Training Log Archive: BorisGr

Morning strength at F&S Ekeby with a slew of girls (Lina, Hanna, Lisa, Lisa), as Mats pounded out a long "run" on the elliptical. Searched around a bit to find quad and hamstring machines that didn't hurt the knee and then did a bunch of core upstairs. The final act was a butt race, in which I was destroyed by Lina and Lisa C, despite trying my best to cheat.

Ross was amazing at Blodomloppet yesterday.

C • Why on earth would you need to cheat? 3

Sprint-DM, Sigtuna

Simple course, ok run technically. Knee hurt, felt slow.

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

Jogging before and after the sprint.

Intervals on the elliptical machine at the Ultuna F&S with Lisa and (in the beginning) Albin. Couldn't really figure out how to push hard at first, but got the hang of it as the workout went on. This didn't seem to hurt the knee.

Aqua-jogging intervals with Lisa at Centralbadet. Lisa absolutely kicked my butt! We did 10' warm-up, then 10x(50"-10"), 2 min rest, 8x(2'30"-30"), 2 min rest, 10x(50"-10"), and another 10' cool-down. The intervals kept the work-out from being boring, but I did start feeling my left knee after an hour or so. Anyone have good suggestions for training that it is effective but easy on the knees? (I am thinking of trying elliptical intervals, but am a bit skeptical.)

C • When I had a really bad kne... 3

Event: Western Mass 5-Day
 

I am feeling stressed and sleep-deprived, and each of my knees is hurting in its own special way. If I have any hope of being ready for WOC, I need to do something different than what I have been doing.

One thought is to simply take the next couple of days off, get a lot of sleep, and try again.

Another is to try an approach shamelessly stolen from Oli's log: spend a few days just going for long, slow runs to reset the system and try training for real after that.

A third approach is to give up on the idea of WOC and focus on the other things in life that desperately need attention.

Suggestions?

C • Rest your body! 21

To/from start

Backbana at lunchtime. Legs felt tired from the intervals, but the time was still ok for a steady pace.

Uppsala Sprint Cup #2 at Ulleråker

A pretty simple sprint course on a lovely sunny day. I had absolutely no speed or power in my legs, and Jan ran by me like I was standing still halfway through. A bad route to 12 cost me 20 seconds, no mistakes otherwise - just slow.

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

Janne's backbana in Uppsala - Splits

Warmup

Intervals on the trails in Stadsskogen. I ran (3'-2'-1')x4 with 1 minute rest. Everything was good except for all the bugs I swallowed. Yuck.

Nice grilling and chilling with Sam's clan afterwards.

Some very easy running before rockgympa.

Very lazy rockgympa and flexibility training outside in the sunshine.

Running hard to the start after Andrew's car broke down on the way to the event.

EOC Spectator Race #4
Prolonged Middle Distance at Lugnet

The terrain was better today, as was my race. I finally had some feelings of speed and spiking controls, which had been missing the previous two days. I was a bit stressed in the beginning after nearly missing the start, but got into the race after a bit and ran well the rest of the way.

Spectating the EOC Relay afterwards was a thrilling experience, with both highs (the excitement of watching Tanya Ryabkina anchor the Russian women to gold) and lows (the horror of watching Dani Hubmann limp to the exchange after tearing his achilles on the bridge during the run-in.)
Other highlights: Sarah Rollins taking her own route choice on the 3rd control of the first leg and getting ahead of the entire pack; Emma Klingenberg ending up too low on the spectator control, climbing the wall to the ski jump, and realizing that she was about to cross into the out of bounds area while straddling the ski jump wall and reading a map.

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

C • thrilling 2

EOC Spectator Race #3
Middle distance at Lugnet, H21-2

Not surprisingly, my legs were quite tired today and I didn't have great speed. I also bobbled the first couple of controls a bit, but got into the orienteering afterwards and ran ok the rest of the way. The terrain wasn't particularly inspiring today - rocky hillsides crisscrossed by lots of trails and running on trails and fields in the end. Certainly nowhere near the awesome Skattungbyn terrain, especially from the very first race.

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

Warm-up

EOC Spectator Race #2
Middle Distance at Skattungbyn, class H21-2

This was the day I planned to race at full speed and take very seriously. I did have good speed, but I started racing like a headless chicken and couldn't tell apart up from down in the beginning of the course. I took bad lines, which forced me to run around or though giant depressions, instead of smoothly passing between them. I ran on the wrong side of a tree from a control and didn't have the confidence to stop and look around there. Basically, I lost over four minutes through mistakes on the first five controls. I ran hard for the rest of the course, but the motivation wasn't really there. Disappointed. Need to remember how to race again before WOC.

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

Today's second training was running up the hill from Orsa to Grönklitt with Olle and Joffe. We ran at a nice, easy pace and had a great time. I was really enjoying myself climbing this hill in the sunshine, in a beautiful forest, with good company.

