Training Log Archive: BorisGr

Ran over to the start of the backbana and met up with Bjorn, Mats, and Bodil Holmstrom, who just got back from the Finnish National Team training camp in South Africa. I thought about running the backbana, but my legs were very stiff, and i just felt tired all over, so I just ran one short loop and ran home.

C • recovered yet? 2

C • recovered yet? 1

Flexibility exercises after running while watching the Vasaloppet.

Hard to believe, but I've now been in Uppsala over six months. While the ground is still covered by two feet of snow, hopefully spring, and with it the race season, will come soon. I still don't have a complete spring race schedule planned out, but things that are fairly certain are this:
March 18-19 - Tiomila camp with Linne
March 24 - Nattravarnas night-O (?)
April 2 - Swedish Ultralong Champs (mostly for fun)
April 8 - Lanna Sprint
April 9 - Ranasstafetten - should be my first relay with Linne. (Maseenstafetten is normally the season-opener, but it got cancelled for the third year in a row due to snow...)
April 14-17 - JK in England
April 21-22 - Stigtomtekavlen (relay)
April 23 - Linne classic race
April 29-30 - Tiomila (probably a non-forked day leg on the second team. Our first team looks really strong this year)
May 6-7 - Roslagen Long/Middle (might skip it if I am feeling tired)
May 13-14 - Billygoat sprints + Billygoat, US
May 19-21 - US Team Trials

After that - no racing for at least two weeks, will need a vacation!
And the only thing that's certain in June is Jukola - June 15-18, Finland, team CSU!!!!

Busy schedule, but i am really looking forward to it! Can't wait for the snow to melt...

Training summary for the last six months:
September:
45:15total, 16:38 orienteering, 224.5km
October:
42:40total, 16:09 orienteering, 287.0km
November:
43:03total, 20:35 orienteering, 313.4km
December:
40:12total, 15:50 orienteering, 242.9km
January:
54:50total, 17:03 orienteering, 250.4km
February:
44:56total, 26:47orienteering!, 317.1km

Training goals for march depend very much on the snow and runnability of the woods, so I don't have anything specific in mind. As the snow comes off, I would like to start doing more technique training and gradually add more speedwork.

C • Billygoat 6

A long run of Ostfora with Rob, Bjorn, Allison, and Elin. There was knee-deep snow much of the way - the most snow i think i've ever run in. I felt weak right from the start and didn't really do better. We struggled through about half of the scheduled long course - i did the first 9 controls out of 20, Rob and Bjorn did 11. Running was such a struggle the whole way!! At least it keeps you warm...

Was about to go skiing, but then remembered that i never replaced a pole tip that broke off two weeks ago. Grrrr. Went for a run instead. Quads and calf felt very tight the whole way, and i was cold too, so not the most pleasant run, but at least i am forcing myself out into the cold again... Ran down Norbyvagen to Vardsatravagen down to Lurbo bridge, then back up to Rosendalvagen, cut through Stadsskogen a bit and then home.

Running to and from the Guardamar Norte map.

An appropriate way to finish the camp: by running the course we started the camp with in reverse order. Slower this time, running with Neil, almost always taking different route choices, as the open woods make it easy to run everywhere, and smooth, clean execution and precise map contact are more important than the actual route choice. After the course - back to the cabin, shower, eat, pack, drive to the airport, fly back to snowy, cold Uppsala. I considered doing a night race this evening, but decided to skip it and do some laundry instead. Needless to say, the camp was awesome, I had a great time and did some great training, and the week flew by very quickly. Hanging out with Neil, Jan, Mats, Micke and others was also really fun! I'll write up some more impressions of the camp and thoughts on my first six months in Uppsala tomorrow, if I have some time, but my general plan is to take the next two weeks very easy, focus on school a bit, and rest before hitting training hard again with the start of the racing season coming up, and Tiomila looming large on the horizon, and a frequent topic of conversation on training runs and.
On the flight back, Ulrik offered to shadow me during some courses and comment on things I can work on, and to have me shadow him as he talks through his thinking process. This is a great offer, and i hope to take advantage of it soon, as Ulrik is one of the very best technical orienteers in the club!!!

