Training Log Archive: BorisGr

Running laps around the pavilion to try and get sore legs to wake up

Pawtuckaway Camping Weekend
Day 2 - Blue course on Pawtuckaway proper, including the Devil's Armpit. Just felt terrible today, very tired and obviously unused to so much running and orienteering in one weekend. My lack of training the last two years clearly showed here, as I just had nothing left for this day. Lots of mistakes and very slow running/walking in the forest. Missed 1 slightly, was way off the line on 3, stumbled around in the circle on 4, made a big parallel error (about 1 minute lost) on 8, left another minute zig-zagging on the way to 9, hesitating a lot to 10 and 11, slow to 12. Also lost time on 7 and 15, as they were mishung. Disappointing, but not surprising given that my "butt muscle" injury (diagnosed most recently as Proximal Hamstring Tendinopathy) has not gotten any better in nearly two years, putting an end to whatever competitive ambitions I had when living in Sweden. Hopefully, I'll at least keep training enough to get into somewhat better shape and lose the rest of the fifteen (!!) pounds I gained by the end of this summer.

C • Affliction 5

Pawtuckaway Camping Weekend
Canoe-orienteering with Kat (I labeled this kayaking because I don't feel like making a new training category.) It was a lot of fun, especially in the Sunday's sunshine and blue skies. We had a good time on the lake, got ten controls, and came in. As always, the Pawtuckaway training weekend was very enjoyable, both with respect to orienteering and socially. It's definitely one of the highlights of the fall orienteering season. A big thanks to UNO and especially the Bundschuh family for organizing everything!!

Event: Pawtuckaway Camping Weekend
 

Warming up in the rain

Pawtuckaway Camping Weekend
Day 1 - Blue course on the Big Island
A nice, middle distance-style course set by Ernst. I've always had trouble on the Big Island before due to low visibility and vaguer contour features than on Pawtuckaway proper, but this time I orienteered well, though could never really get any speed going without having to slow way down to read the map. Good run technically, but not very quick. Three minutes ahead of Brendan, six ahead of Kat, who had a great run.

Pawtuckaway Camping Weekend
Wicked Hard Night-O - a score-O at night, quite difficult, especially in areas of denser vegetation where the visibility was very low. I was worried about my lamp situation, as I wasn't sure that my battery properly charged in the group camping pavilion with Marie's reverse converter, but it lasted. It was fun to be joined at the start by Mr.Fredrickson, who made a last-minute entrance for one of his ever-more-frequent appearances. As the start went off, I stayed behind to draw lines connecting controls in the order I intended to take them. Kat did the same thing. I really think this made things slightly easier, as I could easily find the control I was going to during the quick glances at the map in the dark. It wasn't difficult to catch the pack going to the first control (#2), and by the time we hit it, i was at the front. I then proceeded to lead the pack on a circuitous route east of the line to #1. After we crossed the stream, I found myself behind a group led by Peter Grollmann (one of the night's many PG's), John F, and Andrew Childs. They seemed to be veering right, so I turned left up the slope. Brendan did the same thing, and suddenly we were by ourselves. This didn't last long, as after crossing the stone wall we saw a bright lamp ahead of us, also headed for #1. We assumed it was someone who went directly to #1 from the start, but as we got closer, we were surprised to see that it was actually Kat, who was in the lead all by herself after taking a more direct route from 2 to 1. From that point, the three of us were together, and the company made the experience a lot more fun. We bobbled 3 and had a lot of trouble on 4, searching for a couple of minutes in the control circle, but after that things went better. Not counting crossing a couple of very deep swamps, our navigation was solid most of the way, and downright excellent on the last few controls in the more open woods. Ian Smith, who had skipped 4 and 6, joined us at 5, and so we were a quartet most of the way home. Kat bobbled #9, our second-to-last control, but Brendan and I waited at #12 so we could run into the finish in a three-way tie for the win. I had a lot of fun running this and am already looking forward to the next Wicked Hard Night-O!

To the start and to look at sheep and peacocks afterwards.

A rather modest turn-out at this week's edition of WCOC's mid-week training. Thanks to cavadura for coming along. We were at Brooksvale, and the point of today's training was using precise compass to spike controls. This worked ok at times. At other times, my use of the compass left something to be desired, and other times still, the map left quite a lot to be desired.

Nice run at Maltby Lakes with Kat, Mike, and Marie. It's really lovely there, and we saw lots of deer, a frog, and four huge turkeys.

To/from the gym

Warm-up on the erg. Thoughts of doing intervals on this thing all winter long make me sick. Gotta find another way.

More exploration of the Yale gym. Tried all sorts of machines that made me hurt.
Also: the box of reflective mini-controls which WCOC generously let me acquire just came from Sweden. This makes me strangely giddy. Who is up for night-O?

C • Night-O 15

Running around West Rock with Ross, Sam, and Kat. Really fun. Ran up to the top at the end for a great view of New Haven and Long Island Sound.