Training Log Archive: BorisGrIn the 31 days ending May 31, 2007:
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Thursday May 31, 2007 #
Note
(sick) (rest day)
Sick. Day off.
Wednesday May 30, 2007 #
Running 15:00 [2] 1.8 mi (8:20 / mi)
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
Warm-up, cool-down.
Orienteering race 17:20 [5] *** 2.94 km (5:54 / km)
spiked:17/21c shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
Stockholm City Cup, Etapp 3.
I figured a while that, just in case I am running sprint at WOC, I should probably run some sprint races, which are few and far between in Sweden. So I drove down to Stockholm with the Ridefelt family and ran a sprint. I felt pretty bad - sore from intervals, still sore from soccer, and sort-of on the verge of a cold. But sprints are fun, and so I had fun. Fields, hills, bushes, cliffs, good route choice options, and people running everywhere in all directions - gotta love Stockholm City Cup!
Tripped and fell going to 2, lost my control descriptions, and actually went back and looked for them picking them out of the grass. 20 seconds lost. Another 45-50 seconds scattered around the course. Ended up 35th, not too good, not too bad.
Splits: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
I figured a while that, just in case I am running sprint at WOC, I should probably run some sprint races, which are few and far between in Sweden. So I drove down to Stockholm with the Ridefelt family and ran a sprint. I felt pretty bad - sore from intervals, still sore from soccer, and sort-of on the verge of a cold. But sprints are fun, and so I had fun. Fields, hills, bushes, cliffs, good route choice options, and people running everywhere in all directions - gotta love Stockholm City Cup!
Tripped and fell going to 2, lost my control descriptions, and actually went back and looked for them picking them out of the grass. 20 seconds lost. Another 45-50 seconds scattered around the course. Ended up 35th, not too good, not too bad.
Splits: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
Tuesday May 29, 2007 #
Running 51:00 [2] 6.0 mi (8:30 / mi)
shoes: Saucony 2006
Running to the clubhouse, warm-up, running between intervals, running back home. Very, very sore on the way home.
Running 10:00 [1]
Secret Russian Running Drills.
Running 27:58 [5] 8.0 km (3:30 / km)
shoes: Saucony 2006
Relay intervals on the lit track at Norby. The intervals work like this: you have a 500m long trail loop and a team of 3. Person A and person B start at the same time and run a loop. At this point, A stops, B continues and C joins him. After the next loop, B stops, and A joins C, and so on. Basically, you run two loops, then rest one. I ran with Gustaf Granath and Jan, who was taking this session a bit easier than normal.
Times:
3:24 (1:36 rest)
3:27 (1:40)
3:28 (1:40)
3:34 (1:40)
3:30 (1:43)
3:32 (1:39)
3:33 (1:30)
3:30
Times:
3:24 (1:36 rest)
3:27 (1:40)
3:28 (1:40)
3:34 (1:40)
3:30 (1:43)
3:32 (1:39)
3:33 (1:30)
3:30
Sunday May 27, 2007 #
Orienteering 2:15:51 [2] **** 14.5 km (9:22 / km)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
After sleeping in late, Andrew and I were joined by Michele Caraglio in a trip out to Lunsen for a long run. We were all quite tired and sore from the soccer and late night of the day before, so the pace wasn't especially quick, but we ran pretty well. We took turns leading, and the leader had to talk out loud which features he was looking for and what his plan was. Each "turn" consisted of leading a long leg and then three short ones. This worked very well, and we made very few mistakes the whole time. We did get very tired and a bit dehydrated on this warm day, and took a short-cut from the originally planned monstrous 18km course. A very nice training to finish off the week with.
Saturday May 26, 2007 #
Soccer 1:30:00 [3]
With a rare week-end at home from racing, and DxDeluxe scheduled for Saturday evening, I invited Andrew Quin to come up from Stockholm for the week-end, hang out, and do some training. The first thing we did was join an IFK Lidingö versus OK Linne soccer match, held on one of the fields just behind my house. The game was nine a side, and I was put in to play striker. It had been ages since I'd played soccer, so I was immensely rusty. Additionally, worries about my shoulder kept me from going in for close tackles, which didn't help. The Lidingö team was very impressive, and kicked out butts 5-2. I had a couple of decent chances in the second half, and finally scored in a goalmouth scramble after a corner kick, but that was little consolation for a loss.
Playing soccer really feels like excellent cross-training - being able to change speeds quickly, change direction, be explosive all seem like useful skills for orienteering. If it didn't come with such a high injury risk, I'd definitely play a lot more.
Playing soccer really feels like excellent cross-training - being able to change speeds quickly, change direction, be explosive all seem like useful skills for orienteering. If it didn't come with such a high injury risk, I'd definitely play a lot more.
Orienteering 55:34 [3] *** 6.17 km (9:00 / km)
shoes: 2007 model Falcons
After a short break, Andrew and I biked over to Nåsten and ran an old course. We planned our routes for each control ahead of time, and tried to execute perfectly and compare the routes. We didn't want to run too had, but head-to-head orienteering sort of lends itself to higher speeds, so we did speed up as the training went on. I orienteered very well and had surprisingly good flow and speed, despite being tired from soccer. And: I finally saw my first Nåsten moose!! It was a female, not too big, and she looked me for a second, contemplated my appearance, and trotted away leisurely.
Orienteering race 11:09 [5] *** 1.64 km (6:48 / km)
spiked:19/26c shoes: Saucony 2006
DxDeluxe
As usual, the DxDeluxe crew surpassed even its own high standards for quality events! A few minutes after the crowd gathered at a huge DxD banner at the clubhouse, we were greeted by a life-sized DxD donkey (as yet unnamed) - a full-body costume made by Mari, who has worked on it full-time for the last week. (Mari is the youngest Troeng sibling, and evidently also not lacking in the eccentric craziness that seems to run through the family. How Mats and Jan must be proud! :) We were then instructed to follow the donkey to the pre-start area, featuring posted start times, huge copies of previous years' maps and results and, naturally, a model event covering a ~30x30 m area with three sample controls set out.
