Training Log Archive: BorisGrIn the 28 days ending Feb 28, 2007:
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Wednesday Feb 28, 2007 #
Running 1:18:57 [2] 8.77 mi (9:00 / mi)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Running to the IF Thor clubhouse with Mats, Jörgen, and Micke, then warming up for the night cup, and then running back home afterwards with Mats and Jörgen.
Orienteering 1:09:05 [3] **** 7.4 km (9:20 / km)
spiked:18/21c shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
An Uppsala Night Cup race in south Nåsten, organized by IF Thor. Back in the dark, snowy Uppsala forests again. Each time I stand at the start of one of these night races, somewhere in the middle of the dark woods, with knee-deep snow everywhere, and only a bunch of insane Swedes who have been doing this since birth around me, I feel some genuine dread - not the kind of welcome butterfly-in-the-stomach nervousness that accommpanies day races, particularly important ones, but actual fear of the Swedish night. And each time the start command goes off, the fear disappears. The lamps are on, the lights are criss-crossing the woods, the runners are climbing up the snowy hill and, after a while, the welcome shine of a reflector comes in sight. This was one of these nights when things were happening automatically, my brain on auto-pilot. I kept expecting to screw up, find myself alone far from any sign of orienteering or, perhaps worse, find someone else's control, but the reflectors kept coming, and the numbers kept being mine. Sure, I made some mistakes (three of them: 2min, 1min, 2min, on consecutive controls), but otherwise I was just sort of floating along, not pushing extremely hard (i still don't feel like I have any speed in my legs, as the annoying cold won't go completely away), sometimes following tracks in the snow, sometimes making new ones. I was surprised when Jan and Jörgen appeared behind me about halfway into the race, but I threw away my advantage on the next control. Ended up 6th (out of 15 starters, 10 finishers), outsprinting a pack of Thor runners right in the end. Not a particularly special race, but just cool because of this strange feeling of calmly gliding along the dark, snowy woods and finding controls...
Route gadget: http://www.oklinne.nu/routegadget/cgi-bin/reitti.c...
Splits:
http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
Route gadget: http://www.oklinne.nu/routegadget/cgi-bin/reitti.c...
Splits:
http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
Tuesday Feb 27, 2007 #
Note
Travel day = much needed day off from training.
Mats' write-up of the Ireland camp (in Swedish), with links to his and my photos and maps on routegadget at the bottom, here: http://www.oklinne.nu/index.php?page=news&id=1912
Mats' write-up of the Ireland camp (in Swedish), with links to his and my photos and maps on routegadget at the bottom, here: http://www.oklinne.nu/index.php?page=news&id=1912
Monday Feb 26, 2007 #
Running 20:00 [2] 2.0 mi (10:00 / mi)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Running along the beach to and from the starts.
Orienteering 20:00 [4] **** 2.86 km (7:00 / km)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
OK Linne Ireland Training Camp - Day 6
The day started with a nice, uneventful drive to Inch, for us to be rewarded for five days of slogging through the marshy mountains by spending the last day training on Inch Sand Dunes, a detailed sand dune map where the Irish Champs were held in 2004. We got there just fine, found Darren Burke, who has been setting out controls for us, parked on the beach and waited for the Swedes to show up. When they didn't show after a little while, there was only one obvious solution: a beach rally. While this sounds like a completely innocent and unexciting pastime, it inevitably ended with Darren driving full speed towards the Atlantic, realizing that he was in trouble only when his car stopped moving forward and proceeded instead to sink deeper into the sand with every rev of the engine.
Panic, of course, ensued, and Patrick ran off to find a tractor, while Darren, Zan, and I began to dig, keeping an eye on the rapidly approaching tide. After about an hour of fruitless digging and pushing, we caught sight of Tomas and Mats, running down the beach to our rescue, looking like the modern-day Vikings they are (well, except for wearing tights and heart rate monitors). Sure enough, the car was pulled out of the sand immediately and, after a half-hour-long argument with an angry land manager we were even allowed to run on this map under the condition that we leave in two hours or get arrested.
Finally, the training began, and I ended up running orienteering intervals in a group with Lars and Liutauras, starting about 15 seconds apart. It was quickly apparent that Liutauras was stronger than both Lars and I, and we ended up just doing three of the intervals before deciding to jog the rest.
