Training Archive: NixonIn the 7 days ending 2007-07-29:
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| M | T | W | H | F | S | S | |||||||||||
Sunday Jul 29 | ||
| Note | |
| Feeling very stiff all over this morning, not just the usual place. I think I should get down the gym before I move my next oven. | ||
| Orienteering race 59:52 [5]***** 8.4 km (7:08 / km) | |
| spiked:17/19c | ||
| Lahti-Suunnistus, medium sized competition (I think). The terrain has been used for Jukola twice before. I did'nae get on the elite because I have no ranking. Which is a good thing I think, these Finns are pretty good. Jani Lakanen won the elite. The terrain was amazing, seriously intense negative terrain, loads of ridges and depressions, much harder than any morraine stuff I've been in before. The forest was quite thick, and it was very rocky under-foot aswell, so Jani only did 6 m/km's. I was on H21A. It took me three attempts to actually work out where I went on number 13. It wasn't a big mistake, I just wasn't really paying attention, as I was just on a b-line to the big open area. It turns out though I didn't really go a very good way. Ooops. I did have a very clean run apart from that. I made a wee mistake at 8, I got a bit distracted by catching my 2 minute man, but other than that it was clean. I then went for a swim in the lake and had my lunch. I'm suprised that I didn't feel so bad after yesterdays efforts. I did have to walk up most hills though.
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| C • Elite 2 | ||
| Jogging (Warming up / down) 25:00 [3] | |
| Warming up / down. I don't know any Finnish, so had no idea what start times they were callin out, luckily they were saying names too. | ||
Saturday Jul 28 | ||
| Note | |
| My head hurts; I have a hang over. It all started in the Gallery of Modern Art, which was mostly full of quite typical modern art, or as I call it: shit. there was a good one of a horse though. There was a big white plinth, with a stuffed horse on it, but someone had taken a chainsaw to the horse and removed from the shins upwards, so all that was there was 4 horses legs. Nice. There was a big photo display from Kazakhstan, and everything had been painted Kazakh blue and yellow; fences, bus stops, tower blocks, pylons, barrels, walls. Literally everything. There was a video of some naked "punk shamons" kicking sheep heads (freshly chopped) down a road in some far away Eastern Bloc country. There was some good stuff in there too, but not really worth mentioning.
After the gallery it was time for dinner, so over to D'Wok. They were shutting early so we couldn't stay in and eat there, so it was take-away. And they only gave us one fork. It's ok they, Mr D'wok had plenty more to hand out. It was then to K super-market to buy a drink, and chomp away on the chinese in the shopping center. Classy. Then it was time for the beer festival! Big Beers, Small Breweries, as it said on the glasses. Some pretty good beers, Käki was nice, I can't really remember the names of anything else. The strawberry cider was pretty pish, blueberry cider was good. Although having had 1 cider I had to only drink ale for the rest of the night to make sure I didn't turn into a sissy at midnight. After the beer festival it was time to head over the the Aussie Bar and catch up with BJ. It was an awesome bar, pretty rammed, but good. Good music too, and a tiny little dancefloor. There was this huge guy who looked a bit like the special one off the Goonies, and when Umbrella 'ella 'ella came on he got out his umbrella and went mental for it. He goes there all the time apparently, and is a smart guy, he just loves that song. Once, someone nicked his umbrella, big mistake. A short trip to the docks for a slash, and then to bed. I was not tempted to buy a hotdog. I'm only doing cycling today, so I should be fine. | ||
| Cycling 2:35:00 [3]61.5 km (2:31 / km) | |
| Cycling out and back to Gumbostrand to visit Matti & Maija's cottage. A bit stop and start on the way out, I had to escape the center of Helsinki and I had no idea where I was going. Having to cycle on cycle paths is a bit annoying, kept have to stop for lights and stuff. Once I hit the open road though it was good, and I could push the machine to it's limits. Mainly because I was late for the boat. The boat being a wee nipper of a speed boat. Got soaked on the way out, but it was good because I was baked from cycling in the sun. It was very sunny indeed.