Most of the actual event I actually spent at the real start, where I helped Björn make sure everything ran smoothly and handed out control descriptions. The start, of course, was the real deal, with a -1:00 and -0:30 call-up lines, carefully marked off by tiny taped boxes on the ground, and a 12 meter marked route to the start triangle (though it looked more like 8 meters to me.)
I started late, after most people had already run, and had a decent race, except for a 35 second mistake on an 11-second leg. Oh well. Ended up 23rd overall, almost 2 minutes back of the imrpessive winning times! After the race, there was much socializing, watching the live results appear on the monitors at the finish, and, of course, heckling of racers still out on the course. We then watched the exciting mass-start finals, cheered, congratulated the winners and moved on to the banquet/ party part of the evening. Needless to say, this year's DxDeluxe was a smashing success, and I am already looking forward to September's edition of the event.
As usual, the DxDeluxe crew surpassed even its own high standards for quality events! A few minutes after the crowd gathered at a huge DxD banner at the clubhouse, we were greeted by a life-sized DxD donkey (as yet unnamed) - a full-body costume made by Mari, who has worked on it full-time for the last week. (Mari is the youngest Troeng sibling, and evidently also not lacking in the eccentric craziness that seems to run through the family. How Mats and Jan must be proud! :) We were then instructed to follow the donkey to the pre-start area, featuring posted start times, huge copies of previous years' maps and results and, naturally, a model event covering a ~30x30 m area with three sample controls set out.
Most of the actual event I actually spent at the real start, where I helped Björn make sure everything ran smoothly and handed out control descriptions. The start, of course, was the real deal, with a -1:00 and -0:30 call-up lines, carefully marked off by tiny taped boxes on the ground, and a 12 meter marked route to the start triangle (though it looked more like 8 meters to me.)
I started late, after most people had already run, and had a decent race, except for a 35 second mistake on an 11-second leg. Oh well. Ended up 23rd overall, almost 2 minutes back of the imrpessive winning times! After the race, there was much socializing, watching the live results appear on the monitors at the finish, and, of course, heckling of racers still out on the course. We then watched the exciting mass-start finals, cheered, congratulated the winners and moved on to the banquet/ party part of the evening. Needless to say, this year's DxDeluxe was a smashing success, and I am already looking forward to September's edition of the event.
Running 10:00 [2] 1.18 mi (8:30 / mi)
shoes: Saucony 2006
Jogging back home with Andrew after DxD.
Friday May 25, 2007 #
Running 11:03 [2] 1.38 mi (8:00 / mi)
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
Running to and from Högbergsparken.
Orienteering race 5:03 [5] *** 0.77 km (6:34 / km)
spiked:10/12c shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
Running the training course for tomorrow's DxDeluxe. Mats left a few maps with courses on them, as well as a piece of paper and an official DxDeluxe pen to write down your time, under a rock, specified on the website. And, of course, mini-controls were set out too, just like for a proper event. The only thing missing was the "technical model": a sample of the start and finish procedure. Maybe next year...
Thursday May 24, 2007 #
Note
(injured)
Umm, shoulder feels a good bit more painful this morning. Anyone know when I might need to worry?
C • DR 9
Running 2:08:28 [2] 23.5 km (5:28 / km)
shoes: Saucony 2006
Long run with Jan from Blodstensvägen through Stenhagen, Vänge Öst, and Vänge Norr to Fiby. Mostly on roads and trails, a bit through fields. Felt really good physically (except for the shoulder.) Nice, easy pace and good conversation the whole way. Just made it there in time for technique training.
Orienteering 48:16 [1] 3.22 km (15:00 / km)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Technique training at Fiby: golf orienteering. I was nice and tired by the time I got there, making sure I had no temptation to run fast and risk hurting my shoulder again. So Zan and I walked/jogged a couple of km of the golf-O. (This is basically like memory-O, except you get a penalty point (or a stroke) for every look at the map you take.) It went ok and worked well as a simplification exercise, but I did mess up one control pretty badly. Oops.
Note
After the golf-O, we drove over to nearby Fiskartorpsdungarna to run an ultrasprint course there from 2005. I just walked the course, so it doesn't count as training. Mats was walking around scaring people with a cow scull he found, horns and all. Reminded me of Dolly, the sheep skull I drove around England with over Easter.
Wednesday May 23, 2007 #
Running 1:24:45 [2] 9.42 mi (9:00 / mi)
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
A long, easy run on a gorgeous afternoon. Starting at the clubhouse with Jan, Mats, Micke, Lina Å, and Staffan, and running through Hågadalen, Vårdsätraskogen, and the Kungshamn-Morga part of Lunsen down to Turelund, where tonight's O-training was. Very pleasant run, nice to finally have some good weather again.
Orienteering 43:30 [2] 4.5 km (9:40 / km)
(injured) shoes: 2007 model Falcons
Already reasonably tired from the long run over to the start, I decided to switch down from the long course to the middle one and try to run it hard and clean. Well, this must have angered the Manliness Gods, who punished me for my wussiness. Fewer than five steps off the start line in my brand-new O-shoes that Zan brought from the States, I tripped over a branch on the ground, went flying, and landed hard on my shoulder, which reacted with a loud popping sound. I lay on the ground for a while in pain, while bewildered orienteers ran by, each one asking if I was ok. I tried to move my arm up and heard another "pop" - i am guessing, though i am no expert, that the shoulder was dislocated slightly on initial impact, but only slightly enough that it naturally found its way back into the socket. (Could be total BS, but seems logical...) I went back to the start, sat around for a while, then decided to head out again, with a mix of walking and easy jogging, trying not to lift my right arm. I got around the middle course, though I orienteered like crap and the terrain was not fun (lots of branches and logs on the ground - the kind of stuff that's ok to race on, but awful for going slowly.) The only consolation was going over to Rob & Allison's afterwards and watching the Champions League Final match with a few of the Linne boys.
