Training Log Archive: RalphIn the 31 days ending Aug 31, 2018:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| « | » |
| » now | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Friday Aug 31, 2018 #
O - Race 1:29:00 [5] *** 14.6 km (6:06 / km)
16c rhr:10 slept:8.75 shoes: VJ Bold 2018
I thought this was going really well, I felt aggressive in the terrain, I was catching good guys. I knew I had not done the best orienteering on the long legs, and some other places. But I was nevertheless disappointed to end up in 10th when I finished, and then 11 minutes behind Gustav.
As always there are good bits hiding in amongst the total. And the forest was gorgeous, weather (and ability of the meteorologists) less so.
Might be the longest race of the year done.
Warm up /down 36:00 [2] 4.4 km (8:11 / km)
shoes: VJ Bold 2018
Thursday Aug 30, 2018 #
Run 14:27 [2] 3.0 km (4:49 / km)
ahr:124 max:143 shoes: S1
Run 10:44 [2] 2.4 km (4:28 / km)
ahr:125 max:148 shoes: S1
Wednesday Aug 29, 2018 #
Run 19:11 [2] 3.9 km (4:55 / km)
ahr:130 max:148 rhr:8 slept:8.0 weight:71.9kg shoes: S1
Run 27:56 [2] 5.4 km (5:10 / km)
ahr:123 max:136 shoes: AG1B
Tuesday Aug 28, 2018 #
O - Training 40:27 *** 5.6 km (7:13 / km)
ahr:166 max:180 14c rhr:8 slept:9.5 weight:71.6kg shoes: VJ Sarva 2017
Was pretty good
Run 19:00 [2] 3.3 km (5:45 / km)
shoes: VJ Sarva 2017
Warm up /down 18:00 [2] 1.7 km (10:35 / km)
shoes: VJ Sarva 2017
Monday Aug 27, 2018 #
Note
rhr:8 slept:8.75 weight:71.2kg (rest day)
Sunday Aug 26, 2018 #
Run 20:00 [2] 3.5 km (5:43 / km)
shoes: AG2B
Warm up /down 20:00 [1] 0.8 km (25:00 / km)
shoes: VJ Bold 2018
O - Race 53:35 *** 9.3 km (5:46 / km)
15c rhr:5 slept:7.5 weight:71.6kg shoes: VJ Bold 2018
Went fast around the first loop, then got the message that the gap up to the medals was pretty big, so got the chance to relax on the second section. Which is a blessing, in respect to next weekend.
A bit more unstable orienteering than yesterday, but some nice bits of contour interpretation and holding direction. Apparently this map was WOC 2019 relevant (or is an official training map), I hope the actual race map has less paths (yes, I am an orienteering snob).
No HR data because I do not believe that I am that fit/ill. We shall find out on both counts in about a week.
Saturday Aug 25, 2018 #
O - Race 1:04:53 [5] *** 11.7 km (5:33 / km)
ahr:174 max:181 16c rhr:10 slept:9.0 weight:71.9kg shoes: VJ Sarva 2017
Good hit out.
Grabbed another win in Scandinavia, which is great. Orienteering pretty good, maybe some excess risk and a lack of control over the flatter areas.
Splits
Run 23:30 [2] 4.6 km (5:07 / km)
shoes: VJ Sarva 2017
Warm up /down 6:00 [1] 0.1 km (1:00:00 / km)
shoes: VJ Sarva 2017
Friday Aug 24, 2018 #
Run 35:35 [2] 6.2 km (5:44 / km)
ahr:120 max:140 rhr:3 slept:9.5 weight:71.6kg shoes: AG2B
Thursday Aug 23, 2018 #
Run 43:41 [2] 8.0 km (5:28 / km)
ahr:124 max:146 rhr:8 slept:8.0 weight:71.4kg shoes: AG1B
Nordmarka was fairly busy today, despite it not being either particularly warm or sunny. Luckily, not nudist busy, or maybe they were nudists but just in their pre nudist stage.
