Training Log Archive: BorisGrIn the 30 days ending Sep 30, 2005:
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Friday Sep 30, 2005 #
Running 1:01:05 [3] 7.88 mi (7:45 / mi)
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
Running with Kat at Stadsskogen, exploring numerous small trails and so on.
Biking 15:00 [2]
To and from class
Thursday Sep 29, 2005 #
Biking 25:00 [2]
To the Uppsala Train Station and back for a fun day trip to Stockholm with Kat.
Wednesday Sep 28, 2005 #
Biking 35:00 [2]
Biking with weights: to class and back, to KG and back (in pouring rain in the dark, slightly tipsy!)
Running 23:55 [2] 3.09 mi (7:44 / mi)
shoes: Nike Pegasus '05
To Kung Bjorn's Hill and back
Orienteering race 12:50 [4] 1.4 km (9:10 / km)
shoes: Nike Pegasus '05
Jan Svanlund Open!
This awesome race was the local equivalent of the 2005 North American Sprint Series Finals. A fun race put on by the Troeng brothers, it was a supersprint held on a 1:1500 map with 1 meter contours. On a wednesday night, this meet gathered almost 100 people, mostly students, and was handled with great professionalism by the Troengs: the meet packet included a model map (maybe 30x30m), a meal ticket for a full pizza, a commemorative pen and keychain, and a 'hug ticket', which you could validate on the spot. Quite impressive for a fun little race in the middle of the week! The race itself was a blast: 29 controls over 1.4km, lots of forking (shown on the website) and 20 second start intervals. I ran about 12:50 (winning time an impressive 9:21) but mispunched for the first time in my life, punching a control about 6 meters away from the correct one... Still, the event was great, with a spectator-friendly superfinal, with the start on top of a pre-viking burial mound, and the whole course (literally, the whole course) visible to all the spectators. Video of all this is on the website linked above.
After the race, all participants were invited to a sauna, followed by a pizza party, where beer, speeches, and Swedish drinking songs flowed freely. All in all, a fantastic experience of the fun side of Swedish orienteering!
This awesome race was the local equivalent of the 2005 North American Sprint Series Finals. A fun race put on by the Troeng brothers, it was a supersprint held on a 1:1500 map with 1 meter contours. On a wednesday night, this meet gathered almost 100 people, mostly students, and was handled with great professionalism by the Troengs: the meet packet included a model map (maybe 30x30m), a meal ticket for a full pizza, a commemorative pen and keychain, and a 'hug ticket', which you could validate on the spot. Quite impressive for a fun little race in the middle of the week! The race itself was a blast: 29 controls over 1.4km, lots of forking (shown on the website) and 20 second start intervals. I ran about 12:50 (winning time an impressive 9:21) but mispunched for the first time in my life, punching a control about 6 meters away from the correct one... Still, the event was great, with a spectator-friendly superfinal, with the start on top of a pre-viking burial mound, and the whole course (literally, the whole course) visible to all the spectators. Video of all this is on the website linked above.
After the race, all participants were invited to a sauna, followed by a pizza party, where beer, speeches, and Swedish drinking songs flowed freely. All in all, a fantastic experience of the fun side of Swedish orienteering!
Tuesday Sep 27, 2005 #
Biking 1:00:00 [2]
Biking to Gamla Uppsala and back and around town.
Orienteering 1:40:00 [2] 6.2 km (16:08 / km)
shoes: 2005 Falcons
Linne Night-O Champs, together with Kat. Ran around and tried not to get lost too much. Succeeded for the most part and had a great time! We did most of the H21 course, except for two controls, and mostly took very, very safe route choices, as we had trouble almost every time we were in the woods - unless we slowed down to a walk. Night-O is still tough!!!
Monday Sep 26, 2005 #
Running 35:00 [2] 4.38 mi (7:59 / mi)
shoes: Nike Pegasus '05
Running to KG and back, with a detour to look at a horse and some yaks.
C • 2
Biking 20:00 [2]
Biking with weights (Kat).
T.rex training 55:00 [3]
Circuit training with Kat and Linne people at KG
Sunday Sep 25, 2005 #
Biking 45:00 [2]
Orienteering 45:00 [2] 3.0 km (15:00 / km)
shoes: Nike Pegasus '05
Running around an old night sprint course at Blodstensvagen with Kat during the day.
Saturday Sep 24, 2005 #
Note
A complete and total day off. Sat on my butt and did work all day. Hamstring feeling better. We'll see how it is tomorrow.
Friday Sep 23, 2005 #
Biking 45:00 [2]
Taking it easy today and tomorrow.
Thursday Sep 22, 2005 #
Running 15:00 [2] 1.88 mi (7:59 / mi)
shoes: 2005 Falcons
Warmup and cool-down
Orienteering 38:16 [4] *** 5.5 km (6:57 / km)
18c shoes: 2005 Falcons
Linne trials for the 25-man relay which I am missing due to the World Cups. A fun map in the south of the city, the one Spike was quite fond of. I think I pulled the upper hamstring/almost butt muscle during the intervals on Tuesday, so I started slow letting the thing warm up and ended up having an ok race, with no major errors, but a few bobbles in the circle. I think from tomorrow I will start the tapering process for the World Cups and hopefully heal the pulled muscle in the process. The World Cup week schedule looks quite intense: middle qual+final on the 3rd, sprint qual on the 4th, sprint final on the 5th, long on the 6th, then rest day, and relay on the 8th. I'd like to feel rested and fresh coming in.
