Training Log Archive: slauenstein

My normal morning jog to get ready for the race today.

Warm-up and cool down for Long qualification race.

Again, not my best race, like yesterday I was unable to run with the confidence and exactness that I have achieved in almost all of my races this year. Already at the first control I lost 1 minute. Grr. I wish I could find the flow that I have been having, but I guess my nerves are getting in the way. Running races like these is good preparation for the World Champs, because the pressure and stress that I feel in big races makes it hard for me to run at my optimum. I really need to work on this and find a way to stand on the starting line and run normally, even if it?s a ?big? race. I have figured it out at a lot of big races in the past (WOC 07, Masenstaffeten, Tiomila etc) but something is missing at these races. My normal mental preparation has not been as affective as normal. At least I know I need to work on this and will be prepared for this situation at WOC.

The races here at the European champs have been really tight. Everyone here is really good and the competition is high. To qualify for the A final in my heat you couldn?t loose more than 6 minute! That is a lot less than any WOC Long quali I have ever run in. I lost 15 minutes to the winner, which is not awesome, but also not a disaster. The terrain was really technically difficult. The complicated sand dune formations mixed in with light green and lots of swamps made for a type of orienteering that I have not had a lot of practice in. I tend not to be great in depression (negative) type of terrain either. At 1:15000 it was very hard to read and I felt a little overwhelmed during the race. My technical ability in this type of terrain is something for me to work on. You can see that all of the Scandinavian nations did well today and that lots of other pretty good nations had some people out of the final (Swiss team had 3 out). It was hard for a lot of people.

C • ....and doing it all by yourself!! 2

C • Picture 1

Morning jog at 5.30am!

Warm up and cool down for the Sprint qualification race.

Sprint Qualification
An ok, but not awesome race. I made 2 x 10 second mistake and that was too much. It was a very easy and fast sprint. I wasn't satisfied when I got into the finish, I knew it wouldn't be good enough to make the final. Too bad, should have been sharper today. Missed the final by 7 seconds... oh well. Lots of good people didn't make it.

Results: http://www.eoc2008.lv/index.php?id=/live/live.php

Decided not to run the B-final and prepare for the long distance quali tomorrow. I will run the other B-finals if I don't make the A, so I think it's okay to rest my legs and skip it.

C • Yes, keep it up, and do well! 5

C • US Team 5

C • 1

Event: EOC 2008
 

Model event for the middle, long and relay. The terrain is so beautiful here, it will be tricky at full speed though. I am looking forward to the challenge.

Sprint model event in the afternoon. Did some strides and some controls at sprint speed. Feel good.

C • EOC 3

Event: US Team Trials
 

Travel day to Latvia for the European Champs/World cup races.

Schedule:
Monday 26.05: Sprint Quali and Final
Tuesday 27.05: Long Quali
Wednesday 28.05: Long Final
Thursday 29.05: Rest day
Friday 30.05: Middle Quali
Saturday 31.05: Middle Final
Sunday 01.06: Relay (no US team)

Emotionally charged I ran to the track after work...

and then I took all my frustration out on these intervals...

Ran 4 x 400m, part of my tapering plan for the world cup races next week. Times were: 77, 76, 76, 77

Running rest day, I feel the injury that I had last fall again for some odd reason (jumper's knee) :-(

Mostly core strength and some exercises for my legs. Nothing with weights...

We are here in the southern part of Switzerland at the official Swiss Federal youth sports facilities. Our job is to offer a field performance test to endurance sports that are in Tenero during this week. Every spring and fall there is a week long camp for the youth/junior national teams to train in Tenero and also take part in different type of sports and performance testing as well as train for their own sport together with their team. We offered 4 x 1000m test, where the athlete runs one 1000m at an easy, middle, fast and full-out tempo. For every 1000m we measure time, heart rate, and take a blood sample to measure lactic acid after each stage. The athletes get an estimation of their lactate threshold speed and heart rate and thus also training recommendations. We did 65 tests, which means we were working basically none stop for 3 days (not only does one test take about 25 minutes, afterwards you have to analyse the results and then discuss it with the athletes). I got a chance on our last evening to do the workout I had planned, but after little sleep and being on my feet all day, I wasn't expecting really fast times. This turned out to be true as well.

3 x 800 meters with 2 minutes break between.
Times were:
2'53
2'54
2'50

Not super fast, but good for the circumstances.

Running drills after the warm-up, before the intervals.