Training Log Archive: BorisGrIn the 31 days ending May 31, 2006:
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Wednesday May 31, 2006 #
Running 30:00 [2] 3.33 mi (9:01 / mi)
shoes: 2006 VJ Falcons
Warm-up / cool-down with Hammer, Rob, and Carl Fey
Orienteering 17:17 [5] ** 3.1 km (5:35 / km)
spiked:10/18c (injured) shoes: 2006 VJ Falcons
Stockholm City Cup - Stage 2.
The race was at Langholmen, a little island in Stockholm with an old jail in the middle.
The race was really fun, a nice mix of forest and park with some good route choice decisions to be made. My legs actually felt pretty good and fresh, probably because i've barely trained since the Team Trials (the hamstring still hurt, but neither more nor less than before), but i just wasn't fully concentrated mentally. It was almost as if i was being lazy with my orienteering - half the time it seems like i needed to take maybe one or two more glances at the map and i'd be fine, but i didn't and paid for it. Did a stupid mistake out of #3, losing at least 20 seconds running towards a dead end and then made many small mistakes around the controls that added up to quite a bit. A mediocre effort all around - 54th place out of 300 or so, including old folk and the like. Hammer had a nice race - was a good 1:15 in front of me in 30th place.
Results: http://www.stockholmcitycup.a.se/etapp2/resultat/H...
Splits: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
The race was at Langholmen, a little island in Stockholm with an old jail in the middle.
The race was really fun, a nice mix of forest and park with some good route choice decisions to be made. My legs actually felt pretty good and fresh, probably because i've barely trained since the Team Trials (the hamstring still hurt, but neither more nor less than before), but i just wasn't fully concentrated mentally. It was almost as if i was being lazy with my orienteering - half the time it seems like i needed to take maybe one or two more glances at the map and i'd be fine, but i didn't and paid for it. Did a stupid mistake out of #3, losing at least 20 seconds running towards a dead end and then made many small mistakes around the controls that added up to quite a bit. A mediocre effort all around - 54th place out of 300 or so, including old folk and the like. Hammer had a nice race - was a good 1:15 in front of me in 30th place.
Results: http://www.stockholmcitycup.a.se/etapp2/resultat/H...
Splits: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
Tuesday May 30, 2006 #
Note
Tonight's OK Linne club training was tree planting! Apparently, someone is paying the club to plant a bunch of trees in a few big clear-cut areas outside of Uppsala, so here we were, planting. It was pouring rain and hailing right before we started, but actually stopped raining as we were about to begin planting. So wearing boots and clothes we weren't afraid to mess up, we slogged through the mud carrying a big tray of tiny little baby pines (no more than 15 centimeters each - so cute!) and this implement that we shoved into the ground, created a hole with, and used to shoot the plant into the ground. This was actually lots of fun, especially as the weather got better, and I enjoyed it a lot and actually felt pretty tired towards the end. As always, i continue to love the fact that it's not just the old folk or scrubs like me in the club who go out and do stuff like this - i was walking around planting trees alongside Lina and Mats, Swedish team members. By the end of the evening, the fifteen of us had planted about 5000 little trees. Maybe we can come back in forty years or so and see the fully grown trees!
C • Club 8
Orienteering 1:05:04 [2] *** 7.0 km (9:18 / km)
21c (injured) shoes: 2005 Falcons
Club training in Southeastern Lunsen. The course consisted of several clumps of controls with long legs between them. I ran quite slowly, trying to keep my hamstring from being pulled or overextended, but this was hard in wet woods with lots of deadfall and rocks to hop over. The orienteering was going very well until my compass needle got stuck and i was totally lost for five minutes or so before coming to a flooded ski track in running down the middle of a thick green area. Time for a new compass for sure, hopefully before Jukola!! Might run the Stockholm City Cup with my old baseplate tomorrow. Hamstring felt neither better nor worse....
