Training Log Archive: BorisGr

First ski of the season! Alli and I got up after a difficult journey to Missoula and escaped to Pattee Canyon for a quick skate ski. Delightful to be out, though I am out of shape and technique quite badly. So much fun to be skiing!

Steady elliptical at work. Off to Montana tomorrow.

Between an annoying cold that won't go away and a very high-maintenance toddler, not much time or energy for training this week, despite a bunch of days off.

Leg press.

Core and leg strength at the LOC gym

Late evening elliptical at the Blairs gym.

Elliptical intervals at lunchtime, 3x(3'-2'-1').

Lunchtime run with Chris. We ran from the Madison building down the Mall, around Lincoln Memorial and back up to the Capitol. Nice company, and good to be outside for a run in such nice weather - 46F and sunny.

Runners' yoga in the evening at home.

Peloton ride in the morning. Much, much more fun with biking shoes. Thanks Alli!

Quick ab workout at home.

Back in the USA. Elliptical at lunchtime.

Mostly stretching and loosening after a long day of flying yesterday.

Run with Sam from their place down Gula Stigen into Vardsatra and back. Another fun outing with a good friend! Time to head back to the US after a short, but delightful, visit.

Lunsen!! I woke up after Ross' PhD defense party not-too-hungover and headed out to join the Linne training at Lunsen. A few familiar faces - Albin, TG, David, Hilda, Josef, Milos but mostly folks I didn't recognize. I started the course with the pack and kept them in sight for the first three controls, while trying to remember how to run in Scandinavian terrain and manage to read the map too. After this I cut off and was shortly joined by Olle Karlstrom, who encouraged me to lead our small pack. It was a lot of fun - he was quite chatty for a Swede, and we orienteered and ran at about the same pace. Having company gave me the confidence I needed to trust my navigation, and I navigated pretty solidly out there. And spiking a control on Lunsen never ceases to be a wonderful feeling!

Olle was nice enough to drive me back to Ross&Sam's, sparing me the cold bike ride in the rain. The afternoon was spent babysitting Sofie and going for fika to Annika and Thierry's. A great day!

Morning run with Sandra (!!!) from Sam and Ross' place. Lovely run and company!

C • so awesome 4

Peloton ride with a lot of hills. Felt surprisingly strong.

Family day! We were all too beat from the Little Bennett to be motivated to go to Prince William Forest, so we had a family day instead and took Inara ice skating. It was a blast!! Great day, much needed after being cold and wet the day before and spending a bunch of time apart prior to that.

Event: QOC Little Bennett
 

I was the course setter for today's local event at Little Bennett, and Alli was the meet director.

We had some bad luck: the original date of the event had to be changed because the park closed all trails due to wet conditions. We got it rescheduled for December 1, a Saturday, thinking that it's good to get it done soon and not need to re-vet all the controls if we waited until later into the spring.

With the late date change, somewhat limited publicity, another event scheduled for the Sunday of the weekend, and terrible weather, we expected the turnout to be low. And it was. We got 65 starts, compared to the 220 at Prince William the day after!

I think the people who turned up did have a good time, but it was a tough day for all involved, and QOC volunteers were amazing in making everything happen. Alli, Dasa, Alexis, Rick O, Bob R, Valerie, Amy, Jon T, Mike D, Michelle S, Don F, Tom N, Dave L, Chris G, Vido A, Mike N, and probably others I forgot went above and beyond without a single complaint, all while being very cold and wet. A special thank-you to Heidi, who seemingly did everything to make the event run smoothly and to feel competitors feel welcome. She also disassembled and put away the entire event setup and stayed till the very end of control pickup. Thank you Heidi!!

Course setting at Little Bennett, especially from the side where we were parking, is a different kind of challenge. Much of the terrain is bisected by a long, deep creek, surrounded on both sides by very think thorny bushes. There are a few exceptions to this, and the courses needed to utilize the least thorny crossings to be even remotely pleasant. This dictated the shape of all the longer advanced courses. I think green and red suffered somewhat from this, in not being able to reach the nicest terrain due to length and shape constraints.

When scouting control locations, I had to scrap more than half of my original control placements on the advanced courses, as either the map was inaccurate or the feature non-existent. This meant that my final courses tried to reflect fairness as much as possible (bigger features, better-mapped areas), while sacrificing some challenge and interest level. I think the courses mostly came out ok, but certainly far from spectacular.

I got some good feedback from Chris and from Tom Nolan, and would love more from anyone who ran. Thanks to everyone who came out on this cold, wet day!