Training Log Archive: Arlaharen

Warm up in a way too small area and also quite tired and didn't feel like doing a proper warm up.

Rank: 9/47, +3'51"
FSOK middle distance, H21E
Felt really tired already during the warm up. Could really feel yesterdays race in my legs. Tried to convince myself before start just to take each control at a time and be prepared to go really slow in the detailed areas.

I started slowly but steadily and took each control at a time. At the fourth control I was 6th with only 22" up to the leader. The 5th control looked easy and I almost started preparing for the 6th control. Wrong decision!
I kept going to far and went up the wrong hill and then down onto a track and a slight confusion occurred until I realized my mistake and headed back to the correct hill, lost 45".

Got a little bit stressed towards the 6th control and had to do an extra map reading stop to keep my calm. After that all the controls went by without too much trouble. (Actually It was quite a while since I did any huge mistakes at all. I hope I can keep my orienteering solid from now on)

The only problem that occurred during the latter part of the course was the long route to the 10th control. I couldn't find any good route on the map and just started making my way without any real plan. This worked ok for about 20" then I started loosing contact with the map and just tried to keep a decent pace on my already slow legs. I had to stop at least two times on the route just to find myself again before I could continue. Problably lost a minute or so on not doing any good micro route planning and also for stopping and relocating all the time :(

Note to self: It's probably as important (if not more important) to feel strong and well-rested for a middle distance race as a long distance race to be competitive since small mistakes is so costly on the middle distance.

The winner Oleksandr Kratov seemed to have done a really good and fast race practically without mistakes. Quite impressive since terrain was quite challenging both physically and mentally.

Results:
http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...

Map with route:
http://fpettersson.se/images/69

Rank: 8/39, +4'06"
Elitserien E2 (Top 5 qualifies)
In order to be able to push a little bit harder today I took a shot of espresso right before I left the apartment. I think it helped. I managed to almost reach the lactate threshold with my avg pulse!

So how did the race go.
I managed to get a nice controlled start on the first and second control (only snag was that I stepped into a hole and lost my shoe. Probably lost 20" just trying to get my foot back into the shoe without undoing my laces, with tape and all)
After that I got some nice flow in the orienteering a bit wobbly on to third but nothing big. On the long route to 5th it felt like a good route and I executed it ok, but I managed to distrust myself just before the control and followed another runner down to a rock that wasn't mine. Stupid, stupid...lost about 1'. Had no reason not to trust my own orienteering there. After that some good orienteering flow until I happened to cross path with an moose going almost right at me. Made a 90 degree turn and lost concentration for a moment, but didn't loose more than 15" or so.

The only big mistake happened on 11th. Just before the control area something sharp penetrated right through the sole of my left shoe and I was lucky enough that it hit the foot just between the two biggest toes. At first I wasn't sure if there was something to worry about or if there was something serious. At this moment I just should have stopped for a second and relaxed instead of going forward. 2' later and I had found the control and almost forgot about the foot.

After that quite controlled orienteering but not fast. The last 2-3 km was a real fight to stay in control of everything and not doing any major mistake. Lost around 2' on smaller things on the last 5-6 controls.

Overall a good performance, great weather and good organizing from FSOK as always. :)

Results:
http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/sv/default.a...

Map with route:
http://fpettersson.se/images/68

4 loops in Finspång, Butbro, ranging from 2.5 to 2.7 km.
My plan was to run in competition speed but I was unable to get the speed I wanted and the pulse was a bit lower than I desired.

Didn't make any big mistakes but ran really shaky on the first 2 controls on the first loop. (Lost at least 2' in the beginning)
After the shaky start I ran quite ok and only did some minor things on the routes but no control mistakes. 4+ km on Saturday will certainly be a real challenge in full speed. The marshes are really wet and make running through them tough.

My times on the loops in the order I ran them:

B, 17'32"
A, 17'06"
C, 17'14"
D, 17'41"

Loop times in alphabetical order:

A, 17'06"
B, 17'32"
C, 17'14"
D, 17'41"

C • Hälarna först! 2

5', 4', 3', 2', 1', 1', 2', (3', 4', 5'), 1' rest between each interval
Felt really tired at the start of the training and barely thought I would be able to do any intervals at all. Therefore I got off to a slow start and instead decided to only do up to the last 2' interval. It felt a bit easier on the short intervals and I ran a bit faster to try to jump start the body on the last two intervals. It didn't quite work so I gave up after the last 2' interval :(

Note: Jonas turned 43 today and brought lots of fantastic ice cream from Bosses to work for the 3 o clock "fika" and I probably ate way to much. I hope this was the reason for feeling tired as hell during late afternoon and during training.

Way to tired and almost feeling sick kept my from going out.