Training Log Archive: schnitzer

Gyllbergen Svarta. Mass start ultra long event. Good start, spiked number 1 and caught Nick back up in the process. Ran with him most of the way to 2 until drifted too far N of the red line. Realised but then missed S after compensating - punched with Kyle Heron. He knew what he was doing more on 3 and led me into it. We split up to 5 and he got there first due to a more direct route. Uphill to 6 it became obv I was running stronger, spiked 6 and then caned it back to the loop control - my best leg of the race. Totally missed 8 - was too far S and assumed a group of massive boulders were too small to be mapped, ran N with another ultra long victim for a bit b4 deciding to run W towards some bigger features to relocate and know for sure what had happened. At least 2mins lost and punched just after Kyle - bugger. Caned past him to 9 and then missed 10 slightly and had to overtake him again - punched 11 together and then took 1.5mins out of him uphill to 12 at which point I was 70mins into it and only 4.5mins behind Nick.

13 was the longest leg and I went E around the bigger hills but it was steep and rocky and soon regretted not going W. Still kept in contact and nearly 3km later got into the circle (or so I thought) and wandered around looking for what seemed like ages. Was so pissed off decided to jack - walked back towards the finish in a NW sorta direction but wasn't paying enough attention and drifted right off the map. Eventually wandered into the finish using logic (the part of the morning I was most proud of :) some 100mins after punching 12 - classic.

Was really looking forward to this event and was delighted when Steve Palmer (he lives pretty near and was nice enough to let us stay) revealed that it was a relentless terrain wilderness with lots of climb. So this should have suited me perfectly so it hurts a lot to have fucked it. Disappointed in myself not to have had the willpower to find 13 and finish the course.

Djupdalarna. Probs not the best prep getting quite drunk and staying out all night - narrowly avoided chundering on multiple occasions during the journey which was good as I reckon I needed those 2 Weetabix. Did however manage a couple of hours kip in the Yazza.

Was unsurprisingly scrappy and very flat on the hills. Not the best start only spiking number 4 out of the first 7. The worst was 6 maybe 2mins lost the rest just small misses or hesitations. Had a good blast with a couple of others for the small amount of time I could keep up with them. Pretty good area and course, nice and runnable. Very hilly.

Karlsgardarna. Missed the chasing start (you had to be less than 10mins behind) by 4secs :( but there was no gap between them and us at 20secs intervals so had a couple of runners in the minutes either side. Started really well by running down the wrong track at the start kite but realised quickly but had the guy 20secs behind breathing down my neck instantly. Held him off and passed the guy 24secs in front between 6/7. Caught the next guy as well but I did the wrong track thing again at 10 and he was a bit stronger on the hills so that's how it finished.

Weird running on the same area but this time 1:5000 sprint spec. Even though the technicality of the forest was the same I would argue the technical intensity was less. Nick did really well only 40secs down (3.5mins quicker than me!!!) on the winning time showing his improvement over the Winter/Spring and how he deserves his world cup selection - n1 m8.

Easy jog with Ulrika with some slightly less easy bits. It's amazing how much she has improved in just the few weeks I have been staying at her place - she should be good for the upcoming 5km race she has entered - her first ever.

I have officially ruined myself. 90kg this morning. On the Tuesday b4 the FOD races a couple of weeks back I was 84kg (but I suspect I wasn't eating enuff for the amount of training I was doing at the time). So once again the combo of rest days coupled with restaurants, take-aways, garage lunches, Tesco breakfasts and some excessive drinking and I can add almost a stone in not even 2 weeks. Beat that fatties.

Did 10 press ups - very hard work. Then after a long pause did another 10, only just.