Training Log Archive: BorisGr

Ok, I've been carrying this around hand-written on a napkin for nearly a week now, and it's time to post it on AP. We are in the planning phase of sending a CSU team (the first-ever North American team) to
25-manna , Sweden's biggest relay.

For those who don't know, part of the relay is run in parallel (four runners at once) and when it comes back together, only the last of these four gets to hand off an actual map to the next leg's runner. This is also a "whole club" relay, meaning that there are requirements on who is allowed to run which leg. This year they looked like this:

Leg 1: 1 runner, anyone, 6-6.5km
Leg 2: 1 runner, anyone, 6-6.5km
Leg 3: 4 runners, women only, 3.5km
Leg 4: 4 runners, not F19-39, M15-54, 2.5km
Leg 5: 4 runners, anyone, 5.6km
Leg 6: 4 runners, not M17-39, 3.8km
Leg 7: 4 runners, anyone, 4km
Leg 23: 1 runner, not F19-34, M15-49, 3km
Leg 24: 1 runner, women only, 4.5km
Leg 25: 1 runner, anyone, 8km

Additional requirements are:
- no more than 9 M21-39 in the team
- at least 7 women
- at least 1 woman D-14 or D45-
- at least 1 woman D-18 or D35-
- at least 1 HD-16 on the team

Here is a draft of a potential CSU team:

Leg 1: Will H
Leg 2: Kenny W
Leg 3: Alex J, Karen W, Lori H, Zan A
Leg 4: Ken W Sr., Pia W, Gail G, Barb B
Leg 5: Boris G, Matthias M, Mikkel C, Brendan S
Leg 6: Cristina L, Katia B, PG, Alexei A
Leg 7: Greg W, Ian S, Kat O, Abi W
Leg 23: Isabel B
Leg 24: Ali C
Leg 25: Ross S

9 M21's: Will, Kenny, Boris, Matthias, Mikkel, Brendan, Greg, Ian, Ross
At least 7 women: Alex, Karen, Lori, Zan, Pia, Gail, Barb, Cristina, Katia, Kat, Abi, Isabel, Ali (13!)
At least 1 D45-: Gail
At least 1 D35-: Pia
At least 1HD-16: Isabel

Others we could theoretically use:
Caroline L, Giovanni B, Sara Mae B, Larry B, Giacomo B, Mark W, Dean S, SGB, and I am probably forgetting/don't know some others.

Thoughts? Who is in? Is this even realistic?

C • 25 manna 15

C • how do you get that flag co... 6

C • email 3

Spent a bit of time browsing the excellent NEOC website and noticed some great things:

1) Point series
2) Twitter feed
Very cool.

A lot of balance, stability, and strengthening stuff for butt, hamstring, and hips.

Cooldown

CSU/NEOC A Meet - Day 2

I was expecting Baldwin Hill to be very slow and junky, and it did not disappoint. Nonetheless, it is great orienteering terrain, and the map was for the most part good, if one ignores all vegetation markings. I started out very slowly and sluggishly and was not sure why until Kat asked me afterwards if I had warmed up. I hadn't. Oops. My GPS track shows a lot of mental sluggishness as well - meandering routes (#2), running at right angles (#2 and #3), backtracking (#3), and missing the control from the attack point (#1 and #4) do not make for a good orienteering race. The wake-up call came when I saw Mikkel coming into #4 as I was huffing and puffing up the hill to #5. He had started 4 (!) minutes behind me, and I was not happy. Found #5 ok and then got my act together and had a solid stretch of orienteering from there until #13, with the exception of something looking very strange in the circle at #11. Was anyone else confused by the rocks in the circle there?
Then got forced too high by the junky vegetation on the way to #14 and was simply slow on #16 and #17.
All in all, too much time lost to mistakes, and even more to being slow, out of shape, and tentative through tough terrain, something I used to do well. Lots of things to work on if I want to have a better season next spring.

QR: http://www.dxdeluxe.se/linnekartparmen/show_map.ph...

336/2000

Blue Sunday - Splits

Event: Fall Foliage Festival
 

CSU A-Meet Day 1, Middle distance prologue

Started off by messing up #1, and I still don't understand what was happening on the map in the circle there. Was lucky to find the control after that. Ran well to #2 until attacking a bit late and ending up low, having to climb back up and around. Clean to #3 and #4, where I was caught by Eddie who started 2 minutes before me, but made a bigger mistake earlier. We took slightly different routes to #5, #6, and #7, and Eddie was gradually pulling away. He was running much faster than me and navigating cleanly, but not very smoothly. He'd often take right angles or leave controls in a slightly wrong direction to give me a chance to catch up a little bit. He finally dropped me after taking a smarter approach to #10, going around the final hill while I went over the top. Having company definitely helped me push myself harder and run faster, even though we were orienteering independently.
Ended up 1st, 11 seconds ahead of Neil.