Route Gadget: http://www.oklinne.nu/routegadget/cgi-bin/reitti.c...
Route Gadget: http://www.oklinne.nu/routegadget/cgi-bin/reitti.c...
C • Huh? 5
Tuesday May 22, 2007 #
Running 34:31 [2] 4.06 mi (8:30 / mi)
shoes: Saucony 2006
Kat dragged me out of bed for a morning jog around Stadsskogen. Felt ok once we got going.
Running 38:21 [2] 4.51 mi (8:30 / mi)
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
Running to and from the start of backbanan.
Running 10:00 [1]
Secret Russian Running Drills
Running 28:56 [4] 5.0 km (5:47 / km) +300m 4:27 / km
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
The day's training called for backbana intervals, to be run as a two-man relay, but I wanted to take it a bit easier, still feeling tired from the long week-end, and just did a loop of backbana by myself. Tried not to run hard, but the effort is still there, since there is no way to take it easy on the hills. Felt ok, ended up with a decent time.
Monday May 21, 2007 #
Note
(rest day)
Day off. Legs feel like jell-O, even walking down the stairs.
Sunday May 20, 2007 #
Event: Nya Hälsingekavlen, Relay
Running 10:00 [2] 1.11 mi (9:01 / mi)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Warm-up. Feeling very, very sluggish.
Orienteering race 52:15 [3] *** 7.7 km (6:47 / km)
spiked:14/18c shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Hälsingekaveln. I ran leg 15 (out of 16) for Linne's second team. This is one of those "breadth" relays, where certain legs have to be run by women, others by juniors or veterans, and so on, with a maximum of 6 H21's per team. My leg was the last open leg, and, along with leg 1, the longest one in the relay. It's also the first non-parallel leg after the previous four legs are run by three runners each, in parallel. This meant that I need for all three of our previous leg runners to finish before I could start.
Warming up, I felt totally dead. No energy, no strength in the legs. This didn't get any better when I started, and my motivation level was pretty low, as I went out alone with no other teams in sight. I sort of sleep-walked through the course, unable to run or concentrate particularly well. Made a few mistakes, but nothing too major. Just couldn't make myself go hard and kept tripping over stuff when I tried. Very frustrating. I came into the finish right after Sofie Johansson anchored our first team to victory, so at least I got to witness the victory pile. (Photo by Johanna Gullberg.)
Map part 1: http://my.opera.com/borisgr/albums/showpic.dml?alb...
Map part 2: http://my.opera.com/borisgr/albums/showpic.dml?alb...
Splits: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
Warming up, I felt totally dead. No energy, no strength in the legs. This didn't get any better when I started, and my motivation level was pretty low, as I went out alone with no other teams in sight. I sort of sleep-walked through the course, unable to run or concentrate particularly well. Made a few mistakes, but nothing too major. Just couldn't make myself go hard and kept tripping over stuff when I tried. Very frustrating. I came into the finish right after Sofie Johansson anchored our first team to victory, so at least I got to witness the victory pile. (Photo by Johanna Gullberg.)
Map part 1: http://my.opera.com/borisgr/albums/showpic.dml?alb...
Map part 2: http://my.opera.com/borisgr/albums/showpic.dml?alb...
Splits: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
Saturday May 19, 2007 #
Event: Rehns BK, Middle Distance
Running 25:00 [2] 2.94 mi (8:30 / mi)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Warm-up / cool-down
Orienteering race 25:42 [5] *** 4.3 km (5:59 / km)
spiked:9/13c shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Rehns BK middle distance.
Back to the area where we ran the long distance on Thursday, though this time we used the hilliest and most detailed part of the map. It was still very fast with high visibility, but the constant up-and-down was tiring, especially after back-to-back days of long distance.
I didn't get to run H21E because of my low ranking, so I ran H21 and tried for a top-10 or maybe top-5 result. Started out aggressively and missed #1 by about 10 seconds, then kept going at probably too fast a pace, spiking 2 and 3, and finally paid for it on 4, where I approached the control with no real plan and lost about 40 seconds in the circle. Started feeling tired on the climb up to 5, so took a flatter "around" route choice to 6, which cost another 15 seconds. Mostly ok after that, just tired. Ended up 7th, about 2:30 back of the winner.
Results: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
Map: http://files.myopera.com/borisgr/albums/264633/IMG...
Back to the area where we ran the long distance on Thursday, though this time we used the hilliest and most detailed part of the map. It was still very fast with high visibility, but the constant up-and-down was tiring, especially after back-to-back days of long distance.
I didn't get to run H21E because of my low ranking, so I ran H21 and tried for a top-10 or maybe top-5 result. Started out aggressively and missed #1 by about 10 seconds, then kept going at probably too fast a pace, spiking 2 and 3, and finally paid for it on 4, where I approached the control with no real plan and lost about 40 seconds in the circle. Started feeling tired on the climb up to 5, so took a flatter "around" route choice to 6, which cost another 15 seconds. Mostly ok after that, just tired. Ended up 7th, about 2:30 back of the winner.
Results: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
Map: http://files.myopera.com/borisgr/albums/264633/IMG...
C • hmm 1
Friday May 18, 2007 #
Event: Faxeträffen, Long Distance
Running 15:00 [2] 1.76 mi (8:31 / mi)
shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Warm-up
Orienteering race 1:49:12 [4] *** 12.8 km (8:32 / km)
spiked:12/20c shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Faxeträffen - long distance race north of Söderhamn, Hälsingland.
