Training Log Archive: BorisGr

Elliptical at the work gym

WCC Long, M-Green

Took this at cruising speed - not pushing too hard, but not slacking either. Energy level was low in the beginning after spending the morning announcing for the team trials, but it got better as the race went. Pretty solid technically, with a lapse of 14 where I stayed too high and hesitated, losing a minute. A couple of questionable route choices early on seem to have worked out ok, and it was nice to get a win, even if it's on Green.

We then had a lovely time hanging out with the Campbells, BigWilly, and GSwede at lunch, and then more BigWilly in the evening before driving back to DC Tuesday morning.

Green Long - Splits

WCC Relay

We were Team Barnacle / QOCSU: Alli - Boris - Kenny.

A few minutes after the mass start, Alli returned with a dislocated finger that Tom Nolan successfully put back in place out in the woods. We found some ice (thanks Jen!) and taped Alli's hand, and she seemed ok after a while, just in some pain and a bit shaken up. Absolutely the right call to abandon the race and come back to the finish, even though Alli considered continuing on. I've got myself one tough wife.

After a while, we moved Kenny to the last leg of Giacomo's team, which was missing a runner. With Alli's blessing, I decided to 'mass-start' the last leg with Kenny when Giacomo came in.

It was the right decision, as it was a ton of fun to race head-to-head with Kenny. He was clearly stronger, especially on the hills, but I was able to get ahead on several route choices or Kenny's mistakes. I got ahead for the last time with three controls to go, but Kenny went by on the last uphill, and I had nothing left.

Thanks to everyone who helped Alli and me dealing with the injury, and our dog and baby! The names that immediately come to mind are Tom Nolan and Florence Tan, Jennifer Laughlin, Tori and Jon Campbell, Valerie Meyer, Amy Louden, Judy Karpinski...and I am sure there are plenty more I am forgetting. The orienteering family is just the best!!

Also, very proud of the Mid-Atlantic juniors racing well in the relay! Fun to see the youngest ones - Max and Patrick - anchoring their teams and racing to the end!

Warmup... though it was already plenty warm

Westchester County Challenge Middle Distance - Blue course

I went off to run after announcing, and it was very hot by then. While I was announcing for the team trials, Balter told me I would run the course in 51 minutes. To my amazement, he was dead on.

I started two minutes after the speedy Aidan, and did not expect to see him at all. I opened cleanly, if tentatively, since I hadn't raced in the woods since November or so. Almost right from the beginning I was walking most uphills - feeling both the heat and the lack of training. To my surprise, I heard Aidan behind me as I was coming down into 8. He caught up on the way to 9, and was gone up the hill to 10. I then proceeded to screw up 11, as I stopped too high on the slope and then turned the wrong way to relocate. A minute gone. To my surprise, Aidan came into 11 from the opposite direction at the same time. We split up to 12: I went low along the stream, he went high. As I came into 12, I could see him a couple of contours too high, sailing past. I did ok on the next couple, but then was too low on 16 and had to climb up, losing 20 seconds. This time, I was less surprised when Aidan appeared behind me.

He flew past to 17, and I could just see him drop down towards the trail on the left heading to 18. I decided to go straight, though in retrospect should have gone a bit right of the line to avoid the steepest sections. This leg shows up as a mistake for me, even though I executed cleanly, which means I was either far too slow, or my route was bad, or both. To my surprise, Aidan was just in front when I punched 18.

I ran after him to 19, but he went off too far to the right, so I went to the control instead. He flew past me for the last time as I walked up the hill to 21.

All in all, I was pretty satisfied for my first race back after a long layoff. Importantly, my knee that was operated on in February did not give me any trouble. The sciatica does not seem to have gotten worse, but it's definitely something I need to figure out, as it is quite painful, especially when standing.

WOC TT - Middle Blue - Splits

Event: Westchester County Challenge
 

Team Trials Sprint, aka my first attempt at running hard since knee surgery in February. This went about as expected. I could keep up a decent pace for about ten minutes, but then wilted quickly due to the heat and lack of training. This was not a difficult course: most of the route choice options differed by no more than five seconds, but it was still important to choose correctly and maintain good flow, which I certainly did not have.

It was fun to hang out at the finish and spectate the trialers, while keeping Inara from running off. I was surprised by the high number of mispunches by top athletes on a relatively straightforward course.

Splits: https://attackpoint.org/racesplits.jsp/race_28321

Jogging warmup, mostly with Alli.

Morning stretching and core, complete with Inara climbing on my back.

Elliptical intervals, 4x4 minutes. 2J!E.

Elliptical. 2J!E.

Coaching. We had another Mid-Atlantic Junior Team training session today. I used existing controls from the QOC local event to create a pairs map contact / relocation exercise. Each runner in a pair has every other control on their map. As the person with #1 on it leads the way to #1, the other person has to follow along and identify the location of #1 when they get there. Then the second person leads to #2, and the roles reverse.

We had an odd number of juniors, so I paired up with Sam L. It was good to get out and to watch Sam in action. The heat and steepness meant that we weren't moving quickly. At the end, I stayed behind a bit longer to help Valerie search for a runaway beagle. Luckily, Pepper returned shortly.

