Training Log Archive: BorisGrIn the 31 days ending Jan 31, 2007:
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Wednesday Jan 31, 2007 #
Note
With the help of my dad, here 
is a shot of us scouting the 2007 Ski-WOC location in 1984 or so.
is a shot of us scouting the 2007 Ski-WOC location in 1984 or so.Note
Since the trend on AP seems to be leaning towards recounting real-life stories only somewhat related to orienteering, I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon.
I went to the US embassy in Stockholm this morning to try to get extra visa pages added to my passport. It was like
entering a prison or attempting to cross into East Germany at the
Berlin Wall - giant grey buildings, barbed wire fences, surly guards.
Everyone has to stand outside and wait just to be let into the little
building where they search you and take away all your electronics,
before you are directed towards one of the grey building, clearly
designed with the 1960's Soviet Russia chic look in mind.
When I was finally inside, I asked the girl working there if I could
have pages added to my passport. The answer was, of course, "no",
apparently because my passport is "falling apart", meaning I had to
shell out some cash for a new passport. On the invoice, she circled
two fees that I had to pay: $55 for the passport and $12 for something
called the "security enhancement fee". Possessing of an inquring mind,
I asked what that meant, and was told, with a straight fac e,
the
following: "We raised the passport fees recently, so to compensate for
that, we are now adding this extra fee for security enhancement."
After picking up my jaw off the floor, I begrudgingly paid (in
dollars, since the "exchange rate" they proposed was based on the
solid belief that the US economy was booming and the dollar was stuck
on the value of its mid-90's heyday) and proceeded to get a mugshot
taken in the photo machine outside. One terrorist scare later (some
dude went to the bathroom and left a suspicious-looking package in the
middle of the room, so we were about to be evacuated before the dude
returned), I was standing in front of the consul explaining just how
my passport came to be in such a sorry state. Apparently, either I
looked sufficiently pathetic or my passport did or, most likely, both,
because she seemed to believe that I need a new one and condescended
to accept my money, including, of course, the
ever-important "security
enhancement fee". Before leaving, I dared to ask the consul if I could
be allowed back into Sweden with just my US passport and an expired
residence permit. With a warm smile on her lips and a sweet midwestern
accent, she explained "If this were America, then of course we
wouldn't let you in, but this is Sweden, and these people do things
differently. You'll probably be ok."
I went to the US embassy in Stockholm this morning to try to get extra visa pages added to my passport. It was like
entering a prison or attempting to cross into East Germany at the
Berlin Wall - giant grey buildings, barbed wire fences, surly guards.
Everyone has to stand outside and wait just to be let into the little
building where they search you and take away all your electronics,
before you are directed towards one of the grey building, clearly
designed with the 1960's Soviet Russia chic look in mind.
When I was finally inside, I asked the girl working there if I could
have pages added to my passport. The answer was, of course, "no",
apparently because my passport is "falling apart", meaning I had to
shell out some cash for a new passport. On the invoice, she circled
two fees that I had to pay: $55 for the passport and $12 for something
called the "security enhancement fee". Possessing of an inquring mind,
I asked what that meant, and was told, with a straight fac e,
the
following: "We raised the passport fees recently, so to compensate for
that, we are now adding this extra fee for security enhancement."
After picking up my jaw off the floor, I begrudgingly paid (in
dollars, since the "exchange rate" they proposed was based on the
solid belief that the US economy was booming and the dollar was stuck
on the value of its mid-90's heyday) and proceeded to get a mugshot
taken in the photo machine outside. One terrorist scare later (some
dude went to the bathroom and left a suspicious-looking package in the
middle of the room, so we were about to be evacuated before the dude
returned), I was standing in front of the consul explaining just how
my passport came to be in such a sorry state. Apparently, either I
looked sufficiently pathetic or my passport did or, most likely, both,
because she seemed to believe that I need a new one and condescended
to accept my money, including, of course, the
ever-important "security
enhancement fee". Before leaving, I dared to ask the consul if I could
be allowed back into Sweden with just my US passport and an expired
residence permit. With a warm smile on her lips and a sweet midwestern
accent, she explained "If this were America, then of course we
wouldn't let you in, but this is Sweden, and these people do things
differently. You'll probably be ok."
Orienteering race 2:07:02 [4] *** 17.3 km (7:21 / km)
spiked:20/26c shoes: 2006-3 VJ Falcons
What a way to finish off January!
Tonight's Wednesday night-O wasn't just a regular course, but special training for the Long Night leg at Tiomila (just 86 days left!) This, of course, means running a forked, 17.3km, course at night in the snow. Mercifully, we ran at Hammarskog, which features a new map, a number of large trails, and not too much awful terrain. Despite some pretty awful night-O outings so far this year, I decided to take this evening as a challenge and see if I could finish in under 3 hours.
