Completely fed up with camps and technical trainings...

HD quality, isn't it?

Fortunately, the title of this note is out-of-date right now, but I write posts in chronological order and had a little delay;)

The last 10 days of the 'normal' holidays I spent with our provincial team in Bieszkowice, where we had a technical camp, which ended with a 3-day competition called Grand Prix Pomorza 2010.

We had a wide variety of technical trainings there, like loops, memory training, classic races, maps with no tracks, night trainings, following the line and so on.

I felt that I had had enough of everything and found no pleasure in orienteering at that time. That's why I don't feel like describing all these courses.

I would only like to mention 3 things, which I would call O-FUN:

- sprint in the lake (organized by Tom and Mary; our aim was to punch controls - situated in the lake - in the right order presented on a small sheet of paper)

mispunched at 23rd

- microsprint (organized by Łukasz; he prepared the map on his own! a lot of controls everywhere and a very tricky course, I must say!)

- playing Chinese wispers (again Tom and Mary - thanks! we were divided into groups of 4 people and had to draw the same line on a clean map as the one presented on another one, only by using... check the meaning of this idiom and you'll understand everything!).

At the end of our camp we took part in GP Pomorza. My only goal for this competition was to finish the elite courses. The terrains were quite interesting and very demanding physically. The courses weren't too difficult (probably due to my snail speed). The controls were situated almost always in right places. The control descriptions were almost always the right ones. The tracks were almost always visible on the map.

So happy I came back home on 29th August in the late evening!

29 days out of home!

It's been by far the longest journey in my life. It began on 19th July...

Day 1
Train to Gdynia. Waiting for Olej. Shopping in Tesco. Pizza in DaGrasso. Sleeping at AP's house.

Day 2

Ferry to Karlskrona. Michael (from Nybro OK) takes us to their clubhouse. Wow! We've already been there (Baltic Junior Cup 2008).

Day 3

The best O-training in my life! Normal course, Swiss game, in and out, contours and corridor. Just see how close to the control (a piece of toilet paper) I was during the 'Swiss game' part of the map! Then, sauna in the evening;)

Day 4

In the morning a middle distance course. I was very satisfied with my orienteering. In the afternoon we decided to check if the BJC 2008 mixed relay terrain was really so difficult and we made sure it was NOT. It means that we were poor some 22 months ago...

Day 5

Finally reaching Örebro for O-Ringen! Unfortunately, no tehcnical training, because the map was miserable and it cost 50 SEK. Exaggeration!

Day 6

Short physical training with Photo Orienteering as a part of it. Really nice to look for some small features in the city centre;)

Day 7

1st stage of O-Ringen. 10,7km. 92:34. Started quite good, but lost concentration after some stick stuck in my shoe near the 4th control. What's more, the map near the 8th control seemed just impossible to read for me... Afterwards wrong direction and not using the path on the long leg to the 12th one.

Day 8

2nd stage. 4,2km. 44:10. Great time, wasn't it? I spent so much time walking in the green area just before the 7th control that my only dream was to finish the course since that moment. Obviously, I didn't manage to avoid making mistakes later on...

Day 9

3rd stage. 11,4km. 99:07. Technically, the first half of the course went relatively well. Then, Gustav Bergman caught me at the 8th control and I took advantage of him towards the 12th control. I could have followed him till the end, but I decided to make my own race and let him go. Suddenly, I started to feel dizzy and terribly exhausted. I had problems walking on my own legs during the last part of the course...

Day 10

At last a day off! Generally, we did nothing. We only tried a combination of badminton and tennis - called speedminton.

Day 11

4th stage. 11,3km. 77:23. Certainly, it was my best performance at this year's O-Ringen. 36th place....... Matthias Kyburz caught me at the end of the long leg to the 15th control and showed me how to orienteer in this type of terrain. He is fucking fast, I must say! However, he lost some time to the 18th control and I kept my 'lead' till the finish line. Half a loaf is better than no bread;)

Day 12

5th stage. Handicap. 11,4km. 106:55. There was no transport to the arena because we were told it was within walking distance from the camping. Yeah... more than half an hour to the event centre, 2,5km to the start, almost 2 hours in the forest and more than 30 minutes of coming back. I had enough! My race? From the very beginning my only wish was to reach the finish line.

