Training Log Archive: schnitzer

Wow. Words just cannot describe how amazing the Jukola experience is... and this was one of the best. Fantastic event, map, courses and competition.

Tuomas Tala described the area as possibly the toughest in Southern Finland.

Matt Speake described his experience as the toughest night event he has ever done.

In my opinion 2008 was more technically demanding but there's not much in it. Physically it wasn't as bad as expected - it was quite rocky and bushy but I've been to tougher areas.

This year there was a opportunity to change from my usual long night to last leg which I took because of my recent ankle crunches - less chance of doing more damage. Plus it was nice to sleep through the night for once but in the end I only got 5 hours sleep - woke up much too early but was too interested and excited to try to get back to sleep again.

My team (OK Ravinen 2) missed the changover closure by about 20mins so I was in the restart... in good company - Joe, Tom etc. However I didn't see anyone I knew at any point. The only bit I didn't really enjoy was the sheer amount of people running. So tough to maintain an even pace what with frequently overtaking and being overtaken.

My run was ok. I lost 30secs at 2 and slightly larger mistakes at 4 and 14 but nothing major. Physically I seem to have lost a lot of strength and stamina. The couple of hardish weeks I did at the end of May were a good effort towards getting some of my form back from when I was a lot more dedicated to training in Jan/Feb but then 40mins total running in the two weeks prior to the Jukola was too much of a taper to say the least. The N/S champs elite classic races I did 4-5 months ago I remember finishing and feeling like I hadn't really done anything. However now it couldn't be much more different - I walked the last few km with just no energy left in my legs at all :(

Summary of (mostly) British runners last leg (can't include Whitesheep in this analysis yet for some reason - assume splits not available because of current DQ status of the BOK team)...

2.2KM:
01) 13:46 - Joe Mercer
02) 14:18 - Oleg Chepelin
03) 15:09 - Seamus O Boyle
04) 16:32 - GG
05) 17:08 - Keith Agmen
06) 19:06 - Rich Guillaume
07) 20:07 - John Hartley
08) 21:17 - Tom Ryan
09) 27:28 - John Tullie
10) 50:38 - Ed Nicholas

5.1KM:
01) 39:18 - GG
02) 42:40 - Oleg Chepelin
03) 44:32 - Seamus O Boyle
04) 44:52 - Joe Mercer
05) 47:42 - Keith Agmen
06) 50:36 - Rich Guillaume
07) 51:44 - John Hartley
08) 65:05 - John Tullie
09) 66:20 - Tom Ryan
10) 82:27 - Ed Nicholas

8.7KM:
01) 070:07 - GG
02) 075:56 - Oleg Chepelin
03) 081:44 - Joe Mercer
04) 085:44 - Rich Guillaume
05) 087:05 - Keith Agmen
06) 087:09 - Seamus O Boyle
07) 089:56 - John Hartley
08) 105:35 - John Tullie
09) 106:01 - Tom Ryan
10) 118:16 - Ed Nicholas

9.7KM:
01) 078:23 - GG
02) 083:57 - Oleg Chepelin
03) 092:09 - Joe Mercer
04) 095:30 - Rich Guillaume
05) 097:20 - Seamus O Boyle
06) 100:44 - Keith Agmen
07) 105:13 - John Hartley
08) 117:19 - John Tullie
09) 117:57 - Tom Ryan
10) ???.?? - Ed Nicholas

Not really interested in going any further for the obvious reason. Anyway today was the first day in my last 5 weeks of training before the O-Ringen... and what good training it was! Going to really try hard to stay dedicated from now on. 5 weeks - medium, heavy, v. heavy, medium and then an easy final week. Well, that's the plan anyway.

Event: Jukola Relay Kytäjä-Jukola 2010
 

It seemed strange at the time but I got this sudden urge to go running. Then I remembered... I am a runner.

http://www.mapmyrun.com/route/se/Stockholm%20urban...