Fifteen people showed up to run the long course, and I think only 3 of us were not ranked in the top 250 in Sweden. I was one of the last starters, meaning having to run fast right from the beginning if I were to have any hope of seeing others. It went well early on, as the course had a number of long route choice legs with plenty of trail options. I ran hard on the roads and trails and tried to be careful in the woods and just not lose too much time. This went ok, and I finished the first loop (11.7km) together with Ulrik in about 85 minutes. The second loop was more forked and more in the woods, and I started getting tired and worried that my lamp battery would run out, so I turned it down to the lower light. At this point, it was just about survival, and I slogged along from control to control, until finally the finish was in sight, and thoughts of a hot sauna took over. In the end, 10 of the 15 starters finished. I was 8th, abou 20 minutes behind Jan, who continues to be unbeatable this winter. I was very happy to survive and show a decent time, and am pretty sure that I could not have done this a year ago.
Results: http://www.oklinne.nu/onsdagsnatt/results.php?id=2...
Can't post the map, as the courses are being used for this year's district night champs in September. (We ran H21+some other course as the two loops).
Tonight's Wednesday night-O wasn't just a regular course, but special training for the Long Night leg at Tiomila (just 86 days left!) This, of course, means running a forked, 17.3km, course at night in the snow. Mercifully, we ran at Hammarskog, which features a new map, a number of large trails, and not too much awful terrain. Despite some pretty awful night-O outings so far this year, I decided to take this evening as a challenge and see if I could finish in under 3 hours.
Fifteen people showed up to run the long course, and I think only 3 of us were not ranked in the top 250 in Sweden. I was one of the last starters, meaning having to run fast right from the beginning if I were to have any hope of seeing others. It went well early on, as the course had a number of long route choice legs with plenty of trail options. I ran hard on the roads and trails and tried to be careful in the woods and just not lose too much time. This went ok, and I finished the first loop (11.7km) together with Ulrik in about 85 minutes. The second loop was more forked and more in the woods, and I started getting tired and worried that my lamp battery would run out, so I turned it down to the lower light. At this point, it was just about survival, and I slogged along from control to control, until finally the finish was in sight, and thoughts of a hot sauna took over. In the end, 10 of the 15 starters finished. I was 8th, abou 20 minutes behind Jan, who continues to be unbeatable this winter. I was very happy to survive and show a decent time, and am pretty sure that I could not have done this a year ago.
Results: http://www.oklinne.nu/onsdagsnatt/results.php?id=2...
Can't post the map, as the courses are being used for this year's district night champs in September. (We ran H21+some other course as the two loops).
Tuesday Jan 30, 2007 #
Orienteering 1:33:51 [2] 12.5 km (7:30 / km)
shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Taking it easy tonight, so I decided to just run the 12km version of tonight's line-O. The course split off from the longer one pretty early on, and I suddenly found myself at the head of a group, where everyone (a few of the girls and a couple of 40+ guys) was clearly expecting me to navigate - a few of them didn't even have compasses. I was terrified, having never really led a pack during one of the Tuesday night runs for more than a few minutes. Luckily, this course went through some of the nicer areas of Nåsten, where it was actually possible to read the map on the run. It went surprisingly well - I had to stop and look around in a couple of spots, but mostly I managed to keep map contact at a reasonable pace the whole way and ended up really enjoying the run! Time goes by a lot faster when you are leading a group and worrying with every step that you are about to lead them into the middle of an uncrossable marsh than when you are just blindly following along.
Monday Jan 29, 2007 #
Biking 1:00:00 [4]
Spinning. Sweaty as usual.
T.rex training 40:00 [1]
Gym stuff with Zan. Lots of Linne people everywhere, as usual.
Note
At one point someone (maybe Sandra?) mentioned in a comment on my log that OK Linne seems to have a website for every race.
Well, here is the webpage for next Wednesday's night-O training: http://www.oklinne.nu/documents/documents_open.php...
Well, here is the webpage for next Wednesday's night-O training: http://www.oklinne.nu/documents/documents_open.php...
Note
My dad just pointed out to me that this year's Ski -O World Champs will be held in the exact place we used to spend winter vacations when I was a kid and where I learned to ski.
http://moscompass.ru/wsoc2007/index.php?l=5
Ah, nostalgia...
And on the topic of Ski-O World Champs: the US is listed as having entered 6 men and 5 women. Could that be right?? Do we really have that many ski-orienteers in the States?
http://moscompass.ru/wsoc2007/index.php?l=5
Ah, nostalgia...
And on the topic of Ski-O World Champs: the US is listed as having entered 6 men and 5 women. Could that be right?? Do we really have that many ski-orienteers in the States?
Sunday Jan 28, 2007 #
Orienteering 1:35:04 [3] 11.3 km (8:25 / km)
shoes: 2006-3 VJ Falcons
Running the change of pace training that Rob and I set out on Vedyxa on Friday. Pretty cold today, and a good bit of snow on the ground, but not too much so you couldn't run. The course consisted of long legs with reasonably simple orienteering, each of which was followed by several short, technical legs. The goal was to try to run hard on the long legs and then slow down for the shorter ones. This worked well, except that it's hard to run fast in the snow - even if you are pushing harder, your speed doesn't increase too much.
