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Fortunately, the title of this note is out-of-date right now, but I write posts in chronological order and had a little delay;)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

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!

Let's keep it that way!

The last two weeks of my training went just superb for me;) I managed to do everything I wanted and had this wonderful feeling that my shape was improving all the time.

As soon as I came back from Denmark, I started working on my speed. After two really tough trainings on Wednesday and Thursday and a rest day on Friday I was ready to take part in Polish Academic Championships in cross-country running on 10th April. This race was organised in the 3rd May Park (the one where I train every Tuesday and Thursday). According to my Garmin, the course - which consisted of 2 loops - was 5,9km long. The aim that I wanted to achieve was the pace of 3:30/km and after crossing the finish line it turned out that I pursued this goal perfectly. My time was 20:40, whereas my place about 109th. Several young orienteers competed in this race as well and the only one who beat me was Hewi (winning by 10secs). I must admit I was really happy and... surprised at my performance.

A few hours later I was already sitting on the train heading for Jelenia Góra, where we were supposed to take part in an orienteering competition. Obviously, it was cancelled. Fortunately, we got clean maps and could do a really nice technical training. Olej set a 9,4km course for me and I could enjoy 70mins of easy running in a quite interesting terrain. The very same day, on Sunday, we travelled by Pasza's car to Szklarska Poręba in order to take part in a 5-day camp.

Of course, I am not going to describe each training session, but I would love to present two of them which took place on track. The former was carried out on Tuesday. 4x1km. My times were 3:10, 3:06, 3:06, 3:04. Three days later came the latter. It consisted of much shorter sections (200m-300m-200m-300m-400m-200m). When I heard it, I thought 'It will be much easier than the previous one'. How wrong I was! I must admit it was probably the most exhausting training session in my career! Nevertheless, I was extremely satisfied:) As for my times: 26,2-42,1-26,7-42,8-59,0-26,6. During the under-one-minute 400m run I managed to get my maximal heart rate ever - 199!

On Saturday Kołczu organised a nice technical training in Grotniki (there were no tracks and paths on the map), which I took very easily to take some rest after this tiring camp.
2 days ago I did a lovely speed training - 8x3mins (break of 3 mins). My worst pace was 3:19/km, whereas the best one - 3:13/km. Very intensely and evenly - that's how it should work!
Today we could enjoy something new during a strength training. We were to run and do some exercises with a partner behind us, who held stretchy lines so as to make it tougher.

Now I have just come back from a nice one hour's visit to sauna and feel incredibly relaxed;) and what's even more important - ready for the next journey, which is going to begin as soon as tomorrow! This weekend in Gdańsk and the whole next week in Sweden, at the end of which we are going to compete in two important competitions: Elitserien sprint (our debut in a new club Nybro OK) and 10mila. I really can't wait for tomorrow to begin!;-)

First of the minigoals executed:)

Last Friday we travelled to Podlesice so as to take part in a well-known cross.

Although I suffered from a little cold some days ago, I felt that I was pretty well prepared for this competition. I thought we were going to run the same loop as last year. I even analysed the split times and prepared myself mentally. However, it turned out that it's not possible to run using these tracks. That's why it was decided to move this race to Złoty Potok (the very same straight as 2, 3, 4... years ago).

I don't have so much time to describe my race very precisely as I realised that my A level exams are coming in a month's time. I just want to say that looking back on this competition I am pretty satisfied with my performance. Nevertheless, I didn't feel extremely strong physically that day and I must admit I would prefer this cross to have been carried out at a much faster loop...

All in all, comparing this result to the one from the year 2008, when I competed with the same people in my class, I made a considerable progress and am looking forward to improving my place in the forest!

Afterwards we had two technical trainings. I decided to take my headlamp for the first one because I wanted to practise some night orienteering (it got dark when I spotted the 11th control). It's unbelievable how I managed to find the 15th control among these bushes and enormous rocks... Moreover, I made a large mistake to the 16th control due to the lack of attention and laziness to focus on map reading and keeping the direction. On Sunday there was a middle distance course. I took it very easily. However, I must admit that sometimes I had a great willingness to speed up and feel the spirit of a real O-competition. I made one major mistake to the 11th control - I saw one or two more re-entrants in the terrain there... But who bothers?

Now I am leaving for a middle pace training in a nearby park (warm-up + 12,6km). Tomorrow a physical training combined with orienteering with my clubmates. Friday, 5:30 a.m. - we are heading for Denmark! Spring Cup, orienteering wake up;)

P.S. Łukasz, you are my real hero! Good luck on track! :)

Good to be back!

It's been almost two months since I published the last post on my website. I must admit it's a shame! However, I promise I'll do my best not to make you wait so long again:)

Part of the national team travelled to Spain today. I feel so envious of that! Nevertheless, I know that staying in Poland is the best alternative for me since we are still working on my physical strength. What's more, I am heading for Denmark in 6 days in order to start my technical preparations for the coming JWOC in Aalborg.

