Training Log Archive: Lizzie

Abs were struggling from early on this week. As was my timing/choreography, but that's more of an every week issue.

KM stafett AOOK, BuOK og ØOK
Running 2nd leg after Kine and handing to Bodil. Kine came in in the lead, but I had no idea what length by. Had a shaky start, with slips on 2, 3 and 4, but then pulled myself together and had a good mid and end of the course (aside from opting for straight to 10 and getting beaten by a group of junior boys that went around.. :/
Handed over to Bodil well in the lead, and she kept it clean for the win by 8:15 :)

DM, lång, Bohuslän-Dal

Aaah, what to say. Um, #1 was shite as I got used to the crap printing of the map, the fact that lines weren't cut despite a vital track to #1 being completely under the line, and the fact that the map looked suspiciously like 1:15000 even though the program said it would be 1:10000.
Lost time in the light-yellow, scotland-esque over head high bracken and bog, then got off line back in the green.

But once I'd got #1, I settled into the map. learnt to stop when in doubt so I could read what was a cliff vs rock vs track, and things went more smoothly. Legs felt good, and I didn't get stuck in too much more rubbish. Even found the correct penultimate control, which is more than ~50% of the Halden crew can say. (It was dodgy as hell, and I did see the wrong control first).

Not the best of events, but still a good day out. 2nd, 1.19 behind Anni Maija, 1.07 of which was #1.

Got there a bit late. Spent more time tying up my shoes than warming up.

Sprint Intervals at Tanumstrand with the Norwegian team.
4 x ~1.3km ints with 2min rests. around holiday cabin complexes for the main part, then the final 3 controls of each were the same, and with very little nav. Aim was to have consistent splits on these 3 over all intervals, which I managed reasonably (although it felt far more difficult some times than others).
Legs really feeling it right from the beginning, but pushed through. Was pretty happy the other girls opted out of the 5th interval though!

To/From start

Iddefjordfjella. Walking around my own special line course that Eva set me. Different style of mapping from yesterday for sure.

Middle course on the new Hoias map. Started from #8 to save leg energy for tomorrow, and 1-7 were in grotty thinned stuff.
map was easily the clearest of the last two days - or maybe my walking training is paying off already? ;)

Tvetskogen training. 2 loops with shortish length controls. Walked the nearer loop making sure to read all the required details along the way. Stepped things up to a jog for a few controls of the 2nd loop, including completely losing the plot on one control...maybe stick to a walk for now? ramp it up a bit by WOC next year?

WU and drills

5x1km reps with 2min/200m rests. Eva and I were the only girls doing 1km reps, so paced each other. Worked well, started off comfortably on the first couple then ramped up the speed as we went.
Not a super fast session, but solid and good to build on.

Managed to resist all temptation to collect stray footballs from the kvik halden training that was going on inside the track until during WD. How's that for discipline.

First time I've kicked a football in 6months.

Tuesday technical out at Krusäter.
Pretty wet and pretty tough going under foot. With the exception of not finding #1 I felt a lot cleaner and smoother going today. Later learnt that #1 was not there, and the map was a little screwed. Turns out this stuff can happen in norway too ;)

Immy, you'll be so proud of me - I nailed exactly 1:00:00, without even looking at my watch any time in the last 8mins of the run!

Went to check out swimming opportunities in the lakes of Hoiasmarka. After 2 weeks of stunningly good weather, the heavens opened at 2pm though, so no swimming today anyway. But. Have found a swimmable lake only 25 mins run away. Good.

C • so proud 1

Eva's strength.
This was not exactly 1:00:00, that would be way too much precision for one day. Just back to my old rounding.
Still no press ups due to wrists. Did substitute planks, cos there clearly weren't enough of those in the session anyway.
Favourite exercise is still the seated ab rotation, done in stages and in time with gangsta's paradise on the playlist. (I'm not sure I can convey just how badass this exercise is in words, a video, (not of me) may be required)

Walked the festningsløpet course with Helen talking me through the stages of the race. Was wearing jandals, resulting in sweaty feet slipping on cobblestones. Will note and remember this for next year's race. Jandals = sub-optimal race shoe.

C • Jandals!! 4

C • sub-optimal 2

NM Ultra-Long.
Map/GPS: http://www.tulospalvelu.fi/gps/20150822ultraD21/

Had a lot of fun out there, and not just cos I had a lot of time out there ;)

Was second runner off, with Jo 6mins ahead of me, so was ready for a long solo run, and that's how it unfolded. First 3 controls were a warm up in the flatter area, yet I still managed to lose time to #1, by changing my decision and taking the wrong track toward the end of the leg. Number 3, I ran around the track, no biggie, but not ideal.