Towards the end of the course, saw some motorcyclists racing around a frozen marsh. Pretty surprising that none of them broke through the ice, given that i broke through a bunch of times, and I like to believe that I weigh less than a motorcycle.
Towards the end of the course, saw some motorcyclists racing around a frozen marsh. Pretty surprising that none of them broke through the ice, given that i broke through a bunch of times, and I like to believe that I weigh less than a motorcycle.
Innebandy 1:00:00 [4]
Tore myself away from playing with my new computer to go play innebandy with Jan, Millinger, and a bunch of their friends. Good fun, though i am still (not surprisingly) terrible at it.
Saturday Jan 27, 2007 #
Note
(rest day)
Planned rest day. Went computer shopping instead!!
Friday Jan 26, 2007 #
Orienteering 2:00:00 [2] 11.5 km (10:26 / km)
shoes: 2006-3 VJ Falcons
Setting controls with Rob in about 10cm of snow on Vedyxa. This took way more time than I thought it would - we were out in the woods over two and a half hours, but a lot of it was standing around trying to untangle the damn controls. Pretty tired now.
Thursday Jan 25, 2007 #
Running 20:00 [2] 2.35 mi (8:31 / mi)
shoes: Saucony 2006
"Warm-up" and cool-down.
Running 10:00 [1]
Secret Russian running drills.
Running 40:00 [4] 10.5 km (3:49 / km)
shoes: Saucony 2006
Tempo run ("snabbdistans") along Vårdsätravägen. Ran the whole way with Lars, it was good to have company, and we pushed each other well without speeding up above threshold pace. Good workout, even sort-of felt warm by the end.
T.rex training 40:00 [1]
Circuits with the club after running.
Wednesday Jan 24, 2007 #
Running 1:22:15 [3] 11.0 mi (7:29 / mi)
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
A morning run to go explore the condition of the bike paths tomorrow's tempo run is supposed to go on. I am "responsible" for this week's training in the club, which includes choosing bike paths that are plowed and preferably lit for intervals/tempo.
Cold and windy again - icicles on eyerbrows this time.
Cold and windy again - icicles on eyerbrows this time.
Running 5:00 [2] 0.63 mi (7:56 / mi)
shoes: 2006-3 VJ Falcons
Warm-up
Orienteering race 1:02:41 [4] *** 8.6 km (7:17 / km)
spiked:20/22c shoes: 2006-3 VJ Falcons
NC Sport Cup #2, Knivsta.
Felt pretty tired most of the day, but dragged myself out the door to go race, and am glad I did. The pace was fast right from the mass start, and I ended up running with Micke, Jan, and Albin quite a bit early on, as they had the same forking as me. The orienteering was simpler than what I've gotten used to (or actually, not gotten used to) on Wednesday nights, and running felt pretty good, so things were going well until I first missed #14 with Albin and Micke, and then tried to run away from them on #18, but missed a road junction, of all things, and dropped from fighting for 4th place all the way down to 12th! The upside was that I did beat Albin, which is an accomplishment these days, but then I also got beaten by Gunilla Svärd...
Splits: http://www.svenskidrott.se/Downloads/29284/docs/Re...
Felt pretty tired most of the day, but dragged myself out the door to go race, and am glad I did. The pace was fast right from the mass start, and I ended up running with Micke, Jan, and Albin quite a bit early on, as they had the same forking as me. The orienteering was simpler than what I've gotten used to (or actually, not gotten used to) on Wednesday nights, and running felt pretty good, so things were going well until I first missed #14 with Albin and Micke, and then tried to run away from them on #18, but missed a road junction, of all things, and dropped from fighting for 4th place all the way down to 12th! The upside was that I did beat Albin, which is an accomplishment these days, but then I also got beaten by Gunilla Svärd...
Splits: http://www.svenskidrott.se/Downloads/29284/docs/Re...
Tuesday Jan 23, 2007 #
Orienteering 1:41:05 [2] 13.0 km (7:47 / km)
shoes: 2006-3 VJ Falcons
One of those nights that you knew was going to be a memorable one, right from the start. The woods at -15C with the marshes not yet frozen will do that. Felt surprisingly good running and even read the map pretty well, but sure was frozen by the end, with icicles forming on my hat, my lamp, and my shoes, as well as my eyebrows.
Monday Jan 22, 2007 #
Biking 1:00:00 [4]
Spinning at Ekeby F&S - came in early to get more time in. Sure was nice to be indoors! This was the kind of day only Canadians would go run outside on: down to -14C and windy as hell.
T.rex training 45:00 [1]
Core, legs, arms after spinning. Elbow hurt doing push-ups, so I may stay off my skis for a couple of days.
Sunday Jan 21, 2007 #
Skiing 1:30:00 [3]
One final ski of the camp - a classic in the morning, mostly with Kalle, skiing ahead and blocking the wind for him. Worked pretty hard and felt good for the first hour, but then my elbow started hurting, so I took it easy towards the end. I suppose my body is rebelling against the 10 hours of skiing it was forced to do this week-end with no warning whatsoever.