In the afternoon to Karlskrona by car and then a night ferry to Gdynia. At last!

Day 13

Waiting some long hours in McDonald's for the beginning of the official JWOC 2011 training camp.

And the first technical training. It seemed to be nothing special, but for me it was like salvation. I regained my lost motivation and power in my legs - brilliant!

Day 14

Morning: quite a long course on a map with scale 1:15000. The course included nice butterflies.

Afternoon: map with contours only. Unfortunately, there was no control flags in the forest - ridiculous... And the funny thing, I was sure I found controls no. 42, 38 and 37, but realized I had not after I got completely lost on my way towards the 43rd control. The biggest and most long-lasting parallel mistake in my life!

Day 15

M: a classic race. Our goal was to run the even controls fast and to rest at the odd ones. Very nice, but horribly exhausting training session!

A: some short and boring course in a flat terrain.

Day 16

M: middle distance with lots of butterflies. I could not understand the terrain properly. Fortunately, there is still much time to learn before JWOC 2011;)

A: just some stretching with all the people and taking rest before tomorrow's looong.

Day 17

M: 13,6km. I took this training very seriously, as a competition. I felt really well during the whole course and my technique was close to perfect. I only regret misinterpreting the map at the end of the longest leg and losing some time at controls no. 4 and 15 due to some new fences in the terrain.

A: a very interesting lecture with dr Jeremi Ściepurko. Really worth listening to!

Day 18

M&A: 2 technical training sessions in flat terrains. I started understanding this kind of terrain much better and feel more self-confident right now;)

Day 19

M: middle distance on a map with no tracks. We were bound to run with a competition pace. Unfortunately, I had problems understanding the map in some places and lost far too much time. Nevertheless, my running speed was promising;)

A: sprint in Rumia. I know this map well, cause I took part in some competition there in April this year. So it was only about the fast legs and Papuś was faster by 6 seconds that day.

Day 20

M: I wanted to run the long distance course that day. However, I was forced to make it shorter, because I had a really bad day and was not able to focus on map reading.

A: sprint in Wejherowo. The map quality is ridiculous... Furthermore, we had some closed gates and had to run around or climb up the fences. Moreover, I found a new gate in the terrain (while going to the 2nd control), by sheer coincidence. After all, the sprint was very nice and I had a really good race despite all the adversities.

Day 21

First legs training. Unfortunately, the controls situated in the forest weren't proper to set an interesting and FAIR course. I was far behind Olej already after the first double forking, but didn't give up. However, after losing plenty of time near the 106th control (where the map was just awful!) I decided to jog...

Afterwards the whole team left us and it was only me, Nati and Olej who decided to spend 2 more days in the JWOC 2011 terrain.

Day 22

M: I had a nice freestyle technical training with Olej. I was in my element while running in this forest.

A: We had a short course on a 1:15000 map 'Rogulewo' drawn by AP for us. I couldn't find the appropriate rhythm during this training session.

Day 23

In the morning Nati set controls in the forest for me and Olej. Thanks to her we had an opportunity to take part in a nice memory training. 2 times 3 courses with 2 controls on each of them.

Just after it we picked Hewi from Gdańsk and started our journey to Baniocha, because... Jolanta was organising a party there. It was a fancy dress ball and I decided to be an unemployed;) The party was outstanding!

Day 24

You should know what people tend to do after parties;-)

Day 25

We made our way to Przeworsk in order to take part in this year's GP Polonia.

On the very same day we competed in the 1st Unofficial World Orienteering Championships of Tied Couples. My partner was Nati and we became vicechampions! Incredible success:)

Day 26

1st stage of GPP. I made an enormous mistake (just the same as last year) and lost chances of winning the competition. However, I decided not to give up and finished 2nd in men's elite. Funny;)

In the late afternoon there was a sprint qualification race. I agreed to run in my 'unemployed' shoes (from Jolanta's party) and proved that shoes do not run, because I achieved the 3rd place only some 6 seconds behind the leader, Hewi.