#4 was the first long leg. I opted for staying on the flat as long as possible, then linking tracks and a stream to get within 100m of the control before having to really concentrate on nav. Executed to plan, although I lost 1min mid-leg by losing concetration and choosing to cut the corner of the tracks through green crap. And lost time not being confident or aggressive when following the stream.

Caught Jo at #4, as she headed in from the opposite side as me. She headed off really strongly to #5, but as we were in the technical area now, I slowed and read the detail. Afterwards I learnt she'd already been to #5 on the way to #4, which explains why she was so confident and strong on it! #6 I came off my plan and farted around trying to figure exactly where I was. I had a big AP and knew I was headed the right direction, so this really was just farting around.

7-8-9 were the final controls on the complex slope and I took them steady and stable. Verbalising to myself and knowing what was coming up when. I lost a bit of time to #9, not 100% sure how, although I did have trouble with my description holder around here, and had to stop to readjust and tighten it. But really, that's just a weak excuse.

9-10, 2nd long leg. I got the exit of 9 right on, managing to link up small forest tracks and fast running. Got caught in cuttings towards the railway though so lost a bit of any gained time. Went all the way to the railyards before cutting in just by the control. Had my first (and only) gel as I entered the forest to the control. Which was silly, as I then wasn't 100% on the nav. So very slow through 10 and 11 control circles. Through the semi-open to 12 and a very welcome drink control. (Norwegian summer, def. here!).

13 and another long leg. I'd decided on my route while on my railway run to 10, so headed out of 12 confidently. Met some blueberry and mushroom pickers. Promptly did my one face-plant of the race right in front of them. Opted for the LH route choice, up to the plateau and dropping down the steep slope into 13. I lost 5mins on this leg to Hausken and Mari, however I dont think mine was a terrible route choice. I think most of that time loss was in (a) exiting #12, there was a faster route more to the S with track and roads. (b) coming out of the urban part, my route choice went through a gravel area and down an earthbank. In reality, this earthbank was a rubbish tip, full of broken planks, windows, pipes, and head high nettles. Clambering through it all took over a minute, and I'm glad my tetanus shot is up to date!

Anyhow, 13-14 was down in the continental stuff, and I took it very carefully, aware of the potential for parallel mistakes. 14-15 was then a leg right across all of the spur-gully continental style stuff, but the control was so close to the top, you'd have been crazy to try and go straight. So it was back toward 13, up the slope, and around the top. I got the wrong spur as I headed in though, just not clicking the brain on soon enough. Small consolation in that I dragged a few juniors down the spur with me(?) ;)

16-17-18 through to the spectator, where I happily sculled most of a bottle of vitasport and picked up my little bag of lollies (would be jelly jet-planes at home, but had to substitute in crocodiles here. Also, I distinctly remember putting 4 in the bag for the spectator control, but there were only 3 when I got it?! control minder got the munchies?!) ((side side note: my bottle and remaining gel were missing by the time I went to pick them up after the race too. unimpressed)

Onto the last loop which was back in the flat terrain. I felt reasonably strong in the legs still, but was wary of brain tiredness. Evident as I left the arena and immediately took the wrong track, 90 out from the one I wanted. Corrected quickly but more needless time loss. More time loss on 20 as I planned to avoid the big depression, so headed off track into the blueberries. But then the track through it looked too good to miss out on, so I bashed back to it and took on the extra contours.

A small miss on 21 as I was too far R of the control (lapse of concentration as I had my last crocodile, and wondered where the 4th one was?). Back out to my favourite railway on the way to 22, but stayed on it longer than I should have. On the plus side though, I'd already visited 22 on my way to #4, so nailed the last bit of the leg (but had to wait for 4 people to punch ahead of me. Dunno where they all came from?!).

...almost there...
Made the same mistake as on #4 in exactly the same area, by chosing to go straight on #23. Lost about a minute on it again. The rest, navigation was fine, route-choices perhaps weren't 100%, but I could execute them ok, and that's all I wanted 3 controls from the end!

I still felt strong in the finish, and no cramping. So either I paced it right, or I was a bit defensive. Somewhere in between I think.
Overall I think I ran a steady, comfortable pace which I knew I could keep up for the duration. My brain definitely tired more than my legs!
I may have pointed out all time losses above, but in general I was happy with my run. With the help of Eva and Jean C-W, I'm starting to recognise some trends with where I'm losing time or having lapses of concentration. So I'm keen for the next training period and trying out some new methods :)


Spiel done.

