very well after 8, with just one 20-second bobble on 11. Was the first finisher in H21, which is pretty cool. Ended up 30th out of 90, 5 minutes off the winning time. This winning time belonged to Albin, our incredible soon-to-be 16-year-old, who dominated the H21 class today. Very impressive and humbling.
Regardless, this was my best race in a while, and good for getting some confidence back.
WinSplits: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
Map: http://files.myopera.com/borisgr/albums/264633/IMG...
After the race, we stuck around to watch the Elitseries final. It was a middle distance race, with three loops and paired starts. Each pair ran the first two loops in different orders and then did a common third loop. It was great spectating, though I am not sure how the athletes felt about this format. Additionally, having two runners start each minute meant that lots of packs were forming, surely altering the results to some degree. Still, it was really fun to watch, especially as Mattias Millinger won the men's race, and Tomas Stenström and Mats tied for 5th. Very cool! Annika Billstam got 6th in the women's race, anot both she and Millinger ended up 4th overall in the Elitseries. Plus, at the orienteering gala in the evening, OK Linné was awarded the "Swedish Relay Club of the Year" prize: http://www.oklinne.nu/index.php?page=news&id=2151 .
All in all, a good day for the club.
An almost entirely flat (I counted the climb for a laugh - about 53 meters!) course with occasional knolls and boulders scattered throughout. Mostly fast woods.
I started quite early (4th starter) and was pretty cold in the beginning, but got warmer as the race went on. Had a very good race for the most part. Didn't feel like I was running too fast, but felt in control most of the time. For most of the course, the controls kept turning up exactly where and when I was expecting them to, which was nice. I did make one big mistake - on #8, I first took a poor route choice, picking an around trail option rather than going straight, and then executing poorly when I didn't see the ditch I was planning to use as my attackpoint. Ended up losing 2 minutes, which is pretty irritating. Still didn't see the ditch after I found the control it was supposedly next to. Amusingly, the guy I caught at #3 followed me the whole way, including through the dark green during my mistake on 8. Ran very well after 8, with just one 20-second bobble on 11. Was the first finisher in H21, which is pretty cool. Ended up 30th out of 90, 5 minutes off the winning time. This winning time belonged to Albin, our incredible soon-to-be 16-year-old, who dominated the H21 class today. Very impressive and humbling.
Regardless, this was my best race in a while, and good for getting some confidence back.
WinSplits: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
Map: http://files.myopera.com/borisgr/albums/264633/IMG...
After the race, we stuck around to watch the Elitseries final. It was a middle distance race, with three loops and paired starts. Each pair ran the first two loops in different orders and then did a common third loop. It was great spectating, though I am not sure how the athletes felt about this format. Additionally, having two runners start each minute meant that lots of packs were forming, surely altering the results to some degree. Still, it was really fun to watch, especially as Mattias Millinger won the men's race, and Tomas Stenström and Mats tied for 5th. Very cool! Annika Billstam got 6th in the women's race, anot both she and Millinger ended up 4th overall in the Elitseries. Plus, at the orienteering gala in the evening, OK Linné was awarded the "Swedish Relay Club of the Year" prize: http://www.oklinne.nu/index.php?page=news&id=2151 .
All in all, a good day for the club.
Friday Oct 19, 2007 #
Note
(rest day)
Rest day! First time in a while I am taking one of these voluntarily.
Thursday Oct 18, 2007 #
Running 2:00:59 [2] 20.16 km (6:00 / km)
shoes: Saucony 2006
Nice long run with Patrick and headlamps. We ran down to Sunnersta, ran a few loops of the Backmördarpasset that everyone was doing (a 1km long hill loops with 55m climb that people were running over and over), and then back home in the darkness. Nice run, nice company.
Wednesday Oct 17, 2007 #
Running 16:10 [2] 1.9 mi (8:30 / mi)
shoes: 2007 model Falcons
Jogging from Polacksbacken to the start of backbana and back.
Running 33:58 [3] 5.0 km (6:48 / km) +300m 5:14 / km
shoes: 2007 model Falcons
An easy-pace run around the backbana on an absolutely spectacular fall day - bright and sunny and about 12C. Just perfect! I ran with Lars and Björn and a friend of theirs from work, for whom this was his first backbana experience. We kept pace along with him, all three of us probably thankful for the excuse to go slowly. I felt reasonably fresh and strong on the hills, which I hope is some indication that my plan of running backbana at least once every week is bearing fruit.
Running 8:00 [2] 0.89 mi (9:00 / mi)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Warm-up for the night-O, the 3000th training session I've logged on AP.
