Training Log Archive: iansmith

Jukola 2016 was a wonderful experience. The weather was somewhat less cooperative than could have been hoped, but that just made the logistics difficult. I ended up just throwing away my Mizuno running shoes - which had accrued 650 km of running, had their soles destroyed by Iceland's rugged terrain, and become so thoroughly saturated with Jukola mud as to be useless. The forest and terrain were delightful, and while the navigation was on the easy side, it made for a sublime relay experience. CSU put forth a great effort, and while we ultimately lost to the Canadians by a mere three minutes, they were worthy and friendly adversaries. Ross's performance was particularly heroic, bringing us back into contention. The Canadians were suitably polite after the event ("Sorry for crushing you like grapes; sorry, so sorry, eh?"), and the North American camaraderie was palpable among the four NA teams even if we didn't actually see each other that often. I haven't seen Kempster in a few years, so it was great to chat with her a bit at the race. I cannot adequately convey how impressed I am with her - the results speak for themselves, but to organize your life in singular pursuit of a goal and to journey with great determination into the unknown is magnificent.

This was my first Jukola, and while Tiomila adequately prepared me for the pressures and challenge of relay running, the experience was quite different. The scale of Jukola was far greater - the density of runners in the woods was about fourfold higher, and the variety of skill levels was also much wider than Tiomila. In particular, while during my Tiomila leg, I felt like I was competitive with the people around me, I felt considerably stronger than most of the people around me in the woods at Jukola. Jukola is a more egalitarian and accessible race.

CSU has historically run a big relay every two years since 2006. These are great fun, but I'm hopeful we - and the US community more generally - will spend some time at O-festivals in the future like Oringen. It's hard to socialize while also trying to compete at relays; if you're running a later leg, you spend a lot of your time sleeping and preparing rather than appreciating the event. The O-festivals, in contrast, are long enough to offer fantastic orienteering, relaxation, games, food, and camaraderie. To be honest, neither really affords a great opportunity for tourism apart from before and after, as I did in Iceland this year. Nonetheless, it is a great privilege to have these experiences and be part of a club with this esprit de corps. And, in the absence of an organized 2016 US Relay Champs, I am delighted that CSU was the top US team at the reserve event, Jukola. Wooo 2016 US Relay champs!!! (But not NA, alas.)

C • "relay champs" 3

Event: Jukola 2016
 

I was running the Jukola fifth leg for CSU and had a fitful night. I spectated the entire first leg to cheer for Kenny and Kempster, then retired to the tent for rest for Matthias's second leg and most of Giacomo's third leg. I got up when Greg left the tent to start his fourth leg. I had some coffee and ate a little food about 90 minutes before my run. Forty minutes before Greg changed over, I jogged over to the start corral, went to the bathroom, drank some water, and was in the corral with 25 minutes to go. I spent that time waking my legs up with easy jogging in the warmup area and getting mentally prepared for the race.

Jukola fifth leg! I started about two hours after dawn. I was focusing on a few tasks: first, having a clean and conservative first control to settle into the map and collect myself in the terrain; second, to religiously check all my codes and not skip any controls; third, to run my own race - to not be distracted by other people, and to run within my confidence. Greg handed off to me, and I was off into the woods.

The first leg was a long leg through some low visibility green followed by an ascent onto a hill; I executed carefully and cleanly, and was checking features off comfortably until about 150m before the control, when I was uncertain. I lost about 90s here before I corrected, but I had settled into my navigation. Controls 2 and 3 were also a little hesitant as I tried to get comfortable, but things really started clicking en route to 4. I was in groups of 3-5 for much of the race, but I was steadily picking people off, so I wouldn't usually see any one person for more than two or three controls. I deviated substantially from my train to control 4 - running south to the trail, and pulling a few people with me. I ran right to 6 over a hill and through a marsh, then pulled away from everyone entirely running to 8. Controls 6 through 13 were sublime, with excellent flow and great running. I made a dodgy attack into 14 (51 mins into the track), a control obscured by some thicker woods, and lost 60-90s being confused 40m north of the control. At 15, an OK Linne and two other speedy guys caught up to me, and I dropped the hammer to hang with them for a bit - starting at 55 mins in the track. On the big trail, I peaked at about 3:05/km for some distance before deciding I couldn't sustain this pace. I was tempted to attack straight into the woods, but everyone ahead of me was running a little further to attack from a wee trail, so I stuck with them and hit the control cleanly (though curiously alone).