The day started with a nice, uneventful drive to Inch, for us to be rewarded for five days of slogging through the marshy mountains by spending the last day training on Inch Sand Dunes, a detailed sand dune map where the Irish Champs were held in 2004. We got there just fine, found Darren Burke, who has been setting out controls for us, parked on the beach and waited for the Swedes to show up. When they didn't show after a little while, there was only one obvious solution: a beach rally. While this sounds like a completely innocent and unexciting pastime, it inevitably ended with Darren driving full speed towards the Atlantic, realizing that he was in trouble only when his car stopped moving forward and proceeded instead to sink deeper into the sand with every rev of the engine.
Panic, of course, ensued, and Patrick ran off to find a tractor, while Darren, Zan, and I began to dig, keeping an eye on the rapidly approaching tide. After about an hour of fruitless digging and pushing, we caught sight of Tomas and Mats, running down the beach to our rescue, looking like the modern-day Vikings they are (well, except for wearing tights and heart rate monitors). Sure enough, the car was pulled out of the sand immediately and, after a half-hour-long argument with an angry land manager we were even allowed to run on this map under the condition that we leave in two hours or get arrested.
Finally, the training began, and I ended up running orienteering intervals in a group with Lars and Liutauras, starting about 15 seconds apart. It was quickly apparent that Liutauras was stronger than both Lars and I, and we ended up just doing three of the intervals before deciding to jog the rest.
Orienteering 35:00 [2] **** 3.5 km (10:00 / km)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Jogging the other loops by myself.
Sheep Chasing 2:00 [5]
Sunday Feb 25, 2007 #
Orienteering 1:47:12 [3] ** 11.0 km (9:45 / km) +350m 8:24 / km
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
OK Linne Ireland Training Camp - Day 5
Kerry O local event at Muckross, a horribly outdated map, where even major roads often did not match up between map and reality. The "11.0km" brown course we ran was measured to involved about 15 km of actual running according to Micke's GPS. Other than the map not matching reality, the race went ok, though I was dead-tired by the end, the first few days of the camp catching up to me. I ran with Tomas Stenstrom for a while, but then was alone for a long time, surprised to stumble into the finish without being caught by anyone else. Micke had the best time - about 94min.
Kerry O local event at Muckross, a horribly outdated map, where even major roads often did not match up between map and reality. The "11.0km" brown course we ran was measured to involved about 15 km of actual running according to Micke's GPS. Other than the map not matching reality, the race went ok, though I was dead-tired by the end, the first few days of the camp catching up to me. I ran with Tomas Stenstrom for a while, but then was alone for a long time, surprised to stumble into the finish without being caught by anyone else. Micke had the best time - about 94min.
Running 20:00 [2] 1.67 mi (11:58 / mi)
shoes: 2006-3 VJ Falcons
Running/walking up to yet another mountaintop start and coming back down (the climb was about 200m this time.)
Orienteering 57:12 [2] *** 5.2 km (11:00 / km)
shoes: 2006-3 VJ Falcons
OK Linne Ireland Training Camp - Day 5
The way I was feeling after the morning's run, I probably shouldn't have gone out in the afternoon. The map looked so cool, however, that I couldn't resist - open moorland with islands and cliffs rising up out of hilltop marshes stretching as far as the eyes could see. The huge windmills on top gave one an idea of how windy it was going to be. The terrain was, indeed, great, but I was dead and had trouble mainitaining any sort of pace through the constant marshland and soft ground. I attempted to do a change of pace exercise with long les followed by several short ones, but could only manage one pace. Shuffled around for about an hour and then got off the mountain just before darkness came.
The way I was feeling after the morning's run, I probably shouldn't have gone out in the afternoon. The map looked so cool, however, that I couldn't resist - open moorland with islands and cliffs rising up out of hilltop marshes stretching as far as the eyes could see. The huge windmills on top gave one an idea of how windy it was going to be. The terrain was, indeed, great, but I was dead and had trouble mainitaining any sort of pace through the constant marshland and soft ground. I attempted to do a change of pace exercise with long les followed by several short ones, but could only manage one pace. Shuffled around for about an hour and then got off the mountain just before darkness came.