Orienteering 1:16:31 [3] 7.4 km (10:20 / km)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Wednesday Night-O, the first one of the season.
This one was on Hammarskog, and I ran the long course. Was basically by myself the entire time, as I had a late start, and made a bunch of mistakes. Managed to relocate reasonably well on most of them, but there were sitll a couple of big ones. Also terrified myself when I spooked a duck that must have been almost right under me as I ran through a swamp. It flew off making loud noises indicating general displeasure.
It'll definitely take some time this fall to get used to night-O again.
This one was on Hammarskog, and I ran the long course. Was basically by myself the entire time, as I had a late start, and made a bunch of mistakes. Managed to relocate reasonably well on most of them, but there were sitll a couple of big ones. Also terrified myself when I spooked a duck that must have been almost right under me as I ran through a swamp. It flew off making loud noises indicating general displeasure.
It'll definitely take some time this fall to get used to night-O again.
Tuesday Oct 16, 2007 #
Running 37:15 [2] 4.14 mi (9:00 / mi)
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
Long warm-up and a shuffle cool-down with Patrick, Sara, and Mari.
Running 19:41 [5] 5.0 km (3:56 / km)
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
I don't think I am in good shape at the moment. Or at least, I felt really slow running the club "cross-country" champs. The idea was to run loops around the fairly hilly Norby lit trail. We were supposed to run 3 loops, but right from the start I was pretty sure that getting through 2 would be an accomplishment. Felt like I was running as hard as I could right from the start, but at the same time, the speed just wasn't there. Kept with Patrick and within sight of Lars for the first lap (9:48), then watched Inga fly by us at the beginning of the second lap and try to stay with her. Man, she is strong! Barely hung on for the entire second lap (9:53), and outsprinted her to the finish, only to see her go off for a third lap. Impressive! She was way faster than all the other girls, including Annika. Anyway, Mats' times for the first two laps were 8:15 and 8:32.
The last couple of days I've felt like I am working hard, feeling ok, but just have no ability to go fast. Let's hope it's just the lingering effects of the sickness and not an indication of my overall shape.
The last couple of days I've felt like I am working hard, feeling ok, but just have no ability to go fast. Let's hope it's just the lingering effects of the sickness and not an indication of my overall shape.
Monday Oct 15, 2007 #
Running 1:00:09 [2] 7.08 mi (8:30 / mi)
shoes: Saucony 2006
A 'gentle jog' around Rob's loop on Nåsten, plus some more in Stadsskogen. Strange to not have any of Rob, Andrew, or Patrick in town to train with. Feels almost like my first year in Uppsala!
T.rex training 1:00:00 [2]
The fall's first gympa for me, right after the run. Man, I am bad at this. Everything hurt, and I was totally uncoordinated. At least I must have provided good entertainment for Sara and Mari with my poorly timed hops and skips, and arm motions more resembling the final death throes of a crippled boar in agony than the graceful dance/aerobics movements that Susanne, the gympa leader, demonstrated.
Sunday Oct 14, 2007 #
Running 23:30 [2] 2.76 mi (8:30 / mi)
shoes: Rob's shoes
Warm-up with Mats, cool-down with Mats, Inga, and Liutas
Running race 37:14 [5] 10.0 km (3:43 / km)
shoes: Rob's shoes
After being sick and not-too-motivated the last couple of weeks, I decided it was time to kick-start my training again. The kicking implement of choice was Hässelbyloppet, 10km road race in the suburbs of Stockholm. I hadn't run any road races in ages, and hadn't done a measured 10km since I was 11, when I ran 44:24 in Moscow. As a result, I didn't have too many time expectations (36 minutes was a goal, but only an approximate one.) The idea was just to make myself run hard, see what sort of time I can do, and get a good workout in the process. By the way, can anyone tell me why entry fees at running races are several times greater than at orienteering races, even though way more work goes into planning an O-race?
So I raced. Even though Mats warned me not too run too fast at the start, I did just that and, to my horror, passed the first 1km in 3:24, a lot faster than the 3:36 I tentatively hoped for. As one can see from my splits below, I paid for this stupid opening later on and ended up really struggling after about 4km or so. My first 5km was 17:59, and the second - 19:15. Quite sad. Oh well, at least now I have a time I can try to beat in the future. Plus, I actually enjoyed this!
The biggest plus was that this was the first day in two and a half weeks that I spent without coughing even once, and so I finally feel ready to get back into training. Oh yeah, I raced in a pair of lightweight Mizuno shoes that Rob gave me yesterday. They are totally awesome and fit perfectly.
