Training Log Archive: jfredrickson

Warm-up for the Long. Legs still feeling pretty good.

An awesome long course with some technical areas and some really long route choice legs. I started off pretty poorly making mistakes on the 2, 3 and 4. After that I ran an awesome race (despite one more mistake on 13) until the very end when I just died mentally after a long trail run. It's frustrating to be feeling so solid technically but to still make so many mistakes. I'll have to analyze this one in detail to figure out what I can do better to avoid these kinds of mistakes.

Still managed to sneak into 3rd place, but over 5 minutes behind the winner. I have to admit it was more than I ever expected in the Long, but it's always mixed feelings when you place well despite a bad run...

A detailed race analysis is now below. Routegadget animation is up with my routes.

Long
12.2km - 1:29:08 (7:18/km) - 3rd place (5:17 behind)
This was a very interesting race. I made some mistakes early on, but then I settled in and felt nearly perfect technically until nearly the end. Wil Smith caught me at the 3rd control, and we both missed the 4th one together. But I decided to push the pace and stay in front of him. It was really exciting trying to stay in front of him and still navigate accurately. I had spent a good amount of time analyzing the rest of course on the long 3rd leg and had already had all my route choices picked out, so it was mostly just a matter of execution and some detailed navigation on the short legs. I felt like I was always one step ahead of where I was and everything was going very smoothly. I fell behind a bit in the thick area leading up to the 12th control and had to slow down to make sure I spiked it, but it was tough enough that Wil couldn't pick up the pace and I managed to stay in front. Then I got confused on the little trails half-way to control 13 and got us both lost for a little while. I guess I just got sloppy when I hit the trails and started running along without realizing that they were quite tricky and didn't really go where I wanted to go. That got us into a really vague green area which took a bit of time to relocate in. After that I was right back on point and spiked the next several controls and took off on the long leg just in front of Wil. I executed my route choice perfectly until the very end of the leg where we came into the area with the intricate trail network. Again, I couldn't figure out the trails and decided to run one of them to a junction and try to relocate. Wil went off left and I ran the trail right. It was really stupid to leave Wil to try to relocate since he looked pretty confident. I don't like to rely on other people, but this wasn't a particulary tough area and there was no reason to assume that he had become as confused by it as I had. Anyway, I couldn't figure out the trails for a long time and ended up wandering around with Will Hawkins for a bit until he somehow managed to figure out where we were and took off towards the control. From there I just followed him on the trails through the last couple controls to the finish. For some reason I didn't have any motivation to push it and actually let Will start to run away from me. I guess I was tired and making that big mistake killed me mentally, but I should have known that the race was long enough that I was still in contention. I was still pretty surprised to finish 3rd, but it is a really good lesson that you should never stop racing until the end no matter how much time you have lost. Especially when your result could contribute to your team. It ended up not making a difference, but with a larger field it could have meant several places and quite a few points in the team competition.

The early mistakes were primarily due to the same thing as the mistakes I was making in the middle. On the 2nd, 3rd and 4th controls I found myself heading towards the control circle unsure of the terrain around me and having to relocate in the area.

My mistake on 13 was pretty unique though. I normally am pretty good about ignoring intricate trail networks that don't lead in the right direction, but for some reason I got lazy and started running on the trails anyway here. Looking at it now, it seems pretty obvoius that I should have taken a bearing to the big cliff along the line just before the control and taken that trail in, ignoring all the other trails along the way, but I guess the green was thick enough that I had trouble ignoring the trails and got sucked along. It is definitely a good lesson though. Intricate trail networks are especially difficult to deal with and ignore when the woods around them are thick.

My big mistake at the end had a lot to do with my exhaustion and not being fully prepared physically for such a long race. I knew that I had a pretty good shot of beating Mike Smith's time which I figured would give me a good position so I might have tried to push it a bit too hard on the long trail run to 19, but I think that that pushing hard on the trails in a long race is part of the strategy and I just need to work on being able to focus at the end of the trail run again. It has a lot to do with my endurance level, and that is something that I intend to work on a lot over the winter. I know that the Long isn't really my race and I don't really have any ambitions for it, at least not until later in my career, but I know that I need a better base of endurance for all disciplines, so that is something I will focus on.