Overall, a great camp: 54 people from the club, living in ultramodern cabins that included a sauna and a jacuzzi. Good company, good food, good skiing.
Overall, a great camp: 54 people from the club, living in ultramodern cabins that included a sauna and a jacuzzi. Good company, good food, good skiing.
Saturday Jan 20, 2007 #
Skiing 2:00:00 [2]
Started by giving some pointers to Suzanne for a while. It was fun - she learns pretty quickly. Then froze and went off for a long, easy ski by myself. Went into that zone where you almost ski on cruise control, get lost in your thoughts, don't notice what you are doing or anything around you, until you bump into someone in front of you and suddenly come back to your senses. As strange as it sounds, I really like that 'zone', and I only seem to get it when skiing, and almost never when running. About 25km.
Skiing 1:40:00 [3]
Skating in the afternoon with Zuzana, a Czech exchange student - beginner orienteer, but good skier. Windy, so the going was tough, but it was good to know I hadn't quite forgotten how to skate yet. About 23km.
Friday Jan 19, 2007 #
Skiing 2:40:00 [2]
OK Linne ski camp in Orsa!
Very excited to be skiing can, so I went out for a long classic ski in the morning, most of it with Tomas and Joffe. Felt pretty good - my back, which bothered me at last year's ski camp, stiffened up but never became unbearable and then stayed ok for the rest of the camp. Good snow conditions: about -6 to -9C the whole camp, plenty of snow, though sometimes windy. Skied about 34km.
Very excited to be skiing can, so I went out for a long classic ski in the morning, most of it with Tomas and Joffe. Felt pretty good - my back, which bothered me at last year's ski camp, stiffened up but never became unbearable and then stayed ok for the rest of the camp. Good snow conditions: about -6 to -9C the whole camp, plenty of snow, though sometimes windy. Skied about 34km.
Skiing 2:00:00 [3]
A late afternoon/early evening classic ski with Lars. A gorgeous sunset along the way - the first real beautiful wintry scenes I've seen this year. Did about 27km.
Thursday Jan 18, 2007 #
Cross-Training 24:00 [4]
shoes: Nike Pegasus '05
Went down to the gym in the morning to get in a session of stair machine intervals before a project presentation for class followed by the drive up to Orsa for OK Linne's ski camp.
Did 8x3 minutes with 1 minute rest. Sweated a lot, as usual.
Did 8x3 minutes with 1 minute rest. Sweated a lot, as usual.
Cross-Training 25:00 [2]
Warm-up, cool-down, and "climbing" between intervals.
Wednesday Jan 17, 2007 #
Orienteering 1:04:05 [3] 4.8 km (13:21 / km)
shoes: 2006-3 VJ Falcons
Wednesday Night-O at Ramstalund. My first night-O race in a while, and it showed. I missed almost everything, unable to keep a straight line (oddly enough, going off to the left pretty much each time) and having trouble relocating and seeing the reflectors in the blizzard. Kept being passed by some of the club's older (read 60+) guys, who would shuffle along, get lost, have a conference in the woods, decide where they might be and shuffle off to the control, arriving there just before I crashed in from some bizarre direction. At least it was snow, and not the mix of freezing rain and slime that's falling from the sky at the moment.
Tuesday Jan 16, 2007 #
Running 2:18:58 [2] 15.5 km (8:58 / km)
shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Tuesday night run with Linne through some of the most awful woods on Nåsten. Lots of mud, some snow, but at least not too cold. Ran in a small group with Ulrik, Rob, and Annika a lot of the way and even read the map sometimes, though not in the worst bits, where it was really more about survival than anything else.
Monday Jan 15, 2007 #
Biking 1:00:00 [4]
After a long travel day from England and an afternoon nap, went down to the gym (so nice that it's about 200m away!) and did a spinning session. Got there early to get some extra spinning in.
T.rex training 35:00 [1]
Weights and core at the gym after spinning.
Good news for OK Linne: Mattias Millinger (the Greek letter "mu" on attackpoint) switched over to us from Västerås SOK. Mattias was a JWOC winner in the relay in 2004 and has a shot at making the Swedish senior team this year. A pretty impressive addition!
Good news for OK Linne: Mattias Millinger (the Greek letter "mu" on attackpoint) switched over to us from Västerås SOK. Mattias was a JWOC winner in the relay in 2004 and has a shot at making the Swedish senior team this year. A pretty impressive addition!
Sunday Jan 14, 2007 #
Orienteering race 31:29 [5] *** 4.15 km (7:35 / km)
spiked:18/24c shoes: 2006-3 VJ Falcons
Thames Valley Orienteering Club district event at Brill Common, somewhere in Oxfordshire. I did the green course, which was the longest offered. The area is open and grassy, with lots of contour detail from old mines and dubiously mapped patches of green briars scattered throughout. It took some time to adjust to the 1:5000 scale, and i made two big mistakes early, on controls 4 and 5, losing about 1:30 and 1:15, respectively. Settled down after that, though couldn't shake Kat off my back for about 5 controls. Was first when i left, but Tuomas Tala, who lives around Oxford and often runs relays for the Finnish club Delta's first team, showed up late and probably kicked my butt.
