Training Log Archive: schnitzer

Summary thoughts after the O-Ringen...

There was this Englishman, Irishman and Scotsman who went to the O-Ringen and ran H21L...

Me - 118/136
Ross McLennan - 122/136
Colm Hill - MP

...we were all pretty pap quite frankly.

In comparison with last year I was both better and worse techincally. I had really bad runs last year on stages 1 and 5 losing approx 15mins on each. None of my runs this year were that bad. But stages 1, 2 and 4 were almost. Stage 3 was my best this year techincally but not anywhere near as good as stages 3 and especially 4 last year.

I think I am slightly more advanced physically this year which providing I do the right stuff over the next 3 weeks hopefully means I have a promising Lakes 5, Swedish Middle/Relay (Doug Tullie is joining Nick and I for the Ravinen H21 team this year - really looking forward to that!) and Stockholm champs coming up.

So the next 3 weeks. Rest day today, recovery jog tomorrow and then some serious volume next week - lots of OMM training. The week after some OMM training and speed work and the final week lots of rest.

C • Couldn't have put it better... 8

Stage 5. 120/151 (Mikael Eliasson won in 72:54).

The least interesting stage by far - quite shitty forest in places. Lots of marsh, scrub and proper medium green bits, all of which I seemed to find due to not really planning any legs properly - very tired and just bumbling through really. It was at least an hour before I started feeling like I was attacking the course.

Similar start to yesterday big mistake on 1 and smaller one on 2. 3 was good (70th) and 4 was the longest leg and I went through most of the marsh and green that was possible and missed the control slightly. 8 really annoyed me the pack I was with drifted and I didn't but got drawn into making the same mistake as them - be more confident! 9 got stuck in some marshy green again. 12 got stuck in some marshy green again. Missed 13. 14 really happy - difficult control but chose a good route, kept contact and spiked it (64th). Lots of hesistation on 17 but had a pretty good race after that (nailing another tiny leg 46th on 20).

Stage 4. 120/169 (Robbin Kantarp won in 64:35).

Ok so not two full length classics to finish (phew) - was pleased to observe some very fast times on the results before starting. Bearing in mind this and how fresh I was feeling after the rest day I decided to attack today's race more than stages 1/3 (but not eyeballs-out like the stage 2 middle).

I could have had a very good result today if it weren't for mistakes blah but blah maybe etc. Completely different terrain from the first 3 stages i.e. much more flat and runnable. Started off very badly with significant mistakes on 1 and 2 but then got into a flow. Great short leg to 4 (28th). After a few legs where concentration was required I upped the effort and started really attacking (for me) and by 12 I was in 91st place and on for easily my best result of the week... and then I ruined it on 13 wasting approx 5mins.

Bit up and down after that getting tired but managed my record of the week split on the tiny leg to 15. Check it out though this is unbelievable... so I was 32secs (15th), 3rd was 30secs, 2nd was 28secs but wait for it... 1st place for leg 15 was an incredible 22secs!!! How the f is that possible? The guy only beat me by a few mins overall but had 5 fastest splits. All the tiny legs basically - think someone was having some fun.

Was expecting to be rather stiff but not the case.

5*13 ff.

Stage 3. 125/163 (Per Brolund won in 92:12).

Same forest as yesterday but the Western section of it.

Tried to stay positive and believe that I could actually navigate well - after all I've been training in these kind of forests long enough! Pleased to say much better run technically apart from a moment of madness to 5 where I was running under some overhead wires and entered the forest right instead of left! This was because I was actually running under the wrong set of overhead wires. Realised quick but probs lost a couple of mins. Apart from that just small misses on 8, 12, 16 and a slightly bigger one on 15 but corrected quickly on all four.

Some great splits! 69th on 1, 79th on 7, 90th on 13 (especially pleased with this one as it was a long leg - took the path route and it obv paid off!) and a great section at the end 18-21 - 89th, 81st, 79th and 83rd. Consistency!

Got all worried again about making the distance as today was proper tough - not much more distance than Sun but the winner was 15mins slower so either it was a beast or everyone is tired. Felt tired on the long leg to 5 and looking at the rest of the course was very daunting! However I didn't get any more tired from there to the end and my splits 18-21 prove that. I've come on an awful long way from falling apart physically doing 13km fresh at the Jukola just 5 weeks ago.

So now a rest day and then just the piece of pie task of two full length classic races back to back. Hmm...

Stage 2. 153/187 (Erik Johan Liljequist won in 32:20).

Nice medium distance course with controls 1-10 all in the first 1.5km. Lots of green and very intense contour and rock detail. Really enjoyable, world class terrain.

Full effort today, maximum risk. Started well - a little hesitant on 1 but great splits to 2 and 3 (75th and 86th). Followed someone out of 3 that looked like a H21L runner but soon realised he was going way too S. Didn't know where I was and ran around in circles for a bit relocating - big mistake lost 2.5mins. Was pretty average after that (apart from a great split on 8 - 61st!) until 12 where I drowned in a marsh I should never have been anywhere near to. Huge detour from the obvious path route - really bad line out of 11. Ruined my run with a complete balls up of 15 (at this point my glasses got really wet from all the bushes - my fault should have put some lenses in) and then small mistakes on 16, 17 and a medium one on 18. Another really bad day at the office.

Felt physically on fire :)

Stage 1. 167/189 (Erik Lind won in 77:36).

Terrible start to the O-Ringen - huge mistakes on 2 and 8. Many smaller mistakes including being a complete softlad and making long way around route choices to avoid marsh/green/a few contours or get to a path quickly. When I needed to make a much more slight detour to avoid some climb I went straight over the top. Lots of hesitation. Really bad map work.

I was worried about being able to complete all 5 stages so went out with energy conservation in mind. On the last long leg (16) I tried out my fitness and got an 87th place split and I don't think my route was all that good either. Finished with lots of energy left - maybe I'm going to need it later in the week...

Beautiful forest, nice classic course with not many controls, rained a lot.

Event: O-Ringen Örebro 2010
 

Big/Little Brother's Absolut hash #593 around Svinninge (11). Felt a weird combination of really fresh and sluggish at the same time. Experimented a bit putting the power down here and there and felt fine and strong. The rest of the time just an easy run and felt tired.

Lovely trail today - loads of off-road (just how I like it). Couldn't stay for the after party :( had to drive to the O-Ringen :)