But let me tell you what I have been doing since 8th January...

9 I 2010

All the people who train under the Pasza's strong-arm government were forced to take part in the so-called cross-test. Although its length was just about 2,64km, the times we achieved were horrible due to a dramatic amount of snow under our feet. Fortunately, I managed to secure my 1st position at the training plans' list.

23 I & 6 II 2010

Two times I decided to travel to Warsaw in order to compete in a cross-country race called Winter Mountain Run in Falenica. The course consists of 3 loops of about 3,2km and the climb is said to come to 255m. The weather conditions were really hard and my times of 43:16 (4th place) and 45:16 (3rd place) were quite satisfying. However, what's most important for me is the fact that I had a great opportunity to do a really tough training, strengthen my legs and boost my will power.

13 II 2010

That day I took part in a Valentine's Day O-competition organized by my club. It consisted of a 2-leg relay and a short scorelauf with a mass start. In the former I started with Ania F., both of us made one mistake (me mispunching the 16th control). Therefore we only managed to take the 4th place and won a 30-minute bus or tram trip in Łódź;) I succeeded in winning the second competition after a close fight with Cilu and Jasina. Exactly the same day we travelled to Szklarska Poręba for a winter camp.

14-24 II 2010

We spent 11 lovely days in the beautiful Polish mountains. As you all know, I just love the figures: more than 256km, more than 31 hours of training (about 26,5h of pure running). I am sure I worked really hard throughout this period of time and I hope it will pay back in the future.

On 19th February we competed in the Polish Championships in Ski Orienteering (2-person relay). My partner was Charubcia and... we had very much fun out there in the forest;) It was just not the matter of the results but the great enjoyment and the ability to laugh at one's self because our skiing skills were (I would even say: still are) far from perfect.

today

I am having a running-free day because tomorrow I am to take part in a special provincial cross-test in Ruda Pabianicka. Yesterday I made a really strong training to wake my legs up a bit - 2km + 7x3/3mins (with the average pace of 3:23/km) + 2km. Unfortunately, it's been snowing today and it is bound to be quite cold on Saturday but I'll do my best to come as close as possible to the course best time of 30:05...

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:)

I've run out of motivation completely!

Last weekend the first important competition of the year was held. Although it was not an orienteering course, I tried to do my best to perform well. I was quite unsure about my shape, but still hoped to take the first place in my class. However, Olej made a superb race that day and beat me by over 40 seconds! I had nothing else to do but congratulate him and analyse this cross thoroughly to find the reasons for my weak performance.

Here's what came to my mind:
- illness (with taking antibiotics) just one week before the start, which made me stay at home for 3 days losing 3 training sessions; what's more, it was not finished when I began to train again and I felt really weakened...
- right foot injury having its climax two days before the race and not allowing me to finish my Thursday's training; nevertheless, I must admit it had no impact on my running on Saturday because the pain went off at the very beginning of the course...
- two parties (especially the second one was a real excess!) at the weekend before and huge problems with sleeping lasting 3 nights...
- having stuffy nose because of piercing cold at night in our cosy room, which caused great problems with breathing during the race (especially at the last lap)...
- running the whole 2nd lap behind Patela, who had just started, was fresh and exaggerated with his pace a bit and slowed down at the beginning of the third one of mine, which I only noticed having run 500m about 13sec slower than before...

On no account do these factors justify my performance, but it is a way to improve my lame mood ;-)

Results and splits.

I've also prepared some charts showing the importance of starting calmly and slowly. Note that Olej was 7th at the first control, easily sped up and eventually succeeded in taking a clear lead.

After such a wise analysis the time came for a special bonus... I hope the main hero of this chart will like it! :-)

Afterwards we had some nice technical trainings in the surrounding forests. I did not take them too seriously because of my injury and just tried to enjoy map reading (and help my clubmates a bit!). I present all the maps below...

Reading comprehension

For questions 1-11 you must choose which of the titles A-L best fits into the numbered gaps in the following note. There is one extra title which you do not need to use.

1 ..........
As usual, yesterday there was a club training held in the Park of 3rd May and that's where the idea was born. Charubcia and Zielu suggested I should have written some reading tasks for you and what you are looking at now is a kind of a first try!

2 ..........
Actually, the main subject of this note was supposed to be the winter camp in Borowice with our provincial team and the invaluable coach called Kołcz. And surely it will be, but I am also going to devote some of my precious time to tell yu something about my magnificent basketball performance yesterday.

3 ..........
The winter school holidays tend to last 16 days and that's the equal time I spent out of Łódź on a wonderful sports camp. I ran almost 263km there. We had 2-3 training sessions every day. Unfortunately, we had to wake up even before 7:45 to enjoy a short morning run.

4 ..........
Our trainings were really sophisticated and I liked it very much! Morning runs, technical trainings, lots of speed-ups and uphill running, running trips of middle length, skiing, gym, playing football, sauna, stretching.......