Two notes:
1)Mats Troeng took over the top spot in the IOF World Rankings from Valentin Novikov, all while being ranked 8th in Sweden.
2)Sitting in the computer lab today, working on an assignment, i noticed that the guy sitting two computers away was checking out the Swedish O-Champs on WInSplits! I love Sweden.
Two notes:
1)Mats Troeng took over the top spot in the IOF World Rankings from Valentin Novikov, all while being ranked 8th in Sweden.
2)Sitting in the computer lab today, working on an assignment, i noticed that the guy sitting two computers away was checking out the Swedish O-Champs on WInSplits! I love Sweden.
Biking 50:00 [2]
To/from school and to/from Gottsunda for the O-meet. Biking is becoming my number one training, time-wise. Grrrrrr.
Wednesday Sep 21, 2005 #
Soccer 1:00:00 [3]
Felt like something a little different today and was invited for a pick-up game by a German and a British friend of mine here, so I came and played. It was lots of fun, more like 1.5 hours, but some of that was standing around. A few girls played, including two American ones who are in Sweden playing for a minor league women's pro soccer team. They were good!
Orienteering 49:32 [2] 5.5 km (9:00 / km)
shoes: VJ - Cleats
Night-O! After soccer, grabbed a bite to eat, put on my new headlamp and went for a jog at Blodstenvagen, jogging aroun last year's night sprint course and trying to get comfy with my lamp for possible solar eclipse use during the World Cup. Lots of fun, but I have to say that Night-O does creep me out occasionally. I was running hard across a field when I was stopped in my tracks by two pairs of tiny bright lights right in front of me. Good thing I stopped! I was about a foot from an electric fences with a bull and a cow resting peacefully right behind it looking at me. Not quite a Connecticut moose, but I was still a little spooked...
Scary photos of me with a headlamp here.
Scary photos of me with a headlamp here.
C • 5
Biking 1:00:00 [2]
Lots of biking all over the place today: to school and back, to Flogsta and back, to the soccer game on the side of town and back.
Tuesday Sep 20, 2005 #
Running 24:39 [3] 3.18 mi (7:45 / mi)
shoes: 2005 Falcons
Running from KG to the start of the intervals and back.
Running 20:00 [5] 4.4 km (4:33 / km)
shoes: 2005 Falcons
Terrain intervals! Kalle Larsson flagged an approximately 1.1km loop that included a bit of everything - small trails, green woods, uphill on bare rock, normal woods, moss running, swamp running, and so on and we ran intervals as follows: 2:30 hard, 1 min rest along the loop. Two intervals got us just about completely around the loop. I did 8 intervals and felt quite strong until the last one when I got a stick in my eye, but finished ok anyway. Mats Troeng and a couple others did 2 more, but I stopped, since these were my first intervals since hurting myself three weeks ago, and I felt like I had enough. Terrain intervals are fun! More people should run them. The amount of coordination needed to not trip over stuff or slower people in front of you is impressive. I think there is no way I would ever run through terrain at such speed on my own, so I think it's a great workout to show you how fast you could, in theory, run through the woods.
Tomorrow, I think, I'll try out my headlamp for the first time. Kalle gave me a map of Blodstensvagen (the neighborhood where half the club lives) in 1:7500 with a section in 1:1500 that they used for a night sprint last year. It seems cool, so I'll check it out.
Tomorrow, I think, I'll try out my headlamp for the first time. Kalle gave me a map of Blodstensvagen (the neighborhood where half the club lives) in 1:7500 with a section in 1:1500 that they used for a night sprint last year. It seems cool, so I'll check it out.
Biking 40:00 [2]
To/from class, to/from KG.
C • 7
Monday Sep 19, 2005 #
Biking 40:00 [2]
To/from class, to/from KG. Beautiful day!
Running 26:30 [3] 3.53 mi (7:30 / mi)
shoes: VJ - Studs
From the clubhouse to the start with Josef and back.
Orienteering 39:15 [3] *** 4.4 km (8:55 / km)
18c shoes: VJ - Studs
Bjorn drew a super-technical course for me and Josef Nordlund (4.4km and 18 controls in the nicest part of Nasten) and we ran it. Really fun orienteering - i had a blast, especially since the weather was great and I was orienteering pretty well, maintaining decent speed.
C • 2
T.rex training 55:00 [2]
Normal Linne strength and gympa workout after the O-course. Afterwards I sat through another club meeting, where two major topics were discussed, one common to US clubs and the other - not so much. The first one was a discussion of the fact that there are too few people in the club doing too many things. So, of course, getting more volunteers was suggested. Great. The other one, though, was the creation of a task force to help elite runners graduating from universities stay in Uppsala by helping them find jobs and housing. Cool, huh?!
Oh yeah, i volunteered to be on the "putting out controls for training" task force.
Oh yeah, i volunteered to be on the "putting out controls for training" task force.
Sunday Sep 18, 2005 #
Biking 20:00 [2]
To/from KG to catch a ride to spectate at the Swedish Relay Champs, where I got to see Karen, TYRTOM, and two 4th place performances by OK Linne Teams. Fun day!
I thought of going for a run after getting home, but decided I needed a day off.
I thought of going for a run after getting home, but decided I needed a day off.
