Training Log Archive: pi

Last day was in new kind of terrain. Not so steep and no negative topography, but very green and thick with many trails. I had the zero start time and went out first in a very, very heavy continuous rain fall. Conditions were awful with high grass and ferns with no tracks. It was like running in a shower and I had a bad mood. The first half of the course I had lots of bad thoughts and felt slow, but the second half was better. The rain eased later in the day and the later starters had a huge advantage. Oh well, I dropped two spots overall to 12th in M21A (out of 75). I still had fun even though it was not my favourite terrain.

A great week in a beautiful country. I really liked Slovenia and will come back to the OOCup. Maybe already next year?

Forth day on very similar terrain as the third day. The start was 250 metres elevation above the finish, so there was lots of downhill running. I did really well in this race. I only lost significant time on two controls. One was a transportation leg, with 100 metres elevation loss in 500 metre running... this was not easy for me with my painful knee. The other problem was a control close to the end in a very detailed area in the green. My best result of the week.

Third day down in the valley. Almost a sprint style race in open forest with negative topography. Packed with controls, change of direction and micro route choices. I felt good after the race, but in the end turned out that I had been a bit too cautious.

Second day also at Velika Planina, but course entirely in the more open alpine. Huge negative topography, with lots of climb. Was not able to keep the fast runnning speed required to be in the top in this terrain. Did well in the nav, except one control at the end that had been dug into a tiny pit. Could not even see the pit itself, unless standing right next to it, not to mention the flag inside the pit... a bit silly. Another great beautiful day in the mountains.

Event: OO Cup 5-Days
 

First day at the OOCup in Slovenia. Absolutely amazing place up in the alpine at a place called Velika Planina at 1500 m elevation. Hiked up 250 metres from the parking first. This was an extreme course in extreme terrain. First two controls was in open and fast grass land, but then the course went into very steep and rocky terrain in the forest, super packed with detail. Apart from missing the fast route to the third control, I did pretty well on the first half of the course, but then I got really tired in the brutal climb. Zero training in the last several months due to the tendonitis was not good enough on this course... still very happy, what a beautiful place!

Photos from the week here: http://flickr.com/photos/magjoh/sets/7215760128654...

Accumulated time for patellar tendonitis exercises.

Photos from the BC champs weekend: http://flickr.com/photos/magjoh/sets/7215760063458...

My knee hurts today.

C • nice photos 2

Warm-up.

Warm-up sprint in the town of Kimberley. Very, very easy street orienteering. Not much to say. Patrick was 2 minutes faster than me.

BC champs sprint in a very tricky little forest section just above the town. I had mostly a clean run, but it was steep and I'm just not in good shape. Eric Bone was just under 15 minutes, which was a truly fast time!

Warm-up.

Middle at Kettle Lake. Absolutely amazing map by Alar! Very detailed, almost scandi feel to the area, except very steep. This was the most fun race I've run in a long while. Lost 30 seconds to the first control, just getting used to the 7500 scale. Then I settled in at a slow but accurate speed and only made maybe 1:30 mistakes in total. The others made bigger mistakes, but were running much faster. Eric Bone won with 39:30. Again my knee doesn't hurt while running, but the inflammation sure doesn't heal with this activity. Ran with a neoprene knee brace that I hope will help.