Warm-up

EOC Spectator Race #1
Long distance at Skattungbyn

I planned to run this in a long run tempo, but it was hard to keep the excitement down in the beginning of the course, and so I started harder than I should have before settling into a nice, steady pace. This was a very good race for me technically. I picked good routes and executed them well. WinSplits did find two 30-second mistakes for me in the beginning, when I was rushing too much, but that was it for the day. I finished 16th in my H21-2 class, a whole 14 minutes from the lead, but 8 minutes down on 3rd.

Results from my H21-2 class: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...

Lunchtime backbana from work. Did one lap at a reasonable pace, but didn't have a watch, so can't estimate. Felt pretty good on the hills. Right kneecap has been hurting a bit the last couple of days. Bah.

C • Knee 4

To/from the gym

Spinning x 2 = sweatfest. When not much in life is certain anymore, nothing feels better than training hard. Let's hope my body allows me to keep pushing it at least until WOC.

C • I agree! 2

Event: EOC 2012
 

A long course on Nåsten with Oskar S, Johan H, and Stanley in beautiful spring weather. Felt tired from the start, which isn't really too surprising. Nice to be out.

C • hejsan, I was wondering if ... 4

Warmup + cooldown with Tobias Eliasson

Drove up to Hälsingland with Mats and Albin for an impormptu training day. They were running a race up here, and I decided to enter the H21 class on the day, since there were vacant spots in the start list.

The race did not go well. I was tired from a hard session yesterday, the remnants of my cold, and a combination of stress and lack of sleep the night before. Those all excuses, of course, and none of them explain the 4 minute mistake I made on easy leg climbing diagonally across a bland hillside to a single boulder. My direction out of the previous control was terrible, and I never corrected it, convinced that I was on the line. Ugh.

Other than that, I felt very unstable running in the extremely rocky terrain, and impressed with the speed shown by runners who grew up on this terrain. Sometimes I think that it's easy to become lazy and complacent in Uppsala terrain, as everything is runnable, and there are no big hills to force route choice.

Anyway, I ended up 10 minutes behind William Lind - unacceptable on a middle distance race. Albin would have won easily if he hadn't punched a wrong control - 30 meters from the right one. He is in impressive form right now.

C • lazy and complacent 3

After lunch in a local pizzeria (pizza with salami + bacon = delicious), we drove over to the map from Day 5 of O-Ringen 2010 in Mohed, and reran parts of the course from that day. I did a middle distance version of that, about 4.8km of what Mats called "heaven or hell" terrain, where the difference between picking a good and bad line through terrain can be huge. On this map I encountered some of the most enormous boulders I have ever seen while orienteering. In order to be mapped at all, a rock had to be at least 2 meters high. In order to be mapped as a large boulder, you had to be at least house-sized. And at least a dozen boulders were big enough to merit having their shape drawn on the map. In between bouts of rock-hopping and climbing, I was rewarded with gorgeous bare rock hilltop terrain with beautiful views in all directions. I orienteered slowly, but did a decent job of maintaining contact through the super-tricky forest.

It was a really nice training day, and a great way to kick-start WOC preparation. As Albin decided to stay around and keep training for three more days, Mats and I spent some time on the drive back daydreaming about the possibility of orienteering full-time again. Not many more years left when either he or I might be able to do that... Tempting!

C • boulders 1

Decided to declare myself healthy, meaning that this is Day 1 of WOC training.

Had a rough day and decided to unwind by finding some HittaUt checkpoints. Ended up doing a pretty ambitious run, covering most of northern Uppsala and pushing fairly hard to make it feel more like sprint orienteering. It was raining on and off, and the world looked beautiful with rain on one side and sunshine and a giant rainbow on another, as a backdrop for the old burial mounds. Got 15 checkpoints.

I've decided to not run the European Champs (which are also the first round of the World Cup) next week, meaning that Team USA will be represented only by 2/3 of the population of Blodan 23. I have been sick and unfocused on orienteering the last few weeks, and I would rather get back to training hard so I can prepare for WOC as best as I can.

At the same time as I am making the *choice* to skip EOC, I have been nervously refreshing the Swedish orienteering federation's website, looking for an announcement of the Swedish EOC team. It finally came, and I was really upset not to find Mats' name on the list. He worked so damn hard all winter through injuries and setbacks and ran so damn well when it mattered, that I thought for sure he'd be selected. But this is Sweden, and there are at least six guys who were thought to be better, faster, hungrier, and it feels a little bit unfair that Mats is forced to stay at home next week, while I can choose to run or not to as I please.