3:24
3:29
3:43
3:38
3:45
3:50
3:53
3:54
3:54
3:42
Results: http://www.racetimer.se/sv/race/resultlist/91?rc_i...
So I raced. Even though Mats warned me not too run too fast at the start, I did just that and, to my horror, passed the first 1km in 3:24, a lot faster than the 3:36 I tentatively hoped for. As one can see from my splits below, I paid for this stupid opening later on and ended up really struggling after about 4km or so. My first 5km was 17:59, and the second - 19:15. Quite sad. Oh well, at least now I have a time I can try to beat in the future. Plus, I actually enjoyed this!
The biggest plus was that this was the first day in two and a half weeks that I spent without coughing even once, and so I finally feel ready to get back into training. Oh yeah, I raced in a pair of lightweight Mizuno shoes that Rob gave me yesterday. They are totally awesome and fit perfectly.
3:24
3:29
3:43
3:38
3:45
3:50
3:53
3:54
3:54
3:42
Results: http://www.racetimer.se/sv/race/resultlist/91?rc_i...
C • prices 10
Biking (spinning) 55:00 [3]
After getting back to Uppsala, I grabbed a pizza with Mats (who was impressive in coming 6th with a time of 31:47!), went home, slept for an hour, and headed off to the gym for some spinning. The idea was to use it as a recovery session - never raise the resistance too high during the workout. The turned out well, and I feel a lot fresher now than I did after this morning's race.
Saturday Oct 13, 2007 #
Note
(rest day)
Spent most of the day (from 6:45am till 14:00 or so) standing around at the Uppsala Raid adventure race. My tasks included being a parking attendant (a job that could be done as easily, and surely better, by an appropriately placed cardboard sign with an arrow and a large "P" painted on it) and then being a bridge attendant, making sure that cars didn't run over the bikers going over the bridge (a job that did not need to be done by anyone at all.) Since the temperature throughout the day varied wildly from -5C to about -4C, and since my jobs involved about as much movement as Lenin's mummy performs in its mausoleum on a daily basis, I was frozen solid pretty much the whole day. Even though I planned valiantly to go for a run after getting home, all I could manage was sit in the corner of the shower for about an hour or so, whimpering.
Friday Oct 12, 2007 #
Running 18:40 [2] 2.2 mi (8:30 / mi)
shoes: 2007 model Falcons
Jogging to and from backbana.
Running 29:20 [4] 5.0 km (5:52 / km) +300m 4:31 / km
shoes: 2007 model Falcons
Had a headache and was nauseous in the morning, but dranlk a bunch of water and felt better. Probably got dehydrated from sweating tons last night - they finally turned on the heat in the house, but i didn't adjust for it. Anyway, ran over to the backbana and did one lap, starting out easy and working harder as it went on. Felt good to finish strong.
Thursday Oct 11, 2007 #
Biking (spinning) 55:00 [4]
Little by little, getting back into training. Thought about doing part of the club's interval workout tonight, but decided against it given the really cold, rainy evening and my desire to avoid getting sick again immediately. Went instead to the gym (for the first time in ages!) and took a spinning class. Nice and sweaty, just as I remember it. Felt good and enjoyed being indoors for a workout.
Wednesday Oct 10, 2007 #
Running 47:22 [2] 5.57 mi (8:30 / mi)
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
Easy jog through Stadsskogen and then Eriksberg with Rob. Really sad that he, Allison, and Max are leaving so soon...
Tuesday Oct 9, 2007 #
Note
(sick) (rest day)
One more day off, in the earnest hopes of being able to officially declare myself healthy tomorrow. And i am recording this now, before the day is over, so that i don't talk myself into going for a run, or a spinning class or, worse yet, come along for the 10000 meter time trial on the track tonight.
But it's sooooo tempting...
But it's sooooo tempting...
Monday Oct 8, 2007 #
Running 17:00 [2] 2.13 mi (8:00 / mi)
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
Jogging to the castle and back
Orienteering 24:21 [2] 3.5 km (6:57 / km)
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
Was going to just go for an easy jog, but saw that there was a class for university students wanting to try orienteering being run by Lina tonight, so I decided to jog around the course she set instead - always more fun to run with a map in hand if possible. It was a course on the castle sprint map, and I jogged it. The plan was to never stop nor speed up and read ahead on every leg. This worked out pretty well - chose one questionable route and also ran by one control after stopping to talk to Lina for a minute or so.
Nice to jog around a bit, but definitely don't feel 100% - similar to the way i felt after a bad cold in February, when I ran the Varsity Match in England.