C • 1
Saturday Sep 17, 2005 #
Running 30:00 [2] 3.53 mi (8:30 / mi)
shoes: 2005 Falcons
Warming up and cooling down for the Regimentssprinten with Per Grywenz, who gave me a ride there.
Orienteering race 16:33 [5] 3.1 km (5:20 / km)
shoes: 2005 Falcons
Regementssprinten, a sprint race on the day of the Swedish middle champs, not surprisngly attracting a pretty weak field. It was in a Swedish military camp, a la Camp Buckner, only less ghetto looking (reminded me of the Presidio in San Fran a little).
I felt great during warm-up and hoped for a good run and a nice change of pace from the super-technical orenteering i've been struggling with on all the other maps here. The course was fast and not too technical, with a mix of forest and street orienteering. I started fast, caught the guy who started before me (2 min start interval!) halfway through and ran away from him towards the end.
It turned out i had the fastest time by 9 seconds (though there were only 8 people in H21 - results at http://www.letro.se/okenen2/bilagor/b130resultatre... .
Desite the small field, they had an announcer, an award ceremony and everything. My choice of awards was a brand-new swedish army thermos or ... a smoke detector. Tough choice! So now i have a thermos and my first win, even if over slow Swedes. :)
I felt great during warm-up and hoped for a good run and a nice change of pace from the super-technical orenteering i've been struggling with on all the other maps here. The course was fast and not too technical, with a mix of forest and street orienteering. I started fast, caught the guy who started before me (2 min start interval!) halfway through and ran away from him towards the end.
It turned out i had the fastest time by 9 seconds (though there were only 8 people in H21 - results at http://www.letro.se/okenen2/bilagor/b130resultatre... .
Desite the small field, they had an announcer, an award ceremony and everything. My choice of awards was a brand-new swedish army thermos or ... a smoke detector. Tough choice! So now i have a thermos and my first win, even if over slow Swedes. :)
C • 4
Running 36:00 [3] 4.97 mi (7:15 / mi)
shoes: VJ - Cleats
Ok, so i was dropped off at home after the meet, ate some food, spent some time trying to fix the virus on my computer, did some calculus homework for a girl who lives two doors down, took a nap, and went for a run. Beautiful day, sunny skies, and all that.
C • 3
Orienteering 1:20:00 [2] 6.5 km (12:18 / km)
shoes: VJ - Cleats
On wednesday Bjorn asked me to pick up controls from the training exercise we did then sometime over the weekend, so here i was, picking up controls. Remembering the stupid mistakes i made Wednesday, i started carefully and was going along, happily spiking and collecting controls, until i made a stupid decision. Since there were so many controls to carry and the course crossed itself, on the way to #8, halfway through the leg i decided to veer off and leave my controls at #14 and get them on the way back. I don't think my brain registered the switch, since i ended up lost somewhere between 8 and 14, relocating, cold and wet, in the middle of the swamp. But eventually i got it and kept going, my feet wetter and my confidence shaken. Then i got to 10, which i had spiked during the training on wednesday and could not find it. If i hadn't made that mistake earlier, i probably would have looked around a bit, concluded it wasn't there, and moved on. However, now i did not trust myself, so i relentlessly kept attacking the control from all different directions, coming to the same spot each time, with no flag to be found. After at least 20 minutes of this, i gave up, dejected and now very cold, and trudged off towards the rest of the course. (I hope the control really isn't there - otherwise i'll feel like even more of an idiot!)
I found the rest of the flags ok and ran hard back to the clubhouse, hoping to warm up. This ended up being quite a bit more training for the day than i had anticipated (though dumbly standing around in the middle of a swamp barely countrs as training...), so i think i will take it easy tomorrow and go watch the Swedish Relay Champs, a spectacle promising to be almost as exciting as the Sprint Series Finals.
I found the rest of the flags ok and ran hard back to the clubhouse, hoping to warm up. This ended up being quite a bit more training for the day than i had anticipated (though dumbly standing around in the middle of a swamp barely countrs as training...), so i think i will take it easy tomorrow and go watch the Swedish Relay Champs, a spectacle promising to be almost as exciting as the Sprint Series Finals.
Biking 20:00 [2]
Easy ride to the clubhouse at 7am, mad cold dash home 12 hours later.
Friday Sep 16, 2005 #
Biking 30:00 [2]
To class, to Flogsta to get a haircut, home. Strong wind all day, annoying.
Running 48:50 [3] 6.98 mi (7:00 / mi)
shoes: Nike Pegasus '05
I realized that i have run on maps 8 of the last 10 days! This is very cool, but i felt like taking a break today, so i ran off to explore Stadskogen (Cityforest), which is the closest forest-looking thing to my house - about 4-5 minutes running. It's a lovely little forest, worthy of a map, which surely exists since i saw a control out there, with lots of trails, including a lit ski trail, and a couple of little swamps to make sure it has all the required elements of a swedish forest. I felt very good running around (while trying to read a travel magazine i had lying around) and being passed by overperfumed swedish girls and overgelled swedish guys on their bikes.
This may have been the last day for me of running in a t-shirt and shorts this year. Everyone was walking around in coats and hats and gloves and looking at me funny...
The maps from Italy came in the mail (thanks Randy!!!!). Looks cool! I am getting excited.
This may have been the last day for me of running in a t-shirt and shorts this year. Everyone was walking around in coats and hats and gloves and looking at me funny...
The maps from Italy came in the mail (thanks Randy!!!!). Looks cool! I am getting excited.