Saturday Feb 24, 2007 #
Running 25:00 [2] 2.5 mi (10:00 / mi)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
OK Linne Ireland Training Camp - Day 4
Another epic climb up to the start - only about 200m climb this time.
Another epic climb up to the start - only about 200m climb this time.
Orienteering 51:18 [4] ***** 4.2 km (12:13 / km) +285m 9:07 / km
spiked:10/15c shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
OK Linne Ireland Training Camp - Day 4
Middle distance training race at a map ominously named "The Crags." I started first to avoid pack formation which annoyed me yesterday, but screwed up the second control and was caught by a swarm of juniors from Rånäs OK, which is also having its camp here. I kept trying to get away from them the rest of the course, which led to several stupid route choices. This was the most runnable and most fun area we've run on so far, but I blew my chances to have a good run by squandering about 10 minutes around the course. Did find three decomposing sheep carcasses along the way, though.
Johan Höij won in 36:31.
Middle distance training race at a map ominously named "The Crags." I started first to avoid pack formation which annoyed me yesterday, but screwed up the second control and was caught by a swarm of juniors from Rånäs OK, which is also having its camp here. I kept trying to get away from them the rest of the course, which led to several stupid route choices. This was the most runnable and most fun area we've run on so far, but I blew my chances to have a good run by squandering about 10 minutes around the course. Did find three decomposing sheep carcasses along the way, though.
Johan Höij won in 36:31.
Running 53:14 [2] 7.1 mi (7:30 / mi)
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
OK Linne Ireland Training Camp - Day 4
A nice afternoon run on a road around Mucross Lake. Really beautiful views the whole way - lakes with cliffs and mountains above them. A nice, relaxing afternoon.
A nice afternoon run on a road around Mucross Lake. Really beautiful views the whole way - lakes with cliffs and mountains above them. A nice, relaxing afternoon.
Friday Feb 23, 2007 #
Orienteering 1:40:21 [2] ***** 6.69 km (15:00 / km)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
OK Linne Ireland Training Camp - Day 3
The plan this morning was to re-run the long distance course from the World Cup race here in 1998. I ended up just doing the first part of the course, as the going was extremely slow (even the likes of Mats ran at 9 min/km) and I was making too many mistakes. At one point I got really cold and decided it was time to come back. Too bad, since the terrain was demanding and interesting, but probably meant for a drier time of year, when the whole map is not one giant swamp. Oh, and getting to the start and back from the finish were two separate adventures, each part taking about twenty minutes and involving lots of climbing, sliding, hopping, and occasionally crawling.
The plan this morning was to re-run the long distance course from the World Cup race here in 1998. I ended up just doing the first part of the course, as the going was extremely slow (even the likes of Mats ran at 9 min/km) and I was making too many mistakes. At one point I got really cold and decided it was time to come back. Too bad, since the terrain was demanding and interesting, but probably meant for a drier time of year, when the whole map is not one giant swamp. Oh, and getting to the start and back from the finish were two separate adventures, each part taking about twenty minutes and involving lots of climbing, sliding, hopping, and occasionally crawling.
Running 41:00 [3] 4.1 mi (10:00 / mi)
shoes: 2006-3 VJ Falcons
OK Linne Ireland Training Camp - Day 3
Just about the last thing I wanted to do after lunch was go back to Crohane Mountain for more sliding around on the swampy hillside. So, of course, that's exactly what we did. The climb up to the start was about 1.5km with 260m climb.
Just about the last thing I wanted to do after lunch was go back to Crohane Mountain for more sliding around on the swampy hillside. So, of course, that's exactly what we did. The climb up to the start was about 1.5km with 260m climb.
Orienteering 43:24 [2] ***** 2.89 km (15:01 / km)
shoes: 2006-3 VJ Falcons
OK Linne Ireland Training Camp - Day 3
Just getting to the start felt like enough of a work-out for me, but I was still unhappy with myself for crappy navigation and a DNF from the morning, so I drew a line-O and ran it by myself, at a nice easy pace, concentrating on reading everything I could. This went well and gave me a bit of much-needed confidence in this terrain. Another great day of training, and another day without too much rain.
Just getting to the start felt like enough of a work-out for me, but I was still unhappy with myself for crappy navigation and a DNF from the morning, so I drew a line-O and ran it by myself, at a nice easy pace, concentrating on reading everything I could. This went well and gave me a bit of much-needed confidence in this terrain. Another great day of training, and another day without too much rain.