After training, the club had a nice little ceremony, complete with cake, celebrating the women's 6th place at Tiomila, the club's 2nd place at Halsingejavlen, and Ulf's sprint bonus win (the prize being a weekend stay for 20 people at a mountain resort) during the first leg of Halsingekavlen. The club president, Anders Edling, also acknowledged Rob and me for making our respective WOC teams. That was pretty cool.
After training, the club had a nice little ceremony, complete with cake, celebrating the women's 6th place at Tiomila, the club's 2nd place at Halsingejavlen, and Ulf's sprint bonus win (the prize being a weekend stay for 20 people at a mountain resort) during the first leg of Halsingekavlen. The club president, Anders Edling, also acknowledged Rob and me for making our respective WOC teams. That was pretty cool.
Monday May 29, 2006 #
Pool running 1:10:00 [1]
(injured)
Hammer and Mats Troeng were both interested in going pool running today, so we drove down to Fyrishov and went for a run. I'd never done one of these workouts before, but had just heard that they are quite boring. In fact, it was really fun to jog along and have good conversation, so i think good company is crucial. We even managed to borrow some running belts to make the workout more comfortable, and although it felt easy the whole time, there was definitely a bit of burn in my legs afterwards.
Sunday May 28, 2006 #
Running 25:00 [2] 2.78 mi (9:00 / mi)
(injured) shoes: 2006 VJ Falcons
Running from Hammer's house to Gottsundagipen and back.
Orienteering 39:24 [2] *** 3.94 km (10:00 / km)
10c (injured) shoes: 2006 VJ Falcons
Sunday morning O-training with Hammer and Chris Piller, who had to catch a plane back to Canada in the afternoon. We were all a bit gimpy, with Hammer limping right from the start but getting better as he warmed up. Hammer and i did some memory-O on the Vardsatra Skog map, using permanent controls for our course. It was fun and nice, except my hamstring started hurting quite a bit towards the end. Maybe i'll take tomorrow off and try this pattern of resting every third day for a while...
Saturday May 27, 2006 #
Orienteering 1:32:26 [3] ***** 10.1 km (9:09 / km)
spiked:37/43c (injured) shoes: 2005 Falcons
Got tired of resting, so decided to resume training by taking the bus out to Savja (for future reference: get on at Studentstaden, get off at Savjaskolan) and borrowing Rob's map from Hammer (thanks Rob, thanks Hammer!) to run the control picking course on North Lunsen that the club did while i was stateside. Great training, fine terrain as always, and even the streamers from the training were still hanging. Felt pretty good, though not completely focused - missed 4 of the first 17 controls, but then settled down and missed just 2 of the last 26.
The hamstring was sore most of the way, but never bad enough that i had to change my stride, so hopefully it'll just gradually heal itself. By the way, i am still jet-lagged and keep falling asleep at like 3am and waking up at 11am... Good thing it's light almost 24 hours a day, so it doesn't really matter when one sleeps.
My compass has a nice, big bubble that doesn't seem to go away. It's an old compass, and i think it's time for a new one. So, what's the best compass out there these days and is it worth getting one with a magnifying glass? Thanks for suggestions!
The hamstring was sore most of the way, but never bad enough that i had to change my stride, so hopefully it'll just gradually heal itself. By the way, i am still jet-lagged and keep falling asleep at like 3am and waking up at 11am... Good thing it's light almost 24 hours a day, so it doesn't really matter when one sleeps.
My compass has a nice, big bubble that doesn't seem to go away. It's an old compass, and i think it's time for a new one. So, what's the best compass out there these days and is it worth getting one with a magnifying glass? Thanks for suggestions!
Thursday May 25, 2006 #
Note
(injured) (rest day)
Hamstring hurt in the morning. Time to rest.
Wednesday May 24, 2006 #
Running 56:24 [2] 7.05 mi (8:00 / mi)
(injured) shoes: Asics 2006
Back in Uppsala and jet-lagged as all hell. Slept all afternoon, then dragged myself out for a run. To the clubhouse, two loops on the Norby ski track with Staffan Akerblom, then back home. Feels nice to be back.