I think the main thing I need to take away from this race though is that I need to be more conscious about avoiding confusing trail networks that don't go your way. Rather than trying to figure them out, just blast through them and use regular features for navigation as if the trails aren't there.

Anyway, I am very excited about my results this weekend. I felt very confident and able to minimize my mistakes very well. I also felt quite fast, so the running speed and terrain speed is coming along nicely. I definitely need to do more terrain running though and get in a lot more miles and hours this winter. The main thing is that I am starting to aim for specific races, prepare for them well, and achieve my goals. As a result, my motivation is really high and I should be able to carry that over into a great training period this winter. I am already really excited to see what how many hours I can rack up this winter and how fast I will be next Spring. But the season is not quite over yet. I have two more XC meets and one more A-Meet, so it's not time to relax just yet.

Long Course 8 - Splits

Warm-up run to the start with Erin, and then some more warming up at the start. Legs feeling really good.

A very tough race. Technical, rocky and thick in some places made for very slow times and lots of mistakes throughout the field. I managed to have a pretty solid run and somehow came out on top. Pretty amazing feeling to win a North American Championship already.

A more detailed race analysis is now below. Splits and route commentary are up. Routegadget animation is up with my routes.

Cool-down after the race. Full of adrenaline from the win.

Middle
4.5km - 29:33 (6:34/km) - 1st place (53 secs ahead)
I have to admit, while it is hard to analyze a race where you realized all your goals, I know that this was by no means a perfect race and there is plenty that I can learn from it. I knew that the terrain was going to be quite technical, and quite tough running both due to uneven, rocky ground, and thick woods. I had been out on the training map the day before and it was much thicker than I had remembered it from the training camp in January (it shouldn't have been surprising, but somehow it was). I knew that I was going to have to rely pretty heavily on my compass because the terrain was too detailed to read everything and it was too thick to see much anyway. I had talked with some finishers before going to the start and had heard that that it was basically exactly how I had expected it was going to be, and that the main thing was to just be confident and push ahead rather than try to stop constantly and do extremely detailed micro-navigation.

I got myself pumped up as much as possible before the race so that I would be ready to blast through the terrain. I had also heard that the first control was visible from a good distance, so my goal was to start out fast on a compass bearing to get the agressive feel right from the beginning. This seemed to work perfectly, although I did hit a control along my way which I thought was going to be mine since I hadn't been reading the map that closely. When I discovered it wasn't mine I was forced to take a closer look at my map, but I was able to quickly realize where I was and that my control was just ahead (I saw it almost immediately after that).

After the first control I forced myself to be a little more detailed in my navigation because I could see that the upcoming controls looked especially technical, and there were a lot of short legs. Short legs don't give you any margin for error in your navigation. I had caught Greg Balter at the first control (he started 2 minutes in front of me) and was still running with him on the way to the third control when I spotted a control off to my right. I knew that I hadn't gone far enough yet, and that it was way off the direction I was running in, but I immediately got the feeling that it was my chance to get away from Greg, and so I started running to it almost on instinct. I started to get a bad feeling right away, but I went in anyway to read the code before I was able to acknowledge the mistake I was making. Fortunately it was not that far off the line that Balter was still in sight and I was able to chase after him and hit the third control right behind him despite my mistake. This is a really interesting kind of mistake, and one that I seem especially prone to. I made the same mistake two weeks ago at the CNYO A-Meet. It always happens when I am running with other people and feel the need to try to break away from them.

