Training Log Archive: slauenstein

6:00 am, morning jog with Marc before breakfast and getting ready for the sprint final. Woke up with butterfly's in my stomach.

C • Hey Lady!!! I'm eating lunch ... 3

Warming up for the sprint final race on the warm-up map. I had a big dilemma about what to wear, was the race going to be lots of forest, or more park, should I wear feld shoes or O-shoes, O-pants or shorts?? I ended up running in shorts with tall socks and O-shoes. Worked out well, feld shoes would have been fine though.

Sprint A-final

My first WOC final, how scary! :-) I was really pretty nervous before the start, but I had prepared well mentally for the race and was actually relieved to be nervous and not "on the wrong side of the stress curve" like in the long quali. I knew the start was at the arena, and I knew I would be nervous when I arrived there in front of everyone, but I never thought I would feel as panic struck as I did. Yikes! But I didn't have much time to be nervous, because before I knew it I was off onto the course. We ran out of site to the first control and my nerves calmed down and I started the race really well. I felt in control but maybe a little hesitant. Coming through the spectator control I was ahead of the two girls that started in front of me, so I guess the beginning went well. Now looking at the splits and map, I lost a little time on the 1st long leg, and should have gone left around the fence instead of right. But I spiked all the controls and felt really good. After the spectator control I started to lose some time, both in technique and speed. I wasn't aggressive enough on the 2nd long leg and probably shouldn't have taken the route on the road. Ended up losing 30 seconds on the best time, even with spiking the control (!). On the next two legs I lost about 10 seconds each because of sub-optimal routes, but still spiking the controls. I came into the finish very satisfied with my race. I am very happy to run a solid good race in the final. I was worried that my nerves would get to me, but I was in control and ran within my potential.
Satisfied with my performance, but somewhat disappointed with the result. The field was incredibly strong and consistent today. There were no big blow ups, no DQs. Even though I only lost 3'40" to Sime, I still only beat 4 women and ended up 42nd. Not an awesome result, but I'm not going to let that get to me. There is room for improvement. I did however have one split that was the 6th fastest split (1 second slower than the fastest time). Cool huh!

C • Not an awesome result??!!!!???!!!!???!!! 9

Cooling down after my race.

5:40am, morning jog with Marc before the relay. Determined to be awake and activated for this race. A little bit nervous but feeling good. Nothing hurts.

Warming up for the relay on the warm-up map.

WOC relay 2nd leg

Sam had (another) great 1st leg run and send me off as 14th on the 2nd leg. Way to go Sam! :-)

I had a great race! The only mistake I made was on the 1st control, I got pulled off to the left by the Latvian and Estonian girls, because they were going to a different (closer) forking. I never saw them again, I lost about 20 seconds to that control, but they were already gone. After that I was alone. I ran aggressively and concentrated. Spiked everything. Sometimes it felt like I knew that the control was right in front of me before getting there. They were calling me. Granted it wasn't very difficult orienteering, but you could still make mistakes. After getting out of the steep stuff, two runners (Lithuania and Hungary) came from behind. They started way ahead of me (about 1'30") so I was surprised to see them. We stayed together through the spectator control (2 controls). The Hungarian girl was much faster than me, and I didn't see her after that. The Lithuania was, however, only a little faster, but navigating less cleanly. She would go to distinct object a little ways out of the way, and come into the control, as I would go straight and catch up with her again. We also had some different forking. I was getting tired physically but still technically very clean. This is probably the best technical race I have ever had. Very satisfying to be able to do this at WOC. Now the next step is to become consistent at this type of technique and to be able to do it a higher speed. My time was still only the 17th fastest, which was a little disappointing, but considering that I was alone for most of the race it's not too bad. Came into the finish to hand off to Pavlina in 15th place.

C • Sounds like a great week! Con... 1

Cooling down.

Sprint final model event. Trying out my Inov shoes in this type of terrain and doing some legs fast to get into sprint mode! Really interesting and fun model.

Running with Hillary, Boris, Eric, and Eddy to the Hydropark, on some trails and back. First time running for 3 days, my hamstring still hurting a little, but definitely getting better.

Doing some core strength in the lobby of our floor. Made Boris come and hang out with me.

this felt good and was needed.

Hamstring still hurting, another rest day seems like a good idea.

Still recovering.

