Training in Uppsala

I last visited Uppsala in 2014, and have always wanted a chance to go back. I seized the opportunity to head across the water to Sweden after World Schools Orienteering Champs to do some truly world class orienteering, but also some training other than orienteering. I was hoping these two weeks in Uppsala would give my legs a break from terrain after 2 solid weeks in Estonia and before a solid week in Norway.

My first week was a bit of a mess, with intermittent gut distress lasting the whole week. I got the sessions done, but in hindsight I may have been a little over-exuberant. I was good to spend just a little time in terrain, but the time I spent on the bike was much more fatiguing than I expected. Unusually, I haven’t done much on the bike in a month, and my quads took a hammering that they wouldn’t usually get running. A good reminder that one’s ability to recover from training is dependent on the exact muscles that produce the power, and not just the overall effort.

The cycling, slight illness, maybe lower absorption of nutrients, and maybe also unaccounted fatigue from previous weeks caught up with me half way through the second week. After knocking off 7 and half hours of training by Wednesday I descended into a typical over-trained state. My legs clearly needed less load applied to them in the later half and I turned a tempo into an easy run and shortened some intervals. I then headed off to Norway and will cover my training there in my next post. Normally I would just keep the training rolling and emerge from the fatigue into good form.

The most valuable sessions for me in Uppsala were these 3 orienteering sessions and my fasted long run. Here’s a quick look at the sessions and why I did them.

First up, just a normal course in Nåsten, but with a technical focus. This was my first time navigating in Scandinavia in 2 years and it was really clear that my perception of the terrain had to adjust. If you think interpreting these maps is obvious, then that is because your intuitions are working for you. Intuitions developed from hours of practice and repetition. For the first 15 minutes, the contours as shown on the map simply weren’t standing out in the terrain and then gradually they became clear. Mid-way into the course I was perceiving finer and finer details. I got some good flow on in the last part, but still couldn’t prevent one mistake. I felt like a very different orienteer before and after this session and without it couldn’t hope to do anything at higher speed.

An hour after finishing that session I was back in the forest again for a sessions organised by OK Linné, the big club in Uppsala and also the one Matt Ogden raced for during his time in Sweden. The session was a recent middle distance race that some people either missed out on or wanted to run a different course as training. I took this session fairly aggressively. Increasing the pace forces you to increase navigation speed or simplify more. Spending some more time thinking about running takes time away from navigating, forcing me to develop better process habits and discipline. In this session I could feel the trade off in my mind between spending attention on running, navigating, and being distracted. Ideally I need to drive the amount of time being distracted down, to give me more time to spend thinking about navigation. It’s only through sessions at speed where this is apparent, so faster sessions like these are very important.

One of my staple sessions, no matter what I’m training for is the fasted long run. Why fasted? Well what is the purpose of the long run? One of the main purposes is to stress your body’s ability to use fat as a fuel source instead of glycogen. Topping up glycogen stores and/or having a gut full of carbohydrates gradually being absorbed and sent to the working muscles defeats this purpose. It always surprises me how strong I’ve become at these sessions and how even my energy is throughout the run. I feel unbeatable. Although I haven’t done the biometric testing to know for sure, I suspect I’ve either developed a greater glycogen storage capacity, or a greater fat burning capacity, or both.

The final key session of my time in Uppsala was another orienteering session, this time in the fabled Lunsen. The goal for me in this session was one of concentration and focus. I used verbalisation (in my head) to keep my concentration on my orienteering and practice good habits like keeping my planning ahead of my position, and looking at my compass more than normal. Lunsen delivers strong incentives to keep concentrated, because relocating in this flat and highly repetitive terrain is very difficult. I harnessed this concern to drive my concentration more toward navigation.

I’m often a complacent navigator, and I need to find ways to practice checking the map and compass and looking up in the terrain more than I feel I need to. By practicing what feels like technical overdrive I aim to develop the higher frequency of map and compass checking into a reliable habit that stays with me even when I move up to race pace. At this stage navigation is very much a conscious competence. That is, I has to consciously think about it to perform it well. Through repetition I hope that parts of my navigating process will be committed reliably to subconscious processes. That is, they become habits.

Next I’m off to Norway for some training more specific to WOC.

And here are 2 bonus photos of the lake where I was staying.