Training Log Archive: BorisGr

Warm-up and cool-down for the relay.

WOC Relay, leg 2.
Eric ran an excellent lead-off leg and handed off to me in 23rd spot, ahead of Australia, Spain, Belgium, Belarus, Canada, Japan, Ireland, New Zealand and a bunch of others. I promptly threw away whatever advantage we had, simply unable to keep up with some of the guys who went by (Shep, Roger Casal, Karl Dravitzki) and not helping my cause with jittery orienteering in the first half of the course and a big 2+ minute mistake right after the spectator control. I calmed down a bit after that and ran reasonably well, though still not fast enough, but made another mistake near the end and got caught by Wil Smith, who was not running any faster than me, but was simply orienteering cleaner.
All in all, a mediocre run, both physically and technically. On the other hand, we ended up 28th, which is right around where I thought we'd be before the start. And it was great to see our girls come in 17th - a fantastic race by all three of them!!

C • WOC Relay 1

Most of the team went to run the spectator events, but i stayed behind and went for a jog in the local park with Wil and the Aussie men's team. Nice and fun, with a couple of 30-second pick-ups in the middle.

Training on the relay model event. I am running the second leg on Saturday, after Eric and before James. I'm looking forward to it!!!!
After running, we got some lunch and then went to watch the Long final and got to see Marc getting a fantastic second place. Go Swisscheese!!!!!!!!! Very inspiring.

C • Actually the inspiration is mu... 7

Warm-up

WOC Sprint qualifier. A good start on some confusing controls through a stadium - did not start too fast, but picked good route choices and ran pretty well for the first few legs. Then - a long leg into the amusement park, where i lost concentration momentarily close to the control and ended up making a big mistake - 30-40 seconds, i think. Went better after that, but coming out of the amusement park, i think i picked a pretty bad route on the long leg towards the finish arena and lost some more time, though unsure how much. Finished pretty well and ended up 20th (after Troy being reinstated - i can't believe they'd reinstate a mispunch, but whatever), 37 seconds from the final, much like last year. A clean race would probably have gotten me in, but i am still fairly pleased and glad to follow up the middle distance disaster with a solid run.
Our girls were amazing, all of them, and i am excited about cheering for Hilly and Sam in the final a few hours from now. Woohoo!!!!! Oh, and Eric is right here in the computer lab in good spirits, though possibly with a bit of brain damage. :)

C • BRAVO! 2

All right, time to end the sillyness.

C • No comments!!! 9

This couldn't have gone worse. Felt ok at the start - not great, but ok. Started together with Thierry and Shep and started well, spiking the first two controls in the heather/open area that we were sent into right from the start. On the way to 3, twisted my ankle - not the worst twist ever, but enough to make me walk a few steps and lose focus. And once the focus was lost, everything went downhill. I blew #3 - lost about 2:30, my worst mistake at a WOC so far, then was ok on 4 and 5, but twisted the same ankle going to 6, followed by another mistake - climbed an extra hill and started to lose that fighting spirit you need to get yourself up the hills. Dragged myself around the rest of the course, but made more mistakes in not-very-technical areas. Before looking at the splits, i'd say i lost at least 6:30 altogether, making this an official disaster. To add insult to injury, i could hear the announcers reading off the list of finalists when i punched the second-to-last control. All in all, an awful day for me - my worst WOC race so far. The only positives I can take away from this is that it hopefully shook me up and maybe angry for the sprint that's coming up on Tuesday. But disappointment is the overwhelming feeling so far...
This wasn't a great day for North Americans as a whole, as none of us qualified, though Mike Smith had an excellent run, and Sandy was close despite being injured. I will probably take the next two days completely off to let the ankle heal a bit and then hope to run hard on Tuesday.

C • Routs 4

Warm-up

Event: WOC 2006
 

WOC Middle distance model event in the rain. Great woods, nice running and fun orienteering. The most fun i've had orienteering in Denmark so far.

Strides after running the model event

Training at Silkeborg Sonderskov. Ran easy, orienteered pretty well but felt tired on the hills.