Once we all got on the island we had to carry a 120kg oven up to the new cottage. It was bloody heavy, but a good laugh. With some cunning Finnish engineering we got the job done. Then we had to carry and even heavier rock from to middle of the island back to the cottage to be the main step. That was also bloody heavy, but a good laugh. I think we will all have sever back problems for a while. We than had a nice dinner thanks to Maija, with here amazing blueberry tart. Then a proper sauna, swim in a sea and a cold beer. Awesome. After some Finnish sausage it was time for me to cycle home. I left at about 10pm. Late night cycling, beer, saunas and lifting lots of heavy things is very good preparation for tomorrow's race. I aint doing elite, so it shuold be OK. | ||
Friday Jul 27 | ||
| Note | |
| (rest day) | ||
| Day of rest.
I went into town to by a football. With football in hand I was out of intersport and back on the tram within a matter of minutes. It's nice to be male. There is nothing better than a kick about down the park with your mates. Ofcouse, I don't actually have any mates, but the kick about was fun and it was very sunny. I got attacked by automatic sprinklers that came out of nowhere without warning. Luckily I escaped without getting too much of a dousing. They were doing bungee jumping down at the sea-front. I was going to have a go, but realised that I didn't really enjoy things like that and it wouldn't be fun. I listened to The Pigeon Detectives, the song that they play on the radio back home is nowhere near the best on the album. I got my bike back from Green Bike, BAA baggage handlers managed to screw the rear-derailer. E&L insurance can pay for it though. I'm going to go the the gallery of modern art later, I'm not a massive fan of modern art, but it is free. | ||
| C • Beer event 3 | ||
Thursday Jul 26 | ||
| Orienteering 51:46 [4]***** 7 km (7:24 / km) | |
| ahr:172 max:185 spiked:10/12c | ||
| Länsirastit, OK 77 training event on Pirttimäki South. Sweet area. Intensity was more like 3.5, feeling a bit tired in the legs, but it's OK because tomorrow is a rest day, and rest I shall. It was a bit of a mission getting out there. Walk to the bus, bus to the center, walk to the station, train to Espoo, walk to the bus, bus to middle of no where, walk into forest. Again, I had a nice driver, I pushed the stop button and went to the door, and he stopped where I wanted, no where near a bus stop. Legend. I ended up havíng the same guy on the way bag. I bet to him it looked like I went dogging. I didn't go dogging. I do have the map of the local dogging area though, and have been told not to be alarmed by strange men hanging around.
I was just going to go and do my own thing on some other area I have maps for, but I thought it would be better not to use those maps up when there are training events, plus I can maybe learn a bit about Finnish course setting. Today I was thinking about what Jukka told me last night; simplification. I was quite good, although I was still doing a few fanny dances én route which didn't need to happen. I nailed all the controls, just a couple of issues in between them on a few ocasions. I found one of the permenant controls, a small but exciting moment of my day. | ||
| Jogging (Warming up / down) 15:00 [3] | |
| Warming up / down. Not much warming down, I had to make the bus and I didn't have much time. Luckily, I am very good at making buses. | ||
Wednesday Jul 25 | ||
| Running intervals 30:00 [5] | |
| max:193 | ||
| 6 intervals on a forest track in Laakso, nearly 1km I think. Feeling really really good. It was a bit up and down, but I was up those 10m like Rasmussen on rage. I was going to do km's on the track, but there was a decathlon going on, so I couldn't. It's pretty hot here, I worked up a very manly, all over, sweaty gleen. I nearly got run down by a bicyclist (female) at the end of the last interval. So had to slow down, I lost at least 1 second. To be fair to her, she was hot, so I'll let her off.
