Training Log Archive: Bashman

Ante
With Uldis and Endjis.
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WU
10mins jogging easy, mobility stuff, regular drills, 3 strides.
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Helsinki O Games Long - H21E

Took this very seriously and preparation was perfect pre race. Jog before breakfast, big meal of porridge and muesli 3hrs before, decent warm up, all the drills and strides I'm used to and some good technical preparation and imagery on the drive over. Nice weather, but quite hot and humid for racing.
Started quite hard and this went well for the first few minutes. Got to the circle at 2 comfortably but veered left to the wrong boulder. Actually it wasn't on the map and only a few metres off but then dropped another level before figuring out what I had done. Lost a minute but was out to get it back. Good flow through 3 and then picked a great route to 4. For most of the legs today, Toni's advice of straight on every leg in this terrain popped into my head and this worked every time. Just off the fastest time to 4, a 9min leg, but then lost another 45s to 5 having entered a reentrant too early, one that wasn't on the map. Also lost my leg in a crack in a rock slab which could have ended up a lot worse than a graze.
Reorganised to 6 and had a good split and direct route. Fastest split to 7 by ignoring path temptations and really simplifying the terrain, focussing on a vague bearing and running harder. Felt I had to dip round to 8 but lost time by doing so. But then good to 9 and took a few seconds to drink as I was already very thirsty in the heat. 2mins down here, which could have easily been 0 minus the stupidity.
I lost focus heading out of 9 which made for a very funny routechoice to the lake. At this point I was stuck behind an old man for a bit. When I eventually nipped past and checked my map, I ran head first into a lamp post-sized tree and completely took it out with a very loud cracking sound. Lay there laughing with the man behind me laughing too, and felt a bit sorry for the tree but this was soon replaced with a huge surge of adrenaline having smashed myself off the ground. Soon I was back on track to number 10 having only lost a few seconds to the best time.
Found it fine and began planning out when to have my gel to 11. This unfocussed thinking made for a few extra bananas though which no doubt added about 30s onto the first section. Crossed the marsh having relocated and removed the gel from my sock (it worked well) only to drop it and, tragically, watch it land about 1cm from a dead mouse. I considered not eating it with all the diseases likely now living on the packaging but I was beginning to bonk so took it anyway, still awaiting extreme vomiting to commence.... Got back on track and ran the final section of the leg pretty directly, only veering off for runnability, as is usual in this terrain.
Next control pick was quite good save for 12 where I was a hill behind myself and ran past the kite. Good split on 14 feeling the gel kicking in with a sudden recharged pair of legs. A bit scrappy to 15, not finding good lines through the grot, but found the control fine. Changed my mind 20s after exiting to 16 so a small banana but good execution after. Again, same thing to 17, and would have topped the splits without the exit banana, good route otherwise. Then top split to 18, which was nearly identical to 7, my other best split. Something about this leg suits me then I guess. Another decision change once I had exited, trend emerging....
Final few were good and managed to put in some pace down the hill to pip Scott's time, feeling a bit brutal. Really happy about the result though and feel that I'm physically just about ready to race to my full capacity this season. Especially considering a heavy week in the legs and some rough terrain, which only a few months ago seemed a lot harder than it is now. Put this, as well as an increased technical performance, down to the last 10 days of extremely relevant training (obviously). It's nice to already see some good results emerging, and hopefully another 10 days in this terrain will only bring about more 'gains'.

Results - http://helsinkiogames.fi/wp-content/uploads/2017/0...
Map - http://www.scottish-orienteering.org/doma/show_map...
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C • result 6

Ante
Wee loop from Sundman's, already roasting outside. Legs feeling very tired, but nothing tight either. Good WU needed was the conclusion.
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WU
Loosened off well and actually feeling quite good by the end. First time a WU has noticeably worked for me I think... New bolds feeling great, fairly brutal on the feet though so saving them for special occasions...
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Helsinki O Games - Middle - H21E
With the main selection race for Jukola tomorrow, we were told to use today as a taster of the terrain and not go crazy. However, with such a good opportunity I was keen to race, but also to be clean as possible given how complex it was. Much harder than JWOC stuff, so the idea was to nail this to feel better about Tampere terrain.
Steady off the start having pretty much pre-planned number 1 already. Really wanted to hit it well and was fairly clean when I eventually got there. Perhaps sub optimal route as was 40s down already but it was worth it for the confidence. As a result through the next three controls, probably the trickiest of the course, I only dropped a further 10s to the leader. Just to boost the ego, I was even ahead of 3rd place here, 10mins in. Then binned a really stupid minute to 5 having caught Fricis, chilled out, and lost focus and my head. Searching too low, but realised soon enough and put in some good pace through the next few being clean as well.
A slightly wobbly route on the main RC leg to 11 but a good split in the end, so legs obviously working today. A few slightly off bearings through the next, Tampere relevant section, losing bits of time through cautious O. Then a slight hesitation to 15 and a long way round to 16 were my final official errors of the day. At 16 I was 3.5mins down compared to 4 at the finish, 10mins later.
The last section was therefore clearly easier and I was able to use the legs a bit more. Saying that, I was still fresh at the finish and running good times compared to the leaders in the final few running legs, so that should make things exciting for tomorrow. In with a shout of a nice position at the O games too, but will be happy enough with another run like today. Cooler weather coupled with hopefully more running and less constant map contact than today was should hopefully allow for this anyway.