My hamstring and heal are hurting a lot after yesterdays race and so I think a couple of days to recover will be good before the relay. Sandy Hott showed me a good stretching exercise for my hamstring.

Warming-up on the most pathetic warm-up map I have ever seen. I was pretty tired this morning, and never really got my head out of a foggy feeling. I know this feeling, it's when I am nervous but on the wrong side of the stress curve. I knew the potential of having a mediocre race was pretty high with this feeling. I tried everything I could to get myself activated, but I should have gotten up earlier today and done a morning jog. I know better, but didn't think about it. Stupid.

Long Qualification race.

A very mediocre race. Started off fine to the first control, chose the correct route choice and executed the long leg well. On the way to the 2nd control I didn't understand the contours correctly and didn't stop to work it out. Was off to the right and lost 3.5 minutes correcting. Stupid! I should have been more disciplined in such a race. There is no excuse for just running into the circle and hoping to find it. Mad at myself I carried on. The rest of the course was a combination of some good splits and some bad ones. I never really got into a flow and at the end I wasn't fighting anymore. If I had only known that 7 seconds would keep me from running in the final I would have fought a lot harder. I just assumed I was way out (also something you should never do).

This was a average "bad" race for me, some technical difficulties, lack of confidence and flow. I believe I could have prepared myself better for this race the night before and especially the morning of. I should have gotten up earlier, gone for a morning jog to wake up completely. I guess after making the final yesterday my head was flighting a battle between unproductive thoughts about making the final again and concentrating on the task at hand. I wasn't able to control my thought well enough today. Maybe I wanted it too badly, and put too much pressure on myself.

On the bright side, I was really close to making the final, and I think that this is positive considering I had a mediocre race. I think it is possible to make the final with a normal race. That's cool! The challenge is to have a normal race at WOC under the pressure I put on myself and the expectation I have.

Event: WOC 2007
 

Morning jog with Boris, Sam, and Hillary from the Hotel Tourist to the canal, up to the first bridge and then back.

C • Hooray 4

Warming up for the Sprint on the warm-up map. Feeling a little anxious but also in control of my thoughts. It was hot and my legs felt heavy, but I knew that didn't mean they would be heavy in the race, usually it's just nerves.

Standing at the starting line, I wasn't sure what to expect. This sprint could have been a steep, taxing, slow through the forest sprint like in japan, or fast park-like-feeling sprint like many other sprints. The forest looked open enough to offer some fast running, but I didn't know how tricky it was going to be. At the start we had about 50 meters to run to the start triangle, this gave me enough time to get into the map and plan my route to number one. I was together with Lena Eliasson on the way to our respective first controls. Saw her and the other girl who started with us on the long leg to the second control and then after that I was alone. On my way down to the spectator control, Sara Gemperle caught up to me (starting 1 minute behind), but she took a different route choice going around the lake to the left. I was faster to the right. She wasn't in my heat, but pulled me up a wrong trail (not drastically wrong) and I had to correct loosing about 15 seconds. This is when the course got up into a more technical area with more climb. I started to feel tired, so I concentrated on getting to the controls cleanly. I managed that and started getting excited on my way to the second to last control, because I thought to myself I was doing well. Forced those thoughts out of my head, because you can still loose it all on the way to the 2nd to last control, and focused hard until I was in the finish. When I arrived, I was second in my heat and they announced me (I don't think that has ever happed before). Since I started in the earliest start block, I knew there were lots and lots of FAST girls still to come. Of course I thought about the possibility of qualifying, but I was more focused on having a good race. In the finish I was very happy to have achieved a solid, good race. I felt like I had raced at my potential for the first time at WOC. That made me as happy as I could be, making the final was icing on the cake. yuppppeeeee!!!! :-)

I have to admit that I had to spend a lot of mental energy not to think about trying to qualify and to concentrate on the process. I think this is the biggest challenge we face when we are at WOC, we want to make the final, and that becomes our focus, putting a little extra pressure on ourselves and therefore not being able to focus on the orienteering. Focusing on the process helped me a lot today.

C • Congrats again 2

cooling down listening to the announcer tell us who was in 15th. The whole time I knew I was faster than that girl, but I tried not to get too excited.

Running on the model map for the sprint qualifier as well as the (same) map but at 1:15000 model for the long quali. Ran with Sam. Ran some strides too.

C • Yay for Sandra!! 1