Training Log Archive: Kseniya

I was a bit frazzled this morning due to early arrival of my period and had to run to the pharmacy as part of my warm-up but made it to the start just in time.

C • You win 3

Boston Common Qualifier v.2. Super fast sprint with many turns of direction and people serving as obstacles. Gave it all I had but was a little disappointed afterwards because "all I had" was not so fast at all. Oh well. I did have the best split on the super short leg to #15, so life is good.

As I started warming up the pain in my foot became somewhat severe and I was concerned whether I should continue with the race or stop. Took some painkillers and just made up my mind to do it. It would have hurt me more psychologically to not have run the race.

Sprint Final. I tried very hard to push the pace and be sharp with my navigation. First loop went well but my energy levels sort of faded on the second loop and it was a struggle to the finish. Fun course!

Qualifier 2 Boston Common - Splits

Final Boston Common - Splits

Day 3. Starting the day with fast O-intervals at Franklin Park. This is definitely a great exercise. My group consisted of Ethan, Evalyn and myself, and we tackled this like pros.

Farsta. Mass start, 3 loops. This did not go so well for me. Twisted my ankle on first loop and my motivation to fight decreased progressively after that, so last loop I was not moving fast at all. Got a chance to observe Emma's orienteering though, as she had the same order of the loops (3,1,2), and she definitely has good legs and confidence.

Decided to sit out the third morning exercise due to foot pain, which is now in a different spot closer to big toe. Ankle seems Ok.

Evening race at Franklin Park. This was a lot of fun; I really enjoyed it. Messed up controls 10 and 11 a bit but overall navigation was good. It was also nice to have Kristoffer pushing the pace.

Cool down and control pick up with Will.

Sprint Franklin Park - Splits

Day 2. Morning exercised by Erin at Magazine Beach. This one was designed to focus on precision and reading (and touching) necessary details (point features) on each leg.

Second training was actually quite fun. It was in a grid on a hill with bunch of controls. The map did not represent reality and the goal was to navigate the course on the map utilizing the grid. The trick was to just to tell yourself, "turn left, turn right, straight, turn left, and so on" without worrying about anything else, otherwise it was easy to mess up. Counting junctions was beneficial though. I found this exercise useful as it taught concentration and focused on specific skill in sprint, which I know I had somewhat neglected in the past.

Street-O on the streets of Cambridge. Lots and lots of pavement running.

Evening "race" at Danehy Park. Fun course on this very open sport field map. I practiced reading ahead and checking off features. I didn't push quite as hard as I could but still gave it some effort.

Sprint Danehy - Splits

Event: 2015 Boston Sprint Camp
 

And the awesome training week continues! Now switching to sprints at the Boston Sprint Camp. Alex kindly picked me up from the airport and we made in time for second training of the day.

Partner-O at Edmand's Park with Bill at first and then with Alex as well. The team had maps with different set of controls and the idea was to lead to each control while the other person follows on the map and determines location, then switch.

Edmand's park sprint race. Gave it my honest effort but could feel myself getting tired, especially on the last loop.

Sprint Edmands Park - Splits

Re-running the middle WC course this morning. Parked at the finish + second start area and jogged to the start.

Legs were definitely not feeling fresh after days of forest running but overall they felt stronger. Hit #1 no problem, said, "Yes!" and carried on, but messed up #2 by taking a different route and compensating for previous error by overrunning it. Oops. Rest of the course I greatly enjoyed, still hesitated on same controls that I made mistakes on during the WC (#6 and #8) but overall my understanding of the map greatly improved. Furthermore, I felt more like "running on waves" today. The trick was to let go of control, soften the knees and let the plush ground carry you. It is still physically challenging but at least there is progress :). My time is almost exactly same as during the race, but I wasn't pushing hard today and had no fellow Slavs to push me, then again I also didn't make that many mistakes..

After lunch on a lake and a nap I set out on my second training for today on the Ljungskile East map (1:15 scale this time). This area is a xc ski resort and has a decent trail network and not many big hills or rocks. Very nice forest. I didn't do a course but some terrain running instead, practicing not being scared of going through the marshes. I didn't want to stay out for that long and I could feel that I'm low on energy and blood sugar; managed to get a little lost on the trails trying to get back. Not to far from the parking lot though, there is an absolutely gorgeous stretch of woods that gave me goosebumps as I was running through it. It was a clean pine forest with harder ground covered in moss. Great ending to my training here in Sweden.

Training one of the day just North of Herristad / Uddevalla. There were actual control flags in the woods. Didn't do the whole course and didn't find #5. There was logging in that area, marked by h's on the map but the boundary on map is definitely not precise. I am proud that I traversed two marshes, to #4 and to #16. These lightweight new balance shoes are great for soft wet ground but again, spikes would have been better. I only saw a deer today.

C • Spikes 9

And for lunch I had this killer burger:

It was an amazing experience that I will not forget.

C • Burger! 2

Rested and digested for a bit, and set out for the second training, which was in Uddevalla, right next to a mining operation. This was very rugged terrain and much greener than drawn on the map. I'm sort of getting used to the mapping here now but "bouncing on waves", as Balter put it, is still tough.

Set out to do the Iddefjordfjella multitechnique training in Norway, designed by Halden SK. map. I almost did not find this place being on an unnamed road as per google maps. Eventually I made it to the parking spot and was very happy to practice Oing on such a nice day. I did not do the whole exercise but started with the compass-O, then the control pick, and finishing with a few other random controls. There were streamers in the woods and I greatly appreciated those, not only were they letting me know I'm in the correct spot but they also provided a sense of comfort that other orienteers have been here. It may be brave or it may be foolish to go out into the woods alone. I did bring a whistle and was hoping to not run into any large creatures while out there. Moose are common here but I didn't really educate myself as to what to do when you encounter one. When running to the second to last control on this beautiful pine + blueberry hill I saw what could be a moose sleeping place. I thought, "nice, I would have picked these quarters myself but thank goodness I did not see any moose on the course". I thought too soon. Just prior to attacking the control, there the moose was, standing in all its glory and staring at me. Needless to say I almost pooped my O-pants. I tried my best to appear not threatening, it was hard but I managed while retreating into the hillside. That thing was giant, I couldn't believe it. First moose encounter.

So regarding the terrain and mapping here. The whole forest is basically covered in blueberry bushes, moss, rocks, and marshes of various sorts. As the terrain in the middle course, this was physically demanding. It requires one to jump and push off while sinking in, but the ground is uneven and rocky, yielding a retarded sort of running style where you stumble forward and sideways instead of using momentum to go forward. The month I took off due to my foot injury definitely let itself known because it ruined my jumping and plyometric practice.
I'm sort of getting used to how things are mapped here. Not only does it depend on size of the feature but on its uniqueness. It is selective and when one understands the mapping style the features that are on the map provide enough support when orienteering. I still found myself confused a great deal and I was going very very slowly on this training.

C • moose 12

I was really tired after the first training and although I planned to do another O-session I decided to give it a rest, and just went for an exploratory jog next the lake.

C • Café Snäckan 3