Running 5:00 [2] 0.59 mi (8:28 / mi)
shoes: 2006-3 VJ Falcons
A bit of a warm-up.
Running 1:44:32 [2] 12.0 mi (8:43 / mi)
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
I decided that running back to Oxford from Brill would be a nice challenge, so I took off with a 1:25000 map of Oxfordshire, trying at first to stay on footpaths and in fields. Of course, everything was extremely wet and muddy, and i kept slipping and sliding along, occasionally knee-deep in mud and muck, for about an hour, before finally deciding to run the rest on roads. That went a lot smoother, though the good people of Oxford must have thought it strange to see me running along the streets absolutely covered in mud from the knees down.
Saturday Jan 13, 2007 #
Running 30:00 [2] 3.75 mi (8:00 / mi)
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
Stopping off in Oxford for the week-end before going back to Sweden. I dragged myself out the door to do a run on a grey, windy afternoon.
Running 23:44 [4] 3.85 mi (6:10 / mi)
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
I ran over to University Parks and did threshold-pace intervals on the gravel paths there. Just did three of these before they closed the park and kicked everyone out, but this felt like enough anyway.
Times: 7:55 (1:30 rest), 7:55 (1:30), 7:54.
Times: 7:55 (1:30 rest), 7:55 (1:30), 7:54.
T.rex training 5:00 [1]
Crunches after getting home!
Thursday Jan 11, 2007 #
Orienteering 1:41:19 [3] *** 13.65 km (7:25 / km)
spiked:18/19c shoes: 2006-3 VJ Falcons
Andalucia Training Camp 2007 with Kat. Day 6.
Our last day in Spain... We only had time for one long training in the morning before driving back to Granad, with a detour to visit Gibraltar on the way. I ran an old long course, with the goal being maintaing focus and control on long legs, as well as having a good picture of the control circle in mind as I approached the flag - this is something I've struggled with in the past in long races (you focus so much on route choice and getting to the control area that you forget that you still have to find the flag itself...). This went well, as I didn't make any major mistakes and kept up a decent cruising speed throughout, though i did get tired towards the end and lost focus running from the last control to the finish. Or maybe i just subconsciously wanted to stay in these wonderful woods longer...
This was a great training camp, an awesome trip, and just a really positive experience for me. I really enjoyed all (well, almost all) the maps we ran on, and it was nice having complete control over what sort of training i did on which day. And, of course, it's always great to get some sunshine in the middle of (even a mild) Swedish winter.
Map: http://www.geocities.com/bgranovskiy3/barbate_long...
Our last day in Spain... We only had time for one long training in the morning before driving back to Granad, with a detour to visit Gibraltar on the way. I ran an old long course, with the goal being maintaing focus and control on long legs, as well as having a good picture of the control circle in mind as I approached the flag - this is something I've struggled with in the past in long races (you focus so much on route choice and getting to the control area that you forget that you still have to find the flag itself...). This went well, as I didn't make any major mistakes and kept up a decent cruising speed throughout, though i did get tired towards the end and lost focus running from the last control to the finish. Or maybe i just subconsciously wanted to stay in these wonderful woods longer...
This was a great training camp, an awesome trip, and just a really positive experience for me. I really enjoyed all (well, almost all) the maps we ran on, and it was nice having complete control over what sort of training i did on which day. And, of course, it's always great to get some sunshine in the middle of (even a mild) Swedish winter.
Map: http://www.geocities.com/bgranovskiy3/barbate_long...
Wednesday Jan 10, 2007 #
Orienteering 41:10 [5] **** 6.9 km (5:58 / km) +125m 5:28 / km
spiked:17/21c shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Andalucia Training Camp 2007 with Kat. Day 5.
This was the training session I was most looking forward to on Barbate - running a middle distance course from the III Trofeo Internacional Cadiz (2003) at race-pace. This terrain is such a pleasure to race through! I felt pretty fast and confident early on and ran hard, mostly going on a straight line and avoiding running on the often slow, sandy trails. Besides a 20-second miss on #6, I was pretty clean through the first 15 controls, until the course entered an area with a vague hillside covered with light green. Even though i told myself the orienteering strategy has to change and i need to adapt, i never made the switch and ended up without attack points on controls 16 and 18, losing a total of about 2:30. It was a bit disappointing, but in the end I was still pretty happy with the effort, and i really enjoyed running hard through these fast, detailed woods.
Map: http://www.geocities.com/bgranovskiy3/barbate_midd...
This was the training session I was most looking forward to on Barbate - running a middle distance course from the III Trofeo Internacional Cadiz (2003) at race-pace. This terrain is such a pleasure to race through! I felt pretty fast and confident early on and ran hard, mostly going on a straight line and avoiding running on the often slow, sandy trails. Besides a 20-second miss on #6, I was pretty clean through the first 15 controls, until the course entered an area with a vague hillside covered with light green. Even though i told myself the orienteering strategy has to change and i need to adapt, i never made the switch and ended up without attack points on controls 16 and 18, losing a total of about 2:30. It was a bit disappointing, but in the end I was still pretty happy with the effort, and i really enjoyed running hard through these fast, detailed woods.
