Training Log Archive: Rosstopher

Jukola!

I got a chance to run for Linné after all. Niklas wasn't feeling 100%, so he opted out of his spot on the first team. Loefaas jumped up, and that opened up space on the 2nd team for me.

Really excited to run and thrilled to be wearing club colors. I was running 6th leg, getting the map from Boris who was running 5th, and in turn handing off to Olle who was anchoring our team. Weather was warm and sunny, even at 5 in the morning... just perfect.

Boris looked strong as he finished and I was champing at the bit as he came down the finish chute and tagged off. I saw that he exchanged in 116th spot and I thought we might have a chance at top 100 if we kept up the solid running. With that in mind, I was pleased when I caught one place already by the time I made it to the start triangle, catching and then passing the guy from Bäkkelagets.

The first control was quite a long leg, and I was anxious to start off the race on the proper foot, as they say. I felt a little like I was rushing and frantic as I started the leg, but I settled down and executed the end of the leg nicely which gave me the confidence to push hard. Looking at the splits, I'm surprised I lost so much time on the leg, I was a lot closer on the other controls, so I guess going straighter was just plain faster.

I had one biggish mistake, one medium sized mistake, and one small mistake and the rest of the time I was moving really well, and feeling good flow. The many elephant tracks into and out of controls helped a lot, but more than this I was feeling quite in control.

For 6, my big mistake, as I was nearing the control, I lost confidence in my position and at the same moment thought that I recognized the reentrant nearby as being the one directly above my control. I dropped down the slope and found a flag on a cliff at the bottom, but it wasn't my code and I quickly realized that I was too close to the nearby field. Damn. Back up the hill and into the flag... looks like about 4 minutes lost, glad that it didn't feel so bad at the time. My game was a little thrown by this, and my next couple of controls were shaky too, nothing terrible just bad lines through the forest, perhaps a bit running scared.

For 10, my medium mistake, I was really running well, running ahead of a tiny pack of one or two others and really staying in good contact with the map. I made one of my common mistakes, which is running past a reentrant thinking that I'll see it from below. I got too far, checked in another reentant on the slope continued forward and had to double back to the flag, another 2 minutes lost.

However, after this flag I had a great section of running. I spiked almost everything from here on, and was feeling great. I was navigating on my own too (well, using the elephant tracks too, but no one else was ahead of me) so that was quite good. I had a 2nd fastest split on one of the short legs (2/362 that shared that forking for leg 6)!

An IFK Göteborg runner came past me as I neared the finish and I started to feel a bit tired. Keeping up with the guy seemed nearly impossible, but I caught a lucky break when he thought to cut across the light green on the way to the last control. He headed into the woods on a line that no one else yet had ventured. That's crazy, and I capitalized by continuing on another 10 meters down the trail before cutting across on a well worn elephant track. This gave me all the advantage I needed to get ahead and sprint up the chute in front of him, changing over in 110th. Gained a few, lost a few, netted a couple and much much better than my Tio Mila race.

Olle finished strong, into a 106th spot. Go Linné.


Splits
Quickroute

C • Yay Linné 1

Event: US Team training weekend
 

Training before Jukola on the near-by model map. 8 Euros a map? That's pretty steep considering the captive market.

Went out with Boris and Andrew thinking to run at an easy tempo and get a good feeling from the forest. I taped my sprained left ankle and didn't have any trouble at all. Legs felt great, mind felt great, super fun.

Sunny and warm. We met at each control and then headed to the next. I wasn't signed up for a Jukola team, and I could tell that I was pushing a bit harder than the other guys, not wanting to go all out but not saving myself particularly either.

We also had a compass challenge that I lost, aiming across a bland flat section for a trail junction. I was 20 meters off but more galling than that was the fact that Boris and Andrew were much better :) Something to work on.

We ended on the trail with a few strides...a fine suggestion from Boris. Also, as a side note, that Andrew Quinn fellow is a fast monkey.

Last official Innebandy game of the season. 6 vs 6 which meant a good tempo from all involved. Our team started out strong with great passing, shooting, and hustle. Our quick lead was soon erased though, as the other team got warmed up and started to play up to their ability.

Despite losing severely, it was one of the best games of the season, with everyone playing well and talking and passing a lot.

lost 1.5 kilos of sweat, ending the session at 67.1, progress in my mini quest to shed some of the weight that I've gained in the past year since breaking my elbow.

I'm going to miss this over the summer if I can't find a way to get us into the gym :) Ankle felt pretty good, but still very swollen.

A crazy day at work. I spent the day in meetings and trying to catch up on science. Feeling very productive by the end. Got home closer to 8 and decided that a successful day at work required a little celebration jog. Ankle was still swollen and painful from last night's sprain, so I started out quite gently and stayed to pretty flat and tame sections. Did a loop around Stadskogen and then finished up a bit in the fields near hågadalen. Had to overshoot the front door a bit to get the time up over 30 :) Ankle okay but not great.

Glad that dinner was already ready :) Mmmm, panzanella.

One last relay style training before Jukola. I was given an early slot in the start order, and I dashed off into the woods, trying to catch the group that started just 20 seconds ahead. stopped a bit short on the first, and was a bit wide on the 2nd, then, as I was headed to the third I jumped off a rock and sprained my ankle as I landed in the soft uneven moss that coats just about every square cm of the forest there. It was a pretty high ankle sprain and it was painful enough that I took a few limping steps to consider whether I should just head back to the cars.

It wasn't so bad, and I don't like to quit trainings early, so I just kept running however a bit slower than before.

Then end section of the course was good for me, and I navigated well, keeping up in the forest with Johan and managing to sneak ahead of Boris and Rebecca, who I had seen a lot earlier in the course. Even though I wasn't running particularly well, I am glad that I kept running. In pretty good form these days,