Training Log Archive: Torino

Another sunny morning. Again I had trouble to get motivated. So I started and felt a flow coming but going uphill was hard non-the-less. I decide to walk the steepest sections and this turned out to be wise. As I reached Montmollin the weather changed, clouds moved in and a cold wind picked-up. So I headed the long way back down taking pictures of the view of the Bernese Alps over to the magnificent Mont Blanc. This background with the yellowish-brown vineyards was quite the sight. Beautiful. Got home kind of cold and needed warming-up.

I had wanted to go to a street sprint-O meet in Thun with both Matti and Lena. All was organised so I could do my own course, then go with Matti (shadowing) and then the open short course with Lena or both. On Friday evening I received a mail that the meet had to be cancelled due to COVID. The Canton of Berne had decided that afternoon that it would not allow any events as of immediately with over 15 people! What a shock to all the manifestation, expositions, soccer and hockey matches and orienteering meets. Well, the kids (grandkids actually) and I were very disappointed (they were all at our house bc of Urs's bd pizza and dessert). So I proposed that I would do a training close-by in one of the nearby parks with an existing O-map. We went then to Auvernier on a beautiful fall day, I set up the first 3 controls for a star-O-format, then Matti did it (I shadowed, but was reassured that he was already quite good), then Lena coached by Urs followed. When Matti was back, I sent him out again to collect those three control flags as he insisted that he wanted to do a course REALLY fast ;-0). That format worked out well and we changed the start location about 200 m further away and did a loop, then went up to the village with narrow alleyways. All in all we did 4 loops of this star-O, however, each time with a different start.
Everybody finished all smiles and happy and hungry.

PS: there was the first loop that I didn't record and the final catch-n-hide-game where these old folks did not have any chance due to the speed and agility of those two youngsters. lots of fun and laughing and being out of breath!

Pictures are on the following strava link:

https://www.strava.com/activities/4236518590

One of those beautiful fall days, and I had to get out. Lately, it's been hard for me to get motivated. I think the almost 4 weeks of few activities bc of mending my knee bc of 2 falls (orienteering with a fall onto a sharp rock hitting my patella and bruising the entire knee and falling again 2 weeks later onto the same knee in a bike-O, bruising it again and losing some patches of skin which needed many band-aides and care) and then the 2 weeks of no exercise after my ear surgery (tumor in skin which grew into the cartilage). Now, I was still cautious and inhibited but also felt that the season was soon over anyway.
But after a few km, I felt better and better, still slower than usual. And I knew that the weather would turn sometime in the afternoon. Going west, I saw it coming and when the sun disappeared behind a cloud, I turned to go back home and made it almost dry.
Friday, a day of heavy rain followed.

Running home from Sandra's place after dropping off Lena.

Trying my first run after a while. Felt hard and uncomfortable.