C • 7
Running 8:00 [1]
Strides. The first time i ran fast (even if for a little bit) since my shin officially healed. If it feels good through the weekend, I'll finally resume speedwork next week.
T.rex training 10:00 [1]
Crunches and dips after the run.
Note
It is September 16th. I have now trained more this year than I did in each of 2004, 2003, and 2002. I think this mostly shows how pathetic my attempts to train have been the last few years.
Thursday Sep 15, 2005 #
Running 8:00 [2] 1.0 mi (8:00 / mi)
shoes: 2005 Falcons
Running from the place we parked to the start triangle.
Orienteering 53:01 [3] 6.5 km (8:09 / km)
shoes: 2005 Falcons
Lunsen!! My first training at the place everyone has told me to come run in - the legendary huge very technical area southeast of the city, just about 7km from the clubhouse. I went with Bjorn and Elin, who drove me and my bike there and partway back, and i biked home afterwards.
This training was the opposite of yesterday - started very slow, unsure of myself, close to walking pace, but started hitting controls and sped up, gaining confidence along the way. I am forcing myself to look at the map more often, a habit that is absolutely necessary here and one i have come to neglect recently, probably due to my relative lack of terrain training the last couple of years. I was very close to mistake-free, just having minor hesitations, but still moved pretty slowly and had very 'flow' from control to control. Still, this is progress. The terrain, by the way, is beautiful - countless little knolls, rocky outcroppings, lots of marshes big and small, a few trails, and fast woods with a lot of moss everywhere - exactly what one imagines of scandinavian woods! Add blueberries, cranberries, and lots of mushrooms of all different colors and all that's missing is a moose...
Bjorn was happy today 'cause he was asked to run for the club's third team at the Swedish Champs this Sunday - he's had some bad races recently, but got promoted thanks to someone's injury.
Oh, check out Mats Troeng's picture on oklinne.nu - he looks like an animal after winning his SM-night gold!
Rob Walter and a few others were running intervals at the clubhouse at 6pm, and i could probably make it right from Lunsen, but decided not to go nuts as soon I got healthy again. Intervals will wait till next week.
Should i be logging all the biking i do as training?
This training was the opposite of yesterday - started very slow, unsure of myself, close to walking pace, but started hitting controls and sped up, gaining confidence along the way. I am forcing myself to look at the map more often, a habit that is absolutely necessary here and one i have come to neglect recently, probably due to my relative lack of terrain training the last couple of years. I was very close to mistake-free, just having minor hesitations, but still moved pretty slowly and had very 'flow' from control to control. Still, this is progress. The terrain, by the way, is beautiful - countless little knolls, rocky outcroppings, lots of marshes big and small, a few trails, and fast woods with a lot of moss everywhere - exactly what one imagines of scandinavian woods! Add blueberries, cranberries, and lots of mushrooms of all different colors and all that's missing is a moose...
Bjorn was happy today 'cause he was asked to run for the club's third team at the Swedish Champs this Sunday - he's had some bad races recently, but got promoted thanks to someone's injury.
Oh, check out Mats Troeng's picture on oklinne.nu - he looks like an animal after winning his SM-night gold!
Rob Walter and a few others were running intervals at the clubhouse at 6pm, and i could probably make it right from Lunsen, but decided not to go nuts as soon I got healthy again. Intervals will wait till next week.
Should i be logging all the biking i do as training?
C • biking 10
Biking 50:00 [2]
More than usual today, since I had to bike back (gradual uphill most of the way) from Lunsen.
Wednesday Sep 14, 2005 #
Running 33:55 [2] 4.38 mi (7:45 / mi)
shoes: 2005 Falcons
Running to the start of middle distance training in north Nasten with Bjorn, Lars, and Rob Walter (who apparently was once employed by willhawk's mom).
Orienteering 58:33 [3] 5.3 km (11:03 / km)
shoes: 2005 Falcons
An absolutely dismal performance on a great course in great terrain. Started running well, spiked a few controls, sped up, and bang! Lost contact, relocated, lost contact again, and so on. Might go and rerun this course tomorrow. At least i had some stretches of nice, smooth navigation.
Also, my shin didn't hurt one bit, even at the end!! (knock on wood.)
Oh, and Mats Troeng won the Swedish Night-O Champs yesterday!!!
Also, my shin didn't hurt one bit, even at the end!! (knock on wood.)
Oh, and Mats Troeng won the Swedish Night-O Champs yesterday!!!
Biking 30:00 [2]
To school, to KG, home.
Tuesday Sep 13, 2005 #
Running 1:27:57 [3] 11.0 mi (8:00 / mi)
shoes: VJ - Cleats
Interval day at the club today, but i decided to skip it for a second week in a narrow, hopefully letting my shin finally heal. I would say it was about 90% pain-free in Pawtuckaway and did not get worse afterwards, but i don't want any setbacks before Italy.
So, instead of intervals, i took the Nasten map and did a part-trail, part-terrain run starting with King Bjorn's burial mound, which looks pretty cool and had a guy trying to paraglide off it.
Nice run for me, but it started getting dark towards the end - i think this will be a more common phenomenon from now on...
So, instead of intervals, i took the Nasten map and did a part-trail, part-terrain run starting with King Bjorn's burial mound, which looks pretty cool and had a guy trying to paraglide off it.
Nice run for me, but it started getting dark towards the end - i think this will be a more common phenomenon from now on...
