October Update

Well October wasn't a great month for me, I injured my calf on the 1st October, and since then I have managed 3 hours of running. I also picked up a really nasty cold, which I haven't been able to shake off for almost 2 weeks now, which is getting annoying.

Despite (or maybe because of) me not running, Lidingö managed to pick up some decent end of season results (after a disappointing season) with 5th at 25manna and 4th at Smålandskavlen.

But now I am looking forward to November. I will not start winter training properly until December, but I plan to train a little in November as well. I am going back to England for 2 weeks, to do some work, see some friends and family, and go to a conference.

I have also spent a lot of the time I haven't been training thinking about next season, and how I am going to make it better than this season. I have just booked my flights to South Africa for a month training at altitude in January :)

London City Race

Premature season end

Week from hell-

Last friday SM middle qualifier. Bad race with two big mistakes, not enough to qualify for the final, but worse I slipped down a crag and jarred my shoulder quite badly so I couldn't sit comfortably or sleep very well that weekend.

Sunday SM relay. Team-mates ran badly, and mispunched before I ran.

Monday. Went out for a long run, got to half an hour before my lunch came back out and I had to jog home.

Wednesday. Natti natti night sprint relay. I ran last leg and we won, but felt something in my calf on the warm down, woke up this morning and couldn't walk. Hobbled to the physio and it turns out I have torn the top of my right calf a little. Not too serious, need to rest a few weeks, and running could risk making it a lot worse, so that is season over, no World Cup Final this weekend.

Balls

SM Long Qualifier map plus some nice Stockholm training maps

SM long qualification race - small mistakes at 2, 4, 13, map at 14 was dodgy as can be seen by me stopping too early in 'not green'. Scrappy on 15 also.









Really nice training south of Stockholm with Tom Hodel who is staying with me this week. We regrouped every 3-4 controls. Very detailed map in places, especially at the end. I ran pretty well, except when I tried to miss one control out at the north end, and had to run back to the previous one. The last loop was fantastically technical.

I was pretty tired after the weekend so I hung some tapes for Tom and Erik on the map next to 25manna terrain. Pretty nice, standard Swedish city forest map. Fast but still requiring a lot of concentration.

Went to an organised mini - training event on Nacka this afternoon. I ran the middle length course as I am preparing for SM middle on friday. Ran really good except for a 1 minute mistake at the first control - didn't really understand the map so well. Wasn't pushing very hard, but a nice training after falling asleep by the lake after lunch. Bit cold for a swim after though...

First time I have used pin-punching in about a decade. Forgotten all about control cards and how to attach them to myself.

Swedish Champs Long Distance

8th place today in the final. Really happy with my performance - I ran well almost every control. The course was quite 'easy' and fast, but that is good for me. I caught Martin Johansson half way and ran together for some, but then I chose a different route choice and got a little behind (the 18th - he ran to the road). Then I was really pushing to catch him and I made a bad route choice to 19 and missed 20 a little. I saw him again the last few controls though. I didn't make the best start, with small mistakes at 3 and 4 (came out of 3 through the stony ground and lost time), but then I had a really good section from the 7th (spectator) to the first radio, only losing 15 seconds to Peter Oberg in 30 minutes running. I felt strong at the end - I think this is the best classic distance form I have ever had, and almost definitely my best ever classic race performance, both technically and physically. I lost around 2 minutes technically, and around the same physically, so that is very positive.

Now I am looking forward to next weekend middle and relay. The only slight disappointment is that I was only 1.17 from a medal which would have been really sweet. Maybe next year....

Winsplits