Training Log Archive: TGIF

Results / GPS-tracking

WOC 2016 Relay.

Well, that was not really a French day as neither Lucas, me or Fredo managed to deliver the kind of race we are capable of. That was a huge disappointment as racing with those guys is something I was really looking forward.

The previous relay trainings had brought some confidence in the team, but obviously we were still missing something.




My run was not especially a good one, as I never managed to fully interpret the different greens, and I got many times surprised by the runnability in those. I didn't get the extra kick neither to close the gap to the front group (Swe-Fin-Gbr). I wish I could have sent Fredo in close contact for the bronze medal battle, but didn't fulfilled the mission.

This WOC wasn't really a success for me, and I will need a lot of time to make an honest analysis. For the first time in my elite career, I am not sure there will be a next time though. I need to get some perspectives, to see the whole picture from different angles. I will not rush in any direction. One day, I will wake-up and I will know. Until that day happens, vacation! ; )

Results / GPS-tracking

WOC 2016 Long distance.

Even if the long distance isn´t my favourite event, it has been my best medal chance those few last years, and therefore I was quite eager to run it. But my race preparation was somehow harder than last year. Last year, in Scotland, I was going for a revenge after the middle distance disaster. I was in mission, and easily managed to transform my anger into an incredible source of energy.

This year, I had more difficulty to press this button, even if attending the price-giving ceremony of the middle distance the day before had also its small effect and was hurting deep inside (which I consider as a very good sign). There is a lot to say about this actually. When you get closer and closer to the twilight of your elite career, you are all the time in search of small signs, feelings, or answers. To see if you are about the same as 10 years ago for example, with the same burning desire to succeed, with the same competitive instinct. The society, in general, and especially in sport, tends to push you in one direction – the exit, when you have passed 35. There is no interview nowadays which doesn´t start with the “when will you stop?”-question. I mean, yes, it will happen for sure, but it is hard to know when it is the right time, and you are all the time in search of answers. Sometimes you are pretty happy when things are just the same as before.

I tried to press another button then: "it might be your last individual WOC race, finish with style!" All-in for the last race, without being too emotional at the same time. A nice challenge, but it didn't worked as well as I hoped though, mostly because the second leg of the course quickly killed my momentum.



It is an euphemism to say I didn't enjoy this leg so much. Some might think a good course is a course where you don´t feel comfortable and are under pressure all the time. I am not far to agree with that. But, in that case, it was a bit too much of gambling and guessing. It started with a non-mapped, but taped, electric wire in the south open field after the 1st control. A bit confusing, but it wasn´t my main concern. I thought the best runnability for this long leg was in the right side of the red line, but there was this “impassable” river to cross. Impassable, but not forbidden, as state the ISOM at the moment. I didn´t felt comfortable with this, still I took the risk. Swam a couple of meters, as the river was large and deep where I crossed, despite choosing a place where the black line was cut (probably only for a better legibility of the cliffs though). I was not the only one considering this option BUT I don´t think a good course should offer this kind of option. In my opinion, the impassable features should just be, like in sprint, forbidden to cross. And as far as I know, it will be like this in the new version of ISOM (alleluia!). I enjoy swimming, it is not the problem, but I don´t think orienteering should be about the one who dare to swim, or eventually climb the biggest cliff. Well, unfortunately, it is not a new problem as the situation was just the same at the World Cup in Munkedal last year. It would have been so simple to put some “out of bound area” over the river to make it totally fair.

Anyway, I should not complain too long on that leg as I had one of the fastest time, but somehow I didn´t succeed to get a good flow, and the perfect combo map/plastic/scale of that day didn´t helped much to reach some kind of ecstatic navigation. Luckily, seeing the back of Lucas and Gustav brought back some kind of happiness, but I got once more the proof on the next longer leg (5-6) that this terrain remains a mystery for me… Still, I managed to enjoy the remaining part of the race - it was even nice to see that my speed was at the required level and therefore not everything was wrong during my preparation.

C • Show must go on!!! 6

C • Thanks for the Long Write-up 4

Results / GPS-tracking

WOC 2016 Middle distance.

The race I had been waiting most this year.

Even though, I have tried a very different approach for this World Championship compare to the previous years. The idea was to rationalize the whole process, and to make it as simple as possible. I wanted to deliver my piece, 25 controls at the middle distance, 30 at long and 15 at the relay. Practical. Take the map, read it and enjoy the day. Simple.

Before the WOC, as always, I also had set a number of rules to strictly follow. One of them was to not comment the mapping style or courses. Last year, I lost too much energy on that matter. This year, I was there to adapt and not to comment. Of course, it was not always that easy, especially when you get quite different mapping style one week before WOC (no one of the WOC map makers had done relevant training maps) or that even warm-up maps weren´t made by the WOC mappers. Anyway, it was the same for everyone, but I felt like I could have invest less days in camps finally. Still, I spent about 4 hours in the model event map of the middle distance the days prior the race to make sure I had all the clues before this race.

I felt prepared. I was not.

I have maybe never felt that relaxed before a WOC race (too relaxed?), but the truth is that I understand not much the terrain and the runnability. It doesn´t comes naturally, and I quickly get frustrated. And for those who wonder why I choose this route for the 12th control, I recommend you to visit the model map and check the runnability in the “yellow with white dot” (symbol 404) there. Once again, we all had the same map, and I will not blame somebody else. I was not good enough. Dot end.

Still, I will remember that day quite long. To see laBaguette, in action, chasing her dreams was really emotional, and I am sure it is just the beginning of even bigger things.

But the highlight of my day was happening a bit before the race, during the warm-up. The warm-up area was a nice and quiet piece of forest (despite the very close motorway…). To see the smile and happiness of Peter Öberg there, 36 year´s old, warming-up, was something really inspiring. He looked like a junior, who was going to compete in a club championships. He was alright, in the moment, and had understood everything to what is all about competing. That´s when you realize that orienteering is a game, a journey, a dance – not a fight to the death. Thanks Peter, once again, for the lesson!

C • Thanks for the write-up 6