Training Log Archive: BorisGr

Jogging from Polacksbacken to the start of backbana and back.

An easy-pace run around the backbana on an absolutely spectacular fall day - bright and sunny and about 12C. Just perfect! I ran with Lars and Björn and a friend of theirs from work, for whom this was his first backbana experience. We kept pace along with him, all three of us probably thankful for the excuse to go slowly. I felt reasonably fresh and strong on the hills, which I hope is some indication that my plan of running backbana at least once every week is bearing fruit.

Warm-up for the night-O, the 3000th training session I've logged on AP.

Wednesday Night-O, the first one of the season.
This one was on Hammarskog, and I ran the long course. Was basically by myself the entire time, as I had a late start, and made a bunch of mistakes. Managed to relocate reasonably well on most of them, but there were sitll a couple of big ones. Also terrified myself when I spooked a duck that must have been almost right under me as I ran through a swamp. It flew off making loud noises indicating general displeasure.
It'll definitely take some time this fall to get used to night-O again.

Janne's backbana in Uppsala - Splits

Long warm-up and a shuffle cool-down with Patrick, Sara, and Mari.

I don't think I am in good shape at the moment. Or at least, I felt really slow running the club "cross-country" champs. The idea was to run loops around the fairly hilly Norby lit trail. We were supposed to run 3 loops, but right from the start I was pretty sure that getting through 2 would be an accomplishment. Felt like I was running as hard as I could right from the start, but at the same time, the speed just wasn't there. Kept with Patrick and within sight of Lars for the first lap (9:48), then watched Inga fly by us at the beginning of the second lap and try to stay with her. Man, she is strong! Barely hung on for the entire second lap (9:53), and outsprinted her to the finish, only to see her go off for a third lap. Impressive! She was way faster than all the other girls, including Annika. Anyway, Mats' times for the first two laps were 8:15 and 8:32.
The last couple of days I've felt like I am working hard, feeling ok, but just have no ability to go fast. Let's hope it's just the lingering effects of the sickness and not an indication of my overall shape.

C • Hello...recovery? 11

A 'gentle jog' around Rob's loop on Nåsten, plus some more in Stadsskogen. Strange to not have any of Rob, Andrew, or Patrick in town to train with. Feels almost like my first year in Uppsala!

The fall's first gympa for me, right after the run. Man, I am bad at this. Everything hurt, and I was totally uncoordinated. At least I must have provided good entertainment for Sara and Mari with my poorly timed hops and skips, and arm motions more resembling the final death throes of a crippled boar in agony than the graceful dance/aerobics movements that Susanne, the gympa leader, demonstrated.

C • hej hej 2

Warm-up with Mats, cool-down with Mats, Inga, and Liutas

After being sick and not-too-motivated the last couple of weeks, I decided it was time to kick-start my training again. The kicking implement of choice was Hässelbyloppet, 10km road race in the suburbs of Stockholm. I hadn't run any road races in ages, and hadn't done a measured 10km since I was 11, when I ran 44:24 in Moscow. As a result, I didn't have too many time expectations (36 minutes was a goal, but only an approximate one.) The idea was just to make myself run hard, see what sort of time I can do, and get a good workout in the process. By the way, can anyone tell me why entry fees at running races are several times greater than at orienteering races, even though way more work goes into planning an O-race?
So I raced. Even though Mats warned me not too run too fast at the start, I did just that and, to my horror, passed the first 1km in 3:24, a lot faster than the 3:36 I tentatively hoped for. As one can see from my splits below, I paid for this stupid opening later on and ended up really struggling after about 4km or so. My first 5km was 17:59, and the second - 19:15. Quite sad. Oh well, at least now I have a time I can try to beat in the future. Plus, I actually enjoyed this!
The biggest plus was that this was the first day in two and a half weeks that I spent without coughing even once, and so I finally feel ready to get back into training. Oh yeah, I raced in a pair of lightweight Mizuno shoes that Rob gave me yesterday. They are totally awesome and fit perfectly.

3:24
3:29
3:43
3:38
3:45
3:50
3:53
3:54
3:54
3:42

Results: http://www.racetimer.se/sv/race/resultlist/91?rc_i...

C • prices 10

After getting back to Uppsala, I grabbed a pizza with Mats (who was impressive in coming 6th with a time of 31:47!), went home, slept for an hour, and headed off to the gym for some spinning. The idea was to use it as a recovery session - never raise the resistance too high during the workout. The turned out well, and I feel a lot fresher now than I did after this morning's race.

Spent most of the day (from 6:45am till 14:00 or so) standing around at the Uppsala Raid adventure race. My tasks included being a parking attendant (a job that could be done as easily, and surely better, by an appropriately placed cardboard sign with an arrow and a large "P" painted on it) and then being a bridge attendant, making sure that cars didn't run over the bikers going over the bridge (a job that did not need to be done by anyone at all.) Since the temperature throughout the day varied wildly from -5C to about -4C, and since my jobs involved about as much movement as Lenin's mummy performs in its mausoleum on a daily basis, I was frozen solid pretty much the whole day. Even though I planned valiantly to go for a run after getting home, all I could manage was sit in the corner of the shower for about an hour or so, whimpering.

Jogging to and from backbana.

Had a headache and was nauseous in the morning, but dranlk a bunch of water and felt better. Probably got dehydrated from sweating tons last night - they finally turned on the heat in the house, but i didn't adjust for it. Anyway, ran over to the backbana and did one lap, starting out easy and working harder as it went on. Felt good to finish strong.

Janne's backbana in Uppsala - Splits

Little by little, getting back into training. Thought about doing part of the club's interval workout tonight, but decided against it given the really cold, rainy evening and my desire to avoid getting sick again immediately. Went instead to the gym (for the first time in ages!) and took a spinning class. Nice and sweaty, just as I remember it. Felt good and enjoyed being indoors for a workout.