Day 27

2nd stage of GPP. I just loved that forest! It was flat, only with some small hills and the runnability was brilliant. I made an average performance, losing only 1'35 to Włodar - nice!

In the evening the time came for the sprint final. The course was very tricky and interesting. Because of that I took wrong route choices 2 times and lost more than 40 seconds. I should have been angry at myself, but I wasn't, because my speed was awesome that day (winning 5 out of 10 splits) and I lost only 22 seconds to the unbeatable winner, Włodar.

Day 28

Last stage of GPP - sprint. Men's elite class was the last one to start that day, so we had a great opportunity to have a good laugh waiting some 2 hours for our start. The course was really demanding and I made an awful mistake while running to the 7th control, because I didn't see the black wall and had to turn back. Moreover, number '7' is situated in a wrong place on a map, because I thought that a gate under this number would be open... Nevertheless, my time loss to the leader was huge (14 mins) and my time advantage over the 3rd place was big (6mins), so my only goal was to finish the course not being disqualified. Somehow I managed;)
Then, I was ready for the bus journey to Łódź. That night I slept at grandma's.

Day 29
Finally, back at home!!!

The official end of the O-season 2009!

Last weekend all the runners from our voivodeship (+ Dyzia) took part in 3 well-organized competitions.

Golden Needle
When I saw the startlists, I immediately noticed that I was to start 3mins ahead of Olej... so we had a short talk before this race and I decided to wait for him at the 1st control and have lots of extremely fast fun in the forest. I had no compass on my thumb since I gave it Tomek P. However, I was able to lead at the most of the controls because I had so much power in my legs that day and, what's more, I know this forest pretty well. Thanks to a brilliant pace of about 5:00/km we managed to secure the 2nd spot for me just less than 1 minute before Cilu:)

Mixed relays
Obviously, my partner was Nati;) She finished the 1st leg on the 3rd place. Her race was not perfect since she lost over 4 minutes to the leader - Gwoździu. Nevertheless, mine was even worse! After a magnificent first loop I lost touch with my group at the 12th control (losing more than 1' there!). Moreover, I mispunched the 16th control. In fact, the map is not detailed enough in this area but we lost chances for the podium place anyway...

In the evening we travelled to Grotniki and had a really nice time there;-)

End of the season - middle
That day I was very determined to win. I had an almost clear race with a great pace of 5mins per km. However, Olej had an even better race and beat me by 16seconds! Good job:)

Incredibly frustrated!

If I had written this note yesterday, the title would have been much more scatching and cruder!
Last weekend we visited Warsaw in order to take part in UNTS Cup. The competition was perfectly organized and the atmosphere was just brilliant! Unfortunately, my performances were much, much, much, much and one more time much worse...
On Saturday a night sprint event took place. I was the first one in my class to enter the forest but I didn't really care about it. Although I didn't feel so well physically, I started fast and managed to keep this pace till the end of the course. However, I didn't succeed in avoiding stupid mistakes and lost almost 7mins due to my foolishness! I took the 5th place in men's 'elite', which was not satisfying at all! The one and only advantage of this race are the conclusions drawn and a hope for a much better race on October 2nd.


On Sunday there was a middle distance race prepared for us with cash prizes for the podium places in M21. I started quite good since at the 4th control I caught Slavko (4 minutes!) and was leading the race with the advantage of 44 seconds over the final winner - Chrupek. Then, a huge mistake came and a lot of other time losses afterwards. That's why I just want to forget about this competition as soon as possible and concetrate on running my own race! The map is presented below.

And now the time came for the funniest thing of the whole stay in the Polish capital - Jolanitas Cup. Firstly, I would like to thank Jolka for inviting me and for having a great fun while taking part in this unusual O-race. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOLANITA! As for the results, I made 3 mistakes (2nd, 4th and probably 6th or 14th control?). Hope to compete in Jolanitas Cup during your wedding, Jolka;)

Too fast and got furious:-D

On Saturday in the evening I took part in a nice Microsprint competition. Just before the start we had thought it was going to be very easy but we hadn't known how wrong we had been! The courses turned out to be extremely fast and I passed everything on the map so quickly...
I didn't manage to qualify for the final because of an over-a-minute-mistake to the 11th control. However, the organizers prepared more maps and we were able to run the Men's Final course as well. There was only one difference - we had no control point (9th) in the fountain!;)

95 controls punched and 1 mispunched...

