Training Log Archive: BorisGr

Warm-up

WOC Relay. Ran 2nd leg for team USA. Eric ran a solid first leg and handed over to me in 29th, just behind Canada, and just ahead of Germany. I ran fast to catch and pass Mike Smith coming into #1, as he missed it by a bit, and was back and forth with him and the German guy for a few controls. I then took a bad route choice to #7 and lost about a minute, as well as contact with the other guys. Leaving 8, I saw the Chinese and Japanese guys, who both started quite a bit ahead, coming into it, so I picked up speed a bit. Started feeling very tired and powerless in the steep, hilly section between 9 and 13, and just focused on being clean through there. Spotted the Moldavian going to the spectator control, but didn't really gain on him from there to the finish. All in all, a good race technically, but a tough day physically. The team finished 29th, a place worse than last year, but closer to the leaders percent-wise.

Relay model area. Ran a course that Tom designed for Eddie and me. Our courses were forked, and we started at the same time, but there wasn't much head-to-head running after the first control, as we went to our different forks and never saw each other again.

Morning jog with a bunch of other US runners, on the north side of the Hydropark island. Nice, sandy trails, weird Communist-era building remains, and some nettles.

Ran the WOC Tour after spectating the middle final. The course was the same as the men's final course for the last 5km or so. After chaos at the start (they didn't assign start times, so it was a free for all. I used my knowledge of Russian to convince the organizers to make people line up to get start times, and then graciously volunteered to form the line of people behind me, thus getting a coveted early start), I ran off, trying not to repeat my mistakes from the middle quali. Ran quite well this time, though still made two 1-minute mistakes, one in a very vague green area, and another towards the end, when I was tired and dehydrated. Still, quite happy with my time, and with getting back a bit of self-confidence before the relay.

M21E Middle - Splits

Morning jog with Sam, Hillary, Viktoria, and Pavlina over to Hydropark, then to the beach, a quick dip in the radioactive Dniepr, and then back.

WOC Middle Distance Qualifier.

I've already written enough about this race and have analyzed what went wrong over and over in my head, so I don't have much more to say. Just that I felt great and totally prepared at the start line. No excuses.

Warm-up. Not surprisingly, there was no cool-down, just sitting in a field a while.