The last two controls were in a field, and I had a double take picking my go control out of the three that were within 40m of each other. I blasted through the finish chute and passed off to Brendan.

Overall, it was one of my best runs this year; I'm disappointed to have dropped about three minutes on mistakes, but I doubt I could have run much better than 60 minutes with my current fitness. I ran about 7:20/km for my 8.8 km course - placing 151/1519, 15 minutes behind the winning time of 49 minutes. I'm also not terribly familiar with Finnish terrain, so despite the relatively easy navigation today (especially in daylight), I'm pleased with my showing. In the context of the relay, I did my job adequately - a conservative race, punching all the controls. Despite the adverse conditions, it was a fabulous day to be racing with my clubmates.

C • Great race!!! 7

Cool down jog to the tent; I ran into Theo Fleurant and chatted a bit. Psyched about the race and the sexy woods. After a shower (and makkarafest), I went to the arena to cheer and vuvuzela for Brendan, Rosstopher, and the Canadians. We chatted a bit with them ere we all parted ways.

Tourism run around Reykjavik or the slowest euro half marathon ever. I perked up a bit both after getting some espresso and switch from audiobook to music. Listening to Darude's Sandstorm in a Scandi capital was delightfully appropriate, and running to "I'm sexy and I know it" felt scandalous.

C • Good Luck at Jukola 1

Orienteering! I met up with some Reykjavik peeps who were doing a foresty sprint training. My route choices were not ideal - I didn't really know whether I could negotiate the river - but it was a fun outing. I ran with Anton, a Lithuanian, for some controls in the middle.

Climbing Kirkjufell! It was a little technical in places - with about five fixed ropes of sort of dubious quality, but a very pleasant outing and well within my technical ability. I was quite happy to have a trail to follow once I reached the halfway point, unlike on Skessuhorn where I was thoroughly improvising. The exposure was significant.

C • Kirk fell 1

Cute little trail run near Olafsvik. The least ambitious of the recent outings, but some stellar views of the Snaefellsjokull glacier and stratovolcano to the south.

Climbed a majestic terraced horn north of Skarðsheiði near Hvanneyri; I spied its beauty and like a goat, decided I must stand on top of it. The approach to the mountain meant crossing kilometers of rising, marshy grasslands with occasional sheep and streams. I made a traverse around some snowfields with a few tricky moments of exposed YDS 5.0 - 5.2 climbing around some boulders on the ridge. The challenge then became working my way up the 10m terraces without dying. I wore running shoes and had one glove to protect my battered right hand; the scramble was near the edge of my technical ability. Even while I was worried about the descent, I was obsessed with getting to the top. The descent turned out to be quite straightforward - I found a nice descending chimney, and splayed my feet on opposite sides. Then, I recalled my Canadian training and boot skied a good 50-75m section with tremendous style. After reaching the base of the terraces, the rest of the descent was trivial.

Placeholder pic:
https://www.google.com/maps/@64.544779,-21.7332466...

Climbing Skessuhorn!! I saw this bad boy in the distance and decided I simply had to stand on top of it. It was less snowy than in this picture, though still with large swaths of snow cover on its flanks. It was near the limit of my technical ability and featured a long hike to the mountain, scrambling, technical climbing on the terraces, a few moments of concern, and some delightful boot skiing on the descent. It felt absolutely epic to stand on top of it, even as I wasn't quite sure how I was going to get down.

From the website:
"Skessu­horn (967 m) is a particularly impressive and outstanding peak when the range is viewed from the north. Skessu­horn is located in Borgarfjörður it takes 5-6 hours to hike the mountain and you will need good equipment."

My ambition for adventure is unconstrained by your "good equipment" requirement.

Twilight run at a little wee hill near Stykkisholmur, my destination for the night. At about 10:30, I spied a hill that I needed to stand on top of. My escapade earlier had also not had very much running - the hike to the mountain was across some very slow marshes, while this hill looked very runnable. It turned out to be steep in places, but it was nonetheless a delightful jaunt in the setting sun. 10:00/km doesn't really count as running, but c'est la vie.