Biking 20:00 [2]
To/from class.
Monday Sep 12, 2005 #
Running 38:44 [3] 5.16 mi (7:30 / mi)
shoes: Nike Pegasus '05
When i got back to my apartment in Uppsala at 4:40pm, it was beautiful and sunny. About five minutes later it started pouring. By 5pm the rain stopped and a spectacuar rainbow rose over Uppsala castle. When i left the house to jog to the club at 5:30 it was totally sunny. Weird Swedish weather.
Got to the clubhouse, showed Bjorn and Lars the Mega map, struggled to explain the punching procedure in Swedish, ran around with Lars and discussed the results from the Swedish champs classic race with him. Lars missed the final by about 1 min, which is too bad, but a very impressive result nonetheless! Mats Troeng was 5th, Jan 24th, Lina was 5th in D21, and Sofie 2nd in D20, getting OK Linne's first medal in this year's Swedish Champs.
Running back home from the clubhouse, it was beautiful: the sun setting over the sparkling wet grass, fog down in the valley, and the silhouette of one lone horseman (probably not headless) off in the distance.
Got to the clubhouse, showed Bjorn and Lars the Mega map, struggled to explain the punching procedure in Swedish, ran around with Lars and discussed the results from the Swedish champs classic race with him. Lars missed the final by about 1 min, which is too bad, but a very impressive result nonetheless! Mats Troeng was 5th, Jan 24th, Lina was 5th in D21, and Sofie 2nd in D20, getting OK Linne's first medal in this year's Swedish Champs.
Running back home from the clubhouse, it was beautiful: the sun setting over the sparkling wet grass, fog down in the valley, and the silhouette of one lone horseman (probably not headless) off in the distance.
T.rex training 15:00 [1]
Some crunches and push-ups and stuff at the clubhouse.
Sunday Sep 11, 2005 #
Kayaking 45:00 [1]
Well, it wasn't really Kayaking, but Canoe-Orienteering, but i don't feel like making up a new category. For some reason i got competitive about this in the beginning, despite neither Kat nor i being experienced canoers, but several comical experiences trying to punch the control from the canoe, followed by me dropping the map in the water, extinguished whatever "competitive fire" i had and let us have fun on a beautiful day in the water.
Orienteering 3:31:15 [2] *** 18.9 km (11:11 / km)
203c shoes: 2005 Falcons
The Mega!!!!!!!
Lots of fun for the first 100 or so, then just an exercise in concentration. Felt great to finish! Thanks to J-J for a fun and creative world record!
Lots of fun for the first 100 or so, then just an exercise in concentration. Felt great to finish! Thanks to J-J for a fun and creative world record!
Saturday Sep 10, 2005 #
Running 20:00 [2] 2.22 mi (9:01 / mi)
shoes: 2005 Falcons
Ok, so here is how the week-end went:
Thursday night, after much going back-and-forth and lots of indecisiveness, i finally decide i am not going to the Sprint Series and will instead enjoy a quiet weekend of training and working on problem sets here in Uppsala. I email Kat and Sergei and tell them as much.
Shortly after midnight on Friday, i decide to go to bed, but, what the hell, check plane tickets to NYC one more time. Hmmm, the price fell again. I took that as a sign from above and, already calling myself insane, bought the ticket....for a flight leaving in 6 hours.
So then i started my problem set for the agorithms class. At 3am or so i was more or less finished with it, packed frantically, ran out the door, jumped on the bike and pedaled like mad to make the airport bus that left from the Uppsala Central Station. Biking in the middle of the night is awesome, as there are no cars in the street, and the only problems might come from biking over drunk Swedes lying in the street. Luckily, i avoided those and made the bus and then, the plane, on time.
I got to New York without further problems, met up with GOATS and Kat at Greg's place, and we hit the road, picking up Special K in Springfield and getting to Kenny's house for the night.
After a chill morning of chatting with Kenny and Alex, and Greg dispensing pearls of wisdom on childbearing and childrearing, we hit the road again, for the final stretch to Pawtuckaway.
Everything was going fine on this sunny and beautiful New England morning until Sergei casually pointed out that the car's brakes no longer worked. We thought that was funny and kept going until about 5 seconds later we realized he wasn't kidding. We stopped, tried to fix it, thought about flagging down passing orienteers (as Mihai flew by us) and asking for rides, but eventually decided to just go, slowly and carefully and hope we make it. I called Kenny and informed him of this, admittedly becoming unhappy at the prospect of taveling 4000 miles or so to miss my start. But Sergei got the hang of driving cautiously and keeping distance from cars in front of us, and things were going ok. Until we got stuck behind a parade.
That's one of those things that only happen in bad movies, and i felt very much in the middle of one. Of course, navigating on local roads around the parade i managed to get us totally lost, but miraculously, after several bouts of loud cursing at poor motorists minding their own business and guilty only of turning too slowly or not accelerating fast enough, we made it to the starting line with a couple of minutes to spare!
And then the fun began!
Thursday night, after much going back-and-forth and lots of indecisiveness, i finally decide i am not going to the Sprint Series and will instead enjoy a quiet weekend of training and working on problem sets here in Uppsala. I email Kat and Sergei and tell them as much.
Shortly after midnight on Friday, i decide to go to bed, but, what the hell, check plane tickets to NYC one more time. Hmmm, the price fell again. I took that as a sign from above and, already calling myself insane, bought the ticket....for a flight leaving in 6 hours.