Map: http://www.dxdeluxe.se/linnekartparmen/show_map.ph...

319/2000

Ahead of time, I was asked to announce at the arena during the final race, and this was a great excuse for me to skip the final, as my back stiffened a lot right after I finished the prologue. It would have been fun to run in the afternoon, but I really enjoyed the announcing too. From the arena, I could see the start and finish (after forcing the finish to be moved for this purpose) and got prompt updates from the spectator control from Alex via phone. This worked well, and I had something to talk about most of the time. I am not sure how well people could hear, though, and if anyone was listening. In the future, it would be good to have the MF21 classes start a few minutes later so that a larger crowd could be around to spectate - as it was, people were mostly running their own races while I was announcing. I tried to keep track of a few other classes, but it wasn't easy. Still, I hope this added something to the atmosphere of the competition. I, for one, thought it was a great initiative by CSU, and the contrast with day 2's remote finish and lack of arena or spectating excitement was pretty glaring in my opinion.
Here is what I looked like "in action", courtesy of Dave Yee: http://bidwbb.smugmug.com/2010-Journal/10-October/...

Blue_qual - Splits

My physiotherapist told me that I should be training since, in his words "it doesn't make much sense to get you pain-free while resting only for you to get hurt again as soon as you start training." That was music to my ears, since I wanted to get back to training.
My back gives me the most trouble on uphills and downhills, so I went over to Lake Wintergreen to do a tempo run on the flat trail going north from the lake. One lap around the lake for warm-up, then up along the flat trail to the road, two-minute jog, then back along the trail to the lake, and a lap around the lake for cool-down. Leaves were very colorful, and the lake looked really beautiful. Nice evening.
Splits: 9:18 going out, 8:58 coming back. Felt hard coming back, and I thought I was running slower. Nice surprise.

C • Good! 3

Event: U.S. Corn Maze Championships
 

Hamstring, butt, and back stretches

Drove up to Sunderland and went for a short run with PG out the door of his house. Spent most of the run asking him for tax advice. Might start paying taxes now.

A bit of a warm-up plus collecting some controls afterwards.

312/2000

2010 US Corn Maze Orienteering Champs

Great fun, really glad I drove up for this! In fine PG style, the event was over the top, with its own federation, website, and logo (https://sites.google.com/site/cornmazeo/) , and this particular corn maze was great, with its own excellent map.

Maze: http://www.mikesmaze.com/Images/Art%20Maze/Mikesma...

Course part 1: http://www.petergagarin.org/2010/maze-classic1.jpg
Course part 2: http://www.petergagarin.org/2010/maze-classic2.jpg

My race was utterly miserable. I lost huge chunks of time on #2 and #3, just trying to get into the scale and direction. I then had a good stretch of several controls before following J-J in a full circle after the map exchange. Finally, I left the spiral after #15 in completely the wrong way and came to #17 instead of #16. Definitely feeling like a chicken with its head cut off most of the time, but having lots of fun in the process. Biggins, with his yak hat, dominated in an awesome time of 14:56.

Results: https://sites.google.com/site/cornmazeo/results/20...
Splits: https://sites.google.com/site/cornmazeo/results/20...

I tried to get QR to work, but it was just too complicated. Look at my Garmin track for an idea of the ridiculousness.

2010 US Corn Maze Orienteering Sprint Champs

The sprint course was devious, just like PG had intended. I started poorly, with mistakes to #1 and #2, but finally seemed to get the hang of it in the end, running well to #3, #4, and the finish. Still got beaten by Biggins and also by J-J, who kicked our butts this time.

Course map: http://www.petergagarin.org/2010/maze-sprint.jpg

A fantastic event, really glad to have been a part of it. A fine dinner at Peter and Gail's place followed, along with games of boggle late into the night. Got home at 2am - took just 1:15 to drive to New Haven from Sunderland. Nice to have the road all to myself.

308/2000

Classic - Splits

Sprint - Splits

More PT today.
Same exercises as last time, plus:
- Single leg raises on a platform
- Walking sideways with a resistance band while in a squat and pushing out a 10lb ball

More painful massage today. I walked away feeling good and hopeful about a recovery.