Thursday Feb 22, 2007 #
Orienteering 1:46:43 [2] ***** 9.0 km (11:51 / km)
shoes: 2006-3 VJ Falcons
OK Linne Ireland Training Camp - Day 2
After a long drive to Glengarriff we found ourselves staring at a giant morr covered with nasty-lookings cliffs and no shortage of sheep. In the morning we ran a course from the 2003 Shamrock O-Ringen. It was long and slow and tough, but I got the hang of the orienteering by the end and thoroughly enjoyed myself. The sun came out when I was right on top of a hill with an awesome view stretching all the way to the ocean in front of me. Just spectacular!
After a long drive to Glengarriff we found ourselves staring at a giant morr covered with nasty-lookings cliffs and no shortage of sheep. In the morning we ran a course from the 2003 Shamrock O-Ringen. It was long and slow and tough, but I got the hang of the orienteering by the end and thoroughly enjoyed myself. The sun came out when I was right on top of a hill with an awesome view stretching all the way to the ocean in front of me. Just spectacular!
Orienteering 1:05:30 [2] ***** 5.0 km (13:06 / km)
shoes: 2006-3 VJ Falcons
OK Linne Ireland Training Camp - Day 2
For the afternoon, Micke put out controls for a "middle distance" course on the same map, Shrone Hill. I had very little energy from the start (that happens a lot when i run soon after lunch). but I picked up a bit as the course went on and nnavigated pretty well. The pace is still obscenely slow, since much of the course went through areas of knee-deep, soft grass, through which you fell with every step. It was nice, though, to finally get the hang of the navigation here and be able to tell what's mapped as a cliff, what as bare rock, and what's not mapped at all.
Of course, Mats already put this course up on route gadget: http://www.oklinne.nu/routegadget/cgi-bin/reitti.c...
For the afternoon, Micke put out controls for a "middle distance" course on the same map, Shrone Hill. I had very little energy from the start (that happens a lot when i run soon after lunch). but I picked up a bit as the course went on and nnavigated pretty well. The pace is still obscenely slow, since much of the course went through areas of knee-deep, soft grass, through which you fell with every step. It was nice, though, to finally get the hang of the navigation here and be able to tell what's mapped as a cliff, what as bare rock, and what's not mapped at all.
Of course, Mats already put this course up on route gadget: http://www.oklinne.nu/routegadget/cgi-bin/reitti.c...
T.rex training 35:00 [1]
OK Linne Ireland Training Camp - Day 2
This being a Thursday night, Sofie and Lina announced a circuits session after dinner and, since it took place in my room, I had to partake. This was a somewhat ridiculous spectacle, with Mats and I almost butting heads while doing push-ups, but it went well and felt good. A great first full day of the camp. I feel spent and ready for bed.
This being a Thursday night, Sofie and Lina announced a circuits session after dinner and, since it took place in my room, I had to partake. This was a somewhat ridiculous spectacle, with Mats and I almost butting heads while doing push-ups, but it went well and felt good. A great first full day of the camp. I feel spent and ready for bed.
Wednesday Feb 21, 2007 #
Orienteering 43:03 [2] 4.2 km (10:15 / km)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
OK Linne Ireland Training Camp - Day 1
I met up with the rest of the Linne contigent at Dublin Airport, was piled into Patrick Higgins' car along with Patrick and Zan and rode across Ireland to Killarney. We got there around 20:30, just in time to go out for a night-O training on a map called Mucross, the site of the 1998 World Cup relay. I just jogged around, found a few controls, screwed up a few more, and scared up a few large deer. Nice and warm in the evening, with rain threatening, but never quite coming.
I met up with the rest of the Linne contigent at Dublin Airport, was piled into Patrick Higgins' car along with Patrick and Zan and rode across Ireland to Killarney. We got there around 20:30, just in time to go out for a night-O training on a map called Mucross, the site of the 1998 World Cup relay. I just jogged around, found a few controls, screwed up a few more, and scared up a few large deer. Nice and warm in the evening, with rain threatening, but never quite coming.