So then i started my problem set for the agorithms class. At 3am or so i was more or less finished with it, packed frantically, ran out the door, jumped on the bike and pedaled like mad to make the airport bus that left from the Uppsala Central Station. Biking in the middle of the night is awesome, as there are no cars in the street, and the only problems might come from biking over drunk Swedes lying in the street. Luckily, i avoided those and made the bus and then, the plane, on time.
I got to New York without further problems, met up with GOATS and Kat at Greg's place, and we hit the road, picking up Special K in Springfield and getting to Kenny's house for the night.
After a chill morning of chatting with Kenny and Alex, and Greg dispensing pearls of wisdom on childbearing and childrearing, we hit the road again, for the final stretch to Pawtuckaway.
Everything was going fine on this sunny and beautiful New England morning until Sergei casually pointed out that the car's brakes no longer worked. We thought that was funny and kept going until about 5 seconds later we realized he wasn't kidding. We stopped, tried to fix it, thought about flagging down passing orienteers (as Mihai flew by us) and asking for rides, but eventually decided to just go, slowly and carefully and hope we make it. I called Kenny and informed him of this, admittedly becoming unhappy at the prospect of taveling 4000 miles or so to miss my start. But Sergei got the hang of driving cautiously and keeping distance from cars in front of us, and things were going ok. Until we got stuck behind a parade.
That's one of those things that only happen in bad movies, and i felt very much in the middle of one. Of course, navigating on local roads around the parade i managed to get us totally lost, but miraculously, after several bouts of loud cursing at poor motorists minding their own business and guilty only of turning too slowly or not accelerating fast enough, we made it to the starting line with a couple of minutes to spare!
And then the fun began!
Orienteering race 17:24 [5] 2.75 km (6:20 / km) +50m 5:48 / km
shoes: 2005 Falcons
Round 1.
Placed in the heat of death with Eddie, John F, Hans, and Balter, i knew it would be tough to qualify for the second round. Hans blasted out of the started, and we all kept pace, seeing no other choice. We stayed pretty much together through the first short loop, but spread out a bit at 6, where we arrived along with a group of women and had to wait to punch. We all messed up 7 (i freely admit that i, for one, was running faster than i could navigate at that point, but i saw no alternative. I could have kept a little further back of Hans and run with John, but knew that i would then be slaughtered by John's monster finish kick, so I had to stay up with Hans). Through 8 and 9 we were ok, Hans and I in the lead, John a few seconds back but definitely in contact, Eddie seemingly far back. Then came 10. We went too far to the right and ended up having to relocate and lose over a minute, coming into the control as John and Eddie were about 30 meters on their way to 11. The only thing left was to be clean to the finish and hope they made mistakes, but alas, that was not to be, and John and Eddie deservingly moved on.
Placed in the heat of death with Eddie, John F, Hans, and Balter, i knew it would be tough to qualify for the second round. Hans blasted out of the started, and we all kept pace, seeing no other choice. We stayed pretty much together through the first short loop, but spread out a bit at 6, where we arrived along with a group of women and had to wait to punch. We all messed up 7 (i freely admit that i, for one, was running faster than i could navigate at that point, but i saw no alternative. I could have kept a little further back of Hans and run with John, but knew that i would then be slaughtered by John's monster finish kick, so I had to stay up with Hans). Through 8 and 9 we were ok, Hans and I in the lead, John a few seconds back but definitely in contact, Eddie seemingly far back. Then came 10. We went too far to the right and ended up having to relocate and lose over a minute, coming into the control as John and Eddie were about 30 meters on their way to 11. The only thing left was to be clean to the finish and hope they made mistakes, but alas, that was not to be, and John and Eddie deservingly moved on.
Orienteering race 18:09 [5] 2.7 km (6:43 / km) +80m 5:51 / km
shoes: 2005 Falcons
Round 2.
I was bitterly disappointed by not qualifying for the semis, but was excited by the challenge of another difficult heat - at the starting line, i was joined by Hans, Mark Adams (who declined to wager a beer on this one), Greg, and Joe. Unlike last time, I was perfectly happy to let Hans get ahead, since i just needed a top 2 finish, so i started out fairly slow. Got to 1 with Mark, surprised to see Hans come in from the right at about the same time. The three of us then pretty much stayed together most of the way, the pace much slower than in the previous round. On the way to 10, we all hit the trail almost in front of the flag, didn't see it, and all turned down the trail the wrong way at the same time - quite funny. On the long leg to 11 we split up, Hans going around on the trail on the right, Mark contouring around on the left, and me going straight through the clearing. Sure enough, we hit the road at the same time. Hans was the first to punch 11, with me and Mark right behind, and same for 12. I didn't want to take any chances and sprinted past a jogging Hans to the finish(i feel kinda bad about that), just in case Joe, whom we hadn't seen at all, had somehow miraculously gotten ahead of us.
I was bitterly disappointed by not qualifying for the semis, but was excited by the challenge of another difficult heat - at the starting line, i was joined by Hans, Mark Adams (who declined to wager a beer on this one), Greg, and Joe. Unlike last time, I was perfectly happy to let Hans get ahead, since i just needed a top 2 finish, so i started out fairly slow. Got to 1 with Mark, surprised to see Hans come in from the right at about the same time. The three of us then pretty much stayed together most of the way, the pace much slower than in the previous round. On the way to 10, we all hit the trail almost in front of the flag, didn't see it, and all turned down the trail the wrong way at the same time - quite funny. On the long leg to 11 we split up, Hans going around on the trail on the right, Mark contouring around on the left, and me going straight through the clearing. Sure enough, we hit the road at the same time. Hans was the first to punch 11, with me and Mark right behind, and same for 12. I didn't want to take any chances and sprinted past a jogging Hans to the finish(i feel kinda bad about that), just in case Joe, whom we hadn't seen at all, had somehow miraculously gotten ahead of us.