On the tram on the way out a slightly dodgy looking girl kept looking at me in a strange way. I know I didn't have any shit on my face, so I thought she was going to try and pick my pockets. I had her number, nae chance pal. She didn't mug me, she didn't even try. I guess it's because she isn't actually a pick-pocket. She did look dodgy though. Maybe it was her day off. | ||
| C • like rasmussen on rage 1 | ||
| Jogging (Warming up / down) 21:00 [3] | |
| Warming up / down. Literally, nothing to report. | ||
Tuesday Jul 24 | ||
| Orienteering 35:47 [4]***** 5.7 km (6:17 / km) | |
| ahr:177 max:185 spiked:12/12c | ||
| Taitorastit, club training on Solvalla. I was suprised again to find out that although I have only been on abuot 10 maps in Finland before, this was one of them. Really nice area, good fun. I was on such form that I was even able to notice that a control was in the wrong place, I must be good. Not good enough to notice that another one was also in the wrong place, but who am I to tell the Finns how to orienteer. It would be like them telling me how to be sarcastic.
I was on really good form today atcually. I knew where I was almost all of the time, and I knew where I was going for a lot of it. I have been entered for a race on Sunday, it will be good to get spanked and learn what is needed to be done in these types of terrains. Today I went down the magistrates, witnessed the aftermath of suspicious marriage between some Finnish dude and some Thai girl. I registered as a resident of Helsinki. It meant that I could get a travel pass much cheaper. It's not me trying to play the system, the hot girl at the ticket office said I should do it. I got my travel pass from a hot girl at the ticket office today. 92 euros for 64 days. It's 2 euros a trip normally, and today I made 4. I'm well on the way to saving money. On my way into town I saw a lady walking a big dog. I say "big dog" but I think "domesticated bear" would perhaps be more suitable. It was huge! I saw another lady wearing what just might be the worst t-shirt in the history of the world, ever. It had aproximately 24 mickymouses all standing infront of a nation's flag weaing sterotypcial clothing for that country. Brilliant. I also saw a second-hand shop, so I may have to pop in and spend a few euros on something. Maija made an awesome blueberry tart tonight. Yummy | ||
| Jogging (Warming up / down) 16:00 [3] | |
| Warming up / down. Nothing to report, except my confusion over the plural of Micky Mouse. | ||
Monday Jul 23 | ||
| Orienteering 59:33 [4]***** 9 km (6:37 / km) | |
| ahr:179 spiked:15/19c | ||
| Helsingin Suunnistajat's Iltarastit, it's a training event. Just like a training event in the UK, only it was on a good area with good courses, it was free as a club member, it wasn't over organised and I didn't get DSQ for waming up along a track in the "competition area" like I did at INVOC's colour coded event. It was raining, and the bush was wet, but I still had a really fun run. I've actually been to the area before, back on a training camp in 2003. I was much better this time. Only a few wobbles, and the 5 mins of running with absolutely no idea where I was, but it was OK, because I knew I would hit the massive crags or the big marsh eventually. I hit the marsh, then the crags and all was well. Although looking at it now not only did I not know where I was going, it was a bit of a shit route as well.
I got a lift with a guy called Mikael. What a guy. Chatty as, and very funny. He needs a new exhaust on his car. I nearly didn't make it to his work to get the lift. I went to get the bus to Tapiola, but i hadn't written down what number the bus was. Shit. There were loads of buses. I knew it was onehundred and something. Shit. There are all onehundred and something. 103, let's have a go... nae chance. Shit. 106??? Nae chance, but he told me it was the 109. Bingo. However I got off the 106 just in time to see the 109 pulling away and off to Espoo. Shit. Traffic lights; red: result! So I legged it down the road, tapped the window and got on. Edinburgh bus drivers refuse to open the door unless they are within 1m of the bus stop sign. Edinburgh bus drivers are dicks. Finnish bust drivers are nice. | ||
| C • Finnish bus drivers are nice 1 | ||
| C • Helsinki nearby maps and how to get there 2 | ||
| Jogging (Warming up / down) 22:00 [3] | |
| Warming up / down. Nothing to report, except I think me toe is definetly broken. | ||