Training Log Archive: robw

Cricket! Well no time for training today since it was my debut in the Uppsala Cricket Club against Uppsala University.

What a debacle, first i was there at 10am like they told me - no one else turned up till nearly 11 and then the oval was booked by someone else so we had to find a new field... debacle! Our team was mix of indians bangladeshis a pakistani a sri lankan and me. After riding across town we finally got to the new oval and started the match about 1pm... not impressed.
When I looked at the oval and pitch i was a little worried to say the least, since they are usually playing soccer here it was rough as guts and still a bit moist from the dew. A (very) heavy roller wouldnt have gone astray.
Ayway we won the toss and for some reason the captain chose to bat first. I was given the pygama uniform and told i was going in at first drop, (they think every Australian can bat like ricky ponting) looking at the pitch i figured that would be the first over. Actually it was the 2nd. Watching the first over didnt give me much confidence, the ball was swinging and jagging all over the place and after every ball i was putting on another peice of protective equipment, i didnt hesitate to take the helmet off the outgoing batsman either. Anyway i survived the rest of the over and annoyingly got a single off the last ball so i had to start facing the next one as well. I batted for about 6 or 7 overs but hardly faced a ball as we lost our next 7 wickets, in that time i scraped up 6 runs but then got done by a worm burner that trapped me plum lbw just when i was starting to get into it - oh well at least i wasnt going to get my head knocked off by the waqar younis wannabees. Luckily our last two batsmen were champions and put on 70 runs to save us so we got 114 off 28 overs all out(30 max).

Also luckily our team was sponsored by the local indian restaurant so we got a pretty good free lunch and then it was time to bowl. I got put first slip (ponting factor) and then bowled first change (probably the mcgrath factor) which was the 3rd over since the opening bowler was a bit wayward. Anyway i got a wicket in the first over when the opener skied one, i didnt expect the guy to catch it since half our fielders appeared to be afraid of the ball but he took it luckily. The next over i thought i had a guy caught behind but the umpire didnt give it out - there was a fair bit of abuse directed his way from the indian keeper/captain who seemed to think that it was an international against pakistan or something. The rest of my overs passed fairly uneventfully although the old back is pretty stiff now. The other main highlight was that one of our bowlers was a real chucker, obviously been modelling himself on murali. The match itself was a bit of a nail biter and came down to the final over, we needed 1 wicket they needed 2 runs, unfortunately they got the runs off the first ball of the over and took the glory. A pretty good fun day and fortunately no injuries other than a bit of a stiff back... could be nasty tomorrow. The next match is next weekend but i will be away racing kopparkavlen in borlange unfortunately. Any aussies keen to fly over i'm sure i could get you a match and prob even a free indian dinner... any takers?

C • Huh? 19

Classic race near Norrkoping. This was pretty technical flat terrain and with the 15000 map i did a lot of little mistakes in the circle. Apart from that the rough orienteering was really good and i felt strong and in control the whole way so that is a good sign, just need to have a bit more of a strategy for when i come near the control. I was 6th, 6min down. With the warm weather and 13 technical km there was a lot of dnfs today.

Warming up/down including the brutal run to the start, 2.5km of birch trimmings.

C • Norrkoping!! 2

Arvo jog to make up for barely warming down. I was a bit carsick on the drive home and still didnt feel to great running. Everyone in Uppsala was having a bbq, jeez it smelt good, picked up some ingredients to make laksa on the way home, mmm.

Beautiful day, got the running shorts out and ran a loop round the hill course. The old legs were a bit heavy after not much training this week.

Mountain Biking on the hill course and sunnersta mtb track. Today was awesome weather 20 deg and sunny and this was my pbf (personal best fun) ride. Starting to get to know a few of the tracks a bit now so it is easier to go a bit faster and have more fun.

Sprint Orienteering Intervals with Boris, Hammer and TheShadow. Boris organised this training, 3 x 2km park orienteering intervals. A great training, he had even put out pink post it notes as controls. I was going ok, few small mistakes, felt heavy in the legs but really strong on the hills. 9.00, approx 5min jog, 9.29, approx 5 min jog, 11.03.

Jogging to, from and in between the sprint intervals.

Cricket... Its on!! Am in the Uppsala Cricket Club team for my first match on sunday, a 35 over slogfest. If gilly can get 200 i should be good for 10 or so against the local swedes and the other colonial ring ins. I just hope me back holds up if i have to bowl a few overs. Gotta remember to take the camera, this is gunna be funny stuff.

C • club? 9

9km course at Lunsen. About 60min, tried to run at a solid tempo but its so technical thats its pretty much impossible for me to run at threshold pace the entire time - I geuss about 30min was tempo. Tech was ok but wasnt always in full control and did a few mistakes weaving mid leg, better towards the end. Thought i might dissapear forever into some of the marshes out there but made it back luckily.

The rest of the course at a slightly slower pace plus a few min jogging before and after.

Mountain biking in nasten > gottsunda > sunnersta mtb loop > backbana. Took it pretty easy but had my first crash on a tightening gravely corner, not much damage done luckily.

C • crash 3