Orienteering race 16:26 [5] 2.9 km (5:40 / km) +75m 5:01 / km
shoes: 2005 Falcons
Round 3. The B final of heat 1. Hans, Mihai, Vadim, and myself.
This time everyone started at full throttle, Mihai seeming to push particularly hard. We jointly messed yp the first control, calmed down a bit and proceeded to run as a pack for the whole first loop. Then on 6,7,8 Hans clearly picked up the pace, hoping to lose us. I stayed close, Vadim right behind me, and Mihai seemed to disappear somewhere after 7. Hans bobbled the sketchy 9, and i caught up, Vadim close behind. Coming through the finish again, i was shocked to see Mihai come in ahead of us from the opposite direction (it turned out he didn't go to 9, but none of us knew that, of course). At the map exchange i was hurting, and Hans could probably have dropped me if he picked up the pace, but on the way to 12 and 13 he wasn't moving extremely fast either, so i caught my breath a bit and decided to just read ahead, memorizing 15,16, and the finish. We somehow hit 13 and 14, and then the fun began. I basically put away the map and raced across the parking lot, trying to beat Mihai and Hans to the punch at 15. The rock that 16 was one could be seen from 15, so the rest was easy. I sprinted into the finish just ahead of Mihai, and the whole group was separated by just a few steps. All in all, this was a blast, and i am glad eveyone got to run all three times. And, being able to know the course before watching the A finals made spectating so much more fun!!! Thanks Will and Peter and Sandy and everyone else for a fantastic day of sprints. Just Saturday alone made my trip worth it!
This time everyone started at full throttle, Mihai seeming to push particularly hard. We jointly messed yp the first control, calmed down a bit and proceeded to run as a pack for the whole first loop. Then on 6,7,8 Hans clearly picked up the pace, hoping to lose us. I stayed close, Vadim right behind me, and Mihai seemed to disappear somewhere after 7. Hans bobbled the sketchy 9, and i caught up, Vadim close behind. Coming through the finish again, i was shocked to see Mihai come in ahead of us from the opposite direction (it turned out he didn't go to 9, but none of us knew that, of course). At the map exchange i was hurting, and Hans could probably have dropped me if he picked up the pace, but on the way to 12 and 13 he wasn't moving extremely fast either, so i caught my breath a bit and decided to just read ahead, memorizing 15,16, and the finish. We somehow hit 13 and 14, and then the fun began. I basically put away the map and raced across the parking lot, trying to beat Mihai and Hans to the punch at 15. The rock that 16 was one could be seen from 15, so the rest was easy. I sprinted into the finish just ahead of Mihai, and the whole group was separated by just a few steps. All in all, this was a blast, and i am glad eveyone got to run all three times. And, being able to know the course before watching the A finals made spectating so much more fun!!! Thanks Will and Peter and Sandy and everyone else for a fantastic day of sprints. Just Saturday alone made my trip worth it!
C • .... 4
Note
I don't think walking around playing word games at night in a group of 7 with a flashlight and an O-map counts as training, but i thought i'd at least mention the vampire-O we did in a big group before going down to the beach to sample Sergei's victory champagne and go for a swim in Lake Pawtuckaway under the moonlight. (The taste of victory was sweet when Kat and i triumphed over Ross and Sam in an intense chicken fight in the water. :)
Friday Sep 9, 2005 #
Biking 10:00 [3]
Mad dash to the train station in the middle of the night!
Thursday Sep 8, 2005 #
Running 6:00 [2] 0.75 mi (8:00 / mi)
shoes: 2005 Falcons
Running to and from the start.
Orienteering 1:02:05 [3] 8.0 km (7:46 / km)
shoes: 2005 Falcons
Oddly enough, my first official club technical training, on a map called Vexby east of town. After sleeping in a sock on my calf (ok, i wo't laugh anymore...), i woke up feeling great, though the pain came back a bit towards the evening. Still, i barely felt it while running and was able to go at maybe 75-80% effort. Navigation started a little sloppy, as there were people everywhere, but after the first three controls i picked up the pace and was clean the rest of the way - my best, smoothest orienteering here so far, though it probably wasn't quite as technical as some of the other courses i had. Still, i was very satisfied. Might take tomorrow off to, hopefully, finish off this stupid injury. There won't be much to do around here as most people are going to the Swedish champs classic races, so i might have to train all by myself. Boohoo.
Oh, Lars reported having seen an elk in the woods - his first one of the season. Time to catch up. Anyone know if they have attack badgers up here?
Oh, Lars reported having seen an elk in the woods - his first one of the season. Time to catch up. Anyone know if they have attack badgers up here?
C • 5
Biking 40:00 [2]
To/from class, to/from KG.