In some ways, this is just how it is in sports - and the converse is also true, that representing Sweden in orienteering is a much greater honor than is representing the US. Still, the take-away message is that while I can't change the rules and let Mats run EOC or WOC, I can at least remember to never take for granted these amazing opportunities that I have had, and to train my ass off in the next two months so I can proudly represent the US at WOC.

C • Mats 6

Some rock gympa + jumping exercises

Innebandy! Took an elbow to the head from Tierry. I will never wash again.

Great race at Tiomila, and amazing to watch our boys and girls take 4th places. I love Linné!

Long warm-up for Tiomila leg 7.

Tiomila 2012, near Borensberg, Östergötland.
OK Linné 2, leg 7

I love Tiomila weekend, and I am so glad I went this year. Started by watching and cheering our amazing ladies on Saturday afternoon kick some butt and show amazing depth. Team 1, with Annika chasing Simone for a top-3 placing on the last leg. Team 2, with Elisa exchanging in 9th place on the third leg. Team 3, fighting with top teams the whole way, and finishing 38th. And we for sure had the loudest and most numerous fans out there. The 6 (!!) LInné women's teams finished: 4, 15, 38, 72, 128, 187.

Then - drive back to the hostel, have a team meeting, decide on departure times (2:00am for my leg), and crawl into bed.

I slept for a good 45 minutes until I had to start checking results. Sharing the room with Mats and Ulf, at least one of us was always awake frantically checking the live results. Excitement for Josef coming in less than a minute down on leg 1. Worry when Mandus shows up at the first radio in the lead, then relief when he stays with the pack and punches all the controls. When Albin showed up with a lead of 2:11 halfway through leg 3, pulling away from the pack on his own route choice, we exchanged glances, thumbs up, and smiles. There was no more sleep after that. More excitement at the arena, Janne fighting off the chasing pack for a long time and finally getting caught by it on Långa Natten, then Tomas, Rassmus doing their jobs. Finally, Ulf, just put into the first team yesterday, staying with Kalevan Rasti on his leg and exchanging to Mats in 4th.

Then it was my turn to run. I think I managed to put my cold on hold for an hour, because I felt great. So excited to be out there, running Tiomila on a beautiful spring morning in gorgeous Swedish woods. I saw a couple of guys start on my leg less than a minute before, and so I flew off in pursuit as soon as Lasso exchanged to me in 64th place. Running felt easy, and the controls kept popping up where I expected them to. At the start triangle I picked up a Finn who seemed to be waiting around for someone to follow and chose me. He stayed within 2 meters of me for the duration of the race. About halfway, I turned and asked him if he was reading the map at all. He said "not really." I then asked him to at least check the control codes for me, and he agreed.

Caught a small pack just before the long leg and got away from them on a better route. Then picked up a guy from Tisaren's 2nd team who ran well and stayed with me and my shadow for the rest of the run. I definitely had a moment out there when I thought to myself just how much fun I was having. It was awesome hearing Ross' vuvuzela from across the finish field, and the cheering of the fans of the world's most fun orienteering club all the way down the chute.

I exchanged in 57th, picking up 7 places. My time was 42nd on the leg, about 5 minutes behind the best, and 4 minutes behind Ulf on the first team. It was about as well as I could have run on the day.

The rest of the time was spent in nervous anticipation and then celebration when Loefaas emerged from the woods, holding off his pursuers to hold on to an awesome 4th place, best Swedish team. The joy on the faces of our guys was genuine and contagious.

Our team (Linné 2) ended up disqualified, but all the runners put in great efforts and many stepped up after injuries and sicknesses decimated our ranks in the last few days. Now, time to sleep and recover.

Final results: http://www.10mila.se/2012/docs/Resultat.html
Splits from my leg (without #1): http://obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.asp?p...

C • I know how 4

Event: 10MILA 2012
 

So of course I woke up sick the day after intervals. Bah.

Needed to see if the body would respond to any sort of training, so stole Becks' intervals sessions and took Ross with me for 5x90-30 + 5x30-90 on the horse loop in Stadsskogen. I decided that I would not run Tiomila if the feeling was the same as it was in Lunsen the day before.

Started out feeling quite sluggish and tired, but felt better and better as the session went on, and was running strong by the last few of the 30-second intervals. Encouraging.

Tiomila "fine polishing" training, with the goal being ironing out the final kinks and having a good feeling physically and mentally before Tiomila.

A gorgeous spring day on one of Lunesen's finest parts, and I had absolutely nothing in me. Felt like I was working extremely hard just jogging to the start, and things didn't get any better. Fell over three times on the short leg to 1, and managed to keep running until 2, when I just stopped. Walked for a bit, then sat down and sat on a rock in the middle of the woods for a while, my head really not into the orienteering, and my body not cooperating.

Got up after a while, walked a few controls, and called it a day. Orienteering while walking is hard - it gave me respect for PG flawlessly walking the Billygoat last week!