C • Looks like you had a great week! 2

Reached 100 hours training for 2006 today. :)

Another beautiful day in the mountains, after a 90-minute drive. Great terrain - part relatively flat with short, steep, round, rocky hills and fast woods, part ridge and valley with massive canyons and deep gullies. Started running with Neil, feeling tired from the week's activities, but had some trouble concentrating, and we made a couple of stupid 4-minute mistakes on back-to-back controls. I decided to go off on my own and see if I can get my concentration back, and it worked well, as I ran clean and hard the rest of the way, quite pleased with myself.

After a drive involving several U-turns and several moments when it seemed we would never find the map, we finally got to Sierra del Oro, twenty minutes behind one of our cars, twenty minutes ahead of the next one, and an hour or so ahead of the girls' car! But it was worth it!!! The terrain was incredible, with lots of route choice legs and huge mazes of canyons and steep reentrants and beautiful hillsides. Very tough, physical terrain - "a manly course", as Tomas put it. We did part (about two-thirds) of last year's Costa Calida classic course, including an awesome 2.8km leg with myriad route choices. I was pretty pleased to be just a minute slower than Micke on that leg. After the long leg, Neil and I ran together, both pretty tired, but navigating well and pushing each other. It was lots of fun and excellent training, by the end of which I was totally exhausted. A fantastic final full day of camp!!!!

Long dstance route choice exercise with Neil. In the beginning, we kept picking different route choices and waiting for each other at controls, but after a while, ended up just running together. Nice terrain, ridge-and-valley, but not too steep, with fast woods but rock underfoot. Beautiful views in all directions from ridgetops on a gorgeous day!!
Hanging out with no shirts on and sunbathing afterwards - in February!!!!

Warming up for the two afternoon sprints and running back from Guardamar with Joffe.

First of two sprints we ran in the afternoon. This one, billed as the "qualifier" for the latter final, was on sand dune terrain, on the La Marina map. apparently famous amongst the locals for being a popular gay cruising spot - reminding me of Forest Park...
Anyway, this qualifier was used to determine the start times for the final, and everyone was broken up into heats, with each heat mass started on the same course, Sprint Series Finals-style. The first person back from each heat got the latest start time for the second sprint. My heat consisted of Lina A, Erik M, Joffe, and me. Joffe was the only one who could outrun me, so I decided to stay with him from the start and wait for him to make a mistake. He made a couple, but was fast enough to overtake me again each time, until the third-to-last control (#12). This was a very short leg, and I saw that Joffe was about to run past it, so I sped up, spiked it and headed towards 13. Turning around, I saw Joffe racing after me, gaining quickly. I decided that he was probably not reading the map at this point, and so I veered away from the straight-line route to 13, letting him run by me. As he went by, I swung in towards the control, hit it and sprinted hard to the last control, spiking it and jogging to the finish. Looks like the trip to Pawtuckaway for the Sprint Finals last September taught me something and prepared me well for this type of race! :)
Mats, Tomas, and Micke won the other three heats.

C • Awesome fake! 4

The sprint "final", about a half hour after the qualifier. This one started with two controls in the woods, and the rest in the town and the town park - much more street-O than anything else. I started late, after Mats and before Tomas, with 45-second intervals. Bobbled the first and second controls very slightly, took a somewhat stupid route choice to 3 that probably cost me about 15 seconds, but was clean and running well after that. Coming out of 9, I saw Tomas leaving 8, and so sped up, running hard up the hill to make sure he didn't see me. It paid off, as I beat him by 4 seconds and Kalle by 3, ending up with the 4th best time - 40 seconds behind Mats. Again, lots of fun!!!