Hamstring started hurting after ten minutes or so, but never got as bad as it was a week ago.
Hamstring started hurting after ten minutes or so, but never got as bad as it was a week ago.
Sunday May 21, 2006 #
Running 15:00 [2] 1.76 mi (8:31 / mi)
shoes: 2006 VJ Falcons
Warm-up for the team trials classic.
Orienteering race 1:37:32 [4] *** 13.5 km (7:13 / km) +350m 6:24 / km
spiked:18/21c shoes: 2006 VJ Falcons
Team Trials Classic.
Started last again, but this time didn't have great focus from the start, and could feel the hamstring the entire way. Messed up the first "real" control quite badly - came into with no attack point and paid for it badly, losing two minutes. Slowed down and got back into rhythm, but never really felt like i had great flow the entire race. Ran well through 9, but then did tons of stupid things on the way to 10, such as getting caught up in vines in the middle of a wide-open powerline, tripping over a broken fence at full speed, and crossing the same river three times. This amounted to about 1:30 lost, i think. Immediately afterward i paid no attention to my bearing on the way to 11 and lost another two minutes right away, though some of that time loss may be due to slow speed on the trail, as my hamstring was hurting pretty bad at that point. It got better later in the course, and i was pretty clean the rest of the way and was satisfied with the results when i finished, as i did wat i had to do to qualify. Mission accomplished.
By the way, this was a really enjoyable weekend of orienteering, with great terrain, excellent course setting, good organization, and very quickl results, all of this done by a handful of people. So thanks a lot to Erick Buckley and SLOC, as well as everyone else who helped out! Also, it was awesome to see everybody after so much time away from US orienteering. It really felt like coming home to a big, loveable, dysfunctional family.
Started last again, but this time didn't have great focus from the start, and could feel the hamstring the entire way. Messed up the first "real" control quite badly - came into with no attack point and paid for it badly, losing two minutes. Slowed down and got back into rhythm, but never really felt like i had great flow the entire race. Ran well through 9, but then did tons of stupid things on the way to 10, such as getting caught up in vines in the middle of a wide-open powerline, tripping over a broken fence at full speed, and crossing the same river three times. This amounted to about 1:30 lost, i think. Immediately afterward i paid no attention to my bearing on the way to 11 and lost another two minutes right away, though some of that time loss may be due to slow speed on the trail, as my hamstring was hurting pretty bad at that point. It got better later in the course, and i was pretty clean the rest of the way and was satisfied with the results when i finished, as i did wat i had to do to qualify. Mission accomplished.
By the way, this was a really enjoyable weekend of orienteering, with great terrain, excellent course setting, good organization, and very quickl results, all of this done by a handful of people. So thanks a lot to Erick Buckley and SLOC, as well as everyone else who helped out! Also, it was awesome to see everybody after so much time away from US orienteering. It really felt like coming home to a big, loveable, dysfunctional family.
Saturday May 20, 2006 #
Running 30:00 [2] 3.53 mi (8:30 / mi)
shoes: 2006 VJ Falcons
Warm-up and cool-down for Team Trials middle distance.
Orienteering race 33:07 [5] **** 5.67 km (5:50 / km)
spiked:14/17c (injured) shoes: 2006 VJ Falcons
Team Trials Middle.
This was exactly the kind of race I had visualized and imagined when I prepared for the team trials. The plan was to blast out of the gate and go for broke, and i did just well. I felt great right from the start, as the mix of advil and adrenaline kicked in to make me forget about the hamstring. I spiked the first few controls at full speed and realized that #5 would be a key to this race. I went left of the line, crossing the trail that led to the model event #1, then the road and trail and catching the little trail coming out of the rectangular clearing west of the road. Followed it until the end, went along the stream for a while, turned west when it started to bend, crossed the trail and counted renetrants, slowing down quite a bit after the last one to make sure i hit the control. Spike! Eddie came in at the same time, and I knew this would be a good day. We picked up speed immediately, and i was losing map contact on both 6 and 7, so i stopped at 7, made a plan for 8, and went at my own pace. Spike! A small boom on 9, then pretty clean and fast all the way until i got confused coming out of the green to the last control and lost 15 seconds or so checking out a control on another course.