Tuesday Feb 20, 2007 #
Running 42:30 [2] 5.31 mi (8:00 / mi)
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
Easy running around University Parks in Oxford, partly with Kat.
Running 6:00 [5] 1.0 mi (6:00 / mi)
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
Trying to do intervals with the Oxford cross-country team. Right from the start, I felt like i wasn't ready for this - couldn't breathe and couldn't really run fast at all. Still not completely recovered from the cold, so I just did one set and then stopped. Felt pretty miserable.
T.rex training 5:00 [1]
Crunches and stuff with Kat afterwards.
Monday Feb 19, 2007 #
Running 38:54 [3] 5.83 mi (6:40 / mi)
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
A so-called "steady run" with the Oxford cross-country team, mostly on pavement. The pace was in that strange zone, too fast to be an easy run and too slow to be tempo. Ran and chatted with Joe Mercer the whole way.
T.rex training (Circuits) 30:00 [1]
OUOC Circuits. Fun, short, and disorganized. Good turnout - 11 people. Would have been impressive for Harvard orienteering club.
Sunday Feb 18, 2007 #
Orienteering race 42:27 [4] *** 5.6 km (7:35 / km) +240m 6:15 / km
spiked:19/24c shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Varsity Match Relay on Loxley Common, Sheffield. The relay is run traditionally the day after the actual Varsity Match, and is run as a fun race that doesn't count in the official competition, since most of the runners are hung over or still drunk from the activities of the night before, including the all--important Varsity Beer Race, which Oxford won for the second year in a row, thanks in part to having three Americans on the team.
The relay teams are composed by the organizers and are meant to be pretty even. I ran the last leg after Helen Gardner and Katherine Cross, and went out dead last, except for one team which had a DNF. Not too motivated, I made some mistakes in the detailed areas early, then picked it up a bit, passed one team, and then ran along fairly cleanly most of the rest of the way. Not a great result, but it was nice to get out and run on a nice area anyway. Additionally, Kat had a really good run (won the short leg, I think), so that was great to watch! Overall, an excellent week-end with the always fun OUOC contigent and no shortage of comments such as "Why do you Americans call a car park a parking lot?"
The relay teams are composed by the organizers and are meant to be pretty even. I ran the last leg after Helen Gardner and Katherine Cross, and went out dead last, except for one team which had a DNF. Not too motivated, I made some mistakes in the detailed areas early, then picked it up a bit, passed one team, and then ran along fairly cleanly most of the rest of the way. Not a great result, but it was nice to get out and run on a nice area anyway. Additionally, Kat had a really good run (won the short leg, I think), so that was great to watch! Overall, an excellent week-end with the always fun OUOC contigent and no shortage of comments such as "Why do you Americans call a car park a parking lot?"
Saturday Feb 17, 2007 #
Orienteering 1:09:51 [4] *** 8.6 km (8:07 / km) +340m 6:47 / km
spiked:16/20c shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Oxford vs. Cambridge Orienteering Varsity Match, Wharncliffe Wood, outside of Sheffield. The morning after flying to England to surprise Kat with a visit, I joined her and the rest of OUOC for a trip to the Varsity Match. It was fun to watch and cheer on Oxford and Kat, as well as get to race myself. Since I was still recovering from sickness, I didn't expect much from myself and decided not to push too hard. I still ran at a decent pace and felt pretty strong on the hills and through terrain, but lost a bunch of time in the intricate former mine areas. In two of the places, I didn't really agree with the map, but such is life. I lost about 6 minutes overall and ended up 5th of the people who ran the long men's course. Matt Crane won in 61, with Duncan Archer and Joe Mercer right behind. Oxford women just managed a victory over Cambridge by a margin of 4 seconds over the total times of the three best runners!
Afterwards:
Afterwards:
Thursday Feb 15, 2007 #
Note
The H21 course from last night's Night Cup, which I missed because of sickness/injury, was the same as the 2nd leg of the first Tiomila, in 1945. Check out this crazy map: http://www.svenskidrott.se/Downloads/29292/docs/Na...
Biking 55:00 [4]
Knee felt surprisingly better today, but I still stayed away from the club's interval session tonight and went to spinning instead. Felt ok, but still not 100%.
