Training Log Archive: Bashman

Ante
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Halden 10mila Test - 5th, +5mins

It was always going to be tricky racing at 10pm on a weekday. Saying that, I seem to have done the eating right and wasn't even too sleepy when it came to racing. Good WU having sat by the fire for 1.5 hours waiting for it to get dark and then feeling ready to race by the start line.

Goal was good compass, using outstanding features such as rock, green and marsh, and hitting the first control smoothly to initiate a good race. Textbook stuff off the start line, probably some sleepiness creeping in as the really cool terrain began giving me feelings of Catching Features. The bushes began making that classic rustling sound and everything seemed very clean/ordered(/computer generated?) in my beam of light. I glanced behind but unfortunately there was no monster chasing me as was the case in the game (still have nightmares). Also lacked the comical backward fall when I ran into a tree and instead was met with some not very funny pain. Anyway I hit number one bang on and took the lead.

Overconfidence took over and even gluing my eyes to my compass didn't stop me from heading right of the line to 2. I was probably running too hard to make a proper bearing and then I mistook an open marsh for the lake. All previous experience of the leg up until that point went out of the window (there was no way I could have got to the lake) and I made a bad parallel mistake. Relocated well though and after missing the control slightly, was back on track 3mins down. Salvageable, and my 3min man hadn't caught me yet. Headed off to 3 on a good line but the same thing happened on the final approach. Bad relocation, all previous events forgotten, and I turned the wrong way. Knut caught me as I found the control 4mins later and we raced off together.

I was tempted to give up but thought I could still at least have a good second half. So injected some speed and pulled away from Knut before the long leg. Apparently making him quite upset, I left him behind and had an amazing rage split winning the leg by 45s with a slight miss at the end. Orienteering super cleanly aside from this and head was suddenly really focused and understanding the map/terrain. Caught Mats (-3min man) again through the final few but couldn't drop him. Small hesitation to 9 and then got stuck coming down a waterfall to the finish, allowing him past again.

So a very mixed race but satisfied with the second half; nailing some good splits and even feeling very good physically overall. Might have something to do with the pressure on the race. Think my confidence and technique have improved as I don't think I'd have been able to drop Knut a few weeks ago, especially at night. Good run at 10mila definitely on the cards, but very dependent on which leg I'm on and who I'm with.

GPS - http://loggator2.worldofo.com/?idstr=logatec2018ti...
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C • race 2

ITW
Miserably foggy outside.
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HFW
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Recovery
Straight into a long but easy lap of Hoias with Emil+his dog. Hadn't really planned a time but it all felt very manageable and so flew by with some good conversation. Quite rainy and so muddy between the hills, but nice to see the forest without any snow. Went to the shop on the way back.
Should be nicely fixed before tomorrow's 10mila night test, starting at almost 10pm so going to destroy my sleep pattern but looks to be a fun race. Finally in some nice terrain, by local standards. GPS tracking for anyone interested available here.
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Norwegian Spring pre-run - D21E
Thought I would be refreshed after yesterday's easy day but I was still shattered. Quite lazy moving through the terrain and felt like I was constantly fighting, in fact you can imagine me battling with the trees. Now imagine the trees winning. Trees are pretty inanimate, but they seemingly still found the momentum to constantly slap me across the face and stab me across my whole body. This resulted in probably the highest swearing rate I've ever achieved.
Technically I was pretty sound, but I know this area quite well now so it would be strange if I wasn't. And it was relatively nice in the cleaner sections of forest, especially in the morning sun. Also saw a moose which overtook me on a track, running much quicker than me, pretty funny site.
Happy to finish though, and stay ahead (just) of the D21E leaderboard by the end of the day. Need to figure out how to make my legs feel a bit quicker, and running to feel less heavy before the next set of races. And cutting back on training, at least before the main races, isn't the solution.
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C • Heavy legs 15

Collecting
Hilarious mistake which exposed my patience with this area quite well. Angery react.
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Easy
Making up for some lost training time and a nice amount of energy after eating cake most of the day. Made it easier running point to point too. Got a bit lost in the industrial bit and asked someone 'How do I get out of here', to which the reply was a somewhat fear-inducing laugh.
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Control checking
A grind.
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WD

Late to do parking. Great stories to be told in that the initial marshal, who displayed an o kite as he waved in orienteering cars, did not hold sufficient information to distinguish himself from border patrol and within the first 5 minutes of work, must have unintentionally lead 10 cars to believe they were about to be searched in the event car park.

After a granny who looked petrified enough with the concept of being pulled over let alone searched (must have had bricks of cocaine in the boot) was reassured that this was just an orienteering race and put back on the road, I stepped in to install an 'orienteering race' sign on the entrance before the first marshal and saved the day.
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Had planned to do night o but a day of standing around in 20c (yes) sunshine completely drained me. Ralph also helped me be sensible and call it a day.
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Ante
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Halden 'Test' - Sprint Line Course
Felt very good and found it so much easier following a line course than actual sprint-o, but this makes a lot of sense, essentially removing RC and hence all technicality from a sprint race. Quite happy with the pace, but a minute down on pre-woc gold Jerker in 2015 - although he had a mass start to push against. This, in my opinion, counts for about 2mins faster so I should be in decent shape.
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Sprintervals x 6
Took a long time to psych myself up for these but eventually got going at a bit of a slog. Soon felt better and orienteering quite well towards the end. A nice little effort to link up the final sprint felt nice as well. Pretty shattered afterwards. Warm sunny weather was very helpful in getting through this.
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Control setting
Back to my favourite area ever..........................
Nice time in the evening light setting out controls for Norwegian Spring. Spent a very long time stabbing bare rock with the spikes in the hope that somehow it would split and allow me to leave the control there in confidence. Ended up taping most of them to trees.
Last control was the best in that I spent 15mins trying to get it in the ground before slowly glancing at the map, and then sideways to an identical rock 20m away with the event (not training) tag on it. Some angry control checking followed this and eventually began to enjoy myself quite a lot.
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Ante
Nice sunny morning, but still a bit wintry; hazy and cold. Feeling a bit tired/sleepy but got through okay with breakfast in mind. Gave the bakery a wide berth today.
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WU
Post office and then track. Nearly broke an ankle breaking in by climbing a high fence.
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Tempo -> Threshold
Decided legs didn't really get their workout yesterday so gave them another small session today. Started with a tempo 3km but was keen to end on a fast km so sped up in the last two laps. 3:11, 3:11, 3:03. Very comfortable but then killed myself a bit at the end. Nice and windy on the back straight making it a bit more of a lactate shuttle every lap.
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Reps - 10*200 [200]
After yesterday and the JK, it became clear to me that my legs aren't turning quick enough. fast twitch fibres nearly non existent. Also not much time to do anything about that but I'll throw in strides and hopefully a session like this every week from now on. Time as expected, happy to trend faster as the session progressed.
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WD
Really struggling with the stomach.
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