יום ראשון, 29 ביוני 2014

The final countdown - WOC

Last Saturday i arrived in Israel after a very long period in europe, i got a warm weather welcome, but basically its not that hot, in August it will be even warmer.
After a long period that my body was used to be in a normal temperature i met the hot weather face to face and i was looking for a hard week and final preparation for WOC.
Luckily my body felt ok in that hard week of preparation with lots of training,unfortunately all the training was just running without orienteering training because the forest has very sticky bushes everywhere. Also, the timetable for training was totaly different.. morning training start at 6:00 and evening training at 18:30, it is too hot to train in the middle of the day.

Now i am sitting in the air conditioner and just spending some time with psychological preperition for WOC with some simulations for all the distances. one more sprint training for the final preperition on Tuesday and a good rest before the competition of the year starts.

I will run all the distances in WOC, but this time there is quite a good resting time between the races because we dont have a team for sprint relay and that means that i have 4 days to get ready for the Long distance and then one day off to recover for Middle.

My personal feeling is good for this main event of the year, my shape is much better then EOC in april and i am looking to see what i can do.
this year i was running a lot of competitions and training in Europe and i feel much more ready then in last years.

On Thursday morning we will start the journey to Italy and already on Saturday the first race will start. looking for a great experience.
Let's get it started!!!


יום שלישי, 17 ביוני 2014

Koupio Jukola

Last weekend i was running in Jukola, it was my third Jukola (2011,2013) and i was still very exciting. i was selected to run in the Finnish club Koovee in the second team in the last leg.
Two days before the competition i ran a model training near the Jukola map, i was a student of a club mate Topias, he showed me how to use the  compass, big thanks to him! i got fely very comfortable with the compass work afterwards.

A day before Jukola i ran the training near the arena, the terrain was very tough, similar to Tampere, and very challenging. i  got an impression that this Jukola will be extremely challenging and tricky.
I started my leg with a top 80 position together with the first Koovee team (they were disqualified) and some other runners. i was quite alone from the first control and tried to focus on not making mistakes and to run on the top of the hills where is it quite open and runnable.
On the 6th control i met the first team runner from Koovee and ran with him and with two more runners together until the 9th control.
On the 10th control i got a forking control and made a little mistake and "said goodbye" to the group and lost them.
Until the 16th control i was running alone and i lost some time in the green areas, i wasn't aggressive enough. i was just trying not to make any mistakes.
I was catching a few slow runners and ran away from them until the 17th control and then i ran very good until the end.
The terrain was extremely challenging, very demanding and very slippery, in the second half of the course i lost my pace and ran much slower.

After a long period in Finland i learned a lot and had a legendary time with my Finnish club Koovee, Tampere is definitely an orienteering capital in Finland.

After the competition i took a bus directly to Riga and after 16 hours i was in Riga.
Now some easy training in the next few days and on Wednesday and Thursday some orienteering trainings.

On Friday unfortunately i am leaving back to Israel after 78 days of many many many training and competitions, but hey not for a long time, 12 days of final preparation for WOC in Italy are looking for me in the Israeli mountains and i will be on the road again!

But now i am waiting for Friday, home sweet home! :D

יום רביעי, 11 ביוני 2014

Many training and competitions

Last week i had a great opportunity to train on soma high quality maps, first on Monday i ran in Iltarastit becuase the training place was very near to my place.
the map looked quite old but it was a nice terrain.

On Wendsday i ran in a local training in Tampere, only contours.
I really enjoyed the training, i guess it was the best training this year by far. the map was extremly good and challenging.

On Friday and Saturday i ran in Tampere Games in Sprint and Middle.
In the sprint i made big mistake to the 3rd control, i didnt know exactly where was the control.
To the 4th control i crossed a bush in the green place that was forbidden. I actually lost my count of buildings when i crossed this place but in the green area there was no bush, in the map its looks very uncrossable but in reality there was almost nothing. but this is the sprint rules and i need to learn and accept them.
In the rest of the course i ran quite good with a small mistake to 15 control, then i was caught by the runner who started 1 minute after me, this time it was the world champion :D






On Suterday i ran in middle distance competition in Hardcore Tampere terrain, soft ground and a lot of fallen trees.
i ran good until the 4th control but then made mistakes in 4th and 5th control and then i felt very heavy, out of energy. until the 6th control i felt very bad and then i decide to try to push but i was totally out of energy and the terrain was very hard to run which didnt help me so much. on the 14th control i did a 2 minute mistake because i didn't realised the green borders.
Today i ran in Forssa Games, i had some problems to 2th control and to 5th control that take me to much time.


Now i will take it easy in the next week because this is Jukola on the weekend and i am feeling quite tired in the last days, the main competition of the year. i will run in the second team for Koovee in the last leg.

יום שני, 2 ביוני 2014

Tampere Life Style

Last weekend i had a lot of activities here in Tampere. My main trainings in this week: up hills training, Sprint training and middle distance competition on Sunday.

Since i arrived in Finland i tried to work on my orienteering technic system. In my own technic it is also possible to go around, but in Finland it is definitely different.. the best route choice is always on the line.

Today in the middle distance competition, i was expecting to check my performance, my legs were fresh and i was ready for some Rock N Roll. My Tactic was to take it easy at the beginning and try to feel and find my way to the controls. Unfortunately it was quite a disaster, i made at least a 4 minute mistake to the 1st control. I lost contact with the top of the hill and went too much to the north, my compass and connection with the map failed. What i can say is only Shit happens and i need to learn every time - "Its not about how many times you fail, its about how many times you keep going".
After that big mistake i made a 20 seconds mistake to the second control and a compass mistake to the 3rd control. To the 4th control i chose to run from the road - it was a mistake..
From that point in the course i had a good feeling and i tried to push hard and i was able to read the map in the right way and made a solid run to the end.


One thing i will take from this competition is to take it very easy at the beginning of the race, use compass and check it all the time and remember the main words of this post - straight is the best route choice, at least in Finland.

Last week went well with good trainings and good progress Including Sprint orienteering training and training in Lukonmaki hill, i will visit it now every week for some up hills sessions - Specific and Special training for Italy.


what next?
Next week is going to be busy and fun, Inov Trail Run 7k in Souljarvi and three days competitions in Tampere games - Sprint, Middle and long.

 
Fishing time