Training Log Archive: BorisGr

A "morning" long run with Kat (and part of the way with Lasso) to get rid of the hangover from our moving-in party. We ran on small trails on Nåsten, which was quite nice, as was the fact that most marshes were frozen enough to hold my weight.

Took quite a bit of willpower (plus a desire to escape having to do laundry) to drag myself off the "couch" and to the gym this evening, but I am glad I did it. Still feeling a bit hungover, but fresher after the workout than before.

Warm-up

Christmas Points-O organized by Anne Kretzschmar on Lunsen. This was a score-O, where each control had little paper tabs with point written on them: 29, 28, 27, and so on down to 1. If you are the first person to get to the control, you take the 29-point tab, second one gets 28, and so on. So strategy makes a difference. We were on a really nice area of Lunsen, which was just a pleasure to run on this cold, frosty morning. My strategy was to go for the area with the highest control concentration first and try to get the highest points on those. It worked pretty well, as I got a lot of 28s and 29s there. Then one more loop through the north side of the map and back to the finish. Got 28 of 36 controls, good for (i think) 617 points and first place. Pretty cool. Will have the map posted later when I find it.

C • nice job! Way to be crafty. 1

Jogging to the hill on the Norby lit track, jogging between intervals, and running to Hågadalsskolan afterwards.

Intervals with Kat on the steep, short hill in Norby. I gave her a headstart of about 10 meters and tried to catch her. Usually got to the top just ahead of her. We did 2 sets of 10 with a 5 minute jogging break in the middle.

C • What should we conclude fro... 4

Circuits after intervals. Fun as always. The evening ended with taking Patrick out for dinner for his birthday and us all eating a giant orienteering-themed cake Mari baked for him, complete with Patrick in a Linné O-suit, trees, controls, rocks, and dot knolls. Yum!!

Warm-up, cool-down, a couple of running drills.

Having felt very good running intervals the last couple of weeks, I decided to run another 5km time trial on the track before the snow came again to see if I have gotten any faster. My PR was 17:21, which I ran on October 24th. I really hoped to try and break it this time, with a "dream goal" of breaking 17 minutes. It was nice and chilly (-2C), and I think it was the first time I'd ever run on a track covered in frost. A bit tough mentally to get myself to do this, even once I got there. Somehow, it seems so easy to think up excuses not to run, especially when no one is around to make you feel guilty. Eventually, though, I got myself to start running, but none of that feeling of speed and lightness from interval sessions ever came. I struggled to breathe well, and my legs felt pretty heavy. After one lap, I thought I'd never finish, as I was in pain and already a second off the target pace. As the laps went along, I was still feeling bad, but nothing seemed to be getting worse. With a lap and a half to go, I realized I had a shot, and tried to pick it up. The last 200 meters was not a pretty sight, as I was wheezing and making all sorts of horrid noises, and running as fast as I could. When I crossed the finish line and stopped my watch, I was really glad to see a number under 17 minutes on it!
It's so much easier to be happy after a running race than after an orienteering race - when running, if you hit the time you aim for, you are happy. In orienteering, there are always things you could have done better, and you can never be completely happy. In some ways, running seems like such a more straightforward sport.

82.0
80.9
81.6
82.4 (5:27 mile)
82.9
82.5
83.1
82.1 (5:30 mile)
82.7
82.1
82.6
80.5 (5:28 mile)
34.0

C • Great job! 14

A bit of a warm-up for the night-O.

Wednesday Night-O at Vedyxa. Ran the middle course, given that I am trying to take this week with a bit less volume than last. Started out by missing the first control a bit, then finding, but looking at the number on the SI unit (31) and not on the flag (91). Confused, I circled around for a while and returned to the same place, perhaps 3 minutes later. Decided this was the right one, punched, and went on. Then remembered that the right codes were only on the flags themselves. Oh well. Orienteered quite well after that, pretty fast and with some confidence. Probably helped that the terrain was mostly nice, and the map made sense.
Results: http://www.oklinne.nu/onsdagsnatt/results.php?id=4...
Route Gadget: http://www.oklinne.nu/routegadget/cgi-bin/reitti.c...

5km - Splits

Tuesday night course Ö, designed by Kat and myself! Fun to run, though I was mostly just hanging around the pack and not doing too much precise navigation. Plus, I smacked my head on a tree branch pretty hard at one point and had to run hard to catch up. Was at the back of the pack the rest of the way. Spent the rest of the evening sitting in a training group meeting, planning training for the rest of the winter. The schedule is set. Looks good.

A run around the neighborhood, plus some loops on the lit track in Stadsskogen. Didn't have time for anything else, as I had to go to a course-setting clinic at the clubhouse. I have to get a Swedish course-setting certification before setting courses for Linné's fall event. The clinic was actually pretty fun, with meaningful discussions, especially about the easier courses, which I have less experience with.

C • Any Pearls of Wisdom? 2