Training Log Archive: BorisGr

Took the club car and drove down to Stockholm with Kat, Elisa, and Csaba. Picked up Neil on the way. Ran an old long course on Nacka from a year ago with Neil. Went reasonably slowly and felt tired and stupid the whole way. The forest on Nacka was lovely as always and the weather was great - totally sunny and +5.

Very slow warm-up on the way to the start.

Rodhenloppet!
We tried to follow in the footsteps of Patrick and Mari, who won the Mixed Long category at this pairs night-O race a year ago. Standing at the start line, we knew there'd be about 5 pairs who had a chance to win: Becka and Tommy, Joffe and Karin, two juniors Rassmus and Malin, and a pair that included the Swedish night-O champion from a year ago, Johanna Svensson. There were about a dozen other teams, but we figured we could take them.
The race: everyone starts at the same time, standing in a large circle facing each other. I managed to find the start triangle very quickly once we got the maps, and we took off. Luckily, we were standing in the "right" part of the circle, so we didn't get behind any slow people. Saw Johanna Svensson right in front of us and told Kat to stick with her. We ran very quickly on the trail in the beginning and were right behind Johanna's team as we entered the forest. Were slightly better in the circle and punched the control first, just ahead of Johanna, who disappeared on the long route choice to the left to #2, as well as Becka&Tommy and Joffe&Karin. Then followed the long trail/road run to #2, where all three of our teams stayed together for most of it. We lost a bit of time in the beginning of the leg, where I dove into the forest to cut across the railroad, but then remembered we were only supposed to cross at designated spots. Went back to the trail, cursing, only to see everyone else dive in and cross a few steps later! Kat ran very hard, and we made up the ground to both B&T and J&K, and attacked the control together with B&T. Missed it, must have run just by, figured out and went back. J&K were there, and the juniors Rassmus and Malin had gotten ahead of us. Going to #3 was hard. Everything was flooded, so the marshes were lakes, and the flat areas marshes. I don't think any of us in the pack had any idea where we were, and we came to the hygge and stopped. I realized we were to the right and went to the control. Everyone followed. We went straight to 4, as did J&K. B&T came in from the right, and we caught sight of R&M. Still straight to 5, all 4 teams together. On the way to 6, I decided we needed to go east to the big trail, as Kat was getting tired and could move a lot faster on trails. J&K went straight, but the other two teams went with us. We took a very nice line to the road, and were right with them. The juniors were running faster and got a bit ahead, and B&T were slightly ahead too. Everyone spiked 6, and ran southeast to the trail towards 7. Once on the trail, Kat looked tired, and the others were gradually pulling away. Once we went over the top of the hill, I told Kat our only chance was to push now and that we had a chance to win this. She seemed surprised, but I was pretty sure that neither J&K nor Johanna's team were ahead of us. Kat pushed very hard on the trail and we caught both R&M and B&T right before going off the trail and attacking. Now I told Kat to sit and wait and try to make a move going to 8. R&M went into the forest to the left of us and disappeared. Now it was just two teams left. Becka and Tommy were just ahead, and got a few steps on us when crossing the knee-deep, almost-frozen marsh just before 7. We hit 7, and I had memorized the route to 8 and told Kat to push. We picked a good line to 8, and I actually spotted it from like 100 meters away. We punched first, a step ahead of Becka and Tommy. Kat had told me earlier that she had no chance against Becka in a sprint, and so I took a gamble by leading us right back to the trail we had come from rather than cutting along through the woods, as B&T were doing. It didn't work, and we had no shot at catching them on the run-in.
It was a really fun race, and Kat did an awesome job of pushing herself, staying with me and paying attention to the map. I was impressed.
If we come back to do this race again, we'll try some sort of towing mechanisms - I think that would have helped.
Splits: http://toolbox.svenskidrott.se/Downloads/30075/doc...
Map with QR: http://my.opera.com/borisgr/albums/showpic.dml?alb...

C • Nice work 2

With Kat in the rain and oncoming darkness. Continuing my easy week.

C • Spain 2009 4

How could I forget?! Here is all you need to know about Hungarian culture before WOC 2009: Zsolti a béka.

C • I am speechless. What is that?? 4

Various running around.

I don't think it's possible to have an orienteering event closer to home short of having it right in your living room. The finish of tonight's Night Ultrasprint was 3 meters from our door. Sweet. We ran a forked course on the Blodan 1:1250 map with 15 second start interval. It was a blast! I ran well and didn't miss more than 20 seconds altogether - I guess my ultrasprint experience is building up now. :)
Results: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...

After the ultrasprint, we all jogged over to Stadsskogen for the chase start. The chase consisted of a 1.6km course followed by running a loop of the Stadsskogen lit trail (2.5km). My butt muscle had tightened up after the ultrasprint, so I couldn't run hard during the chase and skipped the pure running part.