Training Log: nh

I ran a middle training around a pretty crazy area. Huge cliffs and a ton of rocks, the first 2 controls were ridiculous. I ran the race pretty cleanly as well, only in some control sites I was a bit unsure because we didn’t have any controls out. Awesome map.

We jogged around a middle distance course in the morning. Crazily hot with a ridiculous number of flies. As soon as you walk or stop after the race a huge cloud forms, which can get pretty annoying. I ran well up until number 9 where I just stopped too short. I was at the green patch by the distinct tree, thinking it was the distinct vegetation boundary behind it. Afterwards it went will, just that one control where I lost 3 minutes.

First JWOC training in the Czech Republic. Olle, Ian, Mary, Heather and I jogged to the centre of Jaromer for two sprint courses. I started hard and was running well until a psycho dog chased me across the park from 6 and attacked me. Then after 9 I got a killer stitch and had to jog the rest.

After having to cut short the race before I decided to just jog the second course and hope I wouldn’t get a stitch, but it didn’t work. This course was a bit more interesting but still no very difficult route choices or anything. Most of the route-choice seems about deciding whether it is faster to climb stairs or run around.

A really fun last training in Norway. I ran a control picking with some of my mates from Frol IL around Grøntjønna. It was really cruisy and I spent some of the time trying to explore the route-choices underground through the caves. The GPS is pretty bad, I think because of the huge cliff to the south of the map. It especially didn’t like it when I went underground out from 24.

I ran on the training map for Jukola with Kurt, but I think I ran a bit too much before Jukola. We jogged pretty slowly but it was fun.

I ran first leg for Verdal OK at Jukola. We started number 538 so I was a bit back, but I wasn’t far from the side and it was easier to run around the other runners. The start was really crazy with so many runners but it was awesome. I ran quite well without any time lost in the beginning, but it was quite easy because of all the other runners and because it was so light. However, I lost a lot of time at the 12th control. I ran right past the control with other runners going to a different split and lost 2 minutes. I ran pretty well after that. The pace of the other runners was a bit slow in the forest, but because there was so many there was a track formed which was much easier to run on than the open forest. It was therefore difficult to pass other runners except on roads and large trails etc, and I should have pushed more in these sections. I finished in 110th position, 5 minutes behind the leader, and our team finished 274th.Results…