Wednesday Aug 22, 2018 #
O - Training 58:29 *** 8.0 km (7:19 / km)
ahr:170 max:184 21c rhr:9 slept:8.75 weight:71.4kg shoes: VJ Sarva 2018
My orienteering was rather terrible, but was getting back into it by the time we were finished.
Run 20:00 [2] 3.0 km (6:40 / km)
shoes: VJ Sarva 2018
Tuesday Aug 21, 2018 #
Note
rhr:9 slept:8.5 weight:71.4kg (rest day)
Monday Aug 20, 2018 #
Note
rhr:3 slept:9.0 weight:71.4kg (rest day)
Sunday Aug 19, 2018 #
O - Training 42:15 [4] *** 6.0 km (7:03 / km)
ahr:169 max:179 20c rhr:6 slept:8.0 weight:71.1kg shoes: VJ Sarva 2018
Generally good orienteering, even if the controls didn't always appear exactly where I expected them. But process was I think good and controlled.
Run 28:00 [2] 5.0 km (5:36 / km)
shoes: VJ Sarva 2018
Warm up /down 18:00 [2] 1.1 km (16:22 / km)
shoes: VJ Sarva 2018
Saturday Aug 18, 2018 #
Run 1:15:18 [2] 14.0 km (5:23 / km)
ahr:139 max:161 rhr:8 slept:9.0 weight:70.8kg shoes: S1
It started off innocently enough, I passed a young boy and I thought "that is a bit unusual to see a child out for a walk in Nordmarka on their own, I wonder who he is with".
Round the next corner and my question was unfortunately answered as I met the child's mother in the bent over barbell pull position having been caught short. Her dog did not look particularly impressed.
Friday Aug 17, 2018 #
Note
rhr:6 slept:8.75 weight:69.8kg (rest day)
Thursday Aug 16, 2018 #
Run 24:40 [2] 5.0 km (4:56 / km)
ahr:134 max:151 rhr:9 slept:8.75 weight:70.6kg shoes: S1
O - Training 45:32 *** 10.0 km (4:33 / km)
ahr:164 max:181 10c shoes: VJ Sarva 2018
Splits:
9.16/22/8.28 [5] - 3.50? - 2.25(control) - 3.20?
17.17 [5] - 4.03? - (4.45 to murder)
10.15 (short)
Run 25:00 [2] 4.6 km (5:26 / km)
shoes: VJ Sarva 2018
Warm up /down 25:00 [2] 2.0 km (12:30 / km)
shoes: VJ Sarva 2018
Wednesday Aug 15, 2018 #
Gym 35:00 [1]
rhr:9 slept:8.5 weight:70.6kg
2x6x40 lunge
3x4x70 back
3x4x70 dead
2x8x20 calf
Run 44:46 [2] 8.0 km (5:36 / km)
ahr:127 max:157 shoes: AG1B
Tuesday Aug 14, 2018 #
O - Training 1:43:11 [2] *** 12.4 km (8:19 / km)
ahr:120 max:148 27c rhr:10 slept:10.75 weight:70.6kg shoes: VJ Sarva 2018
Sunday Aug 12, 2018 #
Run 26:41 [2] 5.3 km (5:02 / km)
ahr:126 max:141 slept:7.0
Saturday Aug 11, 2018 #
Note
slept:7.0 weight:70.6kg
Friday Aug 10, 2018 #
Note
slept:6.0
Thursday Aug 9, 2018 #
Run 29:36 [2] 5.7 km (5:12 / km)
ahr:122 max:142 rhr:10 slept:9.5 shoes: AG2B
O - Race 35:58 [5] *** 6.7 km (5:22 / km)
16c shoes: VJ Bold 2018
The Ralph Street delivery service has been remarkably effective over the past few years at putting me out in good positions, 2nd, 3rd, and even 4th place have been tried. This year Peter and Kris went for the going out in 2nd strategy, we hadn't really talked about exactly what position I should go out in but I back their decisions completely and felt confident. However, it had appeared that the other teams had got the "let's get close to the front on last leg" memo, so there were 10 teams within 92 seconds.
