Training Log Archive: BorisGr

From "home." Across town, past Ekeby, and into Nåsten from the north. Took some tiny animal paths that ended up disappearing, bashed through the terrain a bit until I found a familiar spot, then more trails back north to Kung Björn's hill (which is closed to the public now!!!), and back through Eriksberg and Stadsskogen. Had to take a detour through town as the main street was closed because of a Sverige Demokraterna demonstration!

C • SD 2

I love Sweden in the summer! Went for a run at 9pm, running to Stadsskogen from my current apartment, running around on a lot of small trails and a bit through the woods, and then back. Still completely light out when I got home. Nice to get a run in after a touristy day in Stockholm with coworkers.

C • Sweden...summer... 1

Easy run at Fjällnora after our research group's team building day there, followed by kayaking and volleyball. Work is hard.

From KG to the start and back from the finish

Went over to the Linné clubhouse by myself after work and picked up a map from a recent training. I did a course that started with a contours-only section, then did a window-O, and finished with a short control pick through the green. The focus for me was on keeping contact with the map even if I had to go slowly (which I did). I think the theme for these next few weeks for me will be relearning how to orienteer and how to run in terrain.

So nice to be out on Nåsten on a gorgeous Swedish summer evening. These kinds of days are when I miss living here.

952/2000

Backbana in Uppsala after work. Wasn't sure what to expect. Ran at a pace that was slightly above comfortable, but not at the level of dying. Felt pretty good at that pace. I think back in the day, when I didn't suck this much, this level of effort would yield a time just under 30. Today it was 31:23, so not terrible, but not great either.

Janne's backbana in Uppsala - Splits

Disappointed.

C • Understandable. 6

Warm-up

Team Trials Middle - Blue Mountain

941/2000

Blue - Splits

Haven't been sleeping well all week, and today was the culmination: couldn't fall asleep until 3, up again at 5. Weird.

Warm-up and a slow shuffle of a cool-down

US Team Trials Long - Blue Mountain

A great course by Neil. There were plenty of technical and physical challenges, and the high humidity didn't do us any favors. The expected winning times were off by about 10+ minutes, so we were suffering out there.

My performance was, once again, mediocre. I started out calm, at a moderate pace, knowing that we were in for a long day. Fairly clean through 5, and was happy to see Clem (-3) as I came into #5. I stayed higher than him to 6 and was sure I spiked the control except that there was no flag. It looks like there was a very similar group of cliffs with a reentrant just above #6 that didn't make it onto the map. Clem, who was lower, saw the control first and was gone by the time I got to it, losing a minute. I then took a bad route to 7, drifting was too far left off the line and being surprised to catch Clem again before the fire break. After 7 I was by myself for the rest of the race. A lot of other blue runners seem to have had company over the course of the race, which surely would have helped the pace a bit, but such is the luck of the draw.

I took a long time choosing the route to 8, but was happy with my plan of using the mountain bike trails and then doing some climbing up the big mountain, but contouring a big chunk of it before dropping down to the trail that leads to the control. I executed well and had a nice section of 8-9-10. I am pretty sure my route to 8 was good, as both Jordan and Sergei went around to the right and did not gain much time on me, despite running faster.

To 11 I was again considering all the way right versus straighter, choosing right in the end, as I was looking forward to some flat running on a big trail. Like an idiot, I missed a turn-off and ended up having to bash through green and swamp to get to my trail. I lost 2 minutes here, probably most of it due to the mistake and maybe some due to my route.

Definitely thinking about water on the way to 12 and 13, and feeling tired as I started the final big loop. I planned and executed 14 and 15 well, and was feeling pretty good about my race when I blew 16. I was a bit low on the slope and found a big cliff that wasn't mapped. It took two attempts at relocation before I climbed higher and found it. Loss of another 2 minutes.

After this I managed to hold it together, and was particularly pleased with the route and execution to 19. The last couple of controls were a struggle, and my orienteering was very much stop and go, but never to the point where I felt completely dead.

In the end, I was the 6th Team Trialer, which isn't great. The good thing to take away from this was that I didn't bonk and felt stronger than I would have even a couple of weeks ago, and much stronger than I struggled through the US Classic Champs at Moreau - that was a definite low point.

Looking forward to the decisive middle distance tomorrow.

Route Gadget: http://www.vmeyer.net/gadget/cgi-bin/reitti.cgi?ac...

Blue - Splits