The past few weeks, since Tiomila, have been relatively quiet in the competition scene. I am trying to return to some more basic training, in the build up for WOC and WUOC in a few months time. Last weekend I managed some really nice technical training, firstly at the Jubileumsdubbeln Long distance and then a simply sensational 2hr session in Lunsen the following day. This meant that last weekend I orienteered for just over 30km in very technical terrain. You can see links to the maps below:

Jubileumsdubbeln Long Distance
Lunsen Lång Pass

This week, my goal was to further progress the basic training but increasing daylight hours, leading to interrupted sleep, and the decision to run a couple of sprints did not facilitate this plan. However, the sprints that I did were extremely fun. The first was the Stockholm City Cup, the first of a series of sprint races around Stockholm. The map and course were very nice, and a fairly solid technical performance meant that I could pick up 6th position. My speed was not the best, but of course it can be challenging sometimes to push at your maximum level when the race is of not significant importance.

Results

The second sprint race of the week was the annual Centrum Team Sprint. This is a 2 man sprint relay, with 4 legs. I teamed up with David Lingfors, and we decided upon the name “2 wonders” for our formidable challenge at the title. I ran the first leg and had a pretty stable performance to finish in 2nd position, a few seconds behind Järla. David then had a good second leg, such that I would go out in 2nd position on the 3rd leg, 9 seconds behind Järla. For me, the first leg was primarily in the forest, and I felt I had control over my technique. I was a little tired, but I could push quite hard. On my second run however I fell victim to a couple of unfortunate events. Firstly, I took a route choice to the third control which meant I went through a gap in the buildings which I had run through already, to take the second control. As I was running full speed through this gap, to my surprise, a 7 foot Italian came sprinting towards me. Simple physics, conservation of momentum, and I went hurtling off at some undesired angle, turning in the air to capture the surprise in the Italians eyes. Dazed and a little abused, I managed to regain some level of focus. But then, leaving the 6th I decided to embrace a rather structurally sounds metallic pole with my head. I cursed, as I dizzily tried to continue with my orienteering, but ultimately the damage had been done and I lost some valuable seconds.

Overall we managed to finish in 5th position after David missed a little bit towards the end of his final leg.

Results

Following the sprint, I travelled with Alistair Landels, former top dog in NZ orienteering, back to his home Stockholm. I stayed there for the weekend and enjoyed the beautiful Swedish weather that came this weekend. Dare do I say it, but it was almost too hot! However, 24 degrees made for a rather enjoyable long run on Sunday around the lake that you can see below. Unfortunately my body is not responding so good at the moment. My throat has been a little sore the past couple of days. I am not sure exactly the reason why, whether I am getting sick, my body is a little tired, or I am reacting to the copious amounts of pollen that have taken flight in my breathing airspace.

 

Tomorrow I begin my new job as  a Project Development Engineer for Landauer Nordic. My first responsibility, finding the correlation between Thoron progeny concentrations and Thorn exhalation rates! This working opportunity I owe a lot to a club member who has helped me significantly in establishing myself in Sweden, so I am really grateful to Tryggve, and the club, for this opportunity!

The focus for the next few weeks will be, as last time, continuing to build the base and to try establish a level of ‘normality’ in my life.  Finally, here is a video of my Tiomila finish from a few weeks ago.

Video of Tiomila Finish