Training Log Archive: BorisGr

Running to tha start of backbana and back from Polacksbacken with Kat.

Backbana with Kat. Very wet and slippery the entire way. We moved reasonably slowly, both of us quite tired from the day before. I managed to turn the ankle towards the end, hopefully not too badly.

Wednesday Night-O. This one was on southern Nåsten, with the start at Lurbo, near IF Thor's clubhouse. Ran pretty badly, with lots of hesitations, especially in the control circles. Also, being tired from the last couple of days didn't help me push hard through the many thick bits and swamps.

C • Yeah! 2

Janne's backbana in Uppsala - Splits

Running around Nåsten with Patrick, a bunch of colorful posters, and a couple of hammers. We were enlisted as slaves for Linné's winter training premiere, which meant hammering signs and shiny reflectors all over the forest. We were really out there for 2.5 hours, and were cold and wet for the entire time, but I suppose just being cold and wet isn't sufficient for counting as training.

OK Linné's winter training Premiere, an event that is always full of pomp, circumstance, and a whole lot of surprises. This year's surprises included the one-and-only Per Forsberg as speaker at the event (the mp3 of his commentary is available on the website), fantastic fireworks, lots of colorful signs and reflectors in the forest, creating a sparkling, glittery effect in the middle of the dark woods, and finally, a long run through an icy cold marsh, where the entire way was lit up by burning lanterns, and the end of the marsh was marked by a control tree, a tree with about 20 reflecting O-flags hanging on it - it was like finding the mega-control on your course! Once the marsh ended, signs started appearing, teasing the runners: "You must be hungry now!"; "Want some pizza?"; "Don't you wish there was a pizzeria in the middle of Nåsten?", and so on. A few hundred meters later, sure enough, there was a pizzeria, with ham pizza, vegetarian, and even gluten-free pizza available, albeit a tad cold. The pizza was accompanied by some cider and a big-screen slide show featuring highlights from OK Linné's 2007 orienteering season. Filled up with some yummy pizza, it was easy to get through the rest of the course and get back to the clubhouse, where a hot sauna, warm soup, and the company of friends awaited. An excellent way to start off the club's winter training season!
As for the actual run, I ended up running with Kat, mostly letting her navigate and moving at her pace. It worked out well, and I was impressed with her improved map-reading skills at night and in Swedish terrain.

C • Wow! 5

OK Linné fall planning camp.
I was feeling a bit out of sorts all wekend, mostly just tired and a bit sleep-deprived, so I took it very easy today and went for a trail run on OK Hällen's clubhouse map. A nice trail loop on a rare beautiful sunny morning around here.
I wrote a story (in English) about the fall planning camp and all the associated adventures for the Linné website: http://www.oklinne.nu/index.php?page=news&id=2190

OK Linné's fall planning camp. On the way down to Stigtomta, we stopped at a map called Nynäs and went for a long run there. I was pretty tired, as Kat flew in from England after 2am earlier that morning, so I took it quite easy. The terrain was beautiful, the map a bit rough in places, and the forest very wet.

Strength in the gym with Patrick. Low motivation to train on a Friday evening, but having company helped. Kat flies in tonight!!

Warm-up, cool-down, jogging between intervals, running to Hågadalsskolan after my bike chain fell off.

Secret Russian Running Drills, led by Annika.

This week I am responsible for training, which means I needed to select an appropriate place to run intervals this evening. That was hard to do, given that all the sidewalks, bike paths, and trails in Uppsala have turned into ice, with frozen bicycle tracks making for very unpleasant grooves in the ice. I was at a loss for where to go, but Mats came to the rescue and suggested that we run on the soccer fields in Ekebydalen, just outside my house. This was a great idea, and it worked out really well. The soccer fields were covered with slushy slippery snow, but at least there was no ice, so even if one fell (which, I think, no one did), it was a pretty soft landing. We did a mix of long and short intervals: (4 min on, 2 min off, 1 min on, 1 min off) x 6. There was no set loop to run, but rather, the person who is in the lead gets to pick where to run, and everyone else follows or tries to take over the lead. It was really fun, as the lead changed often, and the people in front kept turning, zig-zagging, slipping and sliding in the snow, all at full speed. A good share of snowballs was thrown, too. Most people stopped after 5 sets. I told myself in the beginning that I'd do 6, so I ran the 6th set by myself. It was really hard to keep pushing on the last one, without any company.

C • snowballs seem key to the s... 2

Circuits after the intervals.