Very different terrain from the day before - hilly, rocky, low visibility, with areas of really fine detail that was very hard to read at 1:15. Will put up the map tomorrow. This map also featured a number of boulder fields, which were pretty much unavoidable the way the courses were set. I didn't so much race as survive this course, and was quite pleased with myself just for finishing - there were 20 dnf's out of 69 starters on H21E! I made a bunch of mistakes along the way and was very slow and careful on a few more legs, but managed to avoid disastrous errors, except for losing about 3 minutes on #9. I wonder how differently the race may have gone if I had started out aggressively instead of slowly cautiously...
Results: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
Very different terrain from the day before - hilly, rocky, low visibility, with areas of really fine detail that was very hard to read at 1:15. Will put up the map tomorrow. This map also featured a number of boulder fields, which were pretty much unavoidable the way the courses were set. I didn't so much race as survive this course, and was quite pleased with myself just for finishing - there were 20 dnf's out of 69 starters on H21E! I made a bunch of mistakes along the way and was very slow and careful on a few more legs, but managed to avoid disastrous errors, except for losing about 3 minutes on #9. I wonder how differently the race may have gone if I had started out aggressively instead of slowly cautiously...
Results: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
Thursday May 17, 2007 #
Event: Rehns BK, Long Distance
Running 20:00 [2] 2.35 mi (8:31 / mi)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Warm-up / cool-down
Orienteering race 1:29:42 [4] *** 15.0 km (5:59 / km)
spiked:17/21c shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Rehns BK Long Distance race near Bollnäs, Hälsingland.
Very fast terrain with some areasof contour detail and a good bit of route choice. This was about the fastest I'd ever run for a course this long, and I felt relatively pleased when I came in and saw the best times around 77-78 minutes by the likes of Erik Rost. The Mats came in and blew us all away with a time of 71, winning by over four minutes. Impressive!
I had a total of maybe 2 minutes of errors in execution, but an additional couple of minutes in route choice - I took a few too many "around" route choices, rather than going straight. Lesson learned.
Results: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
Very fast terrain with some areasof contour detail and a good bit of route choice. This was about the fastest I'd ever run for a course this long, and I felt relatively pleased when I came in and saw the best times around 77-78 minutes by the likes of Erik Rost. The Mats came in and blew us all away with a time of 71, winning by over four minutes. Impressive!
I had a total of maybe 2 minutes of errors in execution, but an additional couple of minutes in route choice - I took a few too many "around" route choices, rather than going straight. Lesson learned.
Results: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
Running 32:56 [2] 3.87 mi (8:31 / mi)
shoes: Saucony 2006
Evening jog, part with Mats and Sofie. They started going into the woods a bit, so I turned back, not wanting to twist my ankles in running shoes.
Wednesday May 16, 2007 #
Running 41:07 [2] 5.31 mi (7:45 / mi)
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
Usual loop in Stadsskogen on a nice, sunny morning. Kat is coming today for the long week-end!!
Running 6:00 [1]
Strides on the grass after the run.
Tuesday May 15, 2007 #
Note
Swedish ranking: 496.
Running 57:17 [2] 6.36 mi (9:00 / mi)
shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
A long warm-up for the Testbana, including running a full lap of it with Jan, Mats, Joffe, and Michele. Plus the cool-down.
Running 24:48 [5] 6.0 km (4:08 / km)
shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Testbana. Wet and muddy, a few felled trees across the course. This was my second time racing our test course, a trail loop starting close to the clubhouse and going through both Nåsten and the Norby forest. It doesn't look very hilly on paper (http://www.oklinne.nu/soj/testbanan/testbanan.php), but there aren't really any flat sections, either. Lots of small (and a couple of big) ups and downs and uneven ground the whole time. A good course, in other words. Last year I ran this in 25:47, and the goal this time was to run better and approach 25. There was a good pack of guys running today, and I ended up running with Lars and Gustaf Granath pretty much the whole way. I kept gaining on the uphills and losing on the downhills. Ended up a bit behind them in the finish, but quite pleased with the time - a PR by a minute. Progress.
Results: http://www.oklinne.nu/documents/documents_open.php...
Results: http://www.oklinne.nu/documents/documents_open.php...
Monday May 14, 2007 #
Note
Read the following on Öystein Kvaal Österbö's site today about the warm-up for a race he ran:
"The course setter Per Arne Troset tried a new way of start this year. At the arena we had a pre-start where we got a warm-up-map with 5 controls. The course lead us to us to the real start, there we had to be within 30 minutes to reach our start-time. It worked well and was a nice way to be transported to start while you could warm-up with a course."
I really like this idea!!
"The course setter Per Arne Troset tried a new way of start this year. At the arena we had a pre-start where we got a warm-up-map with 5 controls. The course lead us to us to the real start, there we had to be within 30 minutes to reach our start-time. It worked well and was a nice way to be transported to start while you could warm-up with a course."
I really like this idea!!
Note
(rest day)
Off today. Felt borderline sick last night and so slept until 10am this morning and woke up feeling better. Then was out planting trees with the club all evening.
Sunday May 13, 2007 #
Event: Siljanskavlen, Relay
Note
A few pictures from the Ukraine camp are up at http://my.opera.com/borisgr/albums/show.dml?id=264...
I can't put up most of the maps until after the Ukrainian Champs in two weeks, so I'll just wait and put up all of them then.
I can't put up most of the maps until after the Ukrainian Champs in two weeks, so I'll just wait and put up all of them then.
Running 20:00 [2] 2.35 mi (8:31 / mi)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Warm-up and a feeble attempt at a cool-down in the rain. Really didn't feel good during the warm-up.
Orienteering race 1:21:18 [4] **** 12.0 km (6:47 / km)
spiked:27/33c shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Siljanskavlen Relay.
Today I learned that running the first leg in a relay in Sweden is very different from doing that in England, which is where my last couple of lead-off experiences took place.
