Training Log Archive: BorisGr

Varsity Match Relay on Loxley Common, Sheffield. The relay is run traditionally the day after the actual Varsity Match, and is run as a fun race that doesn't count in the official competition, since most of the runners are hung over or still drunk from the activities of the night before, including the all--important Varsity Beer Race, which Oxford won for the second year in a row, thanks in part to having three Americans on the team.
The relay teams are composed by the organizers and are meant to be pretty even. I ran the last leg after Helen Gardner and Katherine Cross, and went out dead last, except for one team which had a DNF. Not too motivated, I made some mistakes in the detailed areas early, then picked it up a bit, passed one team, and then ran along fairly cleanly most of the rest of the way. Not a great result, but it was nice to get out and run on a nice area anyway. Additionally, Kat had a really good run (won the short leg, I think), so that was great to watch! Overall, an excellent week-end with the always fun OUOC contigent and no shortage of comments such as "Why do you Americans call a car park a parking lot?"

Oxford vs. Cambridge Orienteering Varsity Match, Wharncliffe Wood, outside of Sheffield. The morning after flying to England to surprise Kat with a visit, I joined her and the rest of OUOC for a trip to the Varsity Match. It was fun to watch and cheer on Oxford and Kat, as well as get to race myself. Since I was still recovering from sickness, I didn't expect much from myself and decided not to push too hard. I still ran at a decent pace and felt pretty strong on the hills and through terrain, but lost a bunch of time in the intricate former mine areas. In two of the places, I didn't really agree with the map, but such is life. I lost about 6 minutes overall and ended up 5th of the people who ran the long men's course. Matt Crane won in 61, with Duncan Archer and Joe Mercer right behind. Oxford women just managed a victory over Cambridge by a margin of 4 seconds over the total times of the three best runners!
Afterwards:

Men's A - Splits

The H21 course from last night's Night Cup, which I missed because of sickness/injury, was the same as the 2nd leg of the first Tiomila, in 1945. Check out this crazy map: http://www.svenskidrott.se/Downloads/29292/docs/Na...

C • I had a dream last night about... 2

Knee felt surprisingly better today, but I still stayed away from the club's interval session tonight and went to spinning instead. Felt ok, but still not 100%.

Three days off in a row now. This is frustrating. I can't seem to kick this stupid cold/flu (what's the difference between those, anyway?), and in addition, the knee I bruised in Lunsen last Wednesday night seems to have arbitrarily started hurting again, a lot.

C • Wait a minute, aren't you a ma... 8

Woke up without a fever for the first time in a week or so. Throat still hurt a bit and I'm still coughing some. Plus the knee thing. The knee: I hit it hard on the ice a week ago, it hurt for two days and then stopped hurting and I forgot about it. Then, I've done nothing for the last three days so, sure enough, the knee starts hurting again yesterday. A lot. At the top of the knee-cap. Having had knee surgery on that knee in the distant past, I got worried. So I did what any self-respecting orienteer of my modest means would have done: shamelessly stalk our club doctor at the gym until I could "run into him" and get a free 5-second diagnosis. But first, the workout. This was half an hour on a spinning bike.

C • I got bursitis http://en.wikip... 2

And that was followed by a dreadfully boring half-hour on the stair machine. By the way, in honor of Valentine's day the cafeteria I eat lunch at served Love Chicken. Which, if you are wondering, is just like regular chicken, only with.... No, it's just like regular chicken.

C • love chicken 2

And then half an hour of mostly core work and arms followed, time to finish exactly when the gympa class our club doctor, Kenneth Jonsson, was in let out. So I "ran into" him in the hallway afterwards and casually mentioned my knee. Sure enough, he graciously looked at it for a few seconds, decided it's not clear what's wrong, but there didn't seem to be much fluid, meaning that nothing seems to be torn.