Wednesday Sep 7, 2005 #
Orienteering 1:16:50 [2] 7.0 km (10:59 / km)
shoes: VJ - Studs
Signed up for a training bank workout that Bjorn posted on the website and went to a map called Furby or something with Bjorn, Kalle ("silent Kal"), and Jan and Mats Troeng. Bjorn drew two courses, a short one and a long one. I picked the short one, correctly thinking that it would take me about as much time as the long one (10km) would take the other guys. I ran nice and slow, trying to stay in contact with the map the whole time and basically relearning point-to-point orienteering. I broke up every leg into micro-legs, trying to check off features and hit little targets along the way. Still got lost a couple of times, but at least the area i got lost the most in was the area Mats Troeng complained about the mapping in after finishing. :)
Shin felt the same as yesterday, so more stretching and icing today. Oh yeah, it was pouring rain the whole time - my first rainy race in Sweden, probably the first of many.
Shin felt the same as yesterday, so more stretching and icing today. Oh yeah, it was pouring rain the whole time - my first rainy race in Sweden, probably the first of many.
C • 2
Biking 20:00 [2]
To/from school.
Tuesday Sep 6, 2005 #
Orienteering 1:00:24 [2] 6.04 km (10:00 / km)
shoes: VJ - Studs
The club had an interval workout today (easy intervals before Swedish Champs) and got the biggest turnout i've seen so far - like 60 people, at least. Plus lots of kids for the junior training. Awesome!
I did the warmup jog with the intervals crowd and then went for a very easy forest run with the clubhouse map and no compass, drawing a line-O for myself. Hard to follow at times, but i focused on reading the map while moving, even if moving very slowly. It worked ok, and the shin was no worse than usual - still bothering me, but i could keep moving. Once again, towards the end of the run, the calf on the same leg as the injured shin started getting extremely tight (that has been happening since the relay day in Japan). There has to be a connection...
Stretched for a long time after running and the shin felt much better. I wonder if it'll last tomorrow...
I did the warmup jog with the intervals crowd and then went for a very easy forest run with the clubhouse map and no compass, drawing a line-O for myself. Hard to follow at times, but i focused on reading the map while moving, even if moving very slowly. It worked ok, and the shin was no worse than usual - still bothering me, but i could keep moving. Once again, towards the end of the run, the calf on the same leg as the injured shin started getting extremely tight (that has been happening since the relay day in Japan). There has to be a connection...
Stretched for a long time after running and the shin felt much better. I wonder if it'll last tomorrow...
Note
The plan for the next few days is to run more easy map runs tomorrow and thursday, see how the shin feels, and possibly take friday off. No racing for me this weekend.
Biking 30:00 [2]
School, downtown, home.
Monday Sep 5, 2005 #
Running 30:24 [2] 3.8 mi (8:00 / mi)
shoes: Nike Pegasus '05
Running to and from the clubhouse, with Amy biking along.
T.rex training 55:00 [1]
The usual strength circuit workout at the club, with fewer people and more mosquitoes than normal.
Biking 20:00 [2]
To/from class
Sunday Sep 4, 2005 #
Biking 1:00:00 [1]
Thought about running the relay today (i was registered as my own team, so could run the first leg and then just stop if i wanted to) but, wisely, i think, decided to refrain from back-to-back races for now. Went for a bike ride to Lake Malaren with Amy instead on a very nice day. Will try to resume regular training this week, but maybe will skip Tuesday's intervals for now.
Saturday Sep 3, 2005 #
Running 20:00 [2] 2.35 mi (8:31 / mi)
shoes: VJ - Studs
Warm-up and cool-down
Orienteering race 43:12 [4] 5.1 km (8:28 / km)
shoes: VJ - Studs
Middle Distance DM.
Felt ok in the morning, so I decided to go to the middle distance district champs and try to jog the course. Felt great after the warm-up and decided to try racing. Started way too fast (feeling rested after a couple days off or easy) and ran past the first control, losing two minutes. Then settled into a nice, comfortable rhythm, reading the map pretty well and even getting into a good flow for the first time in Sweden. Still made a 1 min mistake in the middle and a 2 min one towards the end, but i think this was my second successful race in a row. Ended up 25th or so in the district champs, but way back of Mats Troeng, who is simply incredible.
The shin felt ok afterwards - not worse, maybe a bit better, so I think a lot of stretching helps.
Felt ok in the morning, so I decided to go to the middle distance district champs and try to jog the course. Felt great after the warm-up and decided to try racing. Started way too fast (feeling rested after a couple days off or easy) and ran past the first control, losing two minutes. Then settled into a nice, comfortable rhythm, reading the map pretty well and even getting into a good flow for the first time in Sweden. Still made a 1 min mistake in the middle and a 2 min one towards the end, but i think this was my second successful race in a row. Ended up 25th or so in the district champs, but way back of Mats Troeng, who is simply incredible.
The shin felt ok afterwards - not worse, maybe a bit better, so I think a lot of stretching helps.
Friday Sep 2, 2005 #
Running 32:30 [2] 4.06 mi (8:00 / mi)
shoes: Nike Pegasus '05
Trying to jog and see how my shin feels. Ran to the clubhouse accompanied by Amy Fuller (visiting from swissland!) on a bike, stretched, ran back. Didn't feel any better, didn't feel any worse, but the calf on the leg with the bad shin seemed to tighten up a whole lot. Weird. Will try putting anti-inflammatory cream on it and maybe going for an orienteering jog tomorrow.
C • 4
Thursday Sep 1, 2005 #
Biking 30:00 [2]
To class, to Dan's house, to station to pick up Amy