Winter camp in the mountains!

We reached Przesieka two days ago and since then have had some lovely trainings in a really beautiful surroundings. 'We' means: head coach Pasza, his right hand Jacek, our young couple - Ewa & Piotrek, lonely Marcin (Kasia and Łukasz are going to join us tomorrow), the most popular twin sisters in Polish orienteering - Beata and Kasia, the daughter of our club's president - Kalina, our ambitious club member - Kamil, our competitive juniors representing the young blood - Gwoździk, Gosia, Marko, Kluska, Zielu and me. 3 Ewiak sisters - Ala, Amelka and Nati arrived here yesterday from Berlin.

Since our arrival we already had 6 training sessions including easy running with stretching and short speed-ups (15,8km), 2 morning runs (together 13,2km), a running trip to Odrodzenie and Kamienie Śląskie (22,5km), easy running with stretching to cool down a bit (6,6km), running + stretching and speed-ups 11x75m, some strength exercises 4x50m (about 16,5km). This means we've done almost 75km so far. But don't think I wrote it to show off! I just want to give you some helpful motivation to win the New Year's Eve cross-country race.

I hope you train a lot there in Łódź and miss us a bit ;-)

Control no. 43 lost forever...

Everything would have been perfect, if it hadn't been for the mysterious control no. 43. Unfortunately, no-one managed to find all the controls on the longest course because of the disappearance of this unlucky control. That's a pity!



Here are the results...

NORMAL

1. Marzena Kaźmierczak 34:10
2. Karolina Kordala 36:10
3. Zuzia Lech 37:15
4. Małgosia Kordala 39:10
5. Ola Filipowska 40:11
6. Kuba Pietek & Marcin Lufniak 45:15

SHORT

1. Szymon Pałka 58:55
2. Dawid Gąsiorek 64:52
3. Natalia Ścieszko 68:20
4. Jakub Mączyński (didn't he lose his card?!) 69:00
5. Karolina Hanuszkiewicz 70:19
6. Aneta Kaźmierczak 72:39
7. Ola Banaś 74:26
8. Agata Stankiewicz 75:57
9. Agnieszka Banaś 79:19
10. Natalia Bartczak 82:03
11. Agata Lech 85:05
12. Łukasz Rzeźnicki (8 controls missing) 51:30

LONG

1. Łukasz Charuba (4 controls missing) 66:55
2. Sebastian Markowiak (4) 75:52
3. Michał Kordala (4) 81:57
4. Paweł Byczuk (6) 41:04
5. Witek Jasiński (6) 47:20
6. Dominik Chudzik (6) 51:45
7. Kamil Student (6) 56:20
8. Bartłomiej Kubiak (6) 71:34
9. Jakub Michalik (6) 83:11
10. Maciej Michalik (6) 89:10

...sorry for the problems

Christmas mess

First of all, I would like to begin with the tomorrow's technical training I organize together with Zielu. It's going to be a memory training from one control to another. We've prepared 2 such courses: long (5,87km, 12 controls) and short (4,04km, 9 controls). Don't think we have forgotten about younger and inexperienced orienteers - they are going to run a normal orienteering race of 2,85km and 7 controls. The place where we met is obviously our favourite 'Bar under the Larch'. The 00-minute is at 10 o'clock - be PUNCTUAL!
Here are the startlists...

LONG

01 - Maciej Michalik
04 - Amelia Ewiak
07 - Jakub Michalik
10 - Mateusz Połomski
13 - Michał Kordala
16 - Kamil Student
19 - Sebastian Markowiak
22 - Dominik Chudzik
25 - Witek Jasiński
28 - Łukasz Charuba
31 - Paweł Byczuk
34 - Jakub Chrustowicz

SHORT
00 - Ola Banaś
03 - Jakub Mączyński
06 - Natalia Ścieszko
09 - Dawid Gąsiorek
12 - Natalia Ewiak
15 - Szymon Pałka
18 - Agata Lech
21 - Natalia Bartosik
24 - Agnieszka Banaś
27 - Mateusz Miętus
30 - Beata Winczewska
33 - Karolina Hanuszkiewicz
36 - Aneta Kaźmierczak
39 - Kasia Winczewska
42 - Agata Stankiewicz

NORMAL
02 - Małgosia Kordala
05 - Karolina Kordala
08 - Ola Filipowska
11 - Zuzia Lech
14 - Marzenka Kaźmierczak
17 - two boys :-P

Hope 2 C U 2morrow! ;-)

Secondly, I'd love to mention our club Christmas Eve party on Friday. It was really wonderful to celebrate the greatest festival of the year with nearly all the members of our O-club. What's more, it's magnificent to have the brilliant SILVA compass again! The newest solo album of Rychu Peja is worth listening to as well.