I got a little careless in my navigation on 5 and 6, again getting carried away with the idea of running away from Greg, and I kept realizing as I was approaching the approximate distance of the control that I had no attackpoint and that I wasn't 100% sure of the terrain and what I was looking for. Each time I was able to correct by forcibly stopping myself and studying the map carefully to figure out where I was and what I was looking for. On 5 I lost 23 seconds to the fastest split time and on 6, 13 seconds. I am really happy about my discipline when I realized that I wasn't spiking the control because that is something that I have been working on lately and that is probably the main reason that I was able to sneak away with the win, but I have to really work on avoiding getting myself into such situations in the first place. I can't expect to lose 15-30 seconds on these short legs and still get good results in bigger competitions and so I have to be more disciplined about reading the map more closely in the detailed areas and stopping as soon as something doesn't look right, or I am not sure.

I made the same kind of mistake on control 10. Nothing looked right in the area leading up to the control, but I was confident that I was going in the right direction and decided that the easiest place to relocate was near the control because that was the first area with distinct features. This was probably a pretty good idea beacuse it saved me the time of trying to figure out a particulary bland area leading up to the control, but I lost too much time relocating at the control circle for it to be really a successful strategy. I hit the big boulder at the top of the swamp and thought it was the one in the control circle. It tooke me a while to figure out that I was to the right of the cliff in the circle, but again I was disciplined about it and fell back to the techniques that I had practiced for such situations. This kept me from wandering off and losing lots of time, and so I was able to minimize my total time lost. I am really not sure what I could have done strategically to avoid this mistake as it was really due to not seeing all the relevant features on the map, and not noticing how easy it was to hit the wrong feature and think you were right. I guess I could have just been more careful in reading the area around the circle, but then again you have to take risks like this and simplify enough that you can move fast. I think that one reason I may have not noticed the big boulder at the top of the swamp on the map at first is because of the north line running between it and the control circle. Even when looking at it now that line forces my eye to concentrate on the features left of the line around the control circle. I guess I'll have to try to be conscious of that and try to be more careful. in reading features around north lines.

Again I got a little sloppy in the green area towards the end, continuously finding myself not sure of the terrain and having to relocate near the control circle. This may have enabled me to maintain a higher speed, but I can't imagine that it was the most efficient way to get through the course. I also made a really stupid mistake just before control 16, cutting off the trail too early because I thought it was bending left and up the hill. I imagine this was due to me picking up the pace on the trails at the end and going into oxygen debt too early before the end. PG had warned me against this before the race, but somehow I just got carried away on the trails because the last two controls looked so easy. This is another thing that I am prone to, and PG is completely right when he says that the few seconds to be gained from picking up the pace towards the end are extremely minor when compared to the possible time lost from a stupid mistake. I will have to be more disciplined about waiting until I see the final control before picking up the gear. You can't navigate when your brain turns off, and since I am always running just below that threshold in an O-race, picking up the gear will always push me into the red zone where navigation and execution become impossible.

The two main things I need to focus on are:

1.) Avoid having to relocate. Be more disciplined about not going anywhere until you have read that piece of the map in detail and know which features to expect. If simplifying, always have one or two features every few meters to check off. Stop as soon as things are not looking right and go into relocation mode.
2.) Don't pick up the pace until you see the last control and no more navigation is required.

Middle Course 8 - Splits

Event: 2006 North American Championships (Golden Leaf Orienteering Fest)
 

Warm-up for the NAOC Sprint at McMaster University. Legs feelings crazy.

A pretty solid race. Made one 5 second mistake on control 9 as I couldn't figure out fast enough how to get into the little walled area and where exactly the control was located inside it. Had to stop right outside to figure it out. Then made a rediculously stupid mistake on control 16, running right by it even though I had purposely spotted it early in the course. I was just reading ahead and just didn't realize how fast I went by the control. Lost another 10 seconds there between running by the control and back to it.

I made some debatable route choices, but I don't think any of them were significant enough to count as actual lost time.

A more detailed race analysis is now below. Splits and route commentary are up. Routegadget animation is up with my routes.

Easy cool-down jog after the sprint. Legs hurt like they do sometimes after a tough speed workout.

