Long time no see!

I was so much into my duties that I couldn't find any time to publish some post here. What's more, there were no interesting competitions and my life was all about tough training and studying. Fortunately, all my exams are over right now and I am able to enjoy my 4th training camp this winter - this time in Szklarska Poręba.

My last post was published 30th Nowember. Since then a lot of important things happened in my sports life, including:

• 1st training camp in Szklarska Poręba (4-12 XII) - for me it was some kind of a preration for the coming demanding winter training sessions. I had some problems with challenging trainings served by Kołczu, because my legs didn't work so well then due to being quite tired just after the beginning of my winter workouts...
• 2nd training camp in Ochotnica Dolna (26 XII - 2 I) - at the beginning of this camp I had to struggle against horrible stomach flu, because I fell ill exactly on Christmas Eve. 4 days of my trainings were completely lost and another 2 spent on some useless jogging. Fortunately, I got over it and could enjoy the last 4 laborious days of this camp. Thanks to it, I came back feeling well and ready for the action!
• the so-called Popular Orienteering Championships (8 I) - I took it as an easy technical training and used the map with no tracks. Moreover, I forgot to take my compass with me and had to come back to the start just after the first control, funny;)
• GP of Łódź in cross-country running (9 I) - it was the 2nd edition of the competition described in the last note. The course length was about 5,13km and my time was 18:20. Unfortunately, the conditions were just awful, since the whole surface was covered with slippery ice. Furthermore, I had sore muscles and felt extremely tired after the hard week of strentgh trainings - a good performance was simply out of reach.
• 3rd training camp in Istebna (15-23 I) - I am incredibly satisfied with this particular training camp! Finally, I got the opportunity to spend some time with my clubmates and managed to do all the training sessions as I had wished to - massive satisfaction!
• technical training in Rydzyny with Azymut Pabianice (29 I) - I succeeded in setting 4 controls in the forest. As soon as I started running the course (in a form of Swiss game), I spotted that my compass was broken (there appeared some little air-cell inside it). I was so frustrated that I wasn't able to focus on the map. That's why my route choices looked like these...
• GP of Łódź in cross-country running (30 I) - this time I felt much, much better than 3 weeks ago. The conditions were really good as well. Thanks to it, I managed to fight for the 3rd place with a much more satisfying time of 17:42 (only some 15 seconds behind the winner). However, I dare for more, much more;-)
• technical training in Modrzew (5 I) - it was just a little part of a much longer running session. I didn't do my best to find all the controls, such as stones of about 30cm... I decided to concentrate on map reading, finding the right flow and choosing the best route choices. It was not that bad, but I just can't wait to face great orienteering challenges in Portugal at the beginning of March!

Now I am lying in my bed in Szklarska Poręba and I am taking some rest between my training sessions. It's really nice to have the opportunity to be completely focused on my running. I am sure these are the camps, which help me make enormous progress most!

My plans for the coming weeks:

- tough winter trainings in Szklarska until 20th February;

- the weekend of technical trainings in Żelazko (26-27 II);

- two weekends of orienteering competitions and some technical trainings between them, Portugal (3-13 III);

- cross-country competition in Ruda Pabianicka (20 III);

- Spring Cup in Denmark (25-27 III).

And then... we'll see;)

Cross-country instead of orienteering...

Yesterday I took part in an 'orienteering' competition called PoZnO. I regret to have to put this word in quotation marks... However, it really was a cross-country race. I am getting bored with the same map, the same terrain, the same place and even the same, terribly easy controls!


I am looking forward to Thursday. That's the day when we are leaving for a one-week keep-fit camp in Szklarska Poręba. It just has to be funny:)

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...

My foot leaves much to be desired...

Below I present the maps from our weekend's trainings.

I think there's nothing to add - they are simply too boring and... out-of-date to comment!

Tomorrow we are going to Podlesice to attend the annual meeting of junior orienteers from the whole country. The climax of this meeting is the famous cross on Saturday morning. I would think I am prepared really well for it if it wasn't for my injured right foot... which led to an unexpected interruption of today's training:(

Fortunately, I have one day off more and hopefully it will get better. Wait and see...

The winter Saturdays...

On Saturdays it is arranged a technical training in my plan. It is one of those days I enjoy most! Now I would like to describe my last (today's) and second last (a week ago) TT a bit. Let's begin with the earlier one...

How to make a course with nearly 400m climb in Łódź?

The answer is here:


The course parameters were as follows:
a bit over 14,7km with 395m climb
and lots of controls ;-)

I needed 100 minutes and some seconds to finish this course, so my effective pace was about 6:48/km. I think it's really good as for the training.
The aim of this particular training session was to reach as many hills as possible and I think I did manage very well! Obviously, I did NOT find all the controls, especially hollows under a huge layer of snow. :)

The first competition in 2009!

I may have exaggerated calling the morning's race a competition... However, I achieved a funny diploma for gaining the first victory in 2009. :-) I hope it's a brilliant prognostic for the future!

As far as the course is concerned, I must admit it was really interesting and enjoyable! I even visited two places (controls no. 67 & 44) I had never been to so far! Congratulations, Piotruś ;)
Finally, I want to emphasize that mine and Olej's route choice were of exactly the same length - 6,915km. Olej took 34-36-37-39-32 at the beginning. Funny, isn't 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?

It must have happened some day! / The Podzio Show

There was a great chance on Saturday to fulfil the everlasting aim to beat Pasza at the PoZnO competition as I started only 2 minutes behind him. I decided to push really hard from the very beginning. The first time I saw Piotruś were the surroundings of the 3rd control - he was leaving it while I had some 50m to reach it. The similar situation took place at the 4th control and then the deciding control no. 5 came! Unfortunately, it was situated in the wrong place and the competition became a bit unjust... Afterwards we motivated each other to run faster and faster. I led to the next 3 (and a half;]) controls. Then my legs became a bit too heavy to gain a satisfying speed after such a tough beginning and Pasza was the one to follow...

Our performance wasn't obviously amazing but I managed to make my eternal dream come true :-) I hope it's gonna happen more often in the future!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

On Monday, October 27th, the 10-person Relay Secondary School Championships of Łódź were held in a small park in Stoki district. I had ran there twice(?) so far. However, the track was considerably different this time... to my advantage. I could choose between the first and tenth leg. Of course I took the last one!

Although we didn't start incredibly (17th place after the 1st run), the next 3-5 legs managed to get to the top 6 very close to the podium. After the magnificent 7th leg we were already on the podium places! The following two runners made it to the 2nd place. Then it was me to start...

I hadn't really expected such a stunning performance of my schoolmates. I knew very well that they rested their hopes in me and I just couldn't let them down. The first place was just impossible to reach as the loss of time was too huge. Everyone expected a real struggle for the silver medal because I started only some 3 seconds ahead of the 3rd-place runner. I decided to speed up as much as possible to make the guy tired. I must admit I had a wonderful day and when some mild slopes came, my advantage was getting bigger and bigger. On the last meters I could even afford a small show trotting and waving with the baton cheerfully to my friends. It was an amazing while for me. I wished it had lasted forever! I felt like a great hero! ;-)
If you asked for the key to success, I'd certainly answer it was an unbelievably equal team. The difference between the worst (3:24) and the best (3:06) time was only 18 seconds. To be more precise and end this note, the distance was said to amount to 990m.