After much dithering through the first flat and green section, including some sledging. For the non cricket fans amongst you,
"Sledging is a term used in cricket to describe the practice whereby some players seek to gain an advantage by insulting or verbally intimidating the opposing player. The purpose is to try to weaken the opponent's concentration, thereby causing them to make mistakes or underperform. There is debate in the cricketing world as to whether this constitutes poor sportsmanship or good-humoured banter."
I have certainly seen various forms of gamesmanship at the sharp end of the orienteering world but never anything verbal before. I am not sure how I feel about it, it will be interesting to see if it appears again in future situations.
Anyway, by the run through we were down to 8 teams within 85 seconds, with 7 of them within 30. Routechoice after the arena, went round. I felt there was very little in it for me, and I was happy to chase Gustav and Vojtech on it. Found my forking fine, saw Robbie in front (and guessed therefore that Norway was also in front), and saw Frederic for the first time, also just a bit in front.
A couple of tricky looking slope-o legs followed and the boys behind seemed fairly content to follow my navigation, which is always nice and encouraging. At that TV we were 9 teams within 49 seconds.
I then had the middle forking with Gustav on the next leg, it felt like we had better control than the guys I could see on my left into our one. However, we then probably made a mistake, instead of climbing up to the open we contoured, through the left hand fork, and dropped time to those boys and the ones who had had the right hand fork, and had gone up.
With the long leg back to the arena looming I felt that this was business time, so I worked hard to close the gap before it started. I wanted to do the path route, I had heard on the arena commentary from before that it had worked well for the first leg. It looked pretty 50/50 to me, but once I saw the path looked good I wanted to take that choice, and it helped that everyone else took it as well.
The pace on the path felt actually quite ok, but once the hill came I realised I was pretty cooked. Together with Miika we search for a bit of a flatter route slightly to the left, it got a bit tough with trees and the soft ground and Matthias, Frederic, Robbie were all away. This left myself to fight with Vojtech. I thought I had the edge on the flat stuff but as soon as I hesitated a fraction I realised he was still right on me, we were neck and neck and then I was just behind at the last control and even though it felt like I closed a bit on the short downhill once it ramped up to the finish I just couldn't get any closer.
It is almost certainly the most cooked I have ever been after a race. I was pretty lost for words and running on a weird mix of adrenaline, caffeine, dehydration, sugar, eggs, couscous.
I still really don't know exactly how I feel about this race, well obviously I am gutted. But in comparison to 2015, 2016, and EOC this year, I don't know where it ranks at the moment.
Warm up /down 10:00 [1]
Warm up /down 40:00 [2] 3.5 km (11:26 / km)
shoes: VJ Bold 2018
Wednesday Aug 8, 2018 #
O - Training 27:24 [2] *** 2.6 km (10:32 / km)
ahr:115 max:138 8c rhr:9 slept:8.0 shoes: Inov8 225
Tuesday Aug 7, 2018 #
Run 11:11 [2] 2.3 km (4:52 / km)
ahr:118 max:133 rhr:1 slept:9.0 shoes: AG2B
Warm up /down 35:16 [2] 4.0 km (8:49 / km)
O - Race 35:57 [5] *** 6.7 km (5:22 / km)
19c shoes: VJ Bold 2018
"A positive surprise"
I know that I am usually slow and unstable to the first control, so when I saw it I actually thought "great, a straightforward leg that I can't lose much time on". Woops, parallel error, maybe a minute gone.
This obviously played on my mind, and I wasn't sure of the start interval (because I am an idiot), so I knew that Gernot was probably coming. I was ok through the next couple, but got no action from the cameras (as expected) but could see them getting ready for someone behind me, and then going into 6 I heard someone (Gernot). So a bit of a "get on with this", too myself and tried to run hard and aggressively on the long leg.
Got in with a bit of faff, and then a small struggle on the next one, before running quite well on the next section. Crossed the bridge, did the flat area without any big issues.
