Training Log Archive: Kat

Warm-up before the start, with several short breaks. My legs felt heavy on the uphills.

EVENT: SM Stafett 2007
COURSE: 1st leg, gaffling AA, 7.3 km, 19 controls
MAP: Svalilt, 1:15,000, 5m contours
TERRAIN: Hilly terrain with patches of very runnable forest and lots of very wet marshes.
MY RUN: This race was fun! Unlike the relay two weeks ago, I had a strategy planned out. For the first half of the race I was running with other girls, reading the (tiny) control descriptions on the uphills and always knowing the control number I was looking for. I had just the right balance between looking at the map and knowing what to expect and watching the other girls and using them to lead me into controls. It was perfect! Sadly, the second half wasn't quite as good, or else it would have been a truly impressive run!

My mistake came on #13 when I saw my control and saw other girls punch it, but still wasn't convinced it was mine. I thought the cliff I was looking for would be on the other side of the small/steep hill and clambered over it to check. This lost me a minute, as well as the group of girls I'd been running with. And if I had kept running with them, I doubt I would have missed #15 the way I did. On this control, I contoured around a steep green hill and just missed the cliff I was looking for (may have been just a few meters too high). The ground was wet and marshy there and I just kept going slowly uphill and sideways, looking for the cliff. I didn't realize I was going too far because it was such slow-going that I expected to be moving for a while. I figured out where I was when I hit #16, the radio and water control. I fixed the mistake immediately - ran back downhill through the marsh to the cliff and then slogged back up to #16 - but I lost 6.5 minutes on that, and in one of the most physical areas too! No further mistakes, but I was very slow on the last few controls because of this extra exertion.
RESULTS: 54th/65 on the first leg. There were a lot of good girls running the first leg!
THOUGHTS: This was a huge improvement over the first time I ran 1st leg two weeks ago. Most important lesson learned today: if there is a control nearby with lots of other girls punching it, check the code. It might cost a few seconds, but can potentially save a lot more!

C • Thoughts 1

Travel to Halland, where the Swedish Relay Champs will be held tomorrow.

Ran the D21L course from the long distance club champs with Boris. Went slowly, got very lost once, but otherwise did ok. Boris pointed out that some of my route choices sucked...The problem is I like running through the woods and I think running around on trails is boring, even if it is faster and sometimes provides a better attackpoint. I think I will continue to take the more interesting route choices in training, but I will try to be more conscious of safer "around" options during races.

C • I disagree 2

Attempted to do intervals in Stadsskogen, but I feel like I failed.

20 minute warm-up
3x{5 minutes hard, 2 minutes easy}
3x{1 minute hard, 1 minute easy}
17:15 cool-down

I ran the longer intervals at a pace that felt faster than my cross-country race pace, yet I couldn't get my HR up very high. I wasn't wearing the monitor, but I could tell that it just wasn't happening when my breathing would return to normal within 15 seconds. So then I tried to do 1-minute intervals so that I could push harder. I did indeed find a fifth gear doing these, but the breathing and HR still felt more appropriate for a level 3-4 run, even though I was practically sprinting. Grrr. I will just chalk it up to not having done intervals in a while and having tired legs.

Jogging to the clubhouse with Boris and then to the start of the testbana.

Running the testbana, taking it easy and getting to know the course. I navigated just fine throughout the first half of it, but there were some tricky parts at the end where the trails were particularly indistinct. I'll try to run this at least once more before the actual trial run.

Running home, taking a different route back.

Running to the backbana and then a short loop on the trails.

Running the backbana, this time by myself. Splits were 14:36 out to the southern-most point, 18:11 back. Had to slow down a couple of times to figure out where to go and once went off the line slightly, possibly losing 5-10 seconds, but otherwise it went pretty well.

Running back to the MIC, realizing half-way that Boris forgot the keys under a rock, and running back to get them...

Running to the start and from the finish.

Pre-running the D21L course for this weekend's OK Linne national event in Lunsen. I had to stop at several of the controls (possible radio controls for the race) and call Andreas to make sure that there was reception. I also had to spend a bit of extra time at the control sites where there were no flags, just a small paper with the control number printed on it, to ensure that the number was correct. I was surprised at how good I felt. I managed to do a long course in Lunsen, as my second training of the day in a reasonable amount of time, without ever getting really lost, and also running at a relatively easy pace. There is no way I could have done this a year ago. Pretty cool. :)

Janne's backbana in Uppsala - Splits

Nice run in Stadsskogen with Boris, mostly on horse paths and small trails.

Went right after the run, which was around 6:30PM. Gym was crowded, so I couldn't do a couple of my usual exercises.

I don't normally follow orienteering blogs, but I felt like reading some this evening. I was intrigued by a comment by Hanny about how it is supposedly better to limit the amount of time spent on orienteering practice because doing it too often trains bad habits and leads to staleness. Of course I completely disagree. I believe in focused practice. I believe that even with a sport as complicated as orienteering, it is possible to break down the whole into components, work on each one, put all of the skills together, and make it happen. I like the idea of a controlled, structured routine. I have used this approach in practically all of the main areas of my life and it works for me. I empathize with Thierry Gueorgiou completely. If orienteering were the single most important thing in my life, then I would do exactly what he does. I think Hanny has a lot of natural talent and this has gotten her high up on the results list, but if she wants to reach her potential, she should spend more time in the woods and less time on her other interests (cross country, mountain running, etc.).

C • What works for one... 2