Training Log Archive: Sandy

Travel back home.

I will definitely fly SAS whenever possible.

C • Welcome home 7

C • SAS 1

Travel back to Stockholm.

Woohoo - spiked every control. I wasn't running much and we only had 5 real controls but I still read my way right into each one. Great experience on real Swedish terrain. Loved it! Might even be enough to inspire me to start really training again. I couldn't even run the whole the marked route to finish and that's pretty pathetic so maybe this will get me going again.

C • What a great 3

C • Howdy neighbor 4

Another long walk to start - this time it was really, really hot.

Speaking of which, we had amazing hot and sunny weather all week for the competitions. It rained once or twice in the evenings but nothing like some of the rains we had last week. There are a lot of sunburned Swedes walking around here! Luckily it cools off in the evenings so altogether very pleasant.

Another reasonably good day with only one slight miss for a couple of minutes. The terrain was similar to Tuscon or Wyoming so familiar. We took a ski lift up to the top of a mountain, orienteered up top for a bit and then came down the hill and in. I was very concerned about the downhill bit as it was brutal on my knees when we did it Sunday. As I slogged across a longish leg up top (not in good enough shape to run although it was definitely runnable) I looked ahead and got really worried about the leg straight down one of the ski slopes. The terrain into the control at the top was rocky and i was getting nervous. And then I found that if I stayed in the midddle of the slope and not on the elephant tracks on the edges that the ground was really spongy and it felt like I just jumping on a trampoline and I was just bouncing down laughing and singing since it was so much easier than I was anticipating. The footing was tough at the bottom again so I got passed by several people but it didn't matter! I was just so happy to be down the hill.

C • Downhill singing 2

Woohoo - no big misses. But the terrain was definitely easier - very high visibility in most places and where it wasn't, I just had to cross not actually find any controls. But I was still well back (bottom 10% maybe? - haven't checked, too depressing) because running was not an option for all but the very last bit. Perhaps if I was in better shape I could have run some of the uphills and some of the marshy stuff but the steep rocky downhills and the very hummocky marshes are just too much for my knees. But another very fun day of orienteering. Winning time around 35 mins, so less than twice as long (as opposed to more than three times on the first day and more than twice on the second).

C • Improvement 5

Another long walk to start... I actually took more than an hour but I stopped at both water stops and used the bathrooms and took my time.

Good news - way better than yesterday. Bad news - still not particularly good. But I'll take it!

Middle distance course so twice as many controls as yesterday and I only had one really bad one. And just like yesterday, I just wasn't smart about it - there was a great attackpoint that I should have used and didn't. Anyway, unlike yesterday, I bailed to the good attackpoint and then went into the control fine so only lost about 7 or 8 minutes instead of the 10 or 20 like yesterday. So I guess I did learn something.

Real slow to lots of other controls - a combination of being careful and pretty physical terrain.

C • Yay! 1

Walk to start - which was longer than my course (!) and uphill again - and walking to and from the Oringen shops where I bought some duct tape since my O shoes are falling apart and that's the one thing I forgot to bring with me.

Watched the World Cup sprint race - several Americans in both the men's and women's races. It was a pretty amazing arena. We were sitting up on a hillside across from a huge ski mountain. The mountain was mostly bare with several large reentrants and a half-pipe. The racers walked to the top and came down the hill for a while and then had to go back up and then cross back down and into the woods on the (our) left. Then they came out across the half-pipe to a control and then across and into the woods way on the right where they did a few controls and then into the long finish chute which was up the steep hill we were sitting on. Brutal! So we could see everyone for the first part of their course and watch them go in and then come out of the woods and see who was gaining and who losing time. Pretty amazing.

Event: Oringen 2008
 

An absolute total disaster. I just couldn't keep it together to orienteer smart. I'd get close but not know exactly where I was and couldn't read the features enough to sort it out. I didn't pick good attaackpoints (or any) and there were plenty of good ones. So I don't know what to say except I hope I learned something.

C • Hang in there! 5

3km walk to the start, last 2km uphill.