Furthermore, I have a funny map riddle for you. On the map presented below there are 10 circles. In 5 of them there is a mistake. Find out the numbers of wrong circles and say what's actually wrong? E.g. a pasturage...



Finally, I would like to show you my yesterday's technical training. Unfortunately, only partly done with Zielu. The course wasn't different, it was created just to have a goal to reach while running.



Today I set my personal record in the number of kilometers run in an individual training week. It was almost 104km! I'm lovin' it :)

Something more fascinating than running?

Yeah! But only today... Why? Between 3 and 5 p.m. my first practical driving lesson took place. It was really amazing to take the wheel and visit e.g. Konstantynów. That's a pity that a next session is coming not until next Saturday.

In the morning we had PoZnO competition and had a good time in Łagiewnicki forest. There were no tracks on the map and sometimes it was even plain. Unfortunately, as usual some problems occured due to the mistake on the NEW map! Nevertheless, it's no good crying over spilt milk - it was just a funny training :-)



Tonight the Gran Derbi of Europe! Barca against Real Madrid at Camp Nou! You canNOT miss it! Who's gonna win?

Unexpected competition on Santa's Day

It was called 'I Łódzki Dwubój Biegowy' (the English translation for 'dwubój' is 'biathlon' - funny, isn't it?) and consisted of 2 races. The first one was an orienteering sprint distance race.

My aim was to gain as much advantage as possible since the second stage was going to be a cross-country race for about 2,5km with a handicapped start.



And I pretty managed! I started 15 seconds ahead of Zielu, which enabled me to win the whole competition and get a huge chocolate Santa Claus. ;-)
Then we made a short cross with a map and came back home to relax a bit - I slept really soundly after such a draining day and hardly managed to wake up to watch the football match from Premiership broadcast on Canal+!

For my trainings, last week was very demanding, I trained every day and ran over 100km. I am sure it's the only and right way to achieve what I really want and look for. Today's training session's gonna be 13th in a row and tomorrow the deserved break is expected to get ready for the coming 12 days!

Finally, there's one more thing I would like to add. Namely the prize won by our friend Ruda in the poll organised by World of O and Ultimate Orienteering. Congratulations:) You see, it was really worth voting!

...last season's summary.

Because of having some time before today's training I decided to sum up my last year's sporting activity. I really like maths and am quite good at it (I think ;-P) - that's why I usually perceive almost everything in figures...
I considered training period between 12th November 2007 and 23rd November 2008. Here are the results of my hard calculation work:

weeks - 54
(6 of them - cooling down just after the season)
km - 2787,315

a weekly average - 51,62

days - 378

physical trainings - 136

technical trainings - 84

O-competitions - 71

(34 of them - abroad)

tests/running competitions - 8

days spent on sports camps - 148

(81 of them - abroad)

days without running - 113

(24 of them - during the cooling down period)

Some conclusions
it seems to be quite a lot... and surely it was. It enabled me to achieve 4 Polish Champs medals (out of 6) and miss the podium just 2 times at the most important competitions in Poland. What's more, I did not only qualify for EYOC, which had been one of the main goals for the past season, but also for JWOC, which I hadn't even dreamt of!
Nonetheless, was my performance during these two incredibly important and prestigious competitions satisfying enough? On the one hand, it was my debut and I could feel a bit stressed and inexperienced; on the other hand, I became a proud member of Polish Youth Team and my results should have been much better since it is a really responsible role of honour. In any case, I promise I'll take all pains to improve my strength and techniques next year.

I do believe this season was just a 'flyover' to the orienteering at highest world level. Certainly, it was a climax of my junior career, but I hope the real heights are still to come some day...