C • looong 3

Even warmed down ow.

pre-swim jog/map checking

Corridor at Thutjern. In the corridor >50% of the time. Which is a pass, right?
Nah, it was OK, lots of verbalisation practice. Although I'm not sure how constructive some of it was. e.g., "and around to the right into the white reentrant...which is actually green and full of shit...nice"

jogging and berry picking, in about a 2:1 time ratio

Eva's strength.
Wrists still aren't 100% from the bike fall (and other falls), so no press ups...damn! A few twinges in the rib, but not enough to prevent anything.

post strength jog.

Prestebakke training. Had Eva tailing me which was really valuable. Plenty of things to think about and work on :)
Tried out a routechoice comparison with her on one leg...which I proceeded to completely screw up. Classic.

Sprint training down town. Body really feeling it after the weekend (and WOC? maybe?!). Pushed until no.10, then just jogged the rest. Managed to run straight through one of the fake uncrossable walls without noticing until 2 controls later. No way I was going back then!
But it's OK, cos Tiago and Raquel went through 2 each, so are doubly dsq ;)

The hard bit.

RUnning on Hoiasmarka singles. Got a bit lost, which added on a bonus 3.5km or so.

Night Hawk leg 5. Over the top full report for Larry:

Summary (spoiler alert): We won. It was Awesome. Map to come.

Hanna, Kine and Bodil ran the night legs to have us 4th and 3mins back at the restart. Although it would have been fun, I'm def. glad I didn't get a night leg - I think my last night training was in May last year maybe? August at best? It was on Ainslie, and my light died...
Anyway! Helen pulled us up to 2nd by the end of 4th leg and I set out with Nydalens, but 6.5mins back on Fredrikstad, so catching the lead was well out of mind.
I had a small miss on #1, running the line of Nydalen who had a longer split. I stopped at the right spur but took me a few seconds to remember what a norwegian cliff is cf. a scottish one! #2 and #3 reiterated that I was glad I didn't have to run this stuff at night. Rejoined up with Nydalen at #3 but then she went up and over to #4 while I went around to the left, although I lost time in not finding the track and easy running as soon as I could have. Punched a few seconds ahead of her though (at this point I realised they have Anne-Margrethe on last leg, and I'd better do my damndest to give Sara a head start over her!)
Bad route picking my way up the spur to #5 and we were joined by NTNUI and Pan Arhus, which really annoyed me as I'd hoped we were clear of them!
I hopped on the back of the line to #6 but picked up the nav when the others erred on the route, with NTNUI and Nydalen heading round the wrong hill. Lead the pack through #6, #7, #8 and 9. Then I opted for the track route to the South to 10, while the other three headed off straight. I was certain I had the better route and set to it, feeling super fast on the track after all the bashing through the forest. Unfortunately I was running too fast, and made a parallel error, exiting the track 1 system too soon before realising and ducking back out. So I ended punching #10 right behind NTNUI rather than 10s or so ahead, which was frustrating.
So back with NTNUI and Nydalens to #11...but then they exited the track earlier than I planned, so I stuck to my own route, expecting to meet them at the control again. They didn't appear though, and I continued on to 12 solo, but assuming that the crashing in bushes behind me was the chasing pair. Especially assumed they'd catch me again on #13 when I got stuck in green, and then on the fence (boo, new hole in tights). Angry at losing the gap, I gave the downhill finish everything, handing over to Sara in clear 2nd place, and very surprised to find the others were actually 1.5mins behind.

And then Sara took her chances on last leg to bring us in for an unlikely victory! Wicked fun day, and happy that even if it wasn't the cleanest run, I did my job on my leg :)

C • good 1

Hoiasmarka single tracks. Quad finally feels normal again after the whack it got at the start of the middle.

Got beaten to the one waiting taxi at Halden stn by some unencumbered bag-less lady. Either need to learn to disembark faster, or cry louder.
Walked home up the hill.

Walk/Run in Snowdonia with the granny goat.

Headed down the road to Everton Park and ran up every hill in the park. Read a sign about a well that used to be a cross somewhere nearby (but it couldn't say where). Apparently it was really nice. But back in the 1800s some fun-hating anti-well person stole it one night and it has never been found. All this despite the fact it was completely inoffensive, nice, and not in anyone's way! What can I say? Sounds like the mysterious cross/well got a rough deal. Informative sign.

Running wise I felt horrible for the first 10mins, then just felt slow. Park could make a nice local map. As could the uni (if you accept traffic and building site annoyance).

C • TFF 3

Today it was sunny. I didn't know how to handle it, it's been so long. So I stayed inside and worked.

