Training Log Archive: roar

Woke up with a slightly sore throat and given the feeling yesterday when running I decided to listen to my body and give it a rest. Properly did nothing today and it was great.

Easy warm up in the falling snow from the cars to the start of intervals. Relatively warm at 0 degrees so at least the snow wasn't already melting.

O-Intervals in Hammarskog

Still lots of people in Portugal so I reckoned I'd be near the front. Focus today, as always in o-intervals, was high speed map reading. On the first one I felt okay and really understanding the map. Nice flow but didn't have a kick at the end to stay in the leading group to the finish.
Took the road option at the start of the 2nd which was about the same and again was with the group until the last control when they sped away. After the last bit along the road here I was thinking I was pretty tired. We waited a bit then for Olle G as he had disappeared but never came back.
Third one I felt ok for about 200m and then I realised just how tired I was. On this one then I started to think about my legs a big more and made a total mess of 14 which left me even further behind everyone.
Probably should have skipped number 4 but I suffered on.
On the last one I decided to start slower to have more in the end but that didn't work and just everyone was gone sooner so I was a good bit behind by the end. Body totally spent.

Very short cool down. Totally spent.

Plan to get me until next Monday.:

Friday: Easy in the evening
Saturday: am o-intervals, pm hills
Sunday: am intervals, pm easy

Easy run in the evening with some podcast. Body felt pretty tired, lack of sleep feeling from yesterday mostly, but it was good to get out. Warm enough out, like 5 degrees and no snow so not hugely different to the last day in Portugal! Did a solid foam rolling session with some TV later on then.

Back in Uppsala. Lot of writing to do. Stayed in a hostel in Lisbon that contained a man whose snoring rivals Finn. He also was pretty serious on the aftershave. Also the bed was very moist. 4 hours is generous. Direct flight back was much nicer than the double on the way out.

All of the maps are uploaded now. The race reports are in progress. Having no real internet really got me behind.

Overall happy with how the body held up, if not overly joyous about the performances. Small bit of tightness at the top of the right hamstring so I'll take it a bit easier tomorrow but otherwise good. I wanted a good run on the WRE day and was happy with how I delivered (relatively) when I wanted to. As usual my uphill was my biggest weakness and raw speed. However the terrain was not the most suited to me so I am not too disappointed. I had tired legs every day as I was doing a lot of training so I think with more rest I could be better. Hard to know exactly though. At least now I know where I am and what needs to be done in the next few months.

"Jog" up the road with Ken and Niklas and Simon caught up at the end. Felt rough but got better as I went on.

O-intervals with Ken and Niklas.

I was pretty good as long as there was not too much uphill. I did a silly thing resetting my watch so I could do laps so had to do a strange thing with the quickroute. 2nd on the first one. Mistake on 6 put me down a bit on the 2nd. Lost tons of time up to 10 but Niklas missed on 12 so 2nd again. Massive mistake on 14 was stupid. Just didn't even look at my compass. Was pretty wrecked but no excuse. Pulled it back on the last one after the fog rolled in, made it quite special) and went straight for 19 when the others went left. 2nd again.

Good fun on a damp misty morning but was not looking forward to putting on the same trousers again this afternoon!

Multitechnique in the afternoon

After lunch in some random restaurant in Aguiar Da Beira put back on the filthy wet trousers and socks from the morning and did the last training of this trip to Portugal. Jogged to the start with Milos and Simon and they went ahead on the first loop. I took it easy and Rasmuss passed me on the way to 6. The contours only area was super fun, with nice views over the valley and quite runnable, though the big slope was super slippery open rock which was kinda sketch. Especially when you ran down it and then got caught in brambles. Solid orienteering from me mostly. The bit across the slope (14-18) was rougher and then down to 19 was not very fast, despite what the map says. Then it was time to go hard which I didn't execute very well. Straight lines were ok but I wasn't very good at turning. Good finish to the camp.

Small bit of warm up before the mass start. Should probably have done more to be more switched on to try and stick with the group for longer at the start though I'm not sure it would have made a whole lot of difference.

POM Day4 Long Mass start

I was in the mass start due to being more than 1 hour behind. Some good guys in it and the pace was high starting off. I was already losing ground up the first hill. Everyone followed Oskar (who I knew was sick and had no intention of running it all) until he keeled over in a coughing fit. I went to 1 via the women's first and was still kind of in the pack. Going to 2 though the pace opened up something fierce and I dropped off. Wasn't too focused then going into 3 and was silly to overshoot it. 4 & 5 were fine but on the way through the marsh to 6 my shoe got stuck. Yanked it out but half of my sole got left behind temporarily so I ended up with a flip flop on one foot. Wasn't terrible as it was the back part coming off, thus not getting worse every step. Ok through the next loop except for a bit wobbly back to the buttefly (all solo). By the time I got to 11 I was pretty pissed with the shoe though, it was a bit of a nightmare so I picked the around option. Unfortunately this meant a marsh at the start with worsened the situation! Running along the road I decided I would just do the first half of the course as there was option of training later anyway.