I ran for Linne's 4th team, which consisted of the left-overs that couldn't make the other teams: me and Mattias Karlsson, followed by Rebecka Österberg (who was mysteriously left off the second girls' team), and Tommy Lindberg from Roslagen, who didn't have a team. Our goal was to finish as the best team that had at least one girl and at least one American. We managed that just fine.
Anyway, when running 1st legs at the JK and BUSA in England this spring, both times I started off at my own pace, watched everyone stampede madly at the start, and then slowly reel them in as the race went on and they either tired or screwed up. This worked relatively well - I was 7th and 2nd on those relay legs, respectively. I tried the same thing here, partly because I thought it may work and partly because my stomach was not feeling good at all, and I couldn't go all out at the start. Well, it didn't work. I resisted the temptation to stampede at the start, read the map instead, still chose a bad route choice to #1, and was already a whole minute down on the pack at the second control! This meant that from here on in, I could only lose time to the pack, as I ended up with people who were around the same speed as I was, none of us able to gain time on the impressive collection of names running away in the front. Still, I was around 25th through a third of the course before going up into the vaguer, hillier part of the map. There, I attempt to break off from the pack, promptly screwed up (2 min), ran hard without looking at the map, came to the wrong forking (another 2 min), and ended up running the rest of the way basically having to navigate on my own. This actually went ok, and I didn't really make any mistakes in the second half of the course, but the speed wasn't that high, and I finished 32nd, 13:30 behind the leaders!
My teammates did a lot better and pulled us up to a final 18th place, to go with the three other Linne teams in 1st, 8th, and 11th. The girls won too - a very good day for the club! On the way home, the minibuses were loaded with all sorts of strange prizes, ranging from boots to pasta to motor oil to a rack for storing car tires....
Results: http://www.leksandsok.com/arrangemang/2007/Siljans...
Winsplits of the common controls on my leg: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
Map: http://my.opera.com/borisgr/albums/showpic.dml?alb...
Today I learned that running the first leg in a relay in Sweden is very different from doing that in England, which is where my last couple of lead-off experiences took place.
I ran for Linne's 4th team, which consisted of the left-overs that couldn't make the other teams: me and Mattias Karlsson, followed by Rebecka Österberg (who was mysteriously left off the second girls' team), and Tommy Lindberg from Roslagen, who didn't have a team. Our goal was to finish as the best team that had at least one girl and at least one American. We managed that just fine.
Anyway, when running 1st legs at the JK and BUSA in England this spring, both times I started off at my own pace, watched everyone stampede madly at the start, and then slowly reel them in as the race went on and they either tired or screwed up. This worked relatively well - I was 7th and 2nd on those relay legs, respectively. I tried the same thing here, partly because I thought it may work and partly because my stomach was not feeling good at all, and I couldn't go all out at the start. Well, it didn't work. I resisted the temptation to stampede at the start, read the map instead, still chose a bad route choice to #1, and was already a whole minute down on the pack at the second control! This meant that from here on in, I could only lose time to the pack, as I ended up with people who were around the same speed as I was, none of us able to gain time on the impressive collection of names running away in the front. Still, I was around 25th through a third of the course before going up into the vaguer, hillier part of the map. There, I attempt to break off from the pack, promptly screwed up (2 min), ran hard without looking at the map, came to the wrong forking (another 2 min), and ended up running the rest of the way basically having to navigate on my own. This actually went ok, and I didn't really make any mistakes in the second half of the course, but the speed wasn't that high, and I finished 32nd, 13:30 behind the leaders!
My teammates did a lot better and pulled us up to a final 18th place, to go with the three other Linne teams in 1st, 8th, and 11th. The girls won too - a very good day for the club! On the way home, the minibuses were loaded with all sorts of strange prizes, ranging from boots to pasta to motor oil to a rack for storing car tires....
Results: http://www.leksandsok.com/arrangemang/2007/Siljans...
Winsplits of the common controls on my leg: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
Map: http://my.opera.com/borisgr/albums/showpic.dml?alb...
Saturday May 12, 2007 #
Running 25:00 [2] 3.13 mi (7:59 / mi)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Warm-up / cool-down
Orienteering race 39:48 [4] **** 6.45 km (6:10 / km) +270m 5:06 / km
spiked:17/21c shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Elisterien Middle Distance in Leksand, Running Elite 2.
The terrain here suited me pretty well - a good bit of contour detail, but good visibility and runnability the whole time, and not too much crap on the ground to jump over. I felt pretty tired most of the way (might have overdone it a bit at intervals on Thursday), but the navigation was pretty good. A couple of hesitations early, but mostly good control flow, decent speed, and nice and careful in the green areas. Got tired on the hilliest part on the last loop and misread the depression at #16 as a hill, losing close to a minute. Solid result overall - an unimpressive 31st place, but less than 4 minutes from the best time. This was also a WRE, and my score was 975 or so, once again frustratingly close (about 33 seconds) but just short of the 1000 point run I am looking for one of these days.
A good day for Linne, with Mats taking 3rd and Annika Billstam 2nd in the Elite 1 classes!
Winsplits: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
Map: http://my.opera.com/borisgr/albums/showpic.dml?alb...
The terrain here suited me pretty well - a good bit of contour detail, but good visibility and runnability the whole time, and not too much crap on the ground to jump over. I felt pretty tired most of the way (might have overdone it a bit at intervals on Thursday), but the navigation was pretty good. A couple of hesitations early, but mostly good control flow, decent speed, and nice and careful in the green areas. Got tired on the hilliest part on the last loop and misread the depression at #16 as a hill, losing close to a minute. Solid result overall - an unimpressive 31st place, but less than 4 minutes from the best time. This was also a WRE, and my score was 975 or so, once again frustratingly close (about 33 seconds) but just short of the 1000 point run I am looking for one of these days.
