Friday, 4. September 2009, 14:13:14
Todays training made me feel like a beaten, almost drowned kitten. I guess the driest part of me was the inside of my nose, the rest was totally soaked. Which is what can be said about the floor in the "drying room" too, after a big bunch of Austrian, French and British orienteers have hung up their orienteering clothes. Thank heaven it is a tiled floor!
And why beaten? Well, yesterday we ran the Swiss Trondheim-test, which was great fun, even if very hard, and about 2,5h after that test we ran another o-training. Beautiful area next to Vassfjellet and the legs were surprisingly ok, so I had great fun doing a nice corridor-o. Of course I was tired, but it wasn't bad. The tiredness from the test rather came out today, making my legs stiff, heavy and really uncoordinated. That, in combination with a compass/green area training in a not-that-nice-forest, with an old map (after a while I didn't even get surprised that the controls which should be in the green area happened to be out on older clear-cuttings;)) and heavy rain and 10°C made the session very looooong. The only reason that I didn't stopped and yelled out loud was that I needed the training poorly, since I am really bad at using the compass and bad at running in green stuff.
This afternoon we are just resting, which feels great! In the evening the guys will do the cooking again, and if they succeed nearly so much as as they did with the tacos and the brownies yesterday, we can look forward to a fantastic meal!
Wednesday, 2. September 2009, 14:48:41
Tuesday, 1. September 2009, 20:07:40
..so now we are i Trondheim, preparing for WOC 2010! Exactly 7 days after the WOC09 we landed in Trondheim to prepare for next year. Together with the Swiss team we'll do a bit more than a week of training, testing and competing. The weather forecast has been really depressing, with nothing else than rain to offer, but at least today it has been dry and we have even seen the sun!!
So far we have done three session. Yesterday evening a "taster course" with some controls in the marshes, some in the green, hilly areas and some at stony details. It was a beautiful area, but pretty wet and end the end pretty dark. First session today was a kind of mixture between very detailed areas with many controls and longer legs with less fine orienteering. It was on a 1:15 000 map and I had huge problems just reading the map. Not to talk about finding the controls.. Well, I left some minutes out there and got really depressed. This kind of orienteering I used to handle very well, but it looks like I have got a bit too used to continental terrain. Second session was a orienteering-in-the marshes-session and this is how orienteering make fun! It was one of the most beautiful sessions ever, I enjoyed the training from the very beginning to the very end. The legs were a bit heavy after the 100 minutes in the morning, but the technique worked very well, i made to small mistakes, one because I was to lazy to read the control description and one due to chickening out in the green hillside. Things to work on tomorrow.
Last week I spent at home, doing not much more than eating, eating, eating (also a lot off self-picked blueberries!), cuddling with the dogs, training and sleeping. It was really nice being home for a whole week again, seeing family and friends and I even got to run the club championship, which I haven't done for years. It wasn't a good run, bit it was great fun and the cakes we got in the finish were heavenly good! Competitions should always end with something hot to drink, a good cake and a fire to gather around!
Saturday, 22. August 2009, 19:38:55
So, WOC 2009 is over - and what a ending! Yesterday was a bit more dramatic than thought to be - filled with smaller and bigger drama's. The big one we all know, Martin Johansson getting injured and the three leading teams stopping to help him. I don't think something like that has ever occurred in a world championship relay before and all honour to the three guys giving up their own races to help! Such great sportmen!! It was also great sportiveness of the Swiss guys, wanting not to achieve the medals. None of it their fault, still so fair! It was sad to see them so solemn instead of cheering a world champ title.
The women's relay wasn't less dramatic, but at least it was caused by mistakes not injuries.
The smaller drama's taking place inside our own team didn't influence any results but it was still bad enough. Leaving the spectators control Markus got caught in the branches and fell badly, injuring his shoulder and forearm. Even if in heavy pain he somehow managed to complete the last loop. Respect!
For my own part, the race was a real up-and-down. It started with a 3 minute mistake at the first control, passing it by 10 meters, not seeing it. Second went well, third control missed by a minute, for the same reason as the first one: I didn't see it, even when passing it with 10 meters. On the way to the 4th control I came way too far to the right and then I finally got really angry, which was good. From then on no mistakes for a while and a real good speed. I pushed what I could, to catch up with the teams passing me at the first control. The last hill a couple of controls before the spectator control almost killed me, trying to run/walk up there as fast as possible I started to feel really dizzy. It was so hot in the forest, even in the shadow, and my body started to slowly break down. From there in to the spectator control it was almost flat so the dizziness didn't get worse but the speed wasn't very high either. At least the teams running past me in the beginning where behind me at that moment! When I came out on the open, sunburned area after the spectator control it was like being slapped in the face. The dizziness was so heavy, I had real problems reading the map. Making a 1 minute mistake at the first control up there was just the beginning of a night-mare. From the spectators control to the finish I lost 3 minutes!!! And it wasn't very far.. To the tv-control I ran on the road, just to be as secure as possible. I know I ran down the hill from that control, but I have no idea how I got to the next control and to the finish. I know I collapsed as soon as I sent Anita out on the third leg, but from there till we got to our team tent I only remember small fractions of what happened. I was never, ever before so way over my physical limit. Probably it was a combination of heat, hypoglycemia and running too fast. It took some long hours to recover but today I am feeling much better. Thanks to everybody taking so good care of me yesterday!
Today is a day without orienteering. I will do a short and easy run, for the rest just read and join the team for a very big ice! The coaches have ordered that I eat an extra scoop, which is the best order I have ever got!
Thursday, 20. August 2009, 13:15:17
Chapter VI: today
So, indivudual WOC finished, most important race - the relay - to come. And how does it feel? On one hand I am really pissed off, 'cause I did mistakes at today's sprint qualification, which kicked me out of the final most painfully. I'm so an idiot, falling into the course setters "trap" like a beginner. It was clear that the last leg in the forest, all of it uphill, was there to make you tired and the chance of a mistake at the next control bigger. Well, I got tired and did a mistake, 45'' lost. Combined with the time I lost (around 45'') to the 9th control, that was enough to kick my ass. Making that part better would allowed me to get into the final, even with the other smaller mistakes that I did. ARGHHHHHHHH!
On the other hand.. I had really tired legs today, it did feel bad from the first moment of the warming-up. Still I managed to push my self really hard. In the run-in I thought I would need to throw up half-way in, so tired was I. Being tired from the beginning on, but still managing to push all the way in, and no mistakes in the more difficult part of the forest, that are the good things I will take with me.
Tomorrow it is relay-time. Since my dream of a long distance a-final did not come through, this is my most important competition at this WOC. My legs feel much better after the mornings competition than before and with a massage in the evening, it should be fine fore tomorrow. With Ursi is running the sprint final this afternoon, it was clear that she will be running the first and shorter leg. I'll run the second leg and on the third leg Anita completes the team.It is our first time together in a WOC-relay, but we have probed it before and I think we have a great team! I am looking forward to tomorrow! But first there is a sprint final and time to scream our voices out for Ursi, Bindi und Kerschi!
Chapter V: yesterday
Short version: waking-up - eating - watching middle final - eating - short sprint training - eating
Chapter IV: Tuesday
Rest-day, including eating Mr.Choc (way better than M&M, in this room everybody has got addicted;)), sleeping, reading, doing a cool sprint-training and sweating at the opening ceremony. Let the photos talk!
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