| |
|
|
|
| Varying priorities, September 16th 2015 |
WOC put a toll on me. Both physically and mentally I needed
some kind of a break from constant optimizing of my every move. Thus I have had
varying priorities and done differing things than in the months leading up to
WOC.
Elite athletes seldom allow themselves to a tourist trip
without considering the training facilities, dining options, daily rhythm,
climate etc. In the middle of August, together with a couple friends we flew to
Dubrovnik and headed east on a weeklong Balkan road trip. We did occasional
runs, but experiencing food, wine, culture & natural beauty, without
stress, was the main intention on this holiday. People were friendly, daily
customs were odd and we found some hidden waterfalls & beaches, so the trip
through Croatia, Montenegro, Albania & Macedonia seemed to accomplish
lowering cortisol levels throughout. This was until the last afternoon’s easy trail
run in northern Macedonia’s Mavrovo
National Park. On descent from Medenica
(2163m) I decided to take a longer route around another mountain back to the
car. Running past a shed in a secluded valley I waved at the shepherds to whom
a blond runner must have been a surprising sight. A couple kilometers further
down the valley track I also came upon an unanticipated sight - a dozen stray
dogs. They were a few hundred meters away, but barking loudly at me. My first
reaction was to freeze and hope they’d forget about me. Nope, they started
running towards me and my instinct was thus to RUN LIKE I HAD NEVER RUN BEFORE.
I surely made my 1km uphill speed record as I fled, but the large dogs caught
up on me. As they approached me from behind I turned around and slung a few
rocks at the defying dogs. Every time I got a hit I could sprint away towards
the shed I had remembered seeing earlier on my run. The barks came closer again
and soon I found myself surrounded by aggressive jaws and fought off snaps with
a stone as I was screaming at the dogs. I don’t think I could have held out
many more seconds as two shepherds appeared from nowhere to chase off the dogs
with their herding dogs and sticks. My skin was salvaged. Experiences are an essential
part of life, but life itself is even more important.
It took another two weeks after the Balkan road trip
until I was back running daily without pain I had suffered from since WOC.
During this time I was working on my PhD Thesis and on an orienteering map with
long days on my feet. I had the will to get back into training normally, but knew running
in pain wasn’t a good option. My team of Shamans & physiotherapists worked
on me frequently and now my body feels wholesome and ready to rumble again. As
I get great pleasure racing I have ran some races even if I haven’t been ready
to fight at the level I’ve been used to running. At the Finnish Long distance
Champs 10 days ago I was still not myself, stumbling into the finish at 14th
place, but at Sunday’s Swedish Long distance Champs I was able to get a good
technical & physical race together finishing 5th. A striking fact is that I
was not beaten by a single Swedish or Finnish WOC Long distance runner at either
of these races! Takes time to recoup from a long distance in Glen Affric...
I’m in the midst of a strength training period with
lots of hillrunning. This should serve as a buildup towards Lidingöloppet 30km
& the World Cup finals in Arosa, both which will include loads of ascent
& descent. So switching priorities again towards racing well in the races
that I’m really looking forward too. Find the right attitude by clicking on the image below depicting a fearless night orienteer!
 
|
| 7 seconds away, August 10th 2015 |
7-6-5-4-3-2-1-0. 7 seconds - That’s the difference between reclaiming
a World Championships title and losing out on medal glory. The Long distance
has been myhttp://www.martenbostrom.com/images/glenaffric.jpg clear main focus for a mere year now, with the Scottish World
Orienteering Championships the big goal. Up until a month before WOC most of my
training was improving my endurance and persistence. At Glen Affric, the
beautiful wilderness area where the Long distance was staged, I got confirmed
that I wasn’t at the level I needed to be able to fight for the medals. I had
broken a rib bone a week before WOC, but had not been affected by this in the
previous races during the WOC week. Perhaps the pain killers had started to
take a toll on my physics, since my legs felt sluggish already at the start.
Figured that would be the case for all competitors in the tough terrain and focused
on the technical performance. Came into the right aggressive mood at the first
control, but then I fell. It was only the first of about 100 falls on the
course, but I had shattered my magnifying glass! With the scale 1:15 000 map I
use the magnifying glass attacking most controls and thus I was upset. Running
up the hill to the third control my thoughts were not gathered and I lost a
minute into the control. I thought the next long leg would give me time to
reclaim focus, but that was not the case and I ascended too high in the slope
which resulted in a major mistake at the 4th control. My race was destroyed,
and it would have been easy to quit and just disappear from all results. It was
not an option. I was able to restore my pace after I caught Olle Boström, who
had started 6 minutes behind me. We stayed together until the end of the race
and the company was surely good for both of us. I ended in 14th place at my WOC
Long debut, almost 9 minutes behind Thierry Guergiou. If I want to become the
best on the long distance I need to train differently - more & harder.
