s a n d r a l a u e n s t e i n

Fill in the blanks! Who can do it?

I've been pretty busy this year so far... traveling (to the US in January), coaching (the regional junior team in Neuchâtel), learning (french), racing (in some cross-country races) and finally writing (my Master's thesis).

In January, Marc and I traveled with two of our friends, Annette Kindschi and Daniel Hubmann to the south west, USA. My father lives in Phoenix, Arizona, a wonderful place to visit, especially in the winter. The four of us wanted to find some sunny skies and snow free paths for training, while site-seeing some of the "must-see" places of the great south west. We spend 3.5 weeks in a 35 foot (9.5 meter) long RV camper traveling from Phoenix to Tuscon to Anza Borrego (for some orienteering) to Joshua Tree National Park to L.A. (including Hollywood and Malibu beach) to Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon to Flagstaff to Sedona and finally back to Phoenix. It was a trip of the unpredictable; the weather was crazy for that area and we experienced the 3rd largest storm in the history of Arizona and California. This meant torrential downpour rain in L.A., so much water that even Death Valley, the lowest place in the US had flooding, forcing us to miss our chance to go there. There was a little snow in Las Vegas and 2 meters of snow at the south rim of the Crand Canyon. It was so cold and there was so much snow that we weren't sure if our pipes in the RV would freeze by spending the night up there (-15°C) or if we could hike the first 3 miles down the canyon. But everything worked out fine and we enjoyed our trip to the bottom of the canyon very much. We even spend 2 days cross-country skiing in Flagstaff, a training activity we didn't think we would do during our trip to "the desert". But all in all the trip was unforgettable and an experience like no one could have planned. Daniel has published some really great pictures on his webpage, check them out here: http://www.danielhubmann.ch/fotos/category/38-usa-januar-2010



Back home things have been developing anew. I took a job in our orienteering club, ANCO, coaching the regional junior team. This is going to be a very fun job, but it is also going to be a challenge. Not only did I not "grow up" in the Swiss O development structure, meaning that I am sometimes lost about how things work, I also do not (yet) speak enough French to really communicate with my athletes... Their grades in school in English and German are improving though:-)

So coaching is a new experience for me and learning French is a must. I am taking classes, but actually learning to speak is taking so much longer than I want it to. One step at a time, I guess.

My coaching job does not mean I have stopped training for orienteering myself, and actually they fit quiet well together. I am planning a full season of racing starting with the European Champs/World cup race in Bulgaria, some World cup races in June, the North American Champs, O-Ringen, and of course WOC. The orienteering season has not quiet started here, but I have already been able to combine opportunities of coaching and training this February. We have had one training weekend together and we as a team have run one cross-country race as well. We will also run the Swiss Cross champs this coming Saturday. Marc is my co-coach and it's great to have him along for some of the events.


I am also writing my Master's thesis at the time. I am blessed to have a very interesting topic furthering my research on performance testing in elite orienteering. This time not in the laboratory, but in the swamps of Norway. Writing is pure motivation for the World Champs this summer!