Sprint
3.2km - 15:55 (4:58/km) - 5th place (24 secs behind)
I was pretty satisfied with my Sprint race. I spent a good 1:30 walking around the campus during the morning prior to the race and got a really good feel for the campus layout and some of the interesting possible control locations. This definitely helped me save some time because I could glance at the map and immediately recognize areas of the campus that I had already walked over. I did have two small mistakes (one of which wasn't actually that bad because it was such a tough spot that stopping to figure it out may have actually been necessary). Of course losing 10 seconds by running by a control out in the open simply because I was looking at my map and didn't have my head up when I knew I was approaching the control was really stupid. I am usually really good about this, but I will have to make a conscious effort to remember to avoid mistakes like this later in the race. I was really surprised to discover after the race that I was tied with Patrick (the winner) at the spectator control and that I lost a good 14 seconds to him over the last 7 controls in addition to my 10 second mistake. He made some very different route choices from me on these last controls, and that may have made the difference in the race. On control 12 I really had the urge to go around the building to the right, but before starting I had seen everyone going around left and decided that they must all be right. While it is good to get as much information as possible before your race, you still have to rely on your own skills when it comes down to the race, and trusting other runners route choices over my own is really bad. Even at a big race where you know that the majority of the competitors are better than you, you still have to trust your own skills in the race. At races in NA though, where I know that I am one of the top competitors, I should be even more trusting of my skills over other peoples. Patrick went right around the building and beat me by 5 seconds on the leg.

On control 15, I went left around both buildings after considering going right around the second one. It looked slightly longer to get around the far corner of the right side of the second building, but I didn't even see the option of going right around both buildings. It is only a short leg and it looks almost about the same, but the fact that I didn't see that option during my race is a bad sign. I know that I was in pretty extreme oxygen debt by that point, and that is probably the main reason behind my poor performance at the end of the race. I think the main thing that I can take away from this race is that I am still not in good enough anaerobic shape for these pure running races. I am definitely qiute good at being able to think fast and make quick decisions, and especially at reading the map while running and navigating at high speeds. If I want to be competitive in the Sprint discipline though I need to do more speed training and probably lots more track work specifically. I think that the 2-mile is probably the most relavant race for Sprints, so I'll have to see what I can dig up on training for the 2-mile.

Sprint 4 - Splits

Slept all morning, and now I am off to Hamilton. I'll drive as far as possible tonight so that I can be there in time to get out on the maps tomorrow morning. Should be fired up and ready to go.

Went for a slightly long, easy run instead of doing the workout with the team. Felt kind of crappy to be running so slow, but it should leave me feeling crazy on Friday :)

C • Feeling crazy... 2

Taper, taper, baby. Legs feeling a lilttle tired going up stairs, but otherwise feeling great. Got to keep busy to keep from thinking about the race too much. I think it is really good practice taking one or two races outside of WOC really seriously every year. Even if the pressure at the event won't be the same, I at least feel the same anticipation leading up to it. I can't wait!

Will try to get back to Trout Brook Valley tomorrow to brush up on my technique. I'll spend the night at home in NY tomorrow night, and then drive up on Thursday. Thursday will be another rest day, aside from a possible easy jog to loosen up the legs after driving. Want to be there already Friday morning to get a chance to get out on the maps before the events start. By that time my legs should be dying to race.

C • pressure 3

Warm-up run at the rail trail. Went out for about a mile and back. I measured the distance on gmap-pedometer, but it isn't very exact since I couldn't see the trail very well on the satellite imagery.

Did a 32 minute out-and-back run on the rail trail. The trail is about 2.7 miles, and I made it a little ways past the end before hitting the 16 minute mark and turning around. I wasn't able to quite hold the pace on the way back though and went 1:28 overtime.

Today was the last day to run hard before the North Americans and it felt great. Didn't quite push it up to a level 5 since the taper has officially started. I can't wait to kick some Canadian ass!

Cool thing is that my pace was faster than my first (and only finish so far) XC race this season. I wasn't pushing quite as hard, and this was longer, so maybe I am in better shape now. I didn't have my best race that day, but it still looks nice to be going down to a 5:56 mile pace on a 5+ mile run when I wasn't going all out.

Real easy cool down run, feeling a bit tired but not too bad.