The Sprint distance was a totally different story. I won my
qualification heat despite stepping on a cat along the course. The following
days’ sprint relay was also good on my part, but our team’s legs weren’t fast
enough to secure the medal we were aiming for. Having to race three sprint
races in a row was precarious in my mind, but the national team coaches assured
I would recover on time for the final. I was able to make my best orienteering
performance of the year in the most important race, so that is very comforting.
Physically, I felt like I was missing a gear already from the first controls
and throughout the entire race. It’s hard to evaluate how much faster I could
have run with fresh legs - maybe 7 seconds...
 
|
| Moss in May
gives juice for August, June 2nd 2015 |
May was in my
calendar filled with lots of marking “Mosspass”.
Since WOC2015 terrains are tough (as well a number of other important
races) we
have moved most interval sessions to the marshes to simulate the
laborious stride
needed on the moor. That has been a big move from the training
I’ve done in
previous years when the Sprint distance has been my main focus. Now the
Sprints,
in which I have performed reasonably well, have served as fine rhythm
changers in
between all the marsh sessions. May was still largely a month of
intensive
training, while the turn of the month now will brings on races serving
as
important stepping stones towards a successful 2015 summer campaign.
10mila showed
that we, with the blue boys of IFK Lidingö,
can challenge the best as a team, although this time we had some
tactical
errors in the decisive part of the relay. Finishing 4th is by no means
as big
as a disaster as our moods that day showed. Personally I got into the
right
attacking mood when I run into a whimsical creature during my warm-up
orienteering at 5 AM - my first sighting of a wild boar in a Swedish
forest!
Physically I felt like nobody could stop me that morning. Coming out of
the
forest in 1st place in the relay with the 9th leg’s fastest
time is a memory I
willingly recall. Definitely a relay experience to bring with me to
Jukolan
viesti in Paimio in 10 days!
Tomorrow the
Orienteering World Cup continues in Halden,
Norway with a Long distance race. It will be a tough race with tricky
control
taking alternating long route choice challenges. I am going into the
2nd World
Cup round ranked 11th and looking to advance through aggressive
performances.
Friday I will run the Sprint-relay at Fredriksten Festning and on
Saturday the
Sprint in Lysekil. These are the last races before the
summer’s highlight, WOC
in Scotland, where all the best will face off. Follow the action in the
IOF
Livecenter
 
|
| Undulating
April, April 26th 2015 |
Last weeks
have included some ups and downs - both when it
comes to orienteering terrains and my physical status. Fortunately this
period
ended on top notes with a 5th place at the tough World Ranking Event
Swedish
League long distance in Åmål this Saturday. A nice
assurance to be able to
technically perform well at this level after a week of training in
hilly WOC2016
terrains.
The previous
week I had not taken a single running stride.
Medical tests showed it wasn’t anything serious in the end,
but I am grateful I
have a team of skillful professionals, who make me opt for cross
training when
I could risk getting injured. Smart to take a week’s break
from running in April
instead of a month in July.
If there
would be (is there?) a sport called orientathlon I
would at the moment be a strong contender. In April I have recorded
double as
many kilometers on the bike as running. Not ideal, one might think, but
I
believe it could be a winning concept to upkeep the aerobic levels as
long as
the training gets more specific towards the main goals of the summer.
Now it’s
time to sit down with coach Gärderud and make a smart plan to
get out a couple
more gears of these legs. The base is built to sustain a period of
strength
training and faster running.
|
| Map routines
from Spain, March 19th 2015 |
It’s
not the one who has trained most who will
become the
World Champion in Scotland come August 2015, but the one who has the
best legs
and who can optimize the navigational challenges for himself. I know
from
experience that the more I orienteer the more critical towards my
navigation I
get - at the moment even a 5sec mistake leaves me feeling I have got
space to
improve. During the last 5 weeks I have executed 776 control legs in
different
parts of Valencia, Andalucía & Gran Canary.
Fortunately I do not
get tired
of staying focused and on the map, but I have seen every single
training as a
new chance to excel. Not all sessions have been flawless, but it is a
good sign
that I did the best performance on the last hard session of the period.
The numerous repetitions will lead to making decisions during the
upcoming season’s races a matter of routine. For that to
occur I first
need to
recover from all the physical stress I have made my body take. The
tiring signs
my body gave me during the last days, confirms me I have been close to
my
limits, just the way someone who is all in wants it.
 
|
| Exploring
Tasmania on foot, January 22nd 2015 |
My soul
yearns for lighter grounds during the northern
winter months. With the World Cup opener in Tasmania it was natural to
spend a
few weeks on that side of Earth, enjoying inspiring running conditions.