Suddenly I was in the arena with not much to run, made some simple decisions and worked hard. Into the finish to a surprising 2nd place.
Angry/happy afterwards, how on earth can I possibly be 2nd after that race?? I was badly focussed during it, I made a mess of 1 control, I faffed about through various bits of green.
I will reflect more on this after WOC is over, but great to know that my base speed on this day was mixing it near the top. So. Taking steps.
Warm up /down 20:00 [2] 4.0 km (5:00 / km)
shoes: VJ Bold 2018
Monday Aug 6, 2018 #
O - Training 46:28 [2] *** 4.7 km (9:53 / km)
ahr:118 max:139 12c rhr:5 slept:9.0 shoes: Inov8 225
Sunday Aug 5, 2018 #
Run 15:16 [2] 2.8 km (5:27 / km)
ahr:117 max:137 rhr:10 slept:8.5 shoes: AG2B
Run 15:23 [2] 3.6 km (4:16 / km)
ahr:131 max:148 shoes: AG2B
Saturday Aug 4, 2018 #
Run 18:52 [2] 3.1 km (6:05 / km)
ahr:115 max:135 rhr:10 slept:8.5 shoes: AG2B
O - Training 32:16 *** 4.2 km (7:41 / km)
ahr:165 max:178 10c shoes: VJ Bold 2018
Run 16:16 [2] 3.1 km (5:15 / km)
shoes: VJ Bold 2018
Warm up /down 4:00 [2] 0.2 km (20:00 / km)
shoes: VJ Bold 2018
Friday Aug 3, 2018 #
Note
rhr:9 slept:7.0 weight:70.8kg
O - Training 42:35 [2] *** 5.1 km (8:21 / km)
ahr:133 max:152 8c shoes: Inov8 225
There is a music festival going on in Ratnieki so I had to go and park in a different location, and consequently run a different course. On the way into the forest around some fields I was waved back to the car by a Latvian woman.
"Something Latvian"
"English?"
"No..."
"Deutsch?"
"Ein bisschen"
Hmmmm, "Is everything ok?"
"Why are you running on the field?"
"I am running to the forest"
"Why are you going to the forest?"
"I am going running in the forest"
"Why?"
(Why indeed), "I like running in the forest"
"Why are you here, running in the forest?"
(Oh dear, being forced to drop the O word) "I am doing orienteering"
"Why are you doing orienteering in the forest?"
"Well my parents introduced me to the orienteering cult at an impressionable young age and I have now got quite good at it and so I was able to make the British team for the World Championships which the International Orienteering Federation have allowed Latvia to host"
"..."
(Maybe she didn't understand my mix of Norwegian/Swedish/German/English) "It is the World Championships"
"Where are you from?"
"Great Britain"
"No, where did you come from today?"
"Sigulda"
"So why are you not running in the forest there?"
"Well I'm not allowed to run in the forest in Sigulda because it would be unfair as I would gain an advantage, and the forest here in Ratnieki has been determined by the organisers and many other teams as a forest that is similar in characteristics to the forest in Sigulda both in terms of the vegetation and the technical challenges so therefore I am using it as a short refamiliarisation training today before I go and run fast tomorrow"
"..."
"It is a similar forest"
"I own this field"
"Entschuldigen sie bitte, I am so sorry"
"It is ok, just you, and just today can run here"
"Ok great"
Why wasn't my orienteering great today, because I was thinking of what to write on my attackpoint log. Top focus as usual.
Thursday Aug 2, 2018 #
Run 19:10 [2] 3.9 km (4:55 / km)
ahr:128 max:146 rhr:8 slept:9.0 weight:70.5kg shoes: S1
Run 23:41 [2] 4.7 km (5:02 / km)
ahr:126 max:167 shoes: AG1B
Wednesday Aug 1, 2018 #
Run 39:10 9.5 km (4:07 / km)
ahr:134 max:175 rhr:3 slept:8.0 weight:70.5kg shoes: AG2B
Felt good.
Warm up /down 6:17 [2] 0.5 km (12:34 / km)
shoes: AG2B