Sunday, July 18, 2010

Some days spent at home

On Thursday I decided to cycle to the Łagiewnicki forest to take part in a physical training session (or maybe a bit more sincere: to meet with my clubmates). Altogether I spent nearly 100 minutes on the bike that day and 13'20 in my running shoes;)

On Friday we ran 2 sprints in Julianowski park. Strange route choices on both maps? Yeah... guess why!

Yesterday I took part in another first legs' training in Grotniki. It was a very nice course with an easy speed - comfortable to win the race;)

Tomorrow I am heading for Gdynia, because my ferry to Sweden leaves at 9:00 on Tuesday. O-Ringen!

Spontaneous decision

Just after JWOC competitions Olej and I decided to visit our provincial team in Skwierzyna, where they had some technical camp before the coming 'Olympics'. It was a wonderful feeling to surprise our girls in the middle of the night, haha!

Our aim for these 2 days was to take as much rest as possible and have a great time with them. However, we took part in 2 nice technical trainings as well. The first one consisted of two short loops at a map with contours only. I made two enormous mistakes, but they didn't spoil my great mood at all;)

On the day of departure the first legs' training waited for us. I had not enough energy and power to lead the race, but surprisingly I managed to win it because of a better forking at the end (8th control). I love this game!

It is really possible! (the end of JWOC story)

Useful rest day
We really deserved this one-day break after a very tiring long distance race. The organizers prepared a model event for relay that day. Firstly, we started laughing while looking at the map, because it seemed to be too easy and almost useless. However, it turned out that these open fields (yellow areas) weren't covered with grass but some pricking bushes, which made running much more difficult. The relay race on Saturday was going to be really tough...

Solid middle qualification
I felt that I wouldn't have forgiven myself if I hadn't managed to get to the A final. So I just decided to do my best to qualify and thanks to it I had an almost clean race with quite a good speed. The terrain was unbelievably easy and fast. I only had some hesitations at the beginning (1st and 4th) and probably took not the best route choices at the end (18th and 19th). All in all, it was a wonderful feeling during the long finish when I already knew that I would compete in the A final the following day;)

(Bad) luck during the middle final
Bad luck? The first part of the course (6 controls) was very tricky. Unfortunately, I lost too much time at the beginning. Small hesitation while running to the 1st control... Running too much to the right while approaching the 4th control... Running much too far and looking for the 6th control near the wrong hill... 5+20+55=80secs, whereas I lost 73 seconds to the podium place. That's a pity!
Luck? Just before the 4th control I managed to catch Vetle Ruud Bråten from Norway, who started 2mins ahead of me. Thanks to him my speed and self-confidence were much higher later on and I could be happy with a TOP 15 result in a JWOC individual race. 14th!
Analysing the splits, I got to know that my time in the easier (forest) part of the race (from the 6th control till the end) was 15secs better than the one of the bronze medallist Olle Boström from Sweden. I became convinced that it is really possible for me to get a JWOC medal next year!

JWOC diploma in the relay!
It was an unbelievably hot day and the courses were extremely exhausting due to many open areas and huge amount of climb. I stood in the first row (thanks to our team's 8th place last year - Jacek, Jancia, Rino) and expected an incredibly fast mass start. That's why I started quite fast as well and... landed in the lead - quite funny;)
The first double forking went really well. Then, I decided for the track route choice to the 5th control. I wasn't sure if it was a good idea, but eventually it must have been quite ok. Afterwards a triple forking came! I got a bit confused while running to the 8th control, because almost everyone went left there. Fortunately, I was brave enough to go alone to the right hill. I took a very round route choice to the 10th control, but it turned out to be quite good as well. Then, a spectators' passage and a map change for the second loop.
One more time I chose a round route choice to the 14th control - really good. However, the right one using the mountain top might have been a bit faster. While running to the 16th one, I saw a big group of about 4 runners some 150m ahead of me. Unfortunately, it seemed quite impossible to catch them and I had to run almost alone from that moment. Technically, the rest of the course went really ok, but I wasn't able to keep the appropriate speed...
I finished my race on the 8th place less than 4mins behind the leading Swedish team. It was a quite satisfying result and a good starting position for the next legs. Olej had a brilliant race and jumped onto the 5th place! Unfortunately, Rino didn't succeed in gaining a podium place. Nevertheless, he secured our 5th place and a JWOC diploma! I think all of us did their best and thanks to this magnificent team effort we could celebrate the 5th place in the world!

