16 minutes of extremely fast running!

I think that I can say that this Saturday I began preparing for the coming season 2010. There was a special competition called II Łódzki Dwubój Biegowy organized by our club. It consisted of two parts: a cross-country race of 2,64km and an orienteering sprint distance race (the course was said to be about 1,9km but my watch states that I did 1,63km!).

In this 1st part we were told to run at 110% by our coach Pasza. So I tried to fulfil his expectations and was his 'hare' throughout the whole course. At the very end he took great lengths to speed up and won with the advantage of 1 second over me. I reached the time of about 8:45 (3:19/km). I am very satisfied with my performance:)


The second race was a short sprint. I managed to win all the split times in my class (apart from losing 1'' at the finish:P). What's more, my max HR was 194, so I think I can easily take 195 as my maximum heart rate right now. This way I succeeded in winning the whole competition and getting a big cup and some delicious sweets;)

Tomorrow is the official date when we are going to start training. Yesterday I went to the last party with something more than just soft drinks because I am going to lead a healthy life in order to pursue my great goals! I have lots of dreams, expectations and incredible motivation to be one of the best in the world. Yes, in the world, not only in Poland! I know I've got a long way to go but 'Everything is possible when you believe!'.

I am not sure if all of you noticed that on the right side I put logo and link to the best O-Stuff in the world;-)

I think I'm gonna do some changes to my blog in the nearest future but we'll see...
Now I only pray to God to save me from illnesses and serious injuries. Jesus, I trust in You.

Nice weekend in Puck:)

Last weekend a lot of young orienteers and coaches gathered in Puck in order to take part in a short grouping. There were a lot of interesting lectures arranged for us. Especially three of them were a real pleasure to listen to: Jerzy Antonowicz's, Robert Banach's and Wojciech Dwojak's. It was very nice to see that Polish elite runners are interested in the youngsters' progress! I must also admit that checking my stance - just standing on some kind of a horizontal platform - was amazing;)

We did 2 technical trainings as well. The first one's terrain was much similar to the one we are bound to compete at JWOC 2011. I was chosen to run with Owczar and I hope I managed to help him improve his orienteering technique. (tracks to the controls no. 2, 3 & 4 aren't shown precisely because I had some problems with losing the GPS signal)


The second training was much more exciting since this time it was me to be taught. By Robert Banach. I did my best to perform well. In the 1st 'middle distance' part I was told to run pretty fast. It went very well but for the 5th control where I ran too chaotically... Then a slower 'corridor' part came and I had some problems with keeping the direction and estimating the distance. In the next 'contours' part there were no controls (because Hewi didn't succeed in placing them before us) but I found the appropriate places flawlessly. The last 'line' part was very easy. However, one fence was missing in the terrain. That's why I got a bit confused and went too much to the left. All in all, I am very happy I got this opportunity to run with Banan and heard lots of valuable pieces of advice:)

My first PoZnO this autumn;)

I am very satisfied with my today's performance! Although, my legs weren't working well and I felt as if they had been made of steel, I managed to avoid making mistakes and won the competition with the advantage of more than 4 minutes over my personal trainer Pasza:)

The course length given by the organizers was 7,0km but I measured it in Ocad (7,395km) and my watch shows 7,265km. So it must have been a bit longer;) my running time was 37:28 with the effective pace of 5:09/km and the real pace of 4:29/km (I did 8,342km). My HR was 183/191!

However, what is the most important thing for me is the fact that my watched worked really well today and the tracks it shows are very similar to the ones I would draw on my own. Below I present 2 maps: 1st - with no amendments to the tracks and 2nd - with some little amendments.


I think that my watch has a little tendency to understate the distance. But I'll check it some day...

Great season's summary

I wanted to sum up this season much earlier but I didn't really have enough time or energy to do so. But now, having seen Jacek's post, I decided it's the highest time I did it:)

My season lasted 47 weeks. I did 3172,33km. I trained 374:16h counting only the time spent on training sessions including running. I had 64 days free during these 329 season days.

I think it will do as for the figures. I would like to say something about the things I managed to execute. First of all, I learnt how to win important competitions. It had been one of my main problems as I usually took podium places but I rarely succeeded in winning the gold. However, this year I became the Polish Champion three times! What's more, I managed to get a diploma place in an individual race during EYOC in Serbia. It sounds so impossible that one year ago it was just a sweet dream and now it's a true reality!

I am SOOOOO satisfied with this season and can't wait for the next one to begin! I hope it's gonna be even better;-)

Weekend in Arturówek with Garmin Forerunner 405!

Last Thursday I bought Garmin Forerunner 405 and I must admit it's a perfect watch! Running with it is much more pleasant and makes me even more motivated and determined to train hard. The thing I love about this watch is the fact that it shows my current pace and distance, which is really helpful. It has lots of different advantages but it's not the time and place to describe them all. I am just going to enjoy training and orienteering with my new friend;)

On Saturday there was my first race with my new device. This competition was called Championships of Łódź in Night Orienteering. I started in M18 class and took the 2nd place because of making one terrible mistake of over 3 minutes! And two smaller ones of about 90 seconds altogether. What's more, I lost some time in the area of the 13th control, where I met a whole pack of boars. Ok but let's forget about the results...

I would like to say something about the Polish maps... In a special programme to view tracks from my new watch called QuickRoute states: 'Click on a point on the route and drag it to the corresponding location on the map. At least two points along the route, preferably well interspaced, need to be adjusted.' I followed the instructions and adjusted two points... and what did I see? That I didn't visit all the other controls at all!
On the map below I decided to draw how my route choices would look like if I hadn't used my Garmin watch. Thanks to it, I am able to draw one important conclusion. Obviously, none of the GPS watches is able to show the tracks perfectly. However, I see that they have a really high degree of accuracy but what causes all the deviations is the fact that maps are not made precisely enough. That's a pity...
I can't wait to check how my watch works in Scandinavia. I recommend reading Alek's note (search for the post from 2009-10-16) comparing navigating in Poland and Sweden:)


Yesterday my father and I took part in the 6th World Day of Running. It was a cross-country race consisting of two loops of about 4,8km. My watch measured a distance of 9,63km, time of 35:38, average pace of 3:42/km, average HR - 183 and max HR - 188, which let me achieve a satisfying 5th place in the open category:) I started a bit too fast with the leading group (3:31, 3:28, 3:41, 3:28) and then a real crisis came (3:53, 3:58). Afterwards it got a bit better (3:47, 3:54, 3:42) but I had to struggle really hard till the very end of the race. I missed the podium only by about a minute. It is much but is not THAT much as well... So I am pretty determined to train hard and took the podium place in this kind of competition some day:)