Wednesday Feb 14, 2007 #
Note
(sick)
Three days off in a row now. This is frustrating. I can't seem to kick this stupid cold/flu (what's the difference between those, anyway?), and in addition, the knee I bruised in Lunsen last Wednesday night seems to have arbitrarily started hurting again, a lot.
Biking 30:00 [3]
Woke up without a fever for the first time in a week or so. Throat still hurt a bit and I'm still coughing some. Plus the knee thing. The knee: I hit it hard on the ice a week ago, it hurt for two days and then stopped hurting and I forgot about it. Then, I've done nothing for the last three days so, sure enough, the knee starts hurting again yesterday. A lot. At the top of the knee-cap. Having had knee surgery on that knee in the distant past, I got worried. So I did what any self-respecting orienteer of my modest means would have done: shamelessly stalk our club doctor at the gym until I could "run into him" and get a free 5-second diagnosis. But first, the workout. This was half an hour on a spinning bike.
Cross-Training 30:00 [3]
And that was followed by a dreadfully boring half-hour on the stair machine. By the way, in honor of Valentine's day the cafeteria I eat lunch at served Love Chicken. Which, if you are wondering, is just like regular chicken, only with.... No, it's just like regular chicken.
T.rex training 30:00 [1]
And then half an hour of mostly core work and arms followed, time to finish exactly when the gympa class our club doctor, Kenneth Jonsson, was in let out. So I "ran into" him in the hallway afterwards and casually mentioned my knee. Sure enough, he graciously looked at it for a few seconds, decided it's not clear what's wrong, but there didn't seem to be much fluid, meaning that nothing seems to be torn.
Saturday Feb 10, 2007 #
Running 10:00 [2] 1.11 mi (9:01 / mi)
shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Warm-up. Was -12C at the start. Damn winter.
Orienteering 1:15:37 [3] *** 10.04 km (7:32 / km)
spiked:17/21c shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
NC Sport Cup III in Rånäs. Was thinking of not going, as I don't feel 100% healthy yet, but, well, orienteering is a lot more fun than whatever else I could imagine myself doing this Saturday morning. Mass-start race with forking. Felt pretty weak right from the start, but held just behind the lead pack until the long leg (~30 seconds behind the lead through 20 minutes). Decided to take a gamble and take my own route choice, going way around on dirt roads, hoping to save some energy by not having to run in deep snow. Sadly, about halfway through the leg, the roads stopped being plowed, and I was screwed. Lost 2 minutes and ended up all alone the rest of the way. Very sloppy through the butterfly loops, and then slow, steady, but at least clean the rest of the way in. Mats won in 67 minutes or so (will update when the results are up.) I was somewhere around 12th, about 8:30 back.
The map on routegadget (my routes are up, so are a few others'): http://www.oklinne.nu/routegadget/cgi-bin/reitti.c...
Results are up now: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
The map on routegadget (my routes are up, so are a few others'): http://www.oklinne.nu/routegadget/cgi-bin/reitti.c...
Results are up now: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
Friday Feb 9, 2007 #
Pool running 1:00:00 [1]
Aqua-jogging with Mats (a classic AP lurker!) at Fyrishov. The hour went by pretty quickly - good conversation. Also, a rare opportunity for me to talk Swedish one-on-one for an hour straight, which I appreciated. It feels like my spoken Swedish hasn't improved a tremednous deal, but understanding is a lot better than it was a year ago. Pretty cool.
T.rex training 1:00:00 [2]
Gympa - same as the Monday night class, but less crowded. My body reminded me that I hadn't hopped around in a while, and this is was a nice way to get back into it. Also, turned out that I pretty much followed Mats around and did his training sessions today, but I suppose I could think of far worse ways to go.
Thursday Feb 8, 2007 #
Running 27:00 [2] 3.18 mi (8:29 / mi)
shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Warm-up, jogging between intervals, and cool-down with Björn.
Running 10:00 [1]
Secret Russian Running Drills
Running 24:00 [5] 4.17 mi (5:45 / mi)
shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Intervals, 8x3 min with 1 min rest on bicycle paths. Felt good and ran pretty well, probably because I haven't trained much this week after being sick. Didn't want to push it, so just ran 8.
T.rex training 40:00 [2]
Circuits with the club after intervals. Fun, as always. A good crowd tonight, probably around 30 people.