Results - http://helsinkiogames.fi/wp-content/uploads/2017/0...
Map - http://www.scottish-orienteering.org/doma/show_map... - I feel like any scandi orienteer would be embarrassed by a route like this but ah well.
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WD
Feeling much better than on the WU.
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Easy
And now feeling the best I have all week.
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Kemiö D5, Easy
Nice round a short course, starting on the open rock heaven from Wednesday. Took my phone to take some videos so lots of stop/starting, which as fine for an effective rest day today. Legs had nothing up the hills.
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Easy
Evening loop with mr. club manager for the first half, too full of beer to continue on. Put in some sprints on the brutal xc ski loop but nothing really came of it. Feeling better by the end I guess...
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Ante
Strangely really not too bad after a few mins, still quite stiff but energy levels good. Perhaps didn't totally spend them during the 'intervals' last night.
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Kemiö D4 Easy
Really sweet terrain on the other end of the island, making weird mistakes in the circles today however based on the maps general accuracy, age and tendency to map hills as perfect ocad ovals, I feel as if it wasn't all my fault today. Really good stuff towards the end anyway and thoroughly enjoyed. Again feeling better in the second half and putting some good near-race pace practice at times. Cool Jukola style course.
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Easy with Drills
Jog to and from the 320m track,10mins from the clubhut. Some drills, strides on the straights and then a bit of an effort round a lap as a long stride to finish. Poor performance. Feeling knacked. Post run dinner and sauna with submersiom in the freezing sea in between was perfect.
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Ante
Stiff, stuck in some marsh at one point. Looking forward to breakfast the whole way round, but taps aff weather was nice!
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Kemiö D3
Nice map near the centre and really cool terrain with lots of paths for once. Orienteering quite well but legs didn't have much until later on. A few lazy misses but feel like I wasn't totally focused. Really hot day today. Accelerations on the way back.
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Kemiö D3.5 Night O intervals
Five longer interivals with Tapsa after a short jog and two easy controls. Mental area, basically one slab of bare rock with some marsh and green scattered about too. This meant some high speeds followed by small misses and lots of time loss. Less than ideal map and printing but no excuse for some of my mistakes. Probably felt a bit rushed knowing they were the main session of the week but at times I didn't feel very focused as well. That being said, there were some god bits and legs were still moving after a tough few days. Finished after 1am,with food at 2am, mental! Quite nerve racking when alone, tough to focus on the map, and instead worried of what was lurking in the dark... Rumours of wolves about, plus a blood red horizon from the remains of the sunset were great for an added spooky feel.
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Ante
Shorter one to the north, feeling quite tired. Hamstrings not felt tight in months! Roasting outside.
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Gym
Standard Maintenance set with swimming BS (both meanings) and a try at aquajogging after.
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Kemiö D2 Long Slow
Stuck in the lowest of gears to start with and then increased the pace after waking up after 45mins(!), took it's time today. Absolutely stunning sunset terrain, really nice open rock areas and runnability quite good. Bruised my heel from jumping off a crag onto solid rock early on though and was 90% something worse would come of it, gladly not. Orienteering was mixed with a contour/marsh only map so fairly tricky going, and at times a slightly poor 'punch' at the previous control meant a massive cock up at the next. Mostly things that wouldn't happen at events though given real kites and detailed maps. Felt much better finishing off than I did at the start, which is a common theme for the week. Startled another, much bigger moose today, wasn't sure which way it would run when it looked at me!
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Ante 30
Finally slept 9hrs but still knackered. Legs woke up eventually, but got a bit lost. Pissing it down all day.
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Kemiö D1 - Easy
Sticking in low gear trying to follow the compass, as the area really allowed for it. Mostly good, just some dodginess towards the end when the focus began to slip. Absolutely soaked from 2mins in, but not too cold.
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Terrain Intervals - 16 x 90s [60s]
Really mixed stuff, from bounding over open rock, to fighting through thick marsh, to a rocky track, to some really clean forest at the far end. Quite happy with it, but lost quality on some reps through the thick marsh and almost screwed up my legs on many occasions. Also startled a moose which gave me a good fright, first one seen in the wild!
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