Training Log Archive: LittleMonkey

motala at Bayfront. Had a pretty clean run, less than a minute of mistakes. Third loop was window-o and I only slowed down a little, mostly near each control. I'm still having some problems really spiking the control once I'm in the circle but today I basically just needed to be in better shape. Time to start running again.

3x1260 (5:13, 5:29, 5:29)
1x840 (4:27) cool-down

good to do intervals again finally, and I was about the same pace as before, although only able to do 3.

wicked hot.

Hard to keep going after football. I was almost cramping up the whole time. Supposedly it was getting to 100 today.

I seem to be remembering how to play. still so hot.

so hot.

running to and from Nasten. It is still amazing to me how you can just run to a fantastic map.

Training with Boris at Nasten. There is a permanent streamered course and I did the first part of it with Boris shadowing. He actually started by leading me to the first two controls and describing how he was doing it. This was very interesting and good to hear as I have never done anything like it. Then I took over and described to him what I was doing. He gave me advice and told me what I did wrong when I got off. This was an extremely useful training and I feel like if I could spend more time with Boris I would really get decent at navigating in tough terrain.
Also, we stopped and ate some wild blueberries which were great.

Travel back to Uppsala. We've been sleeping so little and running a lot so today I was exhausted.

Day 3 of the Gotland 3-day. The run started very badly with a 15 min mistake on the first control. It was a long control and I ran well all the way into the circle and even knew exactly what feature I was on but then couldn't find the control. I was having some trouble reading the 1:15000 map. Then I had several good controls and then it all went to hell. I made two more huge mistakes costing myself at least 15 more min and meaning I ran much more than I should have. Also, there was no water on my course until very late and it was a hot day. Combined with all the extra running I was doing, this made me very dehydrated and I rapidly got stupid. Navigation became extremely difficult and I messed up very simple things. By control 10 I decided to give up because I really couldn't navigate anymore. Jogging back on the road there was finally water and I recovered enough to do controls 14-17 and the finish. Although I regret DNFing, going on would have been silly.
It was too bad to finish this way, but I learned plenty from this race and it was still great terrain to orienteer in.

Day 2 of the three day. Today I decided to really race it and try to do well, and I did. I actually beat a swede and would have beaten two more if not for a loss of concentration on a short control (8) leading to about a 10 min mistake. Swedish woods are unforgiving. Everything else about my race was great though, I was reading contours and many other features on the run and hitting many controls head on. Also, swamps are my new favorite feature.

Day 1 of the Gotland 3-day (3-dagars). This was a long and very difficult course, both technically and physically. The woods were filled with crap, especially thorns and barbed wire and I came back quite cut up. It was also technical. I made a few mistakes that were several minutes each, but nothing disastrous. I expected to mess up many of these controls because they are so much more technical than I have done before. All in all it went well but I didn't really push myself too hard because it was long and hot and I needed to be careful in order to not make very large mistakes.
It is very cool to see hundreds of other orienteers all gathered at a large meet like this.

Training run on the same course as yesterday's relay. This allowed me to revisit the course and figure out what I did wrong and how to do those legs right. The fact that there were no longer controls hanging at the sites forced me to focus on the navigation and being sure I knew where I was at all times. It was a good exercise. Boris shadowed me for the two controls (10 and 11) that I messed up yesterday and really helped me to understand how one does a tough control in Swedish terrain. Another very useful training.

Gotlandskavlen, the relay on our first full day on Gotland. Luckily my relay team consisted of Anna, Kat, and I so we were just doing it for fun. I was definitely worried that the Swedish terrain would just destroy me and I would be lost forever. Nevertheless, I began by racing to the first control because it was a trail run and so making a mistake that cost me a couple minutes. Then I settled down and actually had a very good race for the next 8 controls. I was running relatively hard and still managing to navigate in complex terrain. I made a few small mistakes but that is to be expected. Then I made two large mistakes on 10 and 11 that cost me at least 8 minutes. I was overconfidant and just ran at the controls without a real plan and without maintaining good enough contact with the map. You really have to focus here in order to read all the little features as they go by. They were also tough controls.
Still, I was quite happy overall with my first race in Swedish terrain.

The first day we arrived in Gotland, Boris, Kat and I met up with some of Boris's friends from LInne (Ulrich, Eric, and Jorgen). They strongly recommended that we check out the terrain so we borrowed their maps and walked some of the courses they had run. The terrain on Gotland has more brush than normal swedish terrain and is certainly difficult to read. We all hiked together and again I got a lot out of reading the map carefully at this slow speed and getting instant feadback from Boris and Kat.

Event: Gotland Orienteering Week
 

Practically as soon as I arrived in Uppsala we were out running on a map (Stadsskogen). The terrain is shocking here, with very technical woods filled with small features and very little climb so you can just run all over. It is almost the opposite of BAOC.
I ran several controls that Boris had hung using toilet paper with Boris following and giving me advice and Kat running her own way. This was fun training and very useful before having to race in Swedish terrain. Plus it is very cool that you can just run to a map from Boris's house in 5 minutes that is better than anything in the bay area.