Great club training in the well-known terrain

Do you remember OOM 2006 in Spała? If not, just see the picture on the right and keep smiling ;-)

Map from the long distance? Yeah, this is the place we visited this Saturday to carry out a lovely technical training. The weather was really favourable and the attendance was pretty high.
However, it was not a normal training. The thing which made it different and more interesting from all the previous ones was the fact that there were no control flags on the controls - just a SI-card station on the metal stand. This forced us to keep the highest concentration level almost all the time.
Although there was no place for rivalry that day, some official results were published.



Last week I started tough physical trainings as well. The long 6-week rest after a very hard and demanding season for me was over on 23rd November. Now I am ready to train as much as possible to bright light next year.
On the right side of my blog you're able to see my preparations for the next season in figures. I'll try to fulfil them quite regularly.
I also believe I'll be free from serious injuries and illnesses to pursue my goals and make my dreams come true...

Tomorrow it's gonna be a really hard day for me since I am to play 2 school basketball matches and afterwards run 10km (4:15/km). But in fact, these are the days I live for!

Last meeting this year...

Yeah, I know it's pretty late now - 5 days after the weekend... but I did really have NO time to write this short note. Probably it's because I had to get accustomed to the old-new, LOVELY daily routine - physical training. It is just wonderful! It makes me feel so strong mentally and better than the other lazybones. However, I think the appropriate time to say somethin' about my training will come some day, not now anyway.

On Saturday I picked Slavko up from the Kaliska railway station and we joined the other runners from the whole Poland to attend 2 technical courses, sum up the previous season, begin the preparations for the coming one and simply have some fun together as the surroundings of Polish orienteers is the best possible one (as Hewi mentioned in his last note).

I think there's no point in describing the O-races since everything is written on the maps. I can only say I had some problems with my right knee since the PWT qualification race in Italy - that's why my results (Sat./Sun.) weren't satisfying at all. Even our club coach was a bit taken aback and asked me about a possible injury. It was really kind of him! :-) Fortunately, it's getting better and better right now.

Let's go on to something more interesting and important. I recommend taking part in a special poll organized by World of O and Ultimate Orienteering named Orienteering Achievement of 2008. On the right site of this website you'll find links to the presentations (special interviews) of all world's best O-runners. The aim of this poll is NOT to find the best or the most popular orienteer in the world, but to define which orienteer made the biggest progress last year or simply achieved the most unbelievable/unpredictable thing. I encourage you to vote as there are even some Trimtex prizes to win!

...and the last thing mentioned tonight: Have you already heard about I Łódzki Dwubój Biegowy? It's gonna be a really funny competition to compete in! I am already looking forward to it :)

BENE!

This description was supposed to appear already before the weekend... Unfortunately, I had some unexpected problems with my scanner. However, better late than never!

16 XI - Sunday (Meeting Orientamento Venezia 2008 & sightseeing)
I had been looking forward to this fabulous day for a long time! Everything was just perfect, maybe except for my right knee injury.
I forgot to mention it in my previous note but I met Dana Brozkova from Czech Republic at the end of the qualification course. She wasn't actually running at full speed and I had the unique opportunity to be the one followed by her since the last controls of our courses were exactly the same. I might have got a bit TOO excited and fell down onto the hard asphalt. But don't think I was lying on the ground and began to cry - I just got up immediately and took wrong route choice to the last control... and she followed me. Then I returned these several meters and reached the finish line. It was an unforgettable experience;-)
The city, the course, the weather, the atmosphere was incredibly wonderful! I just lack words to describe all my feelings. What's more, I got another chance to run with a very strong runner from France - Francois Gonon. I had enough power to follow him between 3 controls. I think I had nothing to add, just click on the map below and delight in it...



Probably you're also interested why I was the first with the advantage of 16 minutes (!) in men's elite (the photo from my last note) for some time. Actually, I had 2 starting times and the difference between them was 31 mins. Obviously, I preferred to run earlier but my running time was activated 31' later! Hope you understand right now :)
Afterwards we visited Saint Mark's square and the brilliant Rialto bridge. The weather was really hot, it was such a pleasure to sit in a cosy restaurant sipping a cup of Espresso coffee and eating delicious Italian pizza. Then we came back to Lonigo by train and had to try hitch-hiking to reach our gym... and we managed! Thanks to Monika, I think.

