Training Log Archive: BorisGr

Woke up with a hangover. Went back to sleep. Woke up again, decided to train. Took Csaba's bike and went out for a ride. Over to backbana, along the top of the ridge, through Ultuna, along Sunnersta ridge, across the river, down on the Kungshamn-Morga trails, partly along the beach, partly on the ridges, then a bit on Lunsen, back up on paved roads through Sävja and Kungsängsbron.
A nice mix of trails and roads kept me from being bored, and I found out that mountain biking on trails with roots and rocks requires a huge amount of concentration, at least for me. So it's pretty good training in that respect too.
The ride was followed by a few games of kubb outside on the grass.

Decided to skip the long distance O-race in Roslagen and went rollerskiing on this absolutely perfect summer day in Uppsala instead. This went better than on Thursday - technique was a lot less rusty than the first time, and I was actually able to get some sort of rhythm going at times. Was pretty tired at the end and even managed to fall on a virtually flat spot when barely moving.
It was 24C and perfectly sunny today, and Uppsala really looked lovely, with everything looking green and lots of flowers in bloom. I went from home along Rosendalsvägen down to Ultuna, then back to Dag Hammarsköldsvägen, down to Sunnersta, and around past Skarholmen and Lurbo, back home.

Looking through my AP log, the last time I rollerskied before this week was in December 2001. Wow, that's a long time ago. However, this wasn't my first rollerski in Sweden, as I went out a few times in the summer of 2001, when I was living near KTH with Kenny.

Dx Deluxe 2008!
This year's event was back at Kung Björn's Hill, the site of the 2005 version, but on an expanded and revised map, with much new "pornographic" detail added. As usual, DxD lived up to the very high expectations that it always comes with. The map, course, and entertainment were all really good fun, and the atmosphere was fantastic as always. A new twist in the race this year is a 9x9m labyrinth that you had to navigate twice during the course. I made the usual number of mistakes, but had a really fun time anyway. The buffet dinner and party afterwards were great as well, though I ended up spending most of the party in a sometimes-heated political debate that ended up leaving me pretty upset.
My DxD results so far:
2005 - mispunch
2006 - 28th
2007 - 23rd
2008 - 17th
Slowly crawling upwards...
This year's results: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
The quali map: http://www.dxdeluxe.se/2008/maps/qual.jpg
An awesome video of the final (mostly of poor Ulf being lost) that Csaba made: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ff25fx0NL-g
Thanks to Mats, Jan, and Tomas for another unforgettable DxD!

Jogging to and from the DxDeluxe training maps with Csaba and jogging a bit after the training.

DxDeluxe training with Csaba. We ran the training package course on the Högbergsparken and Blodan maps. Hard as usual! This year's edition of DxD promises to be a fantastic one. Besides an extra-deluxe banquet, a labyrinth during the race is advertised.

Today's foray into cross-training isn't a very exciting one - spinning, but it still counts as a fourth day in a row with something new. All suggestions for tomorrow are welcome!
I did back-to-back spinning sessions at F&S. Had a massive headache during the second one. Hopefully, it's dehydration and not some sort of new sickness.
AOWN report: 2 cats (as opposed the 6 I saw yesterday), 43 sheep, and 2 pheasants. The last two were a couple, and the male was seemed quite displeased with me after I biked between him and his mate. He let his displeasure be known by producing what may have been the most unbearable noise I have ever heard.

C • It may have been an invitation of sorts? 2

C • Tomorrows Cross Training is... 3

Day 3 of the cross-training craze. Borrowed Björn's rollerskis and took them out for a spin on the bike paths around Norby. Hurts the glute somewhat, but definitely less than running. This would have been very enjoyable, except for the elbow pain ("skier's elbow?") that came back after about 20 minutes. If I can manage to control it, I think I'll do a bunch more rollerskiing in the coming months.

C • oh dear 8

C • Few ideas... 1

C • Few ideas... 2

Wednesday Day-O on North Lunsen, revisiting areas where the Varsity Match went over a month ago. The goal was to keep a nice, steady pace, never working hard, but orienteering well. I pretty much did just that on the middle course and felt quite good both running and orienteering. Two mistakes, ~30 and ~15 seconds. Quite pleased with my time.
Results: http://www.oklinne.nu/onsdagsnatt/results.php?id=6...

Day 2 of my cross-training experiment. The torture device I chose to acquaint myself with today was the erg. It is hard to believe that anyone actually chooses to do this out of their own free will. While the mind-numbing boredom can be somewhat assuaged by doing intervals, it is hard to find a cure for the bloody blisters on the hands that form after ten minutes of erging or for the butt soreness resulting from the seat surely designed by Torquemada himself. On the other hand, blisters eventually turn to callouses, my glute didn't hurt, and the intervals did get my heart rate up, so I think I'll be doing more of this in the future, especially when angry at myself. Anyway, I did a warm-up and cool-down on a stationary bike and intervals, 8x2min with 1 min rest, on the rowing machine. These felt hard, though my times weren't particularly fast. I am sure I can gain a lot of time just by working on my form. I averaged about 1:53 per 500 meters. Would be good to get this down into the 1:40's in a few weeks. Stay tuned for more exciting cross-training adventures.

C • erging 4

Some strength, mostly hamstrings, after the torture.

Trying out various forms of alternative training, as training half-assed, like I've done for the last month, is getting me nowhere. Time to go full-assed.
Borrowed Csaba's mountain bike, put on a helmet and a pair of biking shorts that Dmitriy gave me like ten years ago, and headed out on trails around Norby and Hågadalen to figure out what mountain biking is all about. So far, I don't get it. On the downhills, I mostly just fear for my life, and on the rocky uphills I mostly have to get off the bike and push. On the flats, it does feel like training, but it seems hard to get my heart rate up, and everything feels unnecessarily bumpy. But, it doesn't make my glute hurt.

C • Mountain Biking 13

Circuits outside the clubhouse with Linné.