Training Log Archive: BorisGr

You can watch the Swedish Night-O Champs live here tonight, starting at 4pm Eastern: https://livestream.com/accounts/17629489/events/86...

A lot of heavy hitters running, especially in H21.

More biking at the gym.

Hamstring, planks

Stationary bike.

Hamstring exercises

OCIN Flying Pig / US Masters Champs 2018 Day 2 - Red M35

Wasn't sure I was going to start until the morning, but the hamstring felt better, and I decided to walk/jog the course. I started very slowly and cautiously, and transitioned to a steady jog, never opening up my stride. This was fun, and I enjoyed the course and the terrain. Unfortunately, on the way to the second-to-last control, the hamstring suddenly started hurting a lot more, and I hobbled the last leg and a half.

In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have gone out, and now my punishment is yet more rehab...

Still a fun weekend. Good to hang out with my parents and Inara and share the house with Will and Cristina, and also to get out in the great Carter Caves terrain.

OCIN_FP2019_Kiser_Hollow_Sunday_Classic_8 Red - Splits

Warmup, including running from the finish up to the lodge, and then on to the start.

OCIN Flying Pig / US Masters Champs 2018 Day 1 - Red M35

I dropped down to red for the weekend after injuring my hamstring last week, and was glad that I did. Still, it probably would have been wiser to rest entirely, even though I enjoyed the orienteering and the terrain. It was very steep, which made for slow going, and my hamstring tightened up very early on. I navigated fairly well, though, and saw Wyatt (-4 minutes) leaving 7 as I was coming in. I worked hard to catch up over the next few legs, and then ran with him until taking a better route to 17 and pulling away.

The navigation was mostly clean, except for losing 2 minutes or so in the Bermuda Triangle of crossing and disappearing contour lines around number 13 - apparently a last-minute map printing error.

My hamstring got worse heading to 16, and I was mostly trotting the rest of the way - far from race pace.

OCIN_FP2019_Carter_Caves_Saturday_Classic_8_Red - Splits

Event: OCIN Flying Pig XXIII
 

Warmup

Flying Pig Middle Distance, Blue course

A fun course by Mike Minium one of those areas that are more fun to race through than train in. A lot of green, which added to the challenge, both physically and technically. I enjoyed it and ran fairly well, though feeling like I had no power in my legs. My hamstring held up for most of the race, but tightened up over the last few legs. Good result - finished 3rd behind Greg and Will, but ahead of all the hot-shot juniors.

Fun to have Inara and my parents cheering on the run-in!

OCIN_FP2019_Camp_McKee_Friday_Middle_9 Blue - Splits

Elliptical. Added some one-minute pickups to see how the hamstring responds ahead of the Flying Pig weekend.

Hamstring exercises, plus side planks and some abs.

Elliptical. I picked up a nasty cold over the weekend, so not working super-hard this week in hopes of recovering by the Flying Pig.

Hamstring exercises.

Back to Robert for more PT of the hamstring. It has progressed well since last week, so that's a good sign. Adding the following to the strength routine:

1) add resistance to the prone leg lower via a theraband. You can use the right leg to assist the curling up movement. The emphasis should be on the slow and smooth lowering. 2 sets 10-12 reps


2) I would alternate the variation above with the bench bridge using both legs. Do 2 sets of 10-12 reps using 3 positions such that you are progressively getting into a more extended( knee straighter) position.


3) after this weekend's event, I would then add the single leg deadlift to the routine.

Elliptical, easy.

Hamstring exercises. Added some bridge walkouts. Also did side planks and some ab exercises.

Sunday's first training was a control picking course. I went out into the woods, and followed each of the girls in my group for a few legs. It was fun to watch them orienteer and see everyone's strengths and things they needed to work on. We debriefed afterwards.

The final session was a one-person relay. I didn't run and stayed at the start/finish cheering. We had about 45 people start the relay, which is pretty good for the final training of the tough weekend. It was fun to spectate and cheer, and to witness some great head-to-head racing, highlighted by a spring to the finish for family bragging rights between Peggy and Nadim.

The cleanup and control pickup went smoothly, and we were all packed up and out the door by 3:30pm. Thanks to everyone who pitched in, in big ways and small. From my perspective, I think the camp went as smoothly as it could, and I got the impression that most participants got a lot out of the training.

Event: QOC PWF Spring Weekend
 

Coaching during the QOC Junior Training Camp. Day 1: Turkey Run Ridge.

I divided all the camp attendees into groups by usual course and experience level, and assigned coaches to each group. I had the group of five JNT/JDT girls (Alexis, Bridget, Diana, Kirsten, Oriana), and Greg took the most senior groups of JNT/JDT guys and a few other experienced orienteers.

The first training session was O-tervals. I started the girls relay-style, with small gaps or mini-mass-starts each time. I watched them go through some controls, and then met up again at the end of each interval.They mostly did well and worked hard, pushing each other during the head-to-head racing.