Map: http://www.geocities.com/bgranovskiy3/barbate_midd...
Running 15:00 [2] 1.76 mi (8:31 / mi)
shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Warm-up and cool-down.
Orienteering 1:20:09 [2] 6.68 km (12:00 / km)
shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Andalucia Training Camp 2007 with Kat. Day 5.
Both Kat and I were pretty tired in the afternoon, so we decided to run an easy-pace relocation exercise. It worked well, and it was fun trying to get each other lost in the sand dunes.
Both Kat and I were pretty tired in the afternoon, so we decided to run an easy-pace relocation exercise. It worked well, and it was fun trying to get each other lost in the sand dunes.
Tuesday Jan 9, 2007 #
Orienteering 36:53 [3] **** 4.7 km (7:51 / km)
spiked:8/9c shoes: 2006-3 VJ Falcons
Andalucia Training Camp 2007 with Kat. Day 4.
This was our first day in Barbate - a large sand dune forest on a plateau above Cape Trafalgar, with lots of intricate contour detail, fast running, and occasional chunks of undergrowth.
I started by running two courses on the most runnable eastern section of the map. I did this first course by myself, starting slowly and gradually speeding up. It was really fun to be able to read all the map detail at speed, but also easy to let your mind drift and suddenly have no idea where you are.
This was our first day in Barbate - a large sand dune forest on a plateau above Cape Trafalgar, with lots of intricate contour detail, fast running, and occasional chunks of undergrowth.
I started by running two courses on the most runnable eastern section of the map. I did this first course by myself, starting slowly and gradually speeding up. It was really fun to be able to read all the map detail at speed, but also easy to let your mind drift and suddenly have no idea where you are.
Orienteering 35:25 [2] *** 3.9 km (9:05 / km)
spiked:8/10c shoes: 2006-3 VJ Falcons
Andalucia Training Camp 2007 with Kat. Day 4.
The second of the two courses. I ran this one with Kat, at times taking different route choices, at times shadowing her. This course went through a really detailed area of sand dunes that reminded me of the terrain in Alicante.
Map (both courses): http://www.geocities.com/bgranovskiy3/barbate_mode...
The second of the two courses. I ran this one with Kat, at times taking different route choices, at times shadowing her. This course went through a really detailed area of sand dunes that reminded me of the terrain in Alicante.
Map (both courses): http://www.geocities.com/bgranovskiy3/barbate_mode...
Running 10:00 [2] 1.18 mi (8:28 / mi)
shoes: 2006-3 VJ Falcons
Various joggings to and from starts.
Orienteering 46:54 [3] ***** 5.78 km (8:07 / km)
spiked:11/14c shoes: 2006-3 VJ Falcons
Andalucia Training Camp 2007 with Kat. Day 4.
Next we ran a course on a section of the big map with most vegetation and trails removed - basically only contours, splotches of impenetrable dark green, and the one rock on the map remained. This meant that you really needed to keep concentration throughout - a great exercise. I mostly managed ok with the contours-only map, but did have a couple of lapses, especially towards the end, when I found myself and the control I was going to surrounded by a herd of cows with horns that eyed me with silent contempt the entire time I attempted to navigate past them.
Map: http://www.geocities.com/bgranovskiy3/barbate_cont...
Next we ran a course on a section of the big map with most vegetation and trails removed - basically only contours, splotches of impenetrable dark green, and the one rock on the map remained. This meant that you really needed to keep concentration throughout - a great exercise. I mostly managed ok with the contours-only map, but did have a couple of lapses, especially towards the end, when I found myself and the control I was going to surrounded by a herd of cows with horns that eyed me with silent contempt the entire time I attempted to navigate past them.
Map: http://www.geocities.com/bgranovskiy3/barbate_cont...
Orienteering 21:10 [5] **** 3.27 km (6:28 / km)
spiked:11/15c shoes: 2006-3 VJ Falcons
Andalucia Training Camp 2007 with Kat. Day 4.
Our final training of the day was a sprint course on a 1:5000 section of the Barbate map, also with only contours, a bit of rock, and dark green splotches shown. We raced this sprint to see how we could handle sprint orienteering in this terrain. I kept expecting to overrun everything, so frequently compensated by stopping short, but finally adjusted halfway through the course. Lost at least a minute on a control that was missing, and made a handful of 15-second mistakes in addition. Not too impressive.
Map: http://www.geocities.com/bgranovskiy3/barbate_spri...
Our final training of the day was a sprint course on a 1:5000 section of the Barbate map, also with only contours, a bit of rock, and dark green splotches shown. We raced this sprint to see how we could handle sprint orienteering in this terrain. I kept expecting to overrun everything, so frequently compensated by stopping short, but finally adjusted halfway through the course. Lost at least a minute on a control that was missing, and made a handful of 15-second mistakes in addition. Not too impressive.