5 ..........
However, trainings did not take our whole time, so we had to find some funny things to do in our free time. Table tennis was one of the solutions and we played really a lot. I even did manage to beat Kaszub the master! Luckily, there was a small hill near our 'hotel' and we made the most of it. Sledging was a great fun, but not enough for us since we decided to build a special hop of snow to hurt our buttocks a bit. ;P

6 ..........
There was one thing that discourages us from coming to the same place next year. Guess what! Eating... It was getting more and more horrible and we were given less and less each and every day, or to be more accurate - meal.

7 ..........
On the other hand, something special happened to me during our long stay in Polish mountains. I attained my majority and have been able to buy beer since February 5th, but I haven't taken any advantage of it yet ;-)

8 ..........
At about 7:25 I was suddenly woken up by a 'Happy birthday' song and got 18 painful whippings on my innocent ass! Moreover, I got lots of lovely gifts. To these belong a piece of wood with 'DLA PODZIA NA 18' engraved on it, a beautiful creature ;-D, a funny poem, raspberry jam, teddy bear, penknife, useful maps, lots of wafers and so on.

9 ..........
To sum it all up, I enjoyed brilliant winter holidays and am already looking forward to the next journey (that comes in 6 days!). I am certain it is going to be even more marvellous (in some aspects) and I'll gain a lot of helpful experience there.

10 ..........
As promised, now I would like to express my enormous happiness caused by the yesterday's basketball match against the III Secondary School. The score was 84-75 for our school. I played all of the 4 quarters and scored 29 points, which was an even better result than our supersniper Kania achieved!

11 ..........
As for the answers to the reading quiz, I would like the volunteers to send them to me using script 'mail me' on the right side of the page. The deadline for entries is the midnight between Sunday and Monday. There is no need to be the first one since all of you who'll guess the correct answers will receive my handshake and a Chupa Chups lollipop of a preferred flavour!

A - Accept no boredom!
B - Have a go!
C - It ain't easy, is it? :-)
D - Stomach tortures :[
E - Huge expectations
F - Coke, apple or strawberry? ;)
G - The numbers...
H - An ass devotion just for fun ;-)
I - 'Envy me, cause I am a new MVP!'
J - Did I really deserve it all?! :)
K - Coming of age
L - Introduction to the main body

Last meeting this year...

Yeah, I know it's pretty late now - 5 days after the weekend... but I did really have NO time to write this short note. Probably it's because I had to get accustomed to the old-new, LOVELY daily routine - physical training. It is just wonderful! It makes me feel so strong mentally and better than the other lazybones. However, I think the appropriate time to say somethin' about my training will come some day, not now anyway.

On Saturday I picked Slavko up from the Kaliska railway station and we joined the other runners from the whole Poland to attend 2 technical courses, sum up the previous season, begin the preparations for the coming one and simply have some fun together as the surroundings of Polish orienteers is the best possible one (as Hewi mentioned in his last note).

I think there's no point in describing the O-races since everything is written on the maps. I can only say I had some problems with my right knee since the PWT qualification race in Italy - that's why my results (Sat./Sun.) weren't satisfying at all. Even our club coach was a bit taken aback and asked me about a possible injury. It was really kind of him! :-) Fortunately, it's getting better and better right now.

Let's go on to something more interesting and important. I recommend taking part in a special poll organized by World of O and Ultimate Orienteering named Orienteering Achievement of 2008. On the right site of this website you'll find links to the presentations (special interviews) of all world's best O-runners. The aim of this poll is NOT to find the best or the most popular orienteer in the world, but to define which orienteer made the biggest progress last year or simply achieved the most unbelievable/unpredictable thing. I encourage you to vote as there are even some Trimtex prizes to win!

...and the last thing mentioned tonight: Have you already heard about I Łódzki Dwubój Biegowy? It's gonna be a really funny competition to compete in! I am already looking forward to it :)

The darkest, darker, dark, bright, brighter...

Our Provincial Team consisted of only 5 runners + a coach (not Kołcz but Piotruś) this time. In this chamber atmosphere we spent 4 days in Otwock-Śródborów preparing for the coming Polish Champs in night and long distance orienteering. In fact, the main goal of this short camp was to become more courageous and self-confident while running with a map at night. I think we did our best and achieved what we really wanted!

NIGHT...

We slept there 3 nights, that's why we also had 3 night trainings! I think I should mention our 'enormous' headlamps at first. Thanks to the light they gave we could see the terrain not farther than 5-15m from us - probably it was supposed to be a training method as well...
The first time was the worst! Just before my start I was shuddering with fear. The fact that only me and Zielu (10 minutes behind me) were going to be in the completely dark forest between 8 and 10.30 p.m. was really frightening. But we both managed to finish that course in spite of the fact that we could hear some dogs barking really loud which made our hearts beat faster.
The next two trainings at night were considerably better, especially the last one organised by UNTS Warsaw. I even joked I was the king of the night but I don't really think I deserve this honour now. Maybe in two weeks' time... :-)

...and DAY

In the mornings back to normal and relatively easy orienteering.