The World Cup
round consisted of one race in each discipline
over a week’s time. I was surprised to learn my running speed
in the sprint was
fine, but lost the fight for top spots in navigational errors. My
navigation
was rusty after the injury break and I ended up searching for three
controls on
the wrong side of fences. The resulting 13th place earns a 7/10 from me.
The middle
distance race was expected to be tricky and proved
to be just that. I think few runners had full self-confidence of
mastering the
unusual terrain type. After a good start I made a big mistake at
control 6, but
was able to pull together my concentration and complete the course in a
decent
manner. Seldom has so many mistakes be seen in a World Cup race and
thus I
ended up as high as 15th. A performance worth a school grade 7.
In the long
distance I performed on a higher level, being
able to execute my route-choices throughout the course. The only
mistakes came
in control taking in flat areas. I reached a state of calmness during
the race,
which I strive for in a long distance - there’s no hurry when
the winning time
is 80+ minutes. The 8th place was my best so far in a long distance
World Cup
race and honest measure of my current level. I give myself a 9/10 and
take with
me a bagful of self-confidence into the start line of the next battles.
After the
races I continued to venture around Tasmania &
Melbourne, mostly in my trainers. As I runners you get so many places
and can
experience a lot during a week. Without stressing it too much I logged
170km
and 4156m ascent during the week following the World Cup. Jumped in to
a 3000m
race to record 8:48, which was a few seconds faster than a month
earlier. Feels
like my body is moving to the right direction.
I am truly
grateful for all the hospitable people I met
during my travels -
the other side of
Earth isn’t as distant as it seems on a World Map. Rather a
place I hope I get
to return to one day.
Note: Just
watched a complete a season of Vikings - thus
this ravaging use of words.
 
|
| Mapping
among the wildlife of Kenya, December 28th 2014 |
The darkest time of the year was upon us, I had injured myself and I
got an offer to head to Kenya to do mapping on the savannah. An offer
which I wouldn't easily reject. This blog is, however, called the World
Wide Måre.
The
University of Helsinki has had research interests in
Taita Hills for the last 2 decades and nowadays has a research station
in the
middle of the mountains at Wundanyi. This mountain region belonging to
the Eastern
Arc Mountains has a rich biodiversity which is threatened by population
pressure. The mountains border renowned Tsavo East and West National
parks in
the north and two smaller Wildlife Sanctuaries - Taita Hills &
Lumo
Community - in the west. Wildlife such as elephant, lion, cheetah,
giraffe,
leopard, buffalo, hyena, waterbuck and other wildlife roam these areas
freely,
with only an electric fence separating them from the nearby
communities. The
wildlife is an important part of Kenyan identity and an important
feature for
the tourism in the area.
After a 4
hour night’s sleep on the plane to Nairobi my
message about arriving at 7 AM was misunderstood as 7 in the evening
which I
found out after an hour of waiting, purchasing a local SIM-card and
reaching familiar
driver-Ken. I enjoyed my breakfast at the airport and headed into the
400km
drive along Mombasa road to Taita Hills alone in the Toyota Hilux I
would use for
the coming 3 weeks. Driving on the left-side and overtaking circa 100
lorries
on the way went smoothly. Having guys with machine-guns step out of the
car
next to me didn’t seem to astonish any other lunch-eaters at
Mtito Andei - the
current security tension can be felt all over the country. Some might
consider
the road trip through savannah landscapes itself an adventure of a
lifetime - a
few years back I wouldn’t have dared to do it all alone.
Arriving to the Taita
Hills research station is always calming. I have spent several months
here in
conjunction to various research projects, so the “Alps of
Kenya” feels like a
2nd home to me!
The first day
of the project was reserved for meeting the
managers at the Taita Hills Wildlife Sanctuary, Lumo Community Wildlife
Sanctuary, Lion Bluff Lodge & Sarova Taita Hills Game Lodge. We
agreed on
practicalities and support during the mapping exercise. Not all
cultures have
as advanced an geographic sense of location as us Finns do - at least
when it
comes to understanding a map. In Kenya, the extents of one’s
property or in
this case the sanctuary are known through natural features like termite
mounts,
hills and prominent trees. This offers a challenge for mapping since
the
remembrance of the boundary features vary.
My task was
to map Taita Hills Wildlife Sanctuary and Lumo
Community Wildlife Sanctuary for the use of researchers as well as for
tourists.