It felt so good to be aggressive and on the attack the whole course and feeling and control at the same time. It certainly wasn't a perfect race, but as close to one as I had come in a long time. Felt damn good.
This was exactly the kind of race I had visualized and imagined when I prepared for the team trials. The plan was to blast out of the gate and go for broke, and i did just well. I felt great right from the start, as the mix of advil and adrenaline kicked in to make me forget about the hamstring. I spiked the first few controls at full speed and realized that #5 would be a key to this race. I went left of the line, crossing the trail that led to the model event #1, then the road and trail and catching the little trail coming out of the rectangular clearing west of the road. Followed it until the end, went along the stream for a while, turned west when it started to bend, crossed the trail and counted renetrants, slowing down quite a bit after the last one to make sure i hit the control. Spike! Eddie came in at the same time, and I knew this would be a good day. We picked up speed immediately, and i was losing map contact on both 6 and 7, so i stopped at 7, made a plan for 8, and went at my own pace. Spike! A small boom on 9, then pretty clean and fast all the way until i got confused coming out of the green to the last control and lost 15 seconds or so checking out a control on another course.
It felt so good to be aggressive and on the attack the whole course and feeling and control at the same time. It certainly wasn't a perfect race, but as close to one as I had come in a long time. Felt damn good.
Friday May 19, 2006 #
Event: US Team Trials
Running 40:00 [2] 4.44 mi (9:01 / mi)
shoes: Nike Pegasus '05
Warm-up and cool-downs for the Team Trials sprint.
Orienteering race 14:33 [5] *** 2.62 km (5:33 / km) +75m 4:51 / km
spiked:15/17c shoes: Nike Pegasus '05
Team Trials Sprint.
Had an early start time on this hot, humid day, because I didn't have a ranking. I think the early start time helped me, as I started fast and caught a couple of runners within the first few controls, which helped get me going. Saw David Frei coming out of 4 and caught him by 7, but couldn't drop him for most of the course. I didn't feel like I was moving well, probably because of the heat, but I was orienteering ok until 15 and 16, where I blew 15 seconds apiece. I was particularly unhappy with myself on 16, as I went around the pond the wrong way despite carefully looking at both options on the way. I did not think i had a good result when i finished and was very surprised to see one Team Trialer after another come in with slower times. In the end, very happy with the result, but not so much with the race.
Had an early start time on this hot, humid day, because I didn't have a ranking. I think the early start time helped me, as I started fast and caught a couple of runners within the first few controls, which helped get me going. Saw David Frei coming out of 4 and caught him by 7, but couldn't drop him for most of the course. I didn't feel like I was moving well, probably because of the heat, but I was orienteering ok until 15 and 16, where I blew 15 seconds apiece. I was particularly unhappy with myself on 16, as I went around the pond the wrong way despite carefully looking at both options on the way. I did not think i had a good result when i finished and was very surprised to see one Team Trialer after another come in with slower times. In the end, very happy with the result, but not so much with the race.
Orienteering 35:00 [2] 3.5 km (10:00 / km)
shoes: Nike Pegasus '05
Model event for Team Trials middle distance.
Thursday May 18, 2006 #
Running 23:30 [2] 2.94 mi (8:00 / mi)
(injured) shoes: Nike Pegasus '05
Went for a very easy jog to see how the hamstring felt. It was a bit better than Tuesday - took less time to warm up and I never felt I was limping. Hopefully, it'll be even better by tomorrow...