Map: http://www.geocities.com/bgranovskiy3/barbate_spri...
Monday Jan 8, 2007 #
Orienteering 56:04 [2] *** 4.9 km (11:27 / km) +205m 9:28 / km
spiked:11/15c shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Andalucia Training Camp 2007 with Kat. Day 3.
After spending a couple of hours at the Alhambra just after sunrise, we drove all the way down to Barbate (about 350km), stopping at a map called a very pleasant-sounding Las Lagunas on the way. Unfortunately, the two eponymous lagunas were the only pleasant things about this area. It was very thorny and green throughout and was good for training things like untangling yourself from brambles and actually trying to focus on orienteering when you had to watch where you put your foot every step of the way. At least the weather was nice and the views from the hilltops gorgeous.
Map: http://www.geocities.com/bgranovskiy4/las_lagunas....
After spending a couple of hours at the Alhambra just after sunrise, we drove all the way down to Barbate (about 350km), stopping at a map called a very pleasant-sounding Las Lagunas on the way. Unfortunately, the two eponymous lagunas were the only pleasant things about this area. It was very thorny and green throughout and was good for training things like untangling yourself from brambles and actually trying to focus on orienteering when you had to watch where you put your foot every step of the way. At least the weather was nice and the views from the hilltops gorgeous.
Map: http://www.geocities.com/bgranovskiy4/las_lagunas....
Running 12:00 [2] 1.41 mi (8:31 / mi)
shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Running to and from the start of the course.
Sunday Jan 7, 2007 #
Orienteering 2:00:30 [3] **** 12.75 km (9:27 / km) +570m 7:43 / km
spiked:21/24c shoes: 2006-3 VJ Falcons
Andalucia Training Camp 2007 with Kat. Day 2.
Las Mimbres, a very interesting area at about 1400m above sea level in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas, east of Granada. I ran a classic course here, with the focus being on flow, keeping concentration on long legs, and route choice. This place offered perhaps the most different types of terrain in a single map. We started with open hillsides and standard ridge-and-valley stuff, then had a couple of controls in intricate contour detail in the green, then a bunch of legs on a flattish plateau with a bunch of rock detail, then suddenly two controls on top of really detailed rocky hills that were reminiscent of some stuff on the US Champs day 1 map from last year, followed by some running through open farmland with clumps of vegetation and rock detail interspersed, back to the flattish, fast plateau, and finally a long leg across the map followed by a few short zigzags up and down more steep hills and reentrants in the end. Great stuff!
Map: http://www.geocities.com/bgranovskiy4/las_mimbres....
Las Mimbres, a very interesting area at about 1400m above sea level in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas, east of Granada. I ran a classic course here, with the focus being on flow, keeping concentration on long legs, and route choice. This place offered perhaps the most different types of terrain in a single map. We started with open hillsides and standard ridge-and-valley stuff, then had a couple of controls in intricate contour detail in the green, then a bunch of legs on a flattish plateau with a bunch of rock detail, then suddenly two controls on top of really detailed rocky hills that were reminiscent of some stuff on the US Champs day 1 map from last year, followed by some running through open farmland with clumps of vegetation and rock detail interspersed, back to the flattish, fast plateau, and finally a long leg across the map followed by a few short zigzags up and down more steep hills and reentrants in the end. Great stuff!
Map: http://www.geocities.com/bgranovskiy4/las_mimbres....
Orienteering 33:36 [5] *** 4.8 km (7:00 / km) +205m 5:46 / km
spiked:11/13c shoes: 2006-3 VJ Falcons
Andalucia Training Camp 2007 with Kat. Day 2.
El Pozuelo, a nice middle distance area across the highway from Las Mimbres. Kat and I did some fast-paced training on a middle distance course here. On each control, Kat would get a head start of 10-50 seconds, depending on the leg length, and we'd race each other to the next control. First one to touch the flag wins the leg, the one who wins the most legs wins the course. Great training for orienteering at a very high speed, as well as racing head-to-head. It would have been nice to switch up chasing and following sometimes, but that wouldn't have worked in this case. It worked out well, though Kat beat me 7-6, but i did lose one control because i took a route choice that left me surrounded by a pack of about 15 barking and snarling hunting dogs, with their owner's son finally sauntering over to wave them away after about a minute.
Map: http://www.geocities.com/bgranovskiy4/el_pozuelo.J...
El Pozuelo, a nice middle distance area across the highway from Las Mimbres. Kat and I did some fast-paced training on a middle distance course here. On each control, Kat would get a head start of 10-50 seconds, depending on the leg length, and we'd race each other to the next control. First one to touch the flag wins the leg, the one who wins the most legs wins the course. Great training for orienteering at a very high speed, as well as racing head-to-head. It would have been nice to switch up chasing and following sometimes, but that wouldn't have worked in this case. It worked out well, though Kat beat me 7-6, but i did lose one control because i took a route choice that left me surrounded by a pack of about 15 barking and snarling hunting dogs, with their owner's son finally sauntering over to wave them away after about a minute.
Map: http://www.geocities.com/bgranovskiy4/el_pozuelo.J...