Neither Alli nor I ended up going out on a course. When I am coaching and Alli is helping with SI, it is difficult to also get out on a course, especially if Inara hasn't napped. We have concluded that the optimal number of parents per child is three.

C • PPC 8

Elliptical. 3J!E.

I organized an orienteering event at work today.
Here is a link to the thing: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ELcHFmgY1GlCMwrk2

C • image 9

Elliptical. 1J!E.

Core.

Elliptical intervals. Let's see if I can simultaneously get into shape and ditch the sciatic pain... 3x4 minutes with 2 minutes rest.

Billygoat splits are up on AP. Inara had the 2nd fastest finish split.

Elliptical at the Blair House gym. Two more Jeopardy episodes watched.

Leg press and squats. Inara helped.

A bit of recovery on the recumbent bike. Two Jeopardy episodes watched.

Stretching.

Event: 2018 Billygoat XL
 

Billygoat XL!

We signed up for the Billygoat at the last minute after deciding that spending more than one weekend at home in a row after returning from Sweden with a toddler was far too many. So Alli signed up for her first goat, and I decided that Inara would be a goat rider and see how quickly I could walk around the course with her on my back.

As always, Blue Mountain is a great place to orienteer, and Joe set an excellent course that I would love to attempt one day when I am back at full speed. The Goat with Inara went great. We were quite clean and spent a lot of the time just in front of Ken Sr., as well as picking up others for short stretches along the way. I was surprised to find Ed at 2, and then again at 4 and 6, but he and Alan Young then gradually disappeared in front. I was by myself for a section in the middle, with Ken Sr. lurking close behind for a long time until 19, where I slowed up a bit to ask him if Inara looked fine after I took a tumble crossing the creek to 18. From there we were together, Inara and I mostly in front, Ken behind letting us know if we were successfully clearing the trees I was crawling under. Inara was mostly great, and I spent large sections of the course telling her in Russian all the features we were passing and how we were going to the next control. She chattered away happily, and made sure to say "beep" at every control we punched.

Towards the end, there were a few moments where she got sad, and I sang the alphabet song, which either cheered her up or terrified her into silence. We skipped 24 to minimize climb at the end of the course. As we approached 25, I saw Dave Onkst appear from the right. After a hesitation, I decided to sprint and went all out, with Inara bouncing up and down in the back, but Dave was faster. According to observers, Inara had a huge smile on her face when we crossed the finish line. What a great baby!

Just 20 minutes later Alli finished, doing the whole Billygoat navigating on her own. So proud of her!

Thanks again to the organizers for a great event. Bring on Burnt Mountain next year!

C • Billygoat XLI 8

Orienteering!

After visiting friends in Philadelphia on Friday night and Saturday morning, we drove up to Eagle Rock, NJ for HVO's pre-Billygoat training. The training consisted of a control picking course of 50 controls, commemorating Nadya Popova's 50 years in orienteering! Very cool.

This was my first attempt at running since knee surgery February 22, so I took it quite easy. Things felt good, except for being out of shape. The sciatic pain that has been bugging me for a few weeks wasn't particularly bad when running, and finding controls in the forest once again was a blast. It never fails to amaze me how much I enjoy orienteering whenever I get a chance to do it.

The day continued with a fabulous evening of games and hanging out with Alex, Ed, Ian, and Katie.

Inara's first Blue course! I carried her around the Blue course at the QOC event at Pohick Bay. It was a very nice course designed by the Merkas, and I enjoyed it, even at walking speed. Inara was great, even though this is the longest she has ever spent orienteering. I think we were very clean until making a mistake between the last control and the finish, as I got distracted chatting with Dave Pruden and walked right by the finish!

C • Imressive 9

Elliptical after work and before heading to Dulles to pick up family returning from Sweden.

Back in DC after a thoroughly enjoyable trip to Sweden. Commentating Tiomila with gg was a blast. He did a great job jumping in at the last minute to replace the unavailable Nixon, and added a ton of great stuff to our broadcast, from the twitter account, to the in-depth interviews, to his knowledge of the runners. I think we worked well together and were able to present a product that was not merely a copy of what Per Forsberg does, but in English, but something our own and targeted more to our specific international audience.

Things that went well to remember for next time:
- Twitter account (10milaTVen) worked really well, and allowed for nice interaction with the viewers
- Answering viewer questions was a great way to fill dead time
- Interviews seem to have gone over well. I think the spread of countries was good too (we hit five continents!)
- When interviewing, it is good to ask questions that go beyond "How was your run? What are your team goals?"

Things to improve on:
- We should have had a third chair in the booth for interviews
- When GPS tracking is on during an interview, we should turn off the booth camera so viewers can see the full screen
- Need to keep working on my pronunciation of Finnish clubs and runners

Any more feedback from the viewers? I'd love to hear what you guys thought!

C • Sounds like a good list! 2

Elliptical at the Blair House gym in the evening

Leg press and assisted squats. Side/leg pain (let's call it sciatica for these purposes) quite strong on the left side, but not noticeable while exercising, for the most part. Decided I might as well exercise, as the pain isn't going away on its own through resting.