Occassional thoughts about orienteering
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| okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering |
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Sunday, December 31, 2006 Dissecting Boris - Part 1 I spent some time today looking at Boris' training using my usual set of questions. If you don't know Boris, you can read his runner profile at WorldOfO.com and check out his training log at Attackpoint. A couple of key bits of info: Boris is 26 (just turned 26 if the WorldOfO profile is correct) and lives in Sweden. He moved from New York to Uppsala in late August 2005.easiest to answer questions Training volume - even year round or lots of up-and-down? If the volume is uneven, is it because of periodization or something else? Boris' training follows a pattern with higher volume in the winter, then reduced training volume when he races. The graph below shows his monthly training amounts beginning with September 2005, when Boris first started training in Sweden.  His monthly totals varied from a low of just over 20 hours to a high of over 50 hours. For the year, 2006, he trained 454 hours. In my book, that is a lot. It isn't out of line for an ambitious orienteer, but it is a lot of training. To put that total in some sort of context, compare it to a few of the North Americans who are training a good bit. Hammer has trained 450-500 hours in 2 of the last 5 years. Szurcher has never trained that much (though she's close this year). So it is fair to say that Boris trains a lot. 454 hours is a very respectable total. Especially given that he doesn't have years of a lot of training. The graph below shows his annual totals beginning in 2001.  Cross training - does the orienteer use other sports in training? Do they compete in other sports? Boris does plenty of cross training. He skis. He bikes. He does strength training. He plays soccer. He has even played a little "innebandy." As far as I can tell, he doesn't compete in other sports. I think he may have raced skis in college. While he does plenty of cross training, the bulk of his training is running and orienteering. To me it looks like Boris' cross training is occassional breaks from running and orietneering, alternative activities when he's dealing with some sort of injury, and doing something different for fun. O' technique - Does the orienteer practice technique or do they get their technique through competitions? Boris does a lot of technique practice and a lot of competitions. In 2006, he has 212 hours of orienteering. That is a lot. Boris runs for OK Linne in Uppsala. For someone who wants to do a lot of orienteering, you can't beat it. The club trains regularly. Uppsala is surrounded by maps of nice (though flat) forests. The town itself is mapped. Boris does a lot of club training sessions. He goes to training camps. He does training on his own. He even sets up training opportunities for visiting friends. Injuries and illness - Does the orienteer have problems with injuries and illness? Yes and no. Given the big increase in volume, Boris hasn't had many problems with getting sick or injured. On the other hand, he has had some injury problems that are troubling (and must be driving him a bit crazy). He's had both hamstring and ankle problems. I first saw a note about his hamstring was in late September 2005. But, the problem (or maybe another problem) got to be a problem in May 2006. I first saw a note about an ankle problem from one of the WOC races in Japan. Neither of these injuries seems to be so severe it forces Boris to miss a bunch of training. But, both of these injuries seem to hanging on. In part, I suppose, because neither injury is so severe that it forces a long time away from running. When I look at his training, I don't see the injuries forcing Boris to miss a lot of time, but I imagine they force him to reduce the intensity of training (and certainly they'd cause me a bit of mental stress). I'll stop for now. I plan to write more about Boris' training in the next couple of days, moving on to the questions that are harder to answer (and hence easier to get wrong). Back to okansas.blogspot.com. posted by Michael | 6:45 PM 
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