Nice to jog around a bit, but definitely don't feel 100% - similar to the way i felt after a bad cold in February, when I ran the Varsity Match in England.
Sunday Oct 7, 2007 #
Note
(sick) (rest day)
Having learned my lesson (for the time being) about racing when sick, I instead spent Sunday eating sandwiches and spectating the World Cup Final with Kat and Sandra in "downtown" Stein-am-Rhein. Fun spectating, but pretty awful announcing, with a very pro-Swiss crowd and a very pro-Swiss announcer, who basically cheered when Norwegian Öystein Kvaal Österbö, who came in with the lead, turned out to have mispunched, putting the lead back into Swiss hands. Speaking of the mispunch, the runners had the same control twice - once after passing the spectator area after the first loop and getting a new map, and then again as the last control. This seems like the kind of thing that the runners should be notified ahead of time. A number of people (Österbö, Marianne Andersen, a few others) mispunched here, and a bunch of others (including Annika Billstam) missed lots of time by not seeing it and having to come back. It seemed quite unfair, especially since some runners got to start at the same time as another runner was running through the spectator area (same chute as the start) and saw the other runner punch. If I were a Norwegian team leader, I'd consider protesting...
Between this and the fighting and myriad mispunches at 25-manna, sounds like this was a pretty controversial week-end in orienteering.
Oh yeah, you can see the maps on Österbö's website: http://folk.ntnu.no/oysteios/
Between this and the fighting and myriad mispunches at 25-manna, sounds like this was a pretty controversial week-end in orienteering.
Oh yeah, you can see the maps on Österbö's website: http://folk.ntnu.no/oysteios/
Saturday Oct 6, 2007 #
Running 15:00 [2] 1.67 mi (9:00 / mi)
shoes: 2007 model Falcons
Warm-up
Orienteering race 1:07:33 [3] *** 8.9 km (7:35 / km) +340m 6:22 / km
spiked:20/23c shoes: 2007 model Falcons
World Cup Round 9, "Middle distance".
What a weird format - supposedly middle distance, but with a 47-minute winning time and 1:15 scale. Strange.
Definitely did not feel 100% healthy, but started anyway. Stupid. I just absolutely hate not racing and just sitting by and watching, but I think I am slowly learning the hard way not to race sick. Got stuck in the green on #1 and missed #2 by about 30 seconds, passing on the wrong side of a treed from it. Was caught by Scott Fraser already on the way to 3 - not a good sign. Orienteered well for the next few controls and stayed ahead of him, but quickly realized that I just had no speed or strength at all and faded on the first steep hill, going up to #7. Pretty much clean, but slow after that all the way to the TV control, where I did not understand the map at all and was milling around about 10 meters away with like five other people - lost around 45 seconds, I'd say, probably all of it caught on video. No mistakes after that, just a couple of hesitations in an area that was unreadable at full speed at 1:15. Then trudged down into town for the last couple of controls, through the streets of Stein-am-Rhein. Felt like I might need to stop and walk the finish chute. A pretty pathetic effort all-around.
As usual, one needs to take away some positives in order not to go home and just give up altogether.
1) I guess my actual shape isn't as bad as the result shows, as the sickness must have had an effect. Does anyone know how big a difference being sick can actually make, in terms of minutes or percent?
2) For the first time since, perhaps, July, I felt like I was actually right on target with all my compass bearings. This is encouraging. It's totally lame to blame equipment, but I finally feel comfortable with a compass for the first time since I broke the last one I liked on Day 1 of O-Ringen. (I've gone through 4 since then!!)
3) I managed to focus and run my own race and actually had attackpoints and mental images of what the control circle would look like for most of the controls. This may have been, though, partly due to my low speed.
What a weird format - supposedly middle distance, but with a 47-minute winning time and 1:15 scale. Strange.
Definitely did not feel 100% healthy, but started anyway. Stupid. I just absolutely hate not racing and just sitting by and watching, but I think I am slowly learning the hard way not to race sick. Got stuck in the green on #1 and missed #2 by about 30 seconds, passing on the wrong side of a treed from it. Was caught by Scott Fraser already on the way to 3 - not a good sign. Orienteered well for the next few controls and stayed ahead of him, but quickly realized that I just had no speed or strength at all and faded on the first steep hill, going up to #7. Pretty much clean, but slow after that all the way to the TV control, where I did not understand the map at all and was milling around about 10 meters away with like five other people - lost around 45 seconds, I'd say, probably all of it caught on video. No mistakes after that, just a couple of hesitations in an area that was unreadable at full speed at 1:15. Then trudged down into town for the last couple of controls, through the streets of Stein-am-Rhein. Felt like I might need to stop and walk the finish chute. A pretty pathetic effort all-around.