A good day for Linne, with Mats taking 3rd and Annika Billstam 2nd in the Elite 1 classes!
Winsplits: http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...
Map: http://my.opera.com/borisgr/albums/showpic.dml?alb...
C • # 16 3
Friday May 11, 2007 #
Running 41:20 [2] 5.17 mi (8:00 / mi)
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
Usual trail loop on Stadsskogen in the morning. Felt sore and tight from the intervals. Hopefully will feel better at Elitseries tomorrow.
Thursday May 10, 2007 #
Running 25:05 [2] 3.34 mi (7:31 / mi)
shoes: Montrail Trail Shoes
Morning jog around the block. Lots of aches and pains from last night's terrain, but felt a bit looser towards the end.
Running 25:00 [2] 2.94 mi (8:30 / mi)
shoes: Saucony 2006
Warm-up and cool-down.
Running 10:00 [1]
Secret Russian Running Drills
Running 22:10 [5] 4.22 mi (5:15 / mi)
shoes: Saucony 2006
Trail intervals: 70 seconds on, 20 seconds off, fifteen repeats. As has often been the case recently, struggled a bit at first and started feeling better as the workout went on.
Wednesday May 9, 2007 #
Running 10:00 [2] 1.18 mi (8:28 / mi)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Warm-up and a short cool-down.
Orienteering 1:02:17 [4] *** 8.56 km (7:17 / km)
spiked:11/17c shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Wednesday Day-O on Southwest Lunsen. Ran this pretty hard and was orienteering fairly well early on, but made a few mistakes towards the end, losing about 4 minutes altogether.
Results: http://www.oklinne.nu/onsdagsnatt/results.php?id=3...
Results: http://www.oklinne.nu/onsdagsnatt/results.php?id=3...
Tuesday May 8, 2007 #
Orienteering 1:03:12 [3] **** 8.5 km (7:26 / km)
58c shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
A club training on Lunsen. It was essentially a control picking exercise, except that there were so many controls that instead of most of the circles, there were just breaks in the line. Occasionally, this made the controls really hard to see on the map, so I missed a couple. Ended up running most of this with Lars - we were both moving the same speed and kept trying to get a bit ahead of each other. It was a good training for keeping concentrated with others around you and, of course, running on Lunsen is always a pleasure.
In the beginning, I kept stumbling and tripping over stuff - you definitely don't need to raise your feet as high in Kiev WOC terrain as you do here in Sweden.
In the beginning, I kept stumbling and tripping over stuff - you definitely don't need to raise your feet as high in Kiev WOC terrain as you do here in Sweden.
Note
After training, it was time for a Tiomila celebration at the clubhouse with lots of cake. Besides just enjoying the celebration, it was cool to have a bunch of people in the club, including a lot of the older folk, congratulate me on the WOC selection. Not a big deal, but still felt nice.
Monday May 7, 2007 #
Note
(rest day)
Rest day.
Sunday May 6, 2007 #
Orienteering 37:34 [3] *** 5.2 km (7:13 / km)
16c shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Ukraine Training Camp Day 7 AM
Our last training of the camp - a course on Novoselki, another map that will be used in the Ukrainian Champs and WOC trials in a few weeks. Nice course, nice woods - more runnable and not as steep as Vyshgorod had been, with a number of good route choice legs. I ran most of this with Rob and Shep, splitting up and coming together once in a while. Very tired from the whole week's training by the end.
This was an awesome camp, and I am really thankful to the Australian team for letting me come along. I had a blast and learned a lot, both in terms of orienteering and culture. I can now use in conversation such vital expressions as "old mate", "bloody oath", "arvo", and "sanga." And I even learned how to refer to myself in the plural, as in "Give us a kiss, luv!"
Just to summarize, over the course of the week we ran on 11 maps, 5 of which will be used for Ukrainian WOC trials; covered 62.9km of courses and found 199 controls. We also consumed on the order of 200 dumplings, 80 honey cakes, 10 different varieties of potato (including "like in country"), 30 cheese blintzes (mostly Jules), and around 100 espressos. We experienced 1 Russian sauna, were hit on (mostly Rob) by 1 gay waiter and by 2 fourteen-year-old girls (mostly Shep), and were turned down by 2 hookers (again, mostly Shep.) We were chased (unsuccessfully) by 1 parking fee collector, about 10 stray dogs, and about 1 gay waiter. Between the five Australians, about 4 words in Ukrainian were learned.
Our last training of the camp - a course on Novoselki, another map that will be used in the Ukrainian Champs and WOC trials in a few weeks. Nice course, nice woods - more runnable and not as steep as Vyshgorod had been, with a number of good route choice legs. I ran most of this with Rob and Shep, splitting up and coming together once in a while. Very tired from the whole week's training by the end.
This was an awesome camp, and I am really thankful to the Australian team for letting me come along. I had a blast and learned a lot, both in terms of orienteering and culture. I can now use in conversation such vital expressions as "old mate", "bloody oath", "arvo", and "sanga." And I even learned how to refer to myself in the plural, as in "Give us a kiss, luv!"
Just to summarize, over the course of the week we ran on 11 maps, 5 of which will be used for Ukrainian WOC trials; covered 62.9km of courses and found 199 controls. We also consumed on the order of 200 dumplings, 80 honey cakes, 10 different varieties of potato (including "like in country"), 30 cheese blintzes (mostly Jules), and around 100 espressos. We experienced 1 Russian sauna, were hit on (mostly Rob) by 1 gay waiter and by 2 fourteen-year-old girls (mostly Shep), and were turned down by 2 hookers (again, mostly Shep.) We were chased (unsuccessfully) by 1 parking fee collector, about 10 stray dogs, and about 1 gay waiter. Between the five Australians, about 4 words in Ukrainian were learned.
