Training Log Archive: Gswede

Wow. So what a weekend, right? It's a little surreal for me. Months of work, years depending on how you think of it. I achieved my goal. I made the team.

I was measured against American orienteers. And now I'm going to WOC as part of the team to run the sprint, sprint relay and the relay.

I hope to run open courses while I am there to get more experience at world class events in the forest since I don't think my future is in Sprints.

I will train for this sprint as well as I can and race to the best of my ability, but I reached a limit of running speed in university. Perhaps I can run faster than 32:58 in the 10k, but it's hard to see myself going far below that. And the world's best run considerably faster than that.

What the US needs to do is to recruit a mid-14's 5k guy and show him how to hold a map. But this year it's my turn to represent the US. This is gonna be fun!

Middle distance on the Smokey Bridge map at the US Champs in Olive Hill.

Wow. Strange course. The first half of my course was a classic throwback to my old orienteering style. I am not sure why I made so many mistakes. I was relaxed and I wasn't thinking about previous mistakes. The only reason I can think of is that I was running too fast. I suppose I wasn't ready to navigate at that speed in that terrain. That surprises me, but it seems to be the most obvious reason.

At 15 I was in an elongated train with Ian Smith and Eric Bone, both of whom started after me, and not feeling too confident in my orienteering ability. Exiting from 15 I remembered that I have trained a lot on maps. That I can and have run much better. I took off, focused and competitive and was able to run a solid last loop. However in orienteering an error is an error and the first half of my course placed me far back. Time to reflect on how to run middles as I will now run in the Relay at WOC.

Error Time: 7:20

Errors:
-Undershooting the control
-Running to the left or right of the control
-Not visualizing correctly the entry to number 12

Solutions:
-Attackpoints!!!
-Bearings
-For number 12 I don't completely agree with the control description. On our sheet it was marked as a rock pillar, while for me it was more of a boulder. Although my error here wasn't only due to the that. I entered expecting it to be on the wrong side. So I had to read the terrain better.

10 minute warm up to tempo and 5 minute cool down. As always I focused on what I needed to do in this race.

Middle - 11 M-20 12 Blue - Splits

10 minute warm up in terrain on the model map. 5 minute cool down post-race.

Long Distance at Bat Cave at the US Championships in Olive Hill, Kentucky.

Normal race, nothing great, but nothing terrible.

I lost a lot of time from putting myself in green and fighting more through it than I expected. The green on the model map was much more runnable than on this map. So my first thought when choosing routes was that I wouldn't have to avoid green as much. And I should have.


Overall, pretty happy to be in the mix of things. I knew I was going to do well in the sprint but I wasn't sure about the forest races. So today was a good indicator of my improvement in the woods.

Error time: 5:40

Errors:
-Taking routes with too much green.
-Going off bearing and adding distance
-Misreading terrain near 14 and slowing down (Is this an error? I may have lost more time if I hadn't slowed down)

Solutions:
-Choose the route on which you can go full speed with no mistakes, that's not always the most direct route.
-Keep my map oriented, constantly check the map and compass.
-Exit 13 slower and maintain more contact with the map.

Long - 12 Blue - Splits

Event: Flying Pig XIX - U.S. Individual Champs - Sprint-Middle-Long
 

15 minute warm up to tempo with striders. Focused on what I needed to do in this race during the warm up. Good warm up. 5 minute cool down.

Team Trials Sprint

Very good course. 2nd overall and 1st eligible for WOC. Didn't ever run too quickly. The hills on campus kept my pace relatively slow. Only a few errors.

Error time: 0:34

Errors:
-Misreading/failing to read control descriptions and thus attacking the controls poorly.
- Thinking a crossable wall was uncrossable and adding distance and time.

Solutions:
-Always check my descriptions.
-Recognize the mapping symbols while running fast. Practice reading while running fast.

Sprint - 11 M-20 12 M-21 - Splits

Got out on the Carter's Caves model map to learn about the map. Really interesting. This is gonna be a fun weekend. 5x20/40's. Wow I forgot how good it felt to feel well rested.

In Philly!!

Easy run with 5x20/40 around the 'rents house in Philly. Best adjective to describe how I felt during this run: powerful.

Easy run home. The taper is working. I have to control my body to keep from taking off.