Training Log Archive: BorisGr

Backbana after work, right after the rain stopped and the sun came out. Good effort, but it was really slippery, and I was tentative on the downhills. I also stopped for a minute to chat with Rob Hart, who was running home from work.

Janne's backbana in Uppsala - Splits

Warm-up

Real Swedish summer is back. It was 12C and raining steadily when Simon picked me up to go train. He drew a middle distance course on a nice piece of northwest Lunsen, and we ran it. I started in a nice, steady tempo to get into the map and then picked it up once I heard Simon catching up behind me. Held him off for a few controls, orienteering well, and then ended up racing him head-to-head for most of the rest of the course. I tried to take different routes whenever possible, but this mostly didn't work, since in Lunsen you pretty much just want to run straight. A fun training - I was grateful to have company, would never have gotten out in the forest on my own.

QR: http://www.dxdeluxe.se/linnekartparmen/show_map.ph...

1055/2000

Event: Salpa-Jukola 2011
 

Snuck out for a trail run on Lunsen with Martin between Venla and Jukola. Made a big circular tour of Lunsen, starting in Sävja and going through Lunsentorpet and back. Really nice run and company, and beautiful forest as always.

Then back to the computer screen for 8 awesome hours of Jukola coverage. The highlight was definitely Thierry chasing the leaders on the long night leg:

"- The main problem I had was that I did not know if it was the leading group I caught up when I caught up with runners. Each time I caught somebody, I asked the people if this was the lead group or not. They usually did not even answer, so I kept running fast."

I can just imagine Thierry strolling past with no visible effort as Novikov, Axelsson, Nordberg are huffing and puffing along, and starting to char with them about how the race is going.

Halden was impressive. Losing Nikolov, Nordberg, and Karlsson in the off-season would crush most clubs, but they came back stronger than ever. Haldin, Wingstedt, Lundanes on the last three legs were unstoppable.

Great to see Linné near the top from start to finish (http://online3.jukola.com/tulokset/en/j2011_ju/kil...) - it made the night much more exciting and nerve-wracking for me. Really inspiring to see these guys running so consistently well throughout the whole night. Millinger did a great job on the last leg, running by himself the whole way and holding off Hubmann and Khramov almost all the way to the finish for a fine 8th place.

So now that I've been not selected for the most fun races of the year, I've started putting in my best training weeks this season without any goals. So can someone suggest good races for me to aim for in the fall?

C • races 24

Long run after work. From Ångström, along Ultunaåsen, around Sunnersta, then along the lake to Skarholmen, a loop in Vårdästraskogen and back via Gula Stigen. Perfect running conditions: sunny and cool. Uppsala is very green and beautiful and also mosquitoy right now.

C • Gula Stigen 1

Warm-up and jogging back to the car, plus jogging between the relay hand-off spots.

A really fun training on Lunsen called "Czech-style relay".
The idea is this: you take a long, linear trail and set a course such that every leg crosses the trail. Teammate A starts on the trail and runs to control 1 and then to the spot where the 1-2 line crosses the trail. In the meantime, teammate B jogs along the trail to the same 1-2 trail crossing. There they switch, and teammate B runs to #2. This continues all the way to the finish, at which point everyone turns around and does the same thing on the way back, with A now visiting the controls B went to and vice versa.

This makes for a really fast-paced, stressful relay, with each leg taking about a minute (we took about 51 minutes for 44 controls between us). I ran this in a team with Simon, the other Jukola reserve. We ran really well and ended up 3rd, beaten only by runners from Linné's top two Jukola teams. The head-to-head aspect of this was awesome, as you had to navigate at super-high speed while keeping an eye on your competitors. This was really excellent relay training.

Simon's map: http://www.dxdeluxe.se/linnekartparmen/show_map.ph...

1035/2000

Intervals with Linné. I did 8 of the planned 10 2-minute intervals. These were run on undulating trails in Eriksberg. I felt ok, but started feeling my shin after a few fast downhills, so decided to cut the workout short. Now at home I don't feel the shin anymore, so I think that was a smart choice.

C • Granny socks! 3