As usual, one needs to take away some positives in order not to go home and just give up altogether.
1) I guess my actual shape isn't as bad as the result shows, as the sickness must have had an effect. Does anyone know how big a difference being sick can actually make, in terms of minutes or percent?
2) For the first time since, perhaps, July, I felt like I was actually right on target with all my compass bearings. This is encouraging. It's totally lame to blame equipment, but I finally feel comfortable with a compass for the first time since I broke the last one I liked on Day 1 of O-Ringen. (I've gone through 4 since then!!)
3) I managed to focus and run my own race and actually had attackpoints and mental images of what the control circle would look like for most of the controls. This may have been, though, partly due to my low speed.
Friday Oct 5, 2007 #
Running 16:33 [2] 1.84 mi (9:00 / mi)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Got to Stein-am-Rhein, Switzerland on a lovely, sunny afternoon. Settled in and jogged over to the model event with Kat.
Orienteering 33:00 [2] 3.3 km (10:00 / km)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Jogging around the model event with Kat. Both of us were moving quite slowly, though I was feeling slightly better than Kat. The terrain was nice - mostly very runnable with high visibility. Not too much contour detail, but rather steep hillsides.
Thursday Oct 4, 2007 #
Running 30:13 [2] 3.78 mi (8:00 / mi)
shoes: 2007 model Falcons
Running to and from KG.
Orienteering 20:37 [4] *** 3.1 km (6:39 / km)
spiked:5/6c shoes: 2007 model Falcons
Needed to see how it felt to run hard, so I came over to the clubhouse for the 25-manna training. It will be sad to miss 25-manna this week-end - it really is such a fun event, and Linné's first team has a good shot at a really excellent result. But anyway, this was a forked mass-start course. I just did the shortest version, 3km, and started out easy. I picked up the pace as the course went on and ended up running quite hard for the second half. It felt ok, so I think I'll upgrade my chances of racing on Saturday from the 40% I was at this morning to about 70%.
Oh yeah, the first one back from each course got a cinnamon roll, so I got to enjoy one after my arduous 3km course. :)
Oh yeah, the first one back from each course got a cinnamon roll, so I got to enjoy one after my arduous 3km course. :)
Wednesday Oct 3, 2007 #
Running 27:44 [2] 3.47 mi (8:00 / mi)
(sick) shoes: Saucony 2006
Felt like it's been a while since I've pressed the "add training" button! I am still sick, but getting better. Coughing and a somewhat sore throat are still there, but I think things are going in the right direction.
It felt so good to run! My legs felt so fresh - almost too fresh! Surely, this feeling will be gone by tomorrow, but it was nice to cruise around Stadsskogen paths and feel like I was flying, even if I was probably just jogging along.
It felt so good to run! My legs felt so fresh - almost too fresh! Surely, this feeling will be gone by tomorrow, but it was nice to cruise around Stadsskogen paths and feel like I was flying, even if I was probably just jogging along.
Tuesday Oct 2, 2007 #
Note
(sick)
Still had a slight fever last night, but starting to feel a bit more human now. Can't remember the last time I didn't run for that long.
On Friday I fly to Switzerland for the last round of the World Cup. Not exactly filled with self-confidence after a week of coughing up phlegm. Hopefully, I will be healthy enough to run, at least. What's more exciting is that this will be Kat's debut representing the US. She is in great shape - will be cool to see how she does in her first really big races! And, of course, watching Sandra race on home terrain will be exciting. So, if nothing else, I will be a really loud cheerleader for our awesome girls.
On Friday I fly to Switzerland for the last round of the World Cup. Not exactly filled with self-confidence after a week of coughing up phlegm. Hopefully, I will be healthy enough to run, at least. What's more exciting is that this will be Kat's debut representing the US. She is in great shape - will be cool to see how she does in her first really big races! And, of course, watching Sandra race on home terrain will be exciting. So, if nothing else, I will be a really loud cheerleader for our awesome girls.
Note
A combination of Spike's blog entry and Thierry Gueorgiou's analysis of his WOC 2004 middle distance race (one has some free time in front of the computer when lying sick at home...) reminded me of a simple technique tool I have been neglecting a bit too much recently: making the control bigger. I think Spike's example illustrates this tool very well - instead of telling yourself you are just looking for the feature the control is on, create a larger picture of where the control is located, including contours and vegetation when possible. Will try to focus on this next weekend to try and minimize mistakes in the circle which have plagued me all fall.