Tuesday May 16, 2006 #
Running 45:00 [2] 6.2 mi (7:15 / mi)
(injured) shoes: Nike Pegasus '05
So i seemed to have aggravated an already slightly pulled hamstring during the Billygoat. On monday i basically could not run at all, but dragged myself out on Tuesday, running in a nice little park near my parents' house in Columbus, OH. The first ten minutes or so i was pretty much limping, but it got a bit better after that, though i still could not hit full stride. Not the best time to get injured... Will rest Wednesday and see what happens.
Sunday May 14, 2006 #
Event: 28th Annual Billygoat Run
Running 20:00 [2] 2.22 mi (9:01 / mi)
shoes: 2006 VJ Falcons
Warm-uo, cool-down.
Orienteering race 1:36:14 [3] *** 12.8 km (7:31 / km) +480m 6:20 / km
25c shoes: 2006 VJ Falcons
The Billygoat!
After 2 second place finishes and a 3rd place finish in the last four years, i was hoping to try to win this year, but it was not to be. A tough, fun race, run mostly with Neil and John F., to be outsprinted by Neil for the win in the finish chute. Read the details in my race comments.
After 2 second place finishes and a 3rd place finish in the last four years, i was hoping to try to win this year, but it was not to be. A tough, fun race, run mostly with Neil and John F., to be outsprinted by Neil for the win in the finish chute. Read the details in my race comments.
Saturday May 13, 2006 #
Event: Pre-Billygoat Sprints
Running 1:10:00 [2] 7.0 mi (10:00 / mi)
shoes: 2005 Falcons
Lots of jogging around at the Billygoat sprints - warm-ups, cool-downs, picking up controls with John Fredrickson.
Orienteering race 10:40 [4] *** 1.8 km (5:56 / km)
6c shoes: 2005 Falcons
Billygoat Sprint #1.
A strange sprint, felt more like just a very short normal cours, especially the second half. Wasted some time on 1 and 3, not reading the map carefully enough, didn't take the best route choice to 5 and 6, got squarely beaten by Ross as a result - he ran 10:11. I was second.
A strange sprint, felt more like just a very short normal cours, especially the second half. Wasted some time on 1 and 3, not reading the map carefully enough, didn't take the best route choice to 5 and 6, got squarely beaten by Ross as a result - he ran 10:11. I was second.
Orienteering race 11:24 [4] *** 1.9 km (6:00 / km)
5c shoes: 2005 Falcons
Billygoat Sprint #2.
Took a nice long break between the sprints and felt pretty good at the start of this one. Too high on #1, too low on #2 - caught Vaidm there from 2 minutes back and went down a reentrant there with him instead of climbing up. Probably lost like 30 seconds there. Ran well to 3 - right across the big marsh -brought back memories of Swedish orienteering. :)
Slow climbing up the hill to 4, then clean to 5. Another second place, this time 10 seconds behind Will Hawkins.
Nice day, fun sprints!
Took a nice long break between the sprints and felt pretty good at the start of this one. Too high on #1, too low on #2 - caught Vaidm there from 2 minutes back and went down a reentrant there with him instead of climbing up. Probably lost like 30 seconds there. Ran well to 3 - right across the big marsh -brought back memories of Swedish orienteering. :)
Slow climbing up the hill to 4, then clean to 5. Another second place, this time 10 seconds behind Will Hawkins.
Nice day, fun sprints!
Thursday May 11, 2006 #
Running 30:07 [2] 3.54 mi (8:30 / mi)
shoes: Nike Pegasus '05
Easy evening run with Kat around Fort Tryon park to test out her new heart rate monitor. Very jet-lagged.
Wednesday May 10, 2006 #
Running 16:00 [2] 1.88 mi (8:31 / mi)
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
Jogging from the MIC to the start of the backbana and back.
Running 30:12 [4] 5.06 km (5:58 / km) +300m 4:36 / km
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
Running the backbana. My first time running it by myself, and i actually enjoyed it. Looks like i am overcoming, albeit slowly, my fear of the hill course that i developed way back in August. Hopefully this means i'll make myself run it a bunch more times in the next few months. Felt pretty tired most of the way, but still reasonably strong on the hills, especially towards the end. Thought about running a second loop, but decided this wasn't the time to kill myself.