Line was a little high coming into 12 but got the path junction nicely where I saw Alasdair. He cheered me a bit but I quipped back with my terrible shoe situation. As a result he earned himself some beers by offering his shoe. I stopped and we swapped right shoes, had a little chat, before I continued on my merry way! I was back to finishing! Got 12 nicely, then bam leaving it a branch poked me in the eye and flicked out my contact lens!!!!!! WTF!!? I did 13 surprisingly ok then but 14 and 15 were bad. Again, I was back to contemplating what to do but lo and behold, we had an arena passage. Ran to 16 before going up the road past the finish. The Linne crowd had a big cheer for me, which died down as I hopped the fence as they though I was DNFing, but no, they were mistaken! I commented on my mismatching shoes before rooting through my bag to find a new contact. Put it in and then ran backward up the finish chute, with even more encouragement!

Energy levels were surprisingly high around this last loop and then I took a gel and felt positively good. I was still glad I had the short loop before the long one though as the long leg back up the hill was tough. Unfortunately(!!) Leaving the centre control the second time I kicked a rock and my other shoe (not Alasdair's thankfully) disintegrated with the sole coming off completely in one quick go. I was finishing this course so ran the last bit in odd shoes with one sole missing but got around fine. Was wet but not muddy so not too hard or slippery, perfect barefoot conditions.

What a fun day!

Night loops on a nearby map to our Hotel in Viseu.

Went with Simon and Annika B in the car. Myself and Simon did 2 loops and Annika 1. Nice little area though pretty heavy underfoot. Legs weren't super speedy. Could of silly mistakes but focus was not 100% for sure. When we got back our car had been moved across the road and the key under the other wheel! Thought it was Annika at first but worked out it had been one of the other groups who went out for a run. Good craic.

Warm up to the start before the WRE Middle. Had done my homework last night after the first middle so thought a lot about my approach for today; read the control circles and have confidence to execute the routes that I choose.

POM day 3, Middle WRE

Really felt like I was focused and in the right place mentally before the start. I was confident in my ability and trusting myself that I would make the right choices and that I should commit to them. Started not perfectly by going slightly around to 1 rather than properly around or over but this was influenced by not really understanding the re-entrant on the straight line. The big rock was great though and I got it very well. Interestingly this was my best split position wise of the day.

My good feelings stayed and I was very positive. Maybe not as straight as I could have been to 4 but ok. Leaving 4 I used my elbow to push away a bush but didn't notice there was a rock behind it and smashed my elbow into the rock. That hurt a lot. Kept running but after about 10s I realised I needed to refocus because I was thinking about my arm. Did that and got 5 ok. Didn't read the circle on 6 perfectly and looked too low. Maybe 40s here. I hadn't been sure what to do for 7, how around I should go but picked straight. This was right looking at the GPS. 8 was my biggest mistake. Ran on the wrong side of the rock and met another guy (MS Parma with beard) searching. I was so so close first time. Stopped for a bit, kinda knowing I was too far and then went back. Beard man and an IFK Goteborg guy (who beat me by 12s this day) followed me into it, ~45s

They were faster than me and I was then in the lovely position where they would run fast, make 20-30m on me before the control and then run around the feature before finding it meaning I would catch up perfectly. This worked until 14 which was a bit longer and more uphill so they got away. Beard guy made a mistake though so he was actually behind me. Felt rough up to 15, had been pushing hard after the other guys and a different MS Parma guy passed me. Was a bit hesitant into 16 as I could see 17 and really wanted to run to it. Stood on top of the crag with 16 at the bottom and did some nice posing for pictures as a result. Beard guy was back with me then as I passed Mary Healy leaving 17.

Climb to 18 and I was dying just about hung on but he ran away to 19. Slow here but I made sure of the control. I had seen a spectator control before leaving the area but where it was on my map now was different and I was confused. Came a little too left early on but decided to believe the map. The control was then what felt like in the middle of a marsh, and I was really not confident it was mine and took time checking the code even though I was being shouted at a lot. Climbing to 22 I was totally finished. The two MS Parma guys appeared running from some mad direction and I tried to get back on terms for the finish but couldn't.
The run in was a muddy mess.

Happy with this run. Given How I had felt in the days leading up to it I felt I could run with some speed again (though the hills were still too much for me) and the orienteering was really positive and agressive with mistakes kept to less than 1:30 in what was a tricky area in the circles. Definitely some positives before the season begins in earnest.

Jog down and up the road. Actually fairly cool out. Tired.

Easy with Albin and Lucas around Castelo Da Vida, where we were staying. Interesting chats about nutrition though not sure I really remember any of it! Legs certainly felt better for having done this.