Training Log Archive: jfredrickson

Event: 2006 Sprint Series Finals
 

Warmup for first sprint. Feeling pretty crappy.

Took this one easy since I was in a fairly slow heat. Vlad tried to push the pace right out the start so I just settled in behind him. Then he blew number 3 pretty bad so I had to relocate fast since I hadn't really been reading the map. After that I led the way for the rest of the race, maintaining an easy pace. Mikey and his group caught us at number 11 and so I ran with him for the rest of the way until he ran away from me at the finish. It was cool to see him win his heat. It was even cooler to win my heat without beating a single person in any of the other groups :) And Erin rocked it too with the fastest time on the course, so HVO won 3 out of 4 in the first round.

Warmup for the second sprint. Feeling a little bit better, but a bit weak. Worried that I wouldn't have the stamina to keep up on this one.

Decided to push the pace out of the start and try to get a bit of a lead just in case I ran out of steam half-way through. Ran the first 7 in the lead, but no matter how fast I pushed it and how perfect I navigated, every time I looked back there was a group of people right on my tail. At 7 I decided I didn't want to get my shoes wet crossing the swamp so I went back out and around the swamp. Ross led the way across the swamp and took the lead, but then took the left route along the next swamp while I went right. Ross beat me into the control, but I was just ahead of Mikey. Then I just followed Ross he hit the road at 10 and stopped apparently not sure of where he was. I of course had been focused on keeping up with Ross and hadn't really been reading the map so I quickly went right out to the field to relocate then came back to attack 10. Ross hit it at the same time and led the way to the next 2 controls. I passed him going to 13 and was able to pull away after that. Had to push it all the way to the GO control before I realized it was just me and Mikey in the finish chute.

Not a bad race at all. Felt great the whole way through, and fortunately the terrain was thick enough that we couldn't really push the pace high enough for me to really be hurting. It was good to see that my technique was still there at high speeds when I was actually navigating.

Warmup for the Final sprint. The heat had gone way up and the warmup area was in a field in direct sunlight. I started to feel quite exhausted from the sun, so I tried to stay in the shade as much as possible. Other than that I was feeling mostly cleared up. I did everything I could to pump myself up to be ready to go out fast.

Mikey and Eric Bone started out very fast taking the first two controls. Then Eric looked a little unsure on the beginning of the third leg so I decided to take the lead and push the pace. He fought back after the 3rd control and pushed ahead on the road at the beginning of the 4th leg, but then he started running too far down a path that we needed to cut off of so I took the lead again and held it through 6. In the middle of the 7th leg I got confused by all the buildings in the campground and ended up drifting too far right. I noticed when I hit the big trail leading into the finish area and corrected by running through the field and getting to the control just after Eric. From there I just held onto Eric through the map exchange and all the way to control number 7 on the second map when he made a mistake just before the control. We were approaching a bunch of buildings out of the woods and I guess he didn't read them correctly because he slowed down and started going in the wrong direction. I recognized the building as the one we had passed right before number 4, and so picked it up immediately on my map. Fortunately Mikey was just ahead of me in the pack and so followed Eric. I managed to get about an 11 second lead on them and with only 2 controls left that pretty much wrapped up the race. Mikey pushed it hard at the end though and ran away from Eric taking second place.

This was an absolutely awesome race and fortunately I felt great throughout the whole thing. Maybe all the adrenaline masked any exhaustion I was feeling from my cold. There is nothing like running a fast, technical sprint and this one was an absolute blast.

It was especially nice to be able to realize one of my bigger goals for the year. I trained hard for this race and it was really depressing to be going into the race sick and feeling so crappy. I knew that I was in the best shape I had ever been in, and that made it even more frustrating. It was such a good feeling to realize that I was able to push hard and stay with the top guys, and especially to have my techique in such good shape at the same time. The Final was a real fight and when I saw Eric and Mikey making a mistake on number 7, my heart skipped a beat in excitement. I had a sinking feeling of nervousness rounding the building into 7 with the knowledge that if I wasn't right I had just blown my race. But I was confident enough to follow through and the control was right where I expected it to be. That gave me a huge shot of adrenaline and from there it was just a blast through number 8 and out to the GO control in the field. You rarely have the opportunity to run down the chute and know that you have done everything right and taken home the victory, and it was an amazing feeling. This will memory will surely be a great motivator for me in my training as I know that that is what got me to this point today.

C • Bonner Park Test Loop 2

Sprint #1 - Long - Splits

Sprint #2 - Long - Splits

Sprint Final - Long - Splits