Running 22:04 [2] 2.45 mi (9:00 / mi)
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
The jogging part of the new Wednesday night JSS workouts - Jogg-Spanst-Styrka.
Running 10:00 [1]
The Spanst part of the workout - secret russian running drills.
T.rex training 35:00 [2]
THe Styrka part - standard circuit training. My last club training before coming to the States for two weeks. I am excited!!!
C • US 6
Tuesday May 9, 2006 #
Running 44:23 [2] 5.55 mi (8:00 / mi)
shoes: Nike Pegasus '05
A nice easy run on a beautiful sunny morning - to the clubhouse, around the lit trail loop at Norby, and back home.
Wildlife sighted: lots of birds, and a big butterfly that flew into my face.
Wildlife sighted: lots of birds, and a big butterfly that flew into my face.
Running 45:30 [2] 5.35 mi (8:30 / mi)
shoes: 2006 VJ Falcons
Running to the clubhouse, warming up, cooling down, dragging myself back home.
Running 25:47 [5] 6.0 km (4:18 / km)
shoes: 2006 VJ Falcons
OK Linne test course. It's about 6km, mostly on trails, varying from very fast to very slow, with some of the forest trails narrow and rocky. And, of course, some swampy bits. This was my first time running the course, and so one of my goals was to not get lost. The other was to beat the all-time best women's time on the course - 25:48, held by Anna Imberg. (All the best times are up on www.oklinne.nu . Under the menu option Junior/Senior on the left, click "Testbanan".) Right from the mass start, everyone was running fast, just like in a cross-country race, and i was just trying to hang on. Unfortunately, the lead pack (Rob, Jan, Micke, and so on) were running to fast and everyone else too slow, so i ended up alone for a bunch of time in the middle until i made a wrong turn, turned around, came back and had Per Togenmark catch me. We stayed together the rest of the way, and I picked it up and pulled away on the last km or so, feeling pretty strong. The final time - 25:47, 1 second ahead of the all-time women's best! The lead pack ran just over 23 minutes - impressive!
Note
A few people have recently asked me how many members OK Linne had. I didn't really know the answer, but i guessed about 200. Well, today was day 1 of Uppsala's big junior cup (U-Ringen). The start list, composed of juniors 16 and under, had 123 Linne kids on it. Holy crap!!!!
Monday May 8, 2006 #
Orienteering 57:32 [2] *** 6.3 km (9:08 / km)
shoes: 2005 Falcons
Was going to take the day off, but Jan put up a nice-looking training on the training bank, so here i was (as were Micke, Ulf, Jan, and Lina A). We ran a course of a map i'd never been on before - Alands Kyrka - and the first half of the course had some of the nicest terrain i've seen here! My goal was to focus on control circle execution and visualize what stuff would look like in the circles and where the control oughta be. So i cruised along nice and easy, orienteering well, though feeling a bit tired in the beginning. Unfortunately, a chunk of the course towards the end went through a giant clear-cut area that appeared after the map was made. This was followed by a couple of controls where the map made no sense at all, and i wandered for a while (as did Ulf) and then headed home by way of the last control. A nice, relaxing training on a beautiful day - exactly the kind of day i had envisioned when i first decided to move here!