Then, after a break for lunch, we had the second session, which was window-O done in pairs and meant to practice compass skills. We had an odd number in our group, so I joined Diana for the exercise. She did very well, running confidently through the whited-out parts of each leg, and nailing her bearing on all but one controls.

Seemed like the day went well. All the coaches did a great job, everyone was back on time, lunch was excellent, and controls were collected quickly.

QOC Night-O at Happyland

My hamstring seemed to feel better as the day went, so I decided to jog around the night-O course, since I love night orienteering.

Greg had all the faster guys start with two-minute intervals, and it was nice to have other folks around to help push through the fairly green woods. Aside from losing about a 45 seconds on 5, I was clean for the first part and caught both Peter Z and AJ going into 8. I then promptly got stuck in some green, losing about a minute there. I stayed ahead of the juniors on the way to 11, but was caught when 11 wasn't in the right spot, and I circled around looking for it. Greg joined us too, and we quickly decided that it wasn't there and moved on.

Greg got ahead going to 13, and I took a different route, losing more time in the green. Peter and AJ got ahead again here, but took a wrong turn off a road heading to 14, and I never saw them again.

I hit 15 well, and saw Greg coming back to it, having missed it. At that point his light flickered and went out, so we spent about a minute trying to get it to work. That didn't help, and so he ran along with me in the dark for a couple of legs. Eventually he was able to get it to work by holding a contact in place and ran away from me again on the way to 20.

I ran fairly well in the end, passing Joe Barrett and almost catching Greg again on the way to 22.

All in all, satisfied with how the hamstring held up and with my navigation. Perfect evening for night-O: upper 40s and clear. Lots of fun!

Night - Long Advanced - Splits

Putting out flags for the training camp at Prince William Forest. I did a mix of walking and jogging. The hamstring hurt the entire time, but did not get worse, which is what I was worried about. I am sure my gait is asymmetrical when I am doing this, and I could feel my calf compensating for it. Will try to limit what I do while coaching this weekend.

In addition to putting out 40 controls, I came across one in the woods that I recognized as being from the camp two years ago. It looked to be in very good shape despite its old age. I wondered about the cause of its evergreen youth. The answer was right in front of me, hidden in the control's code: PG.

C • If you hung me out on a bra... 4

Easy on a stationary bike.

Light hamstring exercises, plus the part of my normal strength routine that involves side-to-side, rather than front-to-back, movement.

I strained my hamstring earlier this week, which is unfortunate, given all the control hanging and coaching I need to do this weekend, as well as upcoming races. I went to see Robert, my PT. He thinks it's between grades 1 and 2, needing a couple of weeks to recover.

C • Boo 8

Run from work by myself on a gorgeous day. Went fairly easy, but left hamstring was very tight nonetheless. Need to watch that one. I ran down the mall, around Lincoln Memorial, an extra swing past Vietnam, and then back to work.

Cruisy run in Rock Creek with six hill repeats thrown in. Listened to the Obelisk Gat by N.K. Jemisin. Some good modern sci-fi.

Peloton workout in the morning.

Elliptical intervals, 5x4 minutes. Tired. Long week.

Strength routine at home while Inara napped.

Stationary bike warmup.

Full strength routine.

Quick warmup

QOC local event at Cabin John, Red course

Alli graciously stayed home with Inara as I made it to the event just at the end of the start window after early brunch with friends. The weather was terrible when I got there - about 35F and snow/raining, but that seems appropriate for early March.

I quickly got ready and took off on the red course, longest available. It took me a few controls to recall that trails were taken off the map. I think it as a worthwhile experiment, but in the end added a bit too much of an element of luck to the orienteering. If you got lucky and took a line that happened to have a trail on it, you could gain a lot of time.

The course had a lot of controls (28), which I like - it felt more like a middle distance, which we don't run very frequently around here. I felt pretty good and was pushing well through the first half of the course, but lost a bit of oomph towards the end, after the sixth time crossing the occasionally thigh-deep creek.

The navigation itself was pretty straightforward, but there was some time to be lost or gained on route choice. I gained a lot on the longish leg to 21, where I crossed the creek and ran the trail all the way, before crossing back over the creek to the control. This saved me from having to traverse a thorny, muddy hillside for most of the leg. I won the leg by over a minute and essentially won the race over Joe Barrett here.

On the other hand, I lost time with the same approach to 23. Going around on trails cost me almost 30 seconds here. Finally, on 25, I went straight over the top of the hill instead of running around and lost about 30 seconds.

It was a fun course on what is not the most fun area around. Thanks to all the tough volunteers who were out on this cold and wet day!

RG: http://qocweb.org/routes/cgi-bin/reitti.pl?act=map...

C • Swedish weather 1

Red - Splits

Elliptical at the Blairs gym