okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering
Tuesday, April 13, 2004
Test loop
I ran the OK test loop this evening. We set the test loop up a few years ago as a way to track our fitness. Check out the test loop route.
How many orienteers have test loops? I know Platt does. Mook does. Bjornar Valstad does.
The OK test loop is a bit on the short side. It usually takes me about 15 minutes. The course records are 13:44 for the men (Nadim Ahmed) and 17:20 for women (Sanna Wallenborg). With the loop as short as it is, it might make sense to run two loops. That'd give you a longer distance and being able to compare split times might tell you something useful about your fitness.
How did I do tonight?
I ran 15:24. I ran the loop a lot in 1999 with times between 14:34 (my pr) and ~19 (taking it quite easy). I've only run the test loop three times post-2001-leg injury. I ran 16:18, then 15:30, then today's 15:24.
I've got to be happy with running faster than my last two efforts. I certainly felt stronger than I have in a long time. At the same time, I've got to think I could have gone a bit faster. For some reason I didn't push myself. I ran at a hard, but not too uncomfortable pace. I recovered quite quickly once I stopped. That's a good sign, but it also tells me I didn't push as hard as I might have.