Sunday May 7, 2006 #
Event: WC Round 1/EUOC
Running 20:00 [2] 2.22 mi (9:01 / mi)
shoes: 2005 Falcons
Warm-up and cool-down
Orienteering race 42:43 [4] *** 5.1 km (8:23 / km)
22c shoes: 2005 Falcons
Roslagen weekend, middle distance. After analyzing (and over-analyzing) yesterday's race, my main conclusion was that i wasn't nearly aggressive enough and often did not run hard, but rather very tentatively, hoping to avoid mistakes. That way, even my splits for controls i took pretty cleanly were mediocre, at best. So today i decided to try the opposite - attack the course and be aggressive. This resulted in a mistake of 2:20 right off the bat. After running up to the start triangle, we were supposed to almost turn around to go to the first control, and i didn't turn enough, ran up the wrong hill and, next thing i knew, i was relocating off a lake. I came to #1 with the guy who started two minutes behind me. Great. After this i just decided to run hard and make the best of it, and ran very well, though still having occasional problems in the circle (10sec on 3, 15sec on 6, 20sec on 12, 15sec on 15, 10sec on 16) before losing about 45 seconds on 17 and another 50 on 19. Still, i finished strong and ended up 25th out of 50 or so, 6:55 (19%) off the best time. Not a great race, but still probably my best middle distance race in Sweden so far, mostly because I was able to attack the course and run hard the whole way. As a result, i actually had good splits on controls i took cleanly, with a few top 10's, and even a 3rd. So, still lots to work on, but progress seems to have been made.
Splits at http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
Splits at http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
Saturday May 6, 2006 #
Running 15:00 [2] 1.5 mi (10:00 / mi)
shoes: 2006 VJ Falcons
Jogging to the start - probably one of the roughest start jogs i've ever had, through feled areas and all sorts of crap. Don't know how the old people even mde it to the start. :)
Orienteering race 1:42:54 [4] *** 12.84 km (8:01 / km)
28c shoes: 2006 VJ Falcons
Roslagen week-end classic race. This is the first hot day of the year, and I sure felt it. Started out very confused, as I stood at the strart triangle trying to find the triangle on the map for like 15 seconds before realizing the course went on both sides of the map and I needed to flip. In general, I wanted to keep a nice, steady pace and had as my not-too-important goals finishing in the top 20 and being less then 25% behind the winner. Well, I made a mistake right off the bat on number 2. We had a longish leg with a stretch of technical swamp/small island terrain (just like Lunsen, only at 1:15) with a control on a boulder. I came right to the boulder, didnt see the control, saw another control literally 10 meters away (that was our #11 - on the other side of the map) and panicked, thinking i had to be in the wrong spot, since there couldn't be two controls so close. Ended up losing two minutes or so. Grrr. Made another mistake right after we had to flip the map - by the time i figured out where on the map i was, i had already gone 20 or so meters in the wrong direction and never adjusted. Otherwise, i had no major mistakes, but continuing annoying problems in the control circle - 15 seconds here, 30 seconds there... On the whole, i managed to keep a pretty constant pace throughout, which is always nice for such a long race and was pretty happy with my route choices, but still was too tentative in the woods and never really attacked the course for fear (probably justified) of screwing up. Anyway, i ended up 20th, but that wasn't as pleasant as I had thought, as only 27 finished and 10 guys DNF'ed, probably because of the heat and long course. I was 23 minutes (30%) behind the winner (results at http://www.svenskidrott.se/Organisation.asp?WCI=wi...), which is a lot, and I was quite disappointed until I got home and looked at the last time I ran a classic race of comparable length in comparable terrain, which was the classic DM when I first got here in august, and saw that I was 49 minutes back of the winner (>50%) and 46 minutes behind today's winner. So at least there seems to be progress. At any rate, compared with when i first came here, I feel a lot more confident navigating here and actually believe that i will find the controls, which is more than i could say last August.
I walked home from the clubhouse on this perfect summer-like day and realized that i never really appreciated the sun as much until i came to Sweden. I mean, everyone is outside today, working, playing sports, relaxing, everyone is in a good mood, smiling - people are so happy to have a nice long sunny day, which is something i often took for granted in new york. Kind of cool.
I walked home from the clubhouse on this perfect summer-like day and realized that i never really appreciated the sun as much until i came to Sweden. I mean, everyone is outside today, working, playing sports, relaxing, everyone is in a good mood, smiling - people are so happy to have a nice long sunny day, which is something i often took for granted in new york. Kind of cool.
Friday May 5, 2006 #
Running 30:42 [2] 3.96 mi (7:45 / mi)
shoes: Nike Pegasus '05
Nice easy recovery run before breakfast, just like Sandra advised. Feeling a bit beat up from the last few days' training, so it felt nice to take it easy and take in the sunshine.