Note
OK Linne has RouteGadget! All it took is one comment by me on Jagge's training log followed by an email to Mats, and it's all set. Hopefully, a lot more maps with a lot of routes coming soon from snowy Uppsala.
Link: http://www.oklinne.nu/index.php?page=news&id=1901
Link: http://www.oklinne.nu/index.php?page=news&id=1901
Wednesday Feb 7, 2007 #
Running 10:00 [2] 1.0 mi (10:00 / mi)
shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Running to the start
Orienteering 48:51 [3] ***** 4.9 km (9:58 / km)
spiked:4/8c shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Wednesday Night-O at Tjäderleksbergen, the hardest part of Lunsen. Course set by Mats.
You'd think, when it's this cold, the marshes really should be frozen solid. It was -14C at the start, which is pretty damn cold for running in snowy, swampy, dark Swedish woods. Still, I felt better today and decided I couldn't miss this race, which Mats advertised as being "as hard as orienteering gets." Of course, being a whimp, I opted to switch down to the short course. In the usual Mats way, there had to be something extra at this race and so, after the long, winding line of 35 headlamps reached the start 'arena', we were greeted with a boombox sitting in a snowbank and belting out "Sandstorm" by Darude, indisputably the best possible music for playing at the start.
I lasted upright a whopping 2.5 controls before taking a spectacular fall, tripping over a stump, stumbling, and doing a full-out belly flop into a frozen-solid ditch. To be fair, my left knee-cap braced my fall. Sofie must have been amused, as she ran by, to see me stumbling out of a ditch on all fours, with my lamp pointed straight down.
The course was hard, and I didn't orienteer particularly well, but I did manage to avoid disasters, but blew my chances of being first to the finish with a small mistake on the second-to-last control.
After finishing, changing, and drinking some tea I brought along, I assumed the role of the Person In Charge of Pulling People's Frozen Shoes off their Frozen Feet. That was fun.
The maps are up on Mats' site.
Short: http://www.matstroeng.nu/files/upload/Kort_A.png
Long: http://www.matstroeng.nu/files/upload/Lang_A.png
Results: http://www.oklinne.nu/onsdagsnatt/results.php?id=2...
I managed to beat Albin, though for all I know, that probably means he decided to run without a lamp.
You'd think, when it's this cold, the marshes really should be frozen solid. It was -14C at the start, which is pretty damn cold for running in snowy, swampy, dark Swedish woods. Still, I felt better today and decided I couldn't miss this race, which Mats advertised as being "as hard as orienteering gets." Of course, being a whimp, I opted to switch down to the short course. In the usual Mats way, there had to be something extra at this race and so, after the long, winding line of 35 headlamps reached the start 'arena', we were greeted with a boombox sitting in a snowbank and belting out "Sandstorm" by Darude, indisputably the best possible music for playing at the start.
I lasted upright a whopping 2.5 controls before taking a spectacular fall, tripping over a stump, stumbling, and doing a full-out belly flop into a frozen-solid ditch. To be fair, my left knee-cap braced my fall. Sofie must have been amused, as she ran by, to see me stumbling out of a ditch on all fours, with my lamp pointed straight down.
The course was hard, and I didn't orienteer particularly well, but I did manage to avoid disasters, but blew my chances of being first to the finish with a small mistake on the second-to-last control.
After finishing, changing, and drinking some tea I brought along, I assumed the role of the Person In Charge of Pulling People's Frozen Shoes off their Frozen Feet. That was fun.
The maps are up on Mats' site.
Short: http://www.matstroeng.nu/files/upload/Kort_A.png
Long: http://www.matstroeng.nu/files/upload/Lang_A.png
Results: http://www.oklinne.nu/onsdagsnatt/results.php?id=2...
I managed to beat Albin, though for all I know, that probably means he decided to run without a lamp.