Saturday's afternoon and evening
Just after coming back to the barracks we decided for a short football match on the pitch. We all felt terribly exhausted, but who cares?:)
In the evening the time came for the well-known JWOC banquet. Fortunately, I was able to keep my drinking under control and had a great party with the orienteers from all over the world;-)

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

JWOC long map and analysis

I didn't start my race well. I made mistakes at the first two controls (0'50 and 0'35). I think they were caused by my not competing in sprint the previous day...
Then, I went a bit too far at the 6th control (0'20). I had problems leaving that control and attacking the next one (0'15). I decided to go straight and ran too much to the left (0'10).
The butterflies weren't as tricky as I had expected them to be. However, I took the wrong route choice to the 10th one (0'15), because I caught some other runner at the 9th control and wanted to run away from him as fast as possible. Then, a 'mirror' mistake to the 12th control (0'10).
I managed to run the middle part of the course (between controls no. 13 and 24) in 33:56, while the Junior World Champion's (Pavel Kubat's) time was 32:40. It's really promising;)
The 25th control was one of the trickiest ones, because situated in the green. I should have chosen the left route choice. But I didn't and went too far there (0'30) - I was lucky not to lose more time in that area.
During the last loop I felt really exhausted. That's why I took a round route choice to the 27th control, which turned out to be much worse than the straight one using the paths. I must have lost most of this time trying to get down in dense green (0'45).
Even the last control was very difficult! Firstly, you had to get uphill (which was terribly tiring) and then, find the control somewhere in the bushes. I landed a bit too much to the left, but saw the tapes after a short while (0'10).

Summing it all up, it was quite difficult to estimate how much time I lost. However, I tried to do so and it turned out that I lost about 4mins due to my mistakes. If it hadn't been for them, I would have taken the... 16th place. Sounds miserable, but my physical shape that day wasn't as good as I would have wished to. So the TOP 10 result seems to have been possible. Maybe in the middle?

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

26th in long

My aim for this race was to achieve a TOP 20 place, my dream - TOP 10.
The start was delayed by 40 minutes - ridiculous!
Unfortunately, I made mistakes at the first 2 controls and lost my self-confidence. I had to fight with myself to still believe... The middle part of the course went pretty well, although I didn't feel fantastic physically. At the spectator control I was 19th. During the last loop I felt really exhausted and lost some time (actually not due to my mistakes, but due to my lack of belief and praying just to finish my race).
All in all, my result is much better than I had expected while running. However, my performance was just featureless - not bad and not good... Comparing to my 99th place in Sweden 2 years ago, I can see an enormous progress. What's more, there's potential to fight for the TOP 10. Nevertheless, the podium place was completely out of reach and it's bitter...

The map with route choices and some analysis tomorrow, because there's a rest day at JWOC.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Amazing girls! & tomorrow's long

First of all, I must admit I am so proud to be a member of Polish Junior Team during JWOC 2010 in Denmark! Why? We achieved 2 medals in the sprint distance!!! Hania and Monika - I give a big hand to YOU:)

As far as my performance at JWOC is concerned, tomorrow I am running my first race - long distance.
Yesterday I took part in a short model event for long. The scale 1:15 000 makes it very difficult to read the map precisely. What's more, I totally lost contact with the map once... Fortunately, it was only a model event and I have drawn a very important conclusion thanks to it: execute your route choice STEP BY STEP.

My start time for tomorrow is 11:34. It's just perfect for me! I promise to do my best and fight for the best result possible!

Saturday, July 3, 2010

JWOC coming soon...

I spent two days in Świnoujście doing 2 technical trainings. The first one was a very interesting middle distance, whereas the second one was a line training combined with controls picking, unfortunately both of the at the same map. However, it was really worth orienteering in this terrain!

Today, after a very long and tiring car journey (7h in extreme heat!), we reached Aalborg - the place where JWOC 2010 is being organized. In the evening I did a short physical training session (with about 7mins of orienteering at an easy sprint map at the barracks, where we actually stay).

Tomorrow I am running model event for long distance in the morning and some speed training in the afternoon. On Monday 5 of us are competing in JWOC sprint distance, while I am just taking rest before the Tuesday's long distance race in Svinklov.

I am unbelievably surprised with the bronze girls today! Great!:* And Papuś, you're a real hero!:)