17 XI - Monday (come back & Rubik's cube success)
As far as our journey is concerned, read the description of 12th November.
Nevertheless, during our flight I managed to solve Rubik's cube blindfolded at last! The only things I needed were:
- 2 3 6 10 12
- 1101 0210
- 282 141 676
- Ada holuje Edzia głupiego i cepa Karola. Ja lubię.
- parity fix
and the time of 7:01.

In my opinion, there's no point in summing the whole stay up. I can just promise I will do everything to be there in one year's time!

'I jest dobra zabavka!'

Since it was a really amazing journey and offered us lots of magnificent impressions, I decided to describe it day by day. Let's go...

11 XI - Tuesday (Monika's visit to my house)
About quarter to 8 p.m. she arrived at the Kaliski railway station and we picked her up. Then we had a nice talk, played pool (Monika was the winner!) and then went to sleep - but that's none of your business ;-)

12 XI - Wednesday (arrival in Lonigo)
We had to wake up very early, about 5 a.m., as our taxi driver to Katowice arranged the departure at 5.30! We reached our destination really fast, did some shopping, left the car on the nearby car park and went to the check-in desks at the Pyrzowice airport. Our flight to Bergamo lasted about one and a half hour. Afterwards we took a shuttle bus to the Italian railway station. Then it came time to use two trains to arrive finally in San Bonifacio, which is fairly close to Lonigo. Fortunately, two nice guys - Gabryś and Nico Manfredi - agreed to drive us to the gym we were supposed to sleep in. And this way we managed to reach our final destination in about 11 hours :)

13 XI - Thursday (long sleep & doing 'nothing' in Lonigo)
I think it is the right place to say something about the Italian mentality. One of the main organizers of PWT promised to come at about 4 p.m. and bring us some information on the competition, startlists etc. We had been waiting incredibly long and at last he came well past... 9 p.m. saying that's normal in Italy and bringing us several delicious croissants. The other thing that differs Italy from Poland are definitely the squatting toilets. In the evening we also experienced that the Italians make pizzas incredibly fast and they are really tasty.
Below I present the map we were offered to attend a training on, but we didn't actually want it. Aren't you surprised, are you?



14 XI - Friday (qualification race in Alonte, wine testing & trip to Vicenza)
Now the long-awaited day came - my first orienteering course in Italy. Although I didn't make it to the final in the elite class, I gained a lot of valuable experience, which is undoubtedly going to help me in the future sprint distance races. Nevertheless, Monika took the 13th place and qualified for the A final! Congratulations!

Just after our races we made our way to a lovely vineyard to taste some Italian white and red wines. We had the possibility to eat fabulous Parmesan cheese as well. What's more, we tried an red-orange fruit of Kaki. Then we had a very little break and headed for Vicenza. There we visited Teatro Olimpico, which was designed by a famous Italian architect Andrea Palladio.

15 XI - Saturday (Park World Tour 2008 final & O-party)
In my opinion, the course was much better and more interesting than yesterday. It was a bit tricky at some places and demanded really strong legs to run uphill, which was really essential for this particular race. However, I hadn't expected such a mistake during such an important competition. Actually it's no good crying over spilt milk. Just see the maps below and judge if you won't be 'a little bit' upset...

In the evening it was time to relax and we enjoyed a short party with our newly-made friends from Serbia (greetings!), Romania, Italy (Rome) and Slovakia. It was unbelievably kind of a 12th orienteer in the world (last year in Ukraine in long distance) to offer us a beer of Fanta. We just could not turn him down, you know...

To be continued...

20 photos to make you feel Italian

I had already known what I was heading for!

We made ourselves at home in the gym.

After eating Kaki and just before wine testing.

Cheers!

Our elegant guide of Vicenza.

A coach popular even in Italy!

Lost or sleepy?

'Dwa ryśki'

Fully-concentrated...

Explaining the organizers' mistake to our friend from Rome

The official singer of PWT - NICOLA MANFREDI!

Guess who made this photo ;-)

The PWT 2008 elite final was tough and... bloody!

Our funny brigade :)

The O-party with Zinca from Romania.

The course in Venice was incredibly tiring and...

...giving a great FUN!

That's not a photomontage... really!

Sightseeing in the temperature of about 20*C

Fabulous journey back to cold Katowice.

I think I don't have to write whether it was a fascinating or miserable stay. Now you can imagine how wonderful the journey to Lonigo was. I'll give you only one prompt - the pictures are in the chronological order. The maps and descriptions are coming...