Note
After we got back to the clubhouse and spent an eternity thawing in the sauna, we had a men's meeting to discuss the upcoming season, with the main focus, of course, being Tiomila. Just like last year, most of the time was devoted to team selection, races that are used for selection, and ways you can distinguish yourself from your clubmates vying for the same spots. That's all well and good, and certainly important, but surely should not be the only thing. You come away from a meeting like this feeling like you are only competing with your own clubmates and not really with any feeling of Team or camaraderie. Looking back at Tiomila last year, all our girls' teams looked like they were having fun there, while our guys, every single one, just seemed totally stressed out. It was like, here they were, having won the selection race over their clubmates, and now they were terrified of actually being there. It didn't seem like fun, and it didn't seem like we were teammates (be it first or second team), but just ten guys who happened to be running together. This may be going a bit far, but I feel like this sort of attitude isn't going to win any relays. When we get to Tiomila, we should feel happy and excited to be there and to race, not feel like the survivors of the all-important competition amongst ourselves. But maybe my impression is all wrong...
Tuesday Feb 6, 2007 #
Note
(sick)
Sick. Will skip tonight's training in the hopes of running night-O on Lunsen tomorrow.
Monday Feb 5, 2007 #
Biking 1:00:00 [3]
Still somewhat sick today, but felt ok in the evening and so went to spinning. Different leader today - the normal one was sick. Not the most fun workout, but i got through it. Zan came along too.
T.rex training 40:00 [1]
Core, arms, legs in the gym after spinning.
Saturday Feb 3, 2007 #
Running 10:00 [2] 1.11 mi (9:01 / mi)
shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Running to the start.
Orienteering 45:01 [4] *** 5.5 km (8:11 / km)
spiked:15/17c shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
OK Linne training day in Åkersberga, just north of Stockholm. The first training was a competition-type middle distance course, meant to be run at more-or-less racing speed. The terrain was great, with tons of detail, but the map was questionable in a couple of places, and footprints in the snow made orienteering a bit easier. I ran pretty well early on and caught Liutaras and Erik Jonsson, though Erik ran away from us after a while. Made a couple of bobbles in the middle of the course, but finished well, orienteering cleanly. Quite pleased with this run. The controls for this training were put out by Lina Bäckström's 80-year-old grandfather. It took him 4 hours, but it's still pretty cool.
Note
Over lunch in the OK Österåker clubhouse, we got to listen to a lecture by Anna Bogren, the short distance World Champion from the 1993 WOC in the US. The talk was about setting and achieving goals. She didn't say anything revolutionary, but it was still good to be reminded that every time you go out to train, you should know exactly what it is you are trying to improve in and how this particular training will bring you closer to your goal. Of course, some things sound a bit too simple when a person who has seen the success talks about them. "You set the goals, put in the work, and then win the World Champs." Not quite as simple as that...
Orienteering 1:32:05 [2] 10.0 km (9:13 / km)
shoes: 2006-3 VJ Falcons
Afternoon training - long map run on the huge and awesome Skeppsdal map. We were driven way out to the far edge of the map, and the course eventually brought us back to the clubhouse. The first part was a line-O in some of the finest terrain I've seen anywhere: nice, detailed, runnable hilltops not too rocky, not too green, just a pleasure to run through on this sunny, warm (+3C!) afternoon. Towards the end of the course, though, one of my O-shoes started falling apart (the sole is coming off - first time that's happened to me in about 7 years of running exclusively in VJ Falcons), and I took a shorter version of the course to get home without tripping over my feet too many times. Got in just before darkness fell anyway.
Note
(sick)
Definitely caught a cold this week. Will almost certainly rest tomorrow.
Friday Feb 2, 2007 #
Pool running 1:00:00 [1]
Aqua-jogging with Zan at Fyrishov. The time went by pretty quickly.
Thursday Feb 1, 2007 #
Running 27:17 [2] 3.52 mi (7:45 / mi)
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
Morningjogg. Shuffled around the neighborhood to see which body parts still dared to function properly after the abuse they were put through last night.
Running 30:00 [2] 3.53 mi (8:30 / mi)
shoes: Saucony 2006
Warming up, cooling down, and shuffling between intervals.
Running 10:00 [1]
Secret Russian running drills.
Running 30:00 [5] 5.22 mi (5:45 / mi)
shoes: Saucony 2006
Intervals on bike paths and roads. Somewhat slippery around the corners. We did pyramid intervals: 1'-2'-3'-4'-5'-5'-4'-3'-2'-1', with 1' rest each time. Everyone was tired from last night, so the pace wasn't killer, which was nice for a change.
T.rex training 40:00 [1]
Circuits with the club after intervals. Sore almost everywhere.