3rd day of post-WOC collapse/rest. Not sure I can keep it up another day though. Will have to suss out a route to run from where I am in the city. Get the legs working again for Snowdonia on Wednesday :D

Driving down to Liverpool. Considered a jaunt up Schiehallion but decided we didn't have time (and legs were an eensy bit tired). Darn...

Swapped roles and played support team for Mum running 6days. I was pretty good at the pre-race coaching thing and carrying gear. But crap at the finish support - I was too busy talking and eating and completely missed her finish!

And on the 7th day the orienteering gods said "let there be rest"

Amen to that.

Morning jog. Very slow. Pretty stiff.

Did not even hurdle the very small white picket fence next to the hotel. (was wearing shorts which miraculously have no holes in them yet, but that wasn't the reason)

WOC Relay

Awesome result for us as a team today :) Kind of the opposite to yesterday, happy with the result but not really my performance.

Interesting race right from before the start - being led as a group up the hill toward the castle,..and infront of the big screen just as they ran through the course for the spectators?! We were far enough away that I don't think you could make much out (I hope not?!) But as a group all the first leg runners were stunned they'd do something so stupid! I was caught thinking 'I shouldn't look...but everyone else is and I might disadvantage myself'...but opted for not trying to make anything out.
Then we were suddenly told there was 90s til the start, which made us wonder if we were even getting a map for todays race, or if it would be a memory race off what was seen on the big screen? But we were then informed we'd be allowed up to our maps at 15s before the start?! So you had to know damn well where in the grid your map was!

Once we actually started, it was all business as usual. Fast open forest to begin with and a very large group which slowly stretched out. I was somewhere lower-mid pack, when we punched #5...and EVERYONE in front of me turned hard right out of the control. But my next control was definitely straight on?! So I stuck with my plan and within 5s was all by myself! For the second time in two races I was suddenly in a position I hadn't really prepared for, and I lost a lot of time on the next leg through hesitation, lack of confidence, and a subsequent bad route choice. I quadruple checked that I hadn't skipped a control, and that I was reading my course right. Continued on the leg, but still absolutely nobody around?!
I spotted a couple of other countries as I re-entered the nice beech forest on my next leg, ending up with Ukraine and China post-split. I found the rest pretty tough mentally as I got angry that I'd had some bull-s*%& by myself and the front pack was now obviously un-catchable and getting more uncatchable by the second out ahead of me.

So plugged away in our small little group, but I made two parallel errors. One just after the map flip, and one later on just as I'd put a gap on China, Austria and Ukraine and had almost caught France. Both lost 1-2minutes which is disappointing. Kept picking myself up though, even when I missed the gate to the finish (not the only one, very confusing on the map!). And eventually made it down the finish chute in full-body cramp mode to hand over to Renee.

Very angry and confused post run as to how I was all alone on that split when there were 30 odd countries in the mass start?! Only now I see that GBR and SLO had the same but went the wrong way with the pack going to the northern splits. Very disappointed to have pulled the short straw on the forking, and how I reacted to the situation, when it was so important to stay with the leaders on first leg. But that's the nature of relays. Another day I'd have got the shorter/faster/more popular split.

Her and Laura both had good runs to pull us up to 14th :D

C • Forking Hell 2

WU/WD is getting shorter as the week goes on...
Quad took a while to warm up and stiffened right on up afterwards. Calf muscles aren't in the finest nick either.
Rest day will see 'em right though :)

WOC Middle.

The most satisfied I've felt with a WOC middle yet. Happy with my performance, would have been nice if the result was a few spots higher, but can't complain!

Was warned to be ready for anything when I picked up the map - and felt ready. Smashed my right quad into a log on the way out of the start triangle, which wasn't exactly in the plan and was flipping painful! Despite concentrating on accuracy, I didn't have enough control coming off the hill before #1 and misjudged reentrants and depressions, losing 1min. As I left #1 I thought I could hear the rustle of bushes as Anne-Margrethe, who started 90s behind me approached... I took #2 and #3 steady, just regaining confidence after #1 and making sure I got them cleanly. As I exited #3 onto my routechoice I saw A-M making her way up and over into it and knew, depending on which route she chose to #4, she'd either be with me, or past me by the end of the leg.
Sure enough, half way through the leg she popped out on to the track behind me, then passed me heading up the spur in the open beech. I'd been prepared for this pre-race and knew that the decision had to be made whether I tried to stick with her (and risk losing contact at higher speed, and being dropped), or run my own pace and navigation.
What I wasn't prepared for however, was that as soon as we came off the track into #4, she slowed right down, and I went past her and lead into the control. And that's how it stayed right through the technical part...a scenario which I didn't fully adapt to. Instead of being confident and running my own race, I was more hesitant, worrying too much about what A-M was being so hesitant and careful about, and not trusting my own navigation completely. As a result, although I was clean through 4-12, I wasn't smooth.

