Training Log Archive: PG

From Boris's apartment in Uppsala with Ross and Brendan. First over to scope out the OK Linné clubhouse, looked ok, then over to Nästen to check out the forest and maybe find a few controls, and then back. Found a couple of controls ok, then mightily impressed the other two with a round-about route to the next one. Then back to Boris's and then to the airport.

Boris didn't join us because he was "teaching" a class, something about the behavior of fish when they are flocking, from some sort of mathematical perspective.

By the way, excellent night sleep despite all available floor space being occupied. Just out cold.

Today's run.

Some thoughts about the Tiomila trip....

This was the second such CSU venture, the first being the trip to Finland two summers ago for the Jukola relay. That was a great trip, both as regards the relay and also the trip in general. For the relay, the 7 of us (Boris Granovskiy, Mathias Mahr, Kenny Walker, Ross Smith, me, Mikell Conradi, and Will Hawkins) had agreed to go maybe 6 to 9 months earlier, and what was amazing was that no one got hurt, no one backed out, no one missed a flight, everyone had a good run, and the vibes were really good. For the trip as a whole, I went on a Tuesday, came back the next Tuesday, the shortest trip I have ever taken to Europe, and perhaps I therefore tried to pack in the most activity, including some sort of orienteering every day, sightseeing, hanging out with the team, and even a round of golf.

So last fall when Boris floated the idea of a trip to the Tiomila, I signed up pretty quickly. Actually he floated more than just the idea of going, he also proposed the three more CSU members needed for a 10-man team (Brendan Shields, Ken Walker Sr., and Greg Walker), and he also proposed a possible running order. The latter is not trivial, as the leg lengths vary from 5.7 km to 17.5 km and about half are in the dark. And, amazingly, everyone said yes, no one backed out, the ones that got injured (me and Mikell, he was in a car accident and fractured his pelvis) got healed, and no one missed a flight, and the vibes were really good.

You make notice that my comments on the Jukola included "everyone had a good run." That was not the case this time. Ross led off, mass start in the dark at 10 pm, good run, not great, a little bit of time lost, but when you are in a relay the goal is no big mistakes. Mathias was next, normally rock solid even at night, also a good run until late in the course when he missed a control in a difficult area and it was 15 minutes lost before he recovered. Brendan was next, also a good run but for one control, this one maybe 12 minutes gone. So at this point we were lying not much better than 300th out of a starting field of about 340, and far from our aggressive goal of 150th, and also far from our more reasonable goal of someplace in the top 200.
Next was Boris, out on the "long night" leg, 16+ km. He had a great run, moved us up a bunch of places, his only complaint being that because he started so far back, he was running faster than everyone he saw, so he couldn't take advantage of the faster paces of the packs that form further up in the standings. So his time, done on his own, was terrific. Then came Greg (Mr. Catching Features), excellent run, part in the dark, part in the early daylight, moved us up some more places. Then his brother Kenny (Mr. AttackPoint), also an excellent run, moved up a few more places. Then Mikell, also an excellent run, and I think he came in at 222nd, progress.

Though we had our two OFs next, old farts, first me and then Ken Sr., on the two shortest legs. We both did what we were supposed to, not fast but no mistakes of any consequence, dropped several places each but no more. And so Will went off in 233rd, and we were wondering, certainly he would move up, but top 200 seemed way too much to hope for. But by the first radio split after a quarter of the course he had moved up a dozen places, and by halfway he had picked off another dozen, and when he came cruising into the finish after his 17+ km done at about 6 minutes per km, the electronic sign on the top of lane 10 said we were team 195. Really cool.

Except we found out a few minutes later that he had skipped control 7, a control within 100 meters of #6, he just hadn't noticed it. So we ended up DQ.

And I was really pissed. The first rule of relays, you have to get them all -- check the codes, don't punch too fast, make sure the e-box flashes.

Really really pissed.

For about 5 minutes.

And then it passed. And it didn't pass because I forced myself to be mellow (at least outwardly), or because I didn't want to take it out on Will. It just passed. And even now, a day later, it's too bad it happened, but it did, nothing can be done to change it, and yet what remains is the memory of a really fine trip, a great bunch of kids putting up with in this case two OFs, a great weekend. Staying pissed for more than a few minutes just wasn't possible.

We hung around for a while with our women (Sandra and Kat) and our team leader (Leif Åkebloom, bubo on AP), then Tom Hollowell came by and we talked a bunch about his role as Team Coach and how that is working out and some changes we need to make. Then we slowly packed up and headed up to Boris's apartment in Uppsala, washed up, went out for pizza, and then hung around until midnight telling stories and then finally crashed, the 13 of us filling up all available floor space. Lots of laughs, and not pissed at all.

Up in the morning, a run in the local forest, then off to the airport for the plane home, Boston via Iceland. On the road 3 days, in Sweden two days, totally insane and just wonderful.

We are already talking about possibilities for the next club trip. Best not wait too many more years.

10mila, leg 8. A pretty good run. Went out about 7:30 in the morning (1:30 am EDT). Just a couple small errors but my usual lack of anything close to speed. But I expected to do between 45 and 50, and that's what I did.

A fine CSU trip/reunion. Some good runs, a couple errors, one superb run by William moving us up to 193rd out of about 340 teams, except that he used Billygoat rules and skipped one control, so we ended up with a DQ. Serious bummer.

But still a very fun trip.

My course, haven't drawn in route yet.

Event: Tiomila 2008
 

Off to Stockholm this evening for 10-mila. Hope we have the same good luck and good spirits we had at Jukola. A very short trip, back home on Monday....

South Sugarloaf, 450' climb. Up the trail (7:42), down the trail (4:11), up the trail (7:41), down the road (7:04). Just as it got dark, made a little more interesting by an approaching lightning storm. Got windy on the second time up, but the rain held off until just as I was done, and the lightning was still a couple miles away.