C • US Team 14
Saturday May 5, 2007 #
Orienteering 18:00 [3] *** 3.0 km (6:00 / km)
6c shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Ukraine Training Camp Day 6 AM
The first few controls plus the controls I hung on Zazime.
The first few controls plus the controls I hung on Zazime.
Orienteering 22:00 [5] *** 4.0 km (5:30 / km)
10c shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Ukraine Training Camp Day 6 AM
Orienteering intervals on Zazime, the most enjoyable map we've run on so far. Nice, fast forest almost the entire way, a lot of contour detail, but the excellent visibility made orienteering relatively simple. For each interval, one of us would run ahead and hang 3 controls. The others would wait about 3 minutes, and then start in 30-second intervals and run those three controls. This was really good training - it's impoirtant to get an idea of the maximum speed you can actually navigate at in this terrain. It looks like middle distance at WOC will be fast and furious, with even small mistakes severely penalized, and legs going into the green areas requiring a change of tactic, with slower speeds and more carefully chosen attack-points. I am looking forward to it!!
Orienteering intervals on Zazime, the most enjoyable map we've run on so far. Nice, fast forest almost the entire way, a lot of contour detail, but the excellent visibility made orienteering relatively simple. For each interval, one of us would run ahead and hang 3 controls. The others would wait about 3 minutes, and then start in 30-second intervals and run those three controls. This was really good training - it's impoirtant to get an idea of the maximum speed you can actually navigate at in this terrain. It looks like middle distance at WOC will be fast and furious, with even small mistakes severely penalized, and legs going into the green areas requiring a change of tactic, with slower speeds and more carefully chosen attack-points. I am looking forward to it!!
Running 30:00 [2] 3.53 mi (8:30 / mi)
shoes: Saucony 2006
Warming up and collecting controls afterwards.
Orienteering 18:50 [5] *** 2.8 km (6:44 / km)
13c shoes: Saucony 2006
Ukraine Training Camp Day 6 PM
A sprint race at Solomenskiy Park, another city park in the middle of Kiev. The map also includes an urban ghetto part, while the actual park had some really steep gullies and slopes, tons of trash in the woods as usual, and fewer than average stray dogs. It's being used for one of the sprint races at the Ukrainian Champs.
This was my most abysmal session this week. I started out ok, but my legs were tired from the morning, and I had no power on the hills at all. Add to that a few hesitations in the control circle, and Shep caught me by #10. After that, I dumbly watched him make a mistake, going off a trail into the control at a bad angle, and followed blindly, not trusting myself. I suppose this is exactly what happens when you try to run at a speed you can't navigate at - the first mistake of every beginner orienteer! After another mistake on 12, I staggered into the finish over 3 minutes behind Troy's winning time!
Things to work on in the next couple of months:
- strength on hills
- speed endurance (maybe more tempo runs, long intervals?)
A sprint race at Solomenskiy Park, another city park in the middle of Kiev. The map also includes an urban ghetto part, while the actual park had some really steep gullies and slopes, tons of trash in the woods as usual, and fewer than average stray dogs. It's being used for one of the sprint races at the Ukrainian Champs.
This was my most abysmal session this week. I started out ok, but my legs were tired from the morning, and I had no power on the hills at all. Add to that a few hesitations in the control circle, and Shep caught me by #10. After that, I dumbly watched him make a mistake, going off a trail into the control at a bad angle, and followed blindly, not trusting myself. I suppose this is exactly what happens when you try to run at a speed you can't navigate at - the first mistake of every beginner orienteer! After another mistake on 12, I staggered into the finish over 3 minutes behind Troy's winning time!
Things to work on in the next couple of months:
- strength on hills
- speed endurance (maybe more tempo runs, long intervals?)
Friday May 4, 2007 #
Event: US Team Trials
Running 25:00 [2] 2.94 mi (8:30 / mi)
shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Warming up and picking up controls
Orienteering 16:02 [5] *** 3.2 km (5:01 / km)
14c shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Ukraine Training Camp Day 5 AM
A mass start sprint race at Nivki, a park in the middle of Kiev. We ran together with a group of deaf orienteers who are coached by Vassili, the guy who helped organize our camp. The deaf kids blasted out of the start, and I had trouble keeping up, but luckily they started dropping pretty quickly, and by the 3rd control, the four Australians and I were in front. Troy and Jules got ahead, and I tried to stay with Rob and Shep for as long as I could. Was pretty pleased to finish about 30 seconds back of them. Jules won in 14:58. This park was a mix of city park and urban ghetto, which made for a nice change of pace. My legs felt pretty good running for the first time this week, though my hamstring flared up and stayed painful for most of the week as well.
A mass start sprint race at Nivki, a park in the middle of Kiev. We ran together with a group of deaf orienteers who are coached by Vassili, the guy who helped organize our camp. The deaf kids blasted out of the start, and I had trouble keeping up, but luckily they started dropping pretty quickly, and by the 3rd control, the four Australians and I were in front. Troy and Jules got ahead, and I tried to stay with Rob and Shep for as long as I could. Was pretty pleased to finish about 30 seconds back of them. Jules won in 14:58. This park was a mix of city park and urban ghetto, which made for a nice change of pace. My legs felt pretty good running for the first time this week, though my hamstring flared up and stayed painful for most of the week as well.
Orienteering 37:07 [3] *** 5.5 km (6:45 / km)
28c shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Ukraine Training Camp Day 5 PM
Control-picking in the afternoon at Tsvetovodstvo, probably the least enjoyable map of the whole week. The few nice pieces were mixed in with areas of thick green with low visibility and no features. The sketchy mapping didn't help either, and the used hypodermic needle Jules almost stepped on in the parking lot set the mood pretty well.