Running 5:00 [2] 0.56 mi (8:56 / mi)
shoes: 2006-3 VJ Falcons
Warming up and cooling down.
Saturday Jan 6, 2007 #
Orienteering 1:39:00 [2] *** 8.0 km (12:23 / km) +400m 9:54 / km
spiked:30/35c shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Andalucia Training Camp 2007 with Kat. Day 1.
Los Molares, about halfway between Granada and Cordoba. A fantastic area, and a great way to start the camp with open woods, nice running, and ridge-and-valley terrain mixed with pockets of contour detail and beautiful views of the mountains from hilltops. Took this pretty easy, running the first part with Kat and then a bunch by myself. A couple of mistakes early on, but then settled in and was fine. Will try to put up all the maps when my computer works again.
Map: http://www.geocities.com/bgranovskiy4/los_molares....
Los Molares, about halfway between Granada and Cordoba. A fantastic area, and a great way to start the camp with open woods, nice running, and ridge-and-valley terrain mixed with pockets of contour detail and beautiful views of the mountains from hilltops. Took this pretty easy, running the first part with Kat and then a bunch by myself. A couple of mistakes early on, but then settled in and was fine. Will try to put up all the maps when my computer works again.
Map: http://www.geocities.com/bgranovskiy4/los_molares....
Orienteering 1:01:10 [3] *** 6.5 km (9:25 / km)
spiked:10/15c shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Andalucia Training Camp 2007 with Kat. Day 2.
La Zubia, a map on a hillside in the suburbs of Granada. I planned to run this pretty hard, but this only partly worked, since most of the controls (streamers pre-hung by Pet Sterner, who organizes the o-travel.com training camp) had disappeared, and the area was extrtemely vague, making it difficult to tell which "distinct" tree in a semi-open area was the one the control was meant to be on. The course went mostly downhill, and this was still very good training for knowing how much I have dropped, as well as staying on your bearing, but it would have been a lot more valuable with the controls in place.
Map: http://www.geocities.com/bgranovskiy4/la_zubia.JPG
La Zubia, a map on a hillside in the suburbs of Granada. I planned to run this pretty hard, but this only partly worked, since most of the controls (streamers pre-hung by Pet Sterner, who organizes the o-travel.com training camp) had disappeared, and the area was extrtemely vague, making it difficult to tell which "distinct" tree in a semi-open area was the one the control was meant to be on. The course went mostly downhill, and this was still very good training for knowing how much I have dropped, as well as staying on your bearing, but it would have been a lot more valuable with the controls in place.
Map: http://www.geocities.com/bgranovskiy4/la_zubia.JPG
Running 10:00 [2]
Running back up the hill to the start after finishing - about 2km with 200m climb.
Thursday Jan 4, 2007 #
Running 50:00 [2] 5.88 mi (8:30 / mi)
shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Running to and from backbana and also on top of the ridge a bit after finishing my tempo run.
Running 26:26 [3] 6.3 km (4:12 / km)
shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Tempo run on the first loop of Bjorn's backbana. Started with Rob, but could not keep up with him on the downhills, so dropped back and a felt a bit better. Thought about running hard for about 40 minutes, but my stomach was hurting quite a bit, so I stopped at the end of the lap.
T.rex training 50:00 [1]
Strength with Kat at F&S.
Off to Granada tomorrow! Don't know about internet access there, but a full report will follow when we return.
Off to Granada tomorrow! Don't know about internet access there, but a full report will follow when we return.
Wednesday Jan 3, 2007 #
Orienteering 2:30:01 [2] **** 15.7 km (9:33 / km)
shoes: 2006-3 VJ Falcons
A long run with Rob and Reuben Smith (Reubster on AP) on Hjortmossberget on a fine, sunny day. The terrain is a lot more physical than the stuff we normall run through around here, so this was a very nice change of pace. The very technical bits made for great orienteering, but were tough to read at 1:15. Was pretty tired at the end, just dragging my feet the last km or two.
Tuesday Jan 2, 2007 #
Pool running 50:00 [1]
Aqua-jogging with Kat at Fyrishov.
Biking 50:00 [4]
Spinning. Thought about going for a Tuesday night line-O, but decided to not tempt the Ankle Gods quite yet. It would be stupid to get hurt now, before the Spain training camp next week.
Monday Jan 1, 2007 #
Event: US Team Training Camp
Running 46:34 [2] 6.01 mi (7:45 / mi)
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
Usual trail loop on Stadsskogen in the morning to start off 2007.
T.rex training 40:00 [1]
Normal strength workout at the gym with Kat when it turned out that the spinning class we planned to go to had been cancelled.
Biking 20:00 [3]
Warm-up, cool-down, and a few intervals on a stationary bike.
Note
After an hour in the gym, Kat and I checked out the Balance Gympa class to see what it was like. Naturally, I was the only male there, and we were basically the only two people under 50. The class involved some balance and flexibility exercises and some relaxation/meditation stuff. Sort of fun, but definitely doesn't qualify as training.