Training Log Archive: Gswede

8.5k corridor on Sand Spring + warmup and cool down. There were some parts of this that went far beyond my technical ability, the western ridge in particular. I have yet to feel confident in that section.

Maze course on Sand Spring

Camping out in Hickory Run to get away from the heat and for a WOC camp. I was planning on doing a corridor, but the amount of sunlight I had left and how tired my legs were convinced me otherwise. Instead I did a loop on the trails on the Shades of Death map. Then I had dinner in some surprisingly windy conditions for a forest.

Standard routine

One of the Thursday Evening Races with the Wissahickon Wanderers. Great course with a solid amount of climb and a mixture of fast and very technical sections.

Legs were pretty tired from the past two days, but still got a solid workout out of it.

So, when Sydney and I got to talking last week about being on the US team and what it means, we both felt a frustrated that there is so little going on at the senior level.

It's like we've focused all our energy on improving the junior team and forgotten that the senior team should be at a higher level. It's not very motivating for ex-juniors to move on from the junior team to find they will get less support and guidance.

Since we are a small country with a small budget, I don't think there's much we can do with the budget in this regard. But there is a way to help us improve and grow as a team without spending loads of cash.

Is anyone out there interested in organizing weekend training camps for the US Team?

The best Europeans spend several weeks at a time at these training camps. For Americans, it's even more important since many of us live far from any maps. I can't remember the last US camp I've been to that wasn't organized by me. I need support to improve also. I've still got a long way to go until I'm competitive with the top orienteers, and if there are people out there willing to help us, that would be great.

Shoot me an email if you're interested.

Legs were still a bit tired from the intervals yesterday, but the main problem was that I didn't bring water with me. I thought I'd be able to loop through Valley Green a few times stopping at the water fountain there and I'd be good. But that wasn't enough. Suddenly it's summer at about 30C.

3x7 minute workout plus 20 pull-ups

Track Tuesday

Plan was a ladder of 400, 800, 1600, 800, 400
Rest of 200 jog after the 4s and 8s, 400 jog after the 1600.

Times:
68
2:31
5:19
2:32
72

Stomach wasn't feeling great and the Achilles did bother me a bit, but it's much better than a few weeks back.

So I'm not posting most of the rest of the maps from the training camp. But I decided to post this course for two reasons: 1) to show just how great the terrain in the Northeast can be and 2) to show the progress I'm making in technical ability since I've started elite training here. I've always struggled a lot with corridors. Here I only went outside once on the east side when I got pushed around by the mountain laurel, and even then I was able to recover. I hope this continues to show Americans that we have the ability to do elite orienteering training stateside and progress to a very high level.