Control-picking in the afternoon at Tsvetovodstvo, probably the least enjoyable map of the whole week. The few nice pieces were mixed in with areas of thick green with low visibility and no features. The sketchy mapping didn't help either, and the used hypodermic needle Jules almost stepped on in the parking lot set the mood pretty well.
Thursday May 3, 2007 #
Orienteering 52:57 [3] *** 8.5 km (6:14 / km)
21c shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Ukraine Training Camp Day 4 AM
Just one session today, since everyone was pretty tired. Ran a course on another nice middle distance area, called the Bird Factory. Pretty flat, with areas of contour detail (small hills and depressions, pits, etc) and very fast woods at times. Also, some overgrown clearings and areas of brambles in the form of raspberry bushes. Feels pretty cool to be running under 7 min/km without really pushing the pace. Times at WOC will be fast!!!
Just one session today, since everyone was pretty tired. Ran a course on another nice middle distance area, called the Bird Factory. Pretty flat, with areas of contour detail (small hills and depressions, pits, etc) and very fast woods at times. Also, some overgrown clearings and areas of brambles in the form of raspberry bushes. Feels pretty cool to be running under 7 min/km without really pushing the pace. Times at WOC will be fast!!!
Wednesday May 2, 2007 #
Orienteering 1:40:41 [3] *** 10.4 km (9:41 / km)
22c shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Ukraine Training Camp Day 3 AM
Julian had requested a 15km-long course on Vyshgorod, one of the maps that will be used for the Ukrainian champs later this month, but as soon as we saw the map, we knew that none of us would manage the whole 15km. The map is riddled with numerous, intricate and steep erosion gullies, the sides of which are very soft, making climbing slow and tiring. We ended up running the first two loops mostly as a group and then split up to pick up a few controls each.
Julian had requested a 15km-long course on Vyshgorod, one of the maps that will be used for the Ukrainian champs later this month, but as soon as we saw the map, we knew that none of us would manage the whole 15km. The map is riddled with numerous, intricate and steep erosion gullies, the sides of which are very soft, making climbing slow and tiring. We ended up running the first two loops mostly as a group and then split up to pick up a few controls each.
Running 30:00 [2] 3.53 mi (8:30 / mi)
shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Warming up, cooling down, and picking up controls for the sprint.
Orienteering 14:50 [5] *** 2.4 km (6:11 / km)
13c shoes: 2006-2 VJ Falcons
Ukraine Training Camp Day 3 PM
A sprint course at Babiy Yar, a park comprising a mental asylum and an area where Nazis executed thousands of Ukrainian Jews in 1941.
While we were changing next to a broken-into sepulchre, a couple of 14-year-old girls started hovering around us and chatting with us in Russian. They took a particular liking to Shep and promised to learn English by the time he is back in Kiev in August. One of them asked him to write his phone number on her butt.
Oh yeah, and we orienteered some too. I got the copy of the map that Brett had used to plan the courses, so it had tons of extra controls and crossed-out legs on it, making for a good session to focus on keeping concentrated and not losing sight of my place on the course. Didn't really make any big mistakes, just felt dead the whole way. The terrain was a mix of pretty thick woods with steep hillsides and gullies and open, fast parkland. Quite enjoyable, actually. Jules won in just under 13 minutes.
A sprint course at Babiy Yar, a park comprising a mental asylum and an area where Nazis executed thousands of Ukrainian Jews in 1941.
While we were changing next to a broken-into sepulchre, a couple of 14-year-old girls started hovering around us and chatting with us in Russian. They took a particular liking to Shep and promised to learn English by the time he is back in Kiev in August. One of them asked him to write his phone number on her butt.
Oh yeah, and we orienteered some too. I got the copy of the map that Brett had used to plan the courses, so it had tons of extra controls and crossed-out legs on it, making for a good session to focus on keeping concentrated and not losing sight of my place on the course. Didn't really make any big mistakes, just felt dead the whole way. The terrain was a mix of pretty thick woods with steep hillsides and gullies and open, fast parkland. Quite enjoyable, actually. Jules won in just under 13 minutes.
Tuesday May 1, 2007 #
Orienteering 15:30 [2] *** 2.5 km (6:12 / km)
8c shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Ukraine Training Camp Day 2 AM
Jogging around the first loop of a course on one of the middle distance maps.
Jogging around the first loop of a course on one of the middle distance maps.
Orienteering 13:42 [4] *** 2.5 km (5:29 / km)
6c shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Ukraine Training Camp Day 2 AM
Running the second loop "hard" - I felt like I was pushing hard, but had no speed at all. Some of the other guys reported similar feelings - probably not too surprising after the weird sleep schedule forced by Tiomila.
Running the second loop "hard" - I felt like I was pushing hard, but had no speed at all. Some of the other guys reported similar feelings - probably not too surprising after the weird sleep schedule forced by Tiomila.
Running 13:00 [2] 1.44 mi (9:02 / mi)
shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Jogging and collecting some flags afterwards.
Orienteering 51:30 [3] *** 7.3 km (7:03 / km)
19c shoes: 2007 VJ Falcons
Ukraine Training Camp Day 2 PM
After spending the lunch break huddling and trying to keep warm around a fire our driver Vassili started in the parking lot, we went out on another nearby middle distance map and did a regular course on it. I was running well in the beginning, but made a 90-degree error going to #6, when I strarted orienting the compass by one of the rides on the map, rather than a north line. I followed this with a parallel error on #7, the two mistakes costing about 5 minutes total - my biggest mistakes of the camp, I think.
After spending the lunch break huddling and trying to keep warm around a fire our driver Vassili started in the parking lot, we went out on another nearby middle distance map and did a regular course on it. I was running well in the beginning, but made a 90-degree error going to #6, when I strarted orienting the compass by one of the rides on the map, rather than a north line. I followed this with a parallel error on #7, the two mistakes costing about 5 minutes total - my biggest mistakes of the camp, I think.