Yesterday we came back from Novy Bor, where we took part in a 5-day competition - Bohemia Orienteering 2009. The whole stay in Czech Republic was really wonderful; we all gathered lots of experience, had the opportunity to run in very well-mapped and interesting terrains and compare with the best Czech runners.

We got 2 training maps to run at.

Below I present maps from the 5 stages with a deep analysis on each of them.

Before the last day (handicap) my places were: 5th, 3rd (5 seconds to the winner!), 3rd and 4th. That's why I was 3rd in the overall standings, nearly 6mins behind the 2nd and 3:25 ahead of the 4th. I made a solid and fast (especially at the beginning) performance and came 3rd into the finish. However, I realised I had punched the wrong control! For the very first time in my life... That's a shame, but I am really satisfied with my races in Czech Republic as I got to know I am quite self-confident in the forest and my O-technique is at a high level:) I only need to work more strength in my legs for the second part of the season.

On Sunday, after all the competitions, we organized a club beer relay race in our gym. We had lots of fun and were ready to go back home the following day...

Portugal "O" Meeting 2009

We started our long journey to Portugal at about 12 on Thursday. I met with Olej at the Fabryczny railway station and made our way to Warsaw. I ran a bit with Jacek there and had a nice dinner prepared by the house owner;-D it was really tasty! Then, Slavko visited us as well and accompanied us in our bus trip to the national airport. After some time spent on waiting for the others to come we went to check-in desks. Everything went just superb until one of the 3 guys (Jacek, Hewi, Mały) tried to put his baggage on a special scales. It turned out they had their flight reservations for 16:50 or so... and we all got REALLY confused! In the end, we had to board our plane and they had to wait and see what happens. Firstly, we were told we are obliged to pay almost 5000zł for them to travel with us. Fortunately, the airlines owned up to their mistake and arranged a flight to Lisbon through Brussels for them the next day in the morning. We sighed with relief...

Consequently, we arrived a bit too late in Mora and didn't have enough time to find the Model Event area, so we decided to go jogging and picked lots of fresh oranges straight from the trees. I already started to love Portugal!

21 II 2009

Model Event
The map looked really demanding before the training. However, it turned out to be a great fun to run with! The weather was just beautiful and we were all full of energy to compete in the coming races :-)


Dia 1 - middle
It was such a pleasure to run with SI-card after such a long time! I made a decent warm-up and started my course. It went quite well taking into account the long winter break in orienteering;)

Urban night sprint
It was my very first time to run in this type of competition and I must admit it's a really funny thing! Nevertheless, it is NOT the same to run a sprint distance in the daylight since you do not see the objects that are far away...

22 II 2009

Dia 2 - long WRE

On the one hand, I was looking forward to compete in this particular race; on the other hand, I was a bit afraid of my shape and didn't know if I would manage to perform well. That's why I ran very carefully and didn't succeed in avoiding stupid mistakes... Moreover, I didn't like that day's terrain at all!

23 II 2009

Dia 3 - middle
Incredibly fast and lovely terrain! Although I had some problems with my right foot after the previous day's long distance race, I felt strong enough to made a really good race and lose only 5:44 to Matthias Merz, whose performances are unbelievable at the beginning of the season:)

OriSHOW
It was the first and LAST(!) time I was disqualified this year. I only wish I hadn't missed the chance to win 100 Euros;-P and would like to congratulate Hania and Mały for winning the silver medals and... 50 Euros... to spend in Silva store.

24 II 2009

Dia 4 - intermediate distance
The terrain was the same as the previous day and I just had to compete well:-) Meeting Wojtek Dwojak on course just helped me speed up and orienteer more confidently. But don't you think I followed him all the time! Read the race analysis before making a judgement. Certainly, it was my best race in Portugal, but I still hope to get into a better shape to set a new record!

Just after the competition we came back to our school, had shower and jumped into the cars. Final destination - Pataias...