I caught up Fanni and Susen in this part too, which certainly made #12 easier. Once out into the Beech forest at #13, A-M made her move and came powering past, leaving Fanni and I to watch her open up the gap on us as we hit the felled open part. Once back out of the felled bit, it was fast running and a matter of gritting my teeth and staying mentally strong through to the finish.
As I came into the arena I knew it was performance wise, probably my smoothest WOC middle, so I have to be happy with it. No winning the race at the 2km mark like last year, but also no major blow outs like previous years, which is far more important!

Would have been nice to beat my 18th from France though... next year!

C • nice 2

As soon as I finished my right quad stiffened up from the bash to #1. Classic corked thigh.
Elin got all swedish physio on me though and made me compress it and look after myself properly :)

Middle and Relay model. Jogged around. stopped to talk to a few people.

joggings and stretching out. I definitely know my legs are there!

WOC Sprint Final.

Didn't quite go as visualised! My brain didn't engage at crucial moments in the more complex bits and my legs were feeling the last couple of days in the straight running sections (actually, that bit was visualised!). A disappointing, but not depressing result, it just didn't happen today.

Didn't feel calm at all through the first few controls, not entirely sure why. The start was different - having 2 corners and into an alley before you even got to the triangle, so when you first read the map you couldn't associate the triangle with where you actually were? (maybe? hypothesising why I was flustered?)
Anyway, missed the alley I wanted to #1 and ended taking the stairs and road, so not ideal, but not terrible. 2 was fine, with Mum apparating out of nowhere to cheer me on. 3 I took the correct route, but missed the early entry (didn't even read it, which is very unusual for me - i put this down to having walked the area where the control was a week ago, and having a preconception of the path. One reason I shouldn't scope out the area!).

First big blow was 4-5, where I took a hideous route choice out the back of the control to the main road. Why? I don't know? flow? maybe?

Then there was a lot of open running with not much thinking, until 10.

Entering 11, I was concentrating hard on spotting the alcove, and not on my exit from the control, so exited into the dead end alley like a lot of others did. On correcting I ran straight into Sara Luescher who had caught me 1min and was in the process of making exactly the same mistake (costing her a medal though :( ). Having corrected, I then missed the next gap in the wall that would take me into the control - it was well tucked in behind a building and with parked cars complicating matters. Having corrected this mistake, I finally made it to the control, punched, ran a few metres, then realised my card had made a really strange beep, not the usual cheery three ring beep. It wasn't flashing either, so rather than chance it, I turned and went back to punch again. Faaar out.

Once that control was out of the way at last, the rest was open park running. Seriously. What?!

I did hurdle the fence nicely though.


So yep. Not the race I wanted. But sometimes things don't come together when you want them most to. I'm annoyed with the nav mistakes, but happy with my legs, and really happy with my mental outlook. All of the dangers were there - tiredness, mistakes, getting caught (and well overtook), and the open running and emotional spectator value. Other days this would have precipitated an anxiety attack. But I kept mentally strong and pushing through to the end. And I'll take that :)

C • :) 5

Found the short route up to the wood today. Same tracks as yesterday once there, cos it feels just like home (NZ home).

1st leg of WOC sprint relay.

Felt a lot more settled at the start than the WC in Halden, but far out, once the start went off it was carnage! Straight into the dunes, where Emma was smart and immediately sidestepped out onto her own path. I got stuck in the push and shove and it wasn't until we popped out of the dunes to #3 that I could step out and pass Romania and a few other countries.
Fishertown was a maze of streets, with runners popping out of alleys all over the show. It was impossible to judge where I was sitting in the pack, although I knew it must be decent as Emma kept popping out in front of me every now and then! But confusing with countries like China and Italy around me - really cool that the sprint relay is mixing up the countries at the top!
Through to the spectator and the course opened up into more straight running. I kept with my pack reasonably comfortably until at 17 - where I had a complete brain fart and misread the 17-18-19 triangle (acute angle leg with equal distances). Punched 17, but then misread the line from 19-18 as the line from 17-18 and thought I was at the wrong control. So 'corrected' all they way to 19, even punching (thinking that was 17) before realising I was right to begin with and had now done a bonus control!
In hindsight only a 10s loss, but enough to put me at the back of the chasing pack, rather than the sharp end.

Good run bar the brain fart. Solid effort from the team, and wicked sprint finish from Laura.
Hopefully there's one more sprint in the legs! Looking forward to that rest day!