Training Log Archive: W

I can't seem to make my Garmin sync with anything anymore! This is getting kind of annoying.

Anyway, went for a longer run. There was a 10k race I could have done, but I felt my legs could only really handle one race in a weekend, instead it was a light cruise in my cushiest shoes, which was probably a good choice. My legs actually felt quite a bit happier about this run than the week before, so that's a nice sign. I also just quickly jogged over and checked out the state of the ski trails, and they are still in acceptable condition. Might have to give a ski a try before it keeps metling, that could be real nice!

Oh dear, just too much logging to catch up on, an entire training camp, for one. So, I'm going to work backwards. Since it turned out I was going down to Lahti on Friday night anyway, I looked for a race to do in the neighbourhood, and there was one! In downtown Helsinki! A few quick e-mails, and, shazam, they let me register late! First sprint of the season, my fitness feels like garbage after a pretty lousy winter, so I didn't expect to much of myself there.

But, I figured I would accept my lack of fitness and focus on having a strong process, planning way ahead, keeping my head up, etc. etc. 100% focus the whole time.

Well, the focus wasn't 100% all the time, but my bad shape + what I think was pretty darn good focus gave me a 7th place finish, 45 seconds behind the winner. I'd call that a solid result considering, but really needs to be closer if I want to get on the podium in the fall. I don't imagine they're all in awesome shape either, but, still.

What could I have improved on? Well, on the way to the start triangle and, by extension, number 1, I immediately noticed how there was a long leg from 1-2, so I actually was pretty slow to number 1 because I spent so much time looking at number 2. It wasn't so much running slow, rather, I was zig-zagging and not fully aware of where I was going because I was thinking so much about where I was going to be going. I'm trying to plan a lot, but that was probably excessive.

The other dumb thing was on 16, where I had settled on a route choice, what I think was the best route choice, and then at the last minute, I turned and chose a different one, because the person I was catching (he started TWO minutes ahead of me), went a different way, and I guess... I thought he was right? I don't know. I had a sudden total loss of confidence. Can't quite understand why. I'm better than that!

Its probably going to be my only sprint in a while since I miss the HuippuLiiga one coming up in a few weeks because I'll be in the UK, so I'm glad I got to race that. Now to become a better runner again!

I wasn't really sure what I would do for training today. I thought about doing some intensity of some kind, but wasn't sure what. Then I ran into Samppa and Toni in Tiilia and they said they were going to do a mildly boring sprint the S-JKL put on over the weekend. Perfect! Intensity! A little bit of a sprinting!

I say a little bit because it was really not the most intense sprinting in the world. Lutakko is a pretty darn boring area by now, because there's a bit apartment complex that has to be totally out-of-bounds. But, with some super easy long legs, we were able to really stretch out the pace a bit, and it felt really nice to run fast, even though it wasn't as fast as I would like. Turned out to be a long workout too, since I ran there and home again, plus around 4 x 5-7 minutes of fairly high intensity intervals. Good stuff! Spring is finally springing and it was definitely a sunshine and lollipops kind of day.

Legs are still quite grumpy from the training camp. In particular, my right achilles got slaughtered by my icebugs over the camp. They're great shoes, comfortable underfoot, stiff, flexible, light, etc, but man, that hell cup is just brutal sometimes. Worse in the acceleritas. I still bought another pair when the opportunity came up, because I clearly value performance more than my feet.

Two full days off for this guy. Not on purpose, but being on an unexpected holiday for a week has that effect. Not time for much else. Monday was a full on travel day, and Tuesday was a full on get organized again!