Wildlife: almost stepped on a great big bulfrog sitting right in the middle of the bikepath.
Wildlife: almost stepped on a great big bulfrog sitting right in the middle of the bikepath.
T.rex training 20:00 [1]
The usual
Volleyball 1:00:00 [1]
2-on-2 and 3-on-3 beach volleyball at Polacksbacken after class. Couldn't resist on such a nice day!
Thursday May 4, 2006 #
Running 42:44 [2] 5.34 mi (8:00 / mi)
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
The Stadsskogen trail loop on a beautiful, sunny May day. Scared up some bunnies and deer and ran into Ulf T. along the way.
Running 40:00 [2] 4.71 mi (8:30 / mi)
shoes: 2005 Falcons
Running to and from the start of the interval loop.
Running 20:00 [5] 5.2 km (3:51 / km)
shoes: 2005 Falcons
Forest intervals! The loop this time had long stretches of deep swamp, which became deeper and wetter with every rep. We did 2:30 on, 1 minute off along the streamered loop that was about 1.1 km long. I did eight intervals, a few guys did 10, but i twisted my ankle a bit at the start of the ninth one and decided to jog it off instead. Feels fine now. For most of the intervals, I was right behind attackpoint's (and Tennessee's) own Mats Froberg, and he always pulled away in the marshes. I definitely need to work on leg strength! Luckily, though, I don't think Team Trials courses will have too many legs going through knee-deep marshes.
Anyway, forest intervals always make for a great workout and today, especially with the great weather, was no exception.
Anyway, forest intervals always make for a great workout and today, especially with the great weather, was no exception.
Wednesday May 3, 2006 #
Orienteering 53:00 [1] 6.2 km (8:33 / km)
shoes: Nike Pegasus '05
Jogging around Polacksbacken and setting "controls" (bright pink post-its) for this afternoon's sprint training.
Running 20:00 [2] 2.22 mi (9:01 / mi)
shoes: Nike Pegasus '05
Warm-up/cool-down with Hammer and theShadow
Orienteering 31:42 [5] 6.2 km (5:07 / km)
shoes: Nike Pegasus '05
Sprint training that I set up for Hammer, theShadow, Rob, and myself. A beautiful day, three fast courses (about 2.0-2.1km each, with controls marked by little pink post-its) made for a fun afternoon training.
Sprint 1:
Rob - 9:29
Boris - 9:57
Brent - 10:08
Mike - 10:11
Sprint 2:
Rob - 11:03
Boris - 12:04
Mike - 12:07
Brent - 13:56
Sprint 3:
Rob - 9:00
Boris - 9:41
Mike - 9:47
Brent - 11:04
Man, Rob is a beast!!!
Sprint 1:
Rob - 9:29
Boris - 9:57
Brent - 10:08
Mike - 10:11
Sprint 2:
Rob - 11:03
Boris - 12:04
Mike - 12:07
Brent - 13:56
Sprint 3:
Rob - 9:00
Boris - 9:41
Mike - 9:47
Brent - 11:04
Man, Rob is a beast!!!
Tuesday May 2, 2006 #
Orienteering 1:18:00 [2] ***** 9.5 km (8:13 / km)
shoes: 2006 VJ Falcons
Club training at Lunsen. Had no energy from the start, so ran very slowly, especially in the beginning. Didn't make big mistakes and tried to stay in contact the whole time. Sped up towards the end, though, and felt pretty good. Still, need to eat more for dinner!!!
Monday May 1, 2006 #
Orienteering 1:33:55 [2] 14.5 km (6:29 / km)
shoes: 2005 Falcons
Running Tuesday night course U on Nasten with Hammer, theShadow, and Jan Troeng. Much easier to follow the line by day than at night, though reading on the run at 1:15000 is still tough. Picked up the pace quite a bit towards the end, but otherwise, a nice, fun run.