Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Maps from last 5 days:)

As promised, below I publish the maps from Polish Champs and 2 technical trainings in Gdańsk & Sopot. Unfortunately, I hadn't expected that the maps from sprint and middle distance are not in the size of A4 paper sheet and the analysis is a bit cut... but I hope you'll manage;) I would also like to emphasize that the last training with almost the whole Morawski's family (without Jacek) was organized really professionally and it was a great pleasure for me to spend some time in this beautiful forest. Thank You for preparing a short sport camp for me! :-)







What's more, I noticed some regularity comparing my Polish Champs medals from this and previous year. That's what I mean:
2008 - sprint (3), middle (4), long (2);
2009 - sprint (2), middle (3), long (1).
Two facts that make me happy are that last year I took two silver medals in relay and ultralong. However, I was disappointingly 8th in night orienteering. I hope my place in this year's night orienteering PC would be the only exception from this fantastic rule!

Now the most important competition of this season is ahead of me -EYOC 2009 in Kopaonik, Serbia. Tomorrow I am leaving for Złoty Potok to take part in Wawel Cup 2009, then we are getting into a bus and heading for Serbia to take part in a short technical camp just before the championships. Once all the medals have been decided, I am going to Limanowa for the second part of our club's camp. I'll be back home at 10th July and ready to take some break and relax...

However, now it's high time to FIGHT!!!

Monday, June 22, 2009

I've got'em ALL!

This weekend the first round of Polish Championships - in sprint, middle and long distance - took place. They were organised in lovely surroundings of Olsztynek. My aim was to come back home with 3 medals and dreamt of becoming the Polish Champion for the very first time in my life. If it hadn't been for my injury and illness, it would have been much easier and I would have felt much more certain and patient. However, my achievements are now extremely satisfying and giving so much energy and self-confidence for the coming races! On the other hand, all that glitters is not gold...

SPRINT
- too slow to succeed...

Just before the start I had felt that it could be the most difficult distance for me to stand on the podium. Being ill and taking antibiotics I wasn't sure of my ability to run at a highest speed for these 12 minutes... and I was not wrong! Moreover, I made a terrible and unbelievably stupid mistake at the 5th control (at control no. 4 I was leading the race). It was caused by taking too much into account two sprint courses in this heritage park during our technical camp in Stare Jabłonki. Fortunately, I managed to reach the silver medal and fulfil one third of my ambitious plan! Nevertheless, I must admit gold medal was within reach: if I had had an ideally perfect and flawless course, I would have won with Olej with a margin of... 2 seconds;-)

MIDDLE - where amazing happens!

On Saturday I was just perfect in doing everything inversely to the pre-race plans and intentions. Firstly, I began too fast and made an obvious mistake at the first control... Secondly, I completely lost contact with the map at the 4th control... Thirdly, I wasn't able to keep the direction correctly... Fourthly, I had enormous problems attacking the controls... Fifthly, I became furious looking for the second last control... but there was Kaszub starting 4 minutes ahead of me! I managed to catch him at the trickiest control no. 4 and he accompanied me till the end of this tiring struggle. Although I didn't believe in gaining the podium place during the race, he made me do so and motivated to run faster and faster. The funniest thing is that I was the Polish Champion even at the 12th control (some 800m before the finish)... Due to an awful mistake at the 13th control I got 'only' the bronze medal. The biggest surprise of the day was the second place of Grochu. Congratulations!

LONG - at last!!!

I had five reasons to win this race... as follows:
1. Win with so far unbeatable Olej.
2. Let Piotr stand near the podium and get his deserved gold medal.
3. Become the Polish Champion for the first time.
4. I wanted it...
5. ...and they wanted it.
I was incredibly motivated before the race. However, I had to face some unexpected problems. I had a horrible stomachache. Luckily, Pasza gave me two Nospa pills and they helped a lot;-) I decided to spend a lot of time on the warm-up map to get used to the scale of 1:15000. For this reason, I did not so many stretching exercises just before the start. Nonetheless, I wanted the race to begin as soon as possible and let it happen God's way! I started very concentrated and calm. I succeeded in winning 4 of the first 5 legs and kept the lead till the very end of the course. However, I lost direction at the 3rd control and couldn't be sure of the victory until crossing the finish line. Fortunately, I clearly won the race and managed to get the title of the Polish Champion at last! What's more, in my favourite and the most prestigious distance of all:-) I would also like to add I am extremely happy that Kaszub reached the silver since he really deserved it for the previous day's race. KASZI IS MY MASTER!

I am going to publish the maps with a deep analysis on Wednesday because now I am staying in Gdańsk at my uncle's house and having nice technical trainings with Anna & Ula :) Best regards for You!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Like in a false mirror...

At the end of May the last 3-day competition took place. It was Baltic Cup in Koleczkowo. I decided to compete in the elite class and I didn't really feel like running at full speed...







Just after this competition we travelled to Italy to spend over a week in a beautiful place called San Martino di Castrozza and train before the forthcoming JWOC. Unfortunately, I got injured at the very beginning and had to give up my trainings...

When I came back home, it turned out that this injury was not so dangerous and I could start my trainings again! On the first Saturday of June I started in a so-called UKS Tournament. However, I had to shorten my course a bit...



Afterwards the time came to spend some days in Stare Jabłonki in order to prepare for the coming Polish Champs. It was quite a nice technical camp...







I came back home from this camp with an illness. Now it is getting a bit better and I hope to be perfectly healthy the day after tomorrow. Nevertheless, I had a successive break in the training period and don't really know what to expect this weekend.......