Training Log Archive: Lizzie

Venla. Running 4th leg in a very strong Halden 2nd team. Was reserve for the 1st team, but quietly happy I wasn't needed to step up just yet. That said, after a couple of mistakes within the first team, and stable runs by my team, I was sent out all of 2s behind Elena in any case!



In contrast to Tio, where I had my most nervous/toughest moments the evening before, this time around hardest was at the arena before running. The heat and the dust and the atmosphere triggered memories of O-ringen and Jukola 3 years ago. I knew once I got out ont he course the memories would fade and I'd be OK, but had to take some time to calm down and work through the feelings beforehand.

So yeah, headed out at the same time as the first team, and just settled into a comfortable pace as Elena disappeared toward the start flag. No sooner had I looked at the first leg than Maja came past with ridiculous ease as well. I didn't try to stick with her, (and let's nto kid, I couldn't have if I'd tried) not least as she seemed far more agile at dodging the slow-moving roadblocks on the small trails out of the start.
I ended up nailing #1, actually getting there the same time as Maja, who took a less direct route toward the end of the leg. Unfortunately, I had the wrong control code in my head, and ran away from the post again, thinking it wasn't mine. 30m later I checked again as the features matched entirely with my control site...which figures, as it was my control. Bumbled my way to #2 in the vague stuff, and then headed off to the left of the big depressions to #3. Was frustrated to see a few girls had caught me at #3, and that they were all coming into it along major tracking from the right of the depressions...it turns out my split was the long one and the only one that sent us to the left of the depressions. So that combined with my stuff up at #1 had dropped me back a bit.
#4 I played it safe and stayed on the edge of the open area as long as possible before heading in to the forest and depressions. A few girls had major issues here, so happy with my choice. #5 was back out in the open, a bit more dodging past previous legs, and then we were obviously out into Leg-4 only territory, as the tracking suddenly vanished and we were left bashing through the rough open alone!
#6 and 7 were longer legs into the more detailed terrain. I was together with Black Sea OK and Lynx at this point, but neither of them seemed certain, so I stuck to my own safe route. This paid off on 6, but I lost track a bit on 7, and had to take a pause to reconfirm where I was. Lost a bit here and was back with Black Sea at the end of the leg. 8 and 9 were short legs in the detailed negative topography. 8 went well enough, but 9 I couldn't figure out up from down on the map. Unfortunately none of the three of us could in fact, leaving us standing still for 20s+ before finally clicking. Once I'd clicked back in though, #10 was no issue, and I could drop the other 2 teams.
Took full advantage of the water stops on the road and hung onto Kamilla Olaussen as she came steaming through. Quickly let her go as we entered the technical rocky depressions though, as losing contact in there would have been a disaster. Didn't take the optimal route to my control, but found it cleanly enough, as I did the 12th. Andrine was just ahead of me heading out of the area, and I caught sight of Cat, although she was headed to a different split.
From there we entered the faster area toward the arena. I kept one eye on Andrine and one eye on the map, hanging to her back as we went through the spectator control and back out towards the rough open area, gathering in the couple of teams ahead of us as we went. I could see Cat gaining on us through the rough open, and by the time we hit the edge of the forest again she was right beside me. Here Andrine took an odd route into a big depression, the two other girls went as if to follow her, then decided against it and contoured. From my vantage point a few steps back, I opted to stay up on the rim of the depression, which allowed me to slip past Amelie and the other girl, and keep in touch with Andrine, with Cat right behind me.

Back into the flatter stuff that was criss-crossed with tracks, and Andrine started edging away. Cat eased past me too, to whom I said "Let's go Cat...and by Let's go I mean, you go. I'll stick with you another time"
I think the comment came parlty because I know where my fitness is at right now and it's nowhere near Cat speed. But it also just slipped out because that's what the truth has been in previous years. I could run the course fine until the 2nd last control, and then, sooner or later, I'd be reduced to walking and taking pauses, and often struggling to stay conscious. And so of course I assumed that I wouldn't be able to stick anywhere near Andrine and Cat in the last controls this year.
I was surprised then, to find they weren't pulling away from me like expected. And although Andrine put the foot down at the last control, I was still just a couple of metres behind Cat. And then, I was slowly gaining on her? Having told her I wouldn't stick with her when she came past, it actually went through my mind that it would be pretty shitty to pass her now...but holy then, I'm last leg of a relay, I kind of have to do it if I think I can right?
Fortunately for me though, Cat took any decision out of my control by gapping me in the last 50m. Which I was a little bit glad for ;)

All in all, a really fun weekend. Happy enough with my race - I lost a fair bit in mistakes and hesitations, but I also did a lot of things right, and there was a little bit of speed to be found at the end. All in all, another step to getting my mojo back :)

C • Great! 3

Jukola training #2. More complex depression stuff. This one didn't go as smooth as yesterday. I had a nice plan before starting each leg, but as soon as I got about 100m into the detail, I'd have no idea. And yet, keeping on my compass, I kept reappearing about 30m from the control each time. I'm guessing that's not a solid tactic to take into tomorrow though.

About 2hrs after getting back to the accommodation I'd figured where I'd run on each leg ;)

Jukola training #1. Headed out on training map #8 and took some legs in the complex rocky depression area. Was pretty enjoyable and managable so long as you didn't run too long without looking at the map! kept it short given it was 7.30 before we started, which my stomach had something to say about.

Standard 50min single tracks in høiås marka. Heart rate got a bit high at times, but I find it hard to pull back my pace when flowing through the single tracks. Got back to find red-cross waiting at my front door, so did an extra loop of Toppveien to give them time to move on before I came home.

Opted out of club intervals as still recovering from last week, plus the match last night. Went to our 'light' football training instead. Suspiciously high amount of sprinting for a light training.

2-1 against Drøbak 2.
Not sure how, but they have two teams in the same division? Given this was a monday night match, i'm not convinced they didn't have some of their first team players there though.
Still, we didn't play well and I didn't play well. Got subbed off at half time, which never feels nice. But pretty sure we were just rotating players as I came back on after 70mins. That's what I'll tell myself to make myself feel better anyway ;)

Nice jog to the start with Lone, sign posting was limited to say the least, so we weren't quite sure we were headed the right way. But we got there :)

Flex-løp at the coast. Started off ok on the first 3 controls. But then decided to go straight on the long leg to 4. Near instant regret. The undergrowth was so heavy and my body was just not responding at all. Tired legs and a painful stitch where my diaphragm is still a bit stuck post surgery. Not sure I can blame my big as mistake on that though, misinterpreted the hills and scale by the control (1:7500) and may or may not have ended up off the map ;) Eventually relocated and continued but with such low energy levels and the heat it was just not enjoyable, even at a walk/jog. Called it quits at 9 and jogged tracks to the finish.
The main point of going today was to be social and get to the beach, so can happily tick those two off