Features I was mapping included buildings, signposts, water features,
elephant
tracks, vegetation and roads, some of which I didn’t know
should be called
roads before. I did the majority of the work driving around the
savannah with a
GNSS recording the roads. Got used to veering for elephants at dusk and
spotted
cheetah, hyenas and lion while covering all the roads and tracks
around. I
finished the maps using satellite imaginery and LiDAR data and believe
my work
will result in less tourists getting lost and more research projects
getting
started. This mapping project was a rewarding one and I would totally
do it
again. Let me know if you know of any safari park owners having too
much work
with relocating their stray customers!
Since my
workplace was inhabited by predators I opted for
doing my running either in the employee sports grounds or outside the
sanctuary.
As I fractured a shoulder blade in November I was still careful in my
training.
Another fall could have resulted in starting the healing process from
zero. By
the end of my time in Kenya I was however already doing double runs and
full-length long runs. The goals for the first World Cup round in
January had
diminished a little, but after the enforced break the body is for sure
now
hungry for some real training towards the summer of 2015.
The New Year
is the time of
unfolding horizons and the realization of dreams - cheer for the simple
pleasures that life has to offer and bravely face all the challenges
that may
come your way. Wishing you a lovely New Year!
 
|
| King Midas,
December 11th 2014 |
Every athlete
needs to take a break during which gather
strength for the upcoming challenges. Also from blog writing ;-) During
the
last weeks of the orienteering season 2014 it seemed like everything I
put
myself into I came out with gold. I became the Finnish Ultra-long
distance orienteering
champion in a field stacked with the best Finns. A week earlier we won
the prestigious
25manna club relay with IFK Lidingö SOK and we can now
confidently title
ourselves the best orienteering club in the world. And again, at the
season-ending Smålandskavlen we found ourselves on the top
podium after a
stable team performance. I believe that an important factor was the
supportive atmosphere
I was training in on Lidingö which called for relaxed
performances at races. What
an end to the season to reflect back on!
Since my body
felt fresh I had the idea to continue running
up until the 2015 World Cup opening in Tasmania in January. Until I
fell. As so
often when running recklessly around forests I went down during a
night-orienteering
session. Upon standing up I felt an odd pain in my back, but figured I
need to
toughen up and finished the race. Turns out I had ran the 2nd part of
the
course with a fracture in my shoulder blade!
After resting
for a couple weeks and slowly getting into
running I am now back on track. Maybe the fracture was the way my body
made me
take a compulsory break to get through 2015 healthy?
|
| Is the season
ending, or just starting, October 6th 2014 |
I have done what I
enjoy most in sports - raced, a lot. My Long
Distance orienteering project has lately included training camps in
Strömstad
& Scotland, Finnish
Champs (3rd) and Swedish Champs (6th) in Long Distance
and Lidingöloppet (6th). It has been a fun time finding lots
of controls and as
my hypothesis, the more
controls I navigate to, the better I get at it. In
between some grueling efforts at races I have put in work on building
up a
better running posture. Since I have
seen improvements in the results over Long
Distance I might not need to worry about not being punctually
structured in my
training lately. Now I need a plan.
The World Cup
finals were run this past weekend in Liestal,
Switzerland. It would be absurd to expect great things out of a middle
distance
in continental terrain
without training for it. I was not prepared for the
thorny detail-less challenge. Next year I will prioritize a few races
where I
want to get good results - and train
on the abilities required for those. In
the sprint I had the required legs after I got into the race, but
didn’t make
all the right choices (9, 12) nor execute without
hesitation (2,19). But it was
altogether a great weekend of orienteering in Switzerland. But for next
years’
World Cup finals in Arosa I want to be better prepared
and hopefully fight for
top spots also in the total World Cup.
This orienteering
season is shortly coming to an end, in the
northern hemisphere. But since the 2015 World Cup starts in Tasmania in
January, there’s no time to
lose. My body feels fresh even after races such as
Lidingöloppet’s 30km - the world’s largest
cross country race - where I became
the best European so do I need
to take a break now? Or should I continue the
season until January and cool down on the skis in the Nordics?
|
| Laundry in Stockholm,
September 19th 2014 |
Those of you who know me recognize if I say I'm somewhat addicted to
exploring. I would't say I have moved, but rather that I do most of my
laundry in
Stockholm since a few weeks back. There won't be many weeks in a row
when you'll catch me at one place anyways.
At least I have stayed on the same
continent for a while now (Göteborg &
Strömstad, Sweden; Jyväskylä, Finland;
Aviemore, Scotland).
The cooperation with Anders Gärderud is making my stride
smoother and every time I go orienteering it's a new terrain for me.
It's feels like a continuous training camp.
Don't know if it's due to the new environment change
and a different kind of social setting around orienteering in IFK
Lidingö SOK, but I must have done something right in the last
months when I've shifted my focus
from sprint to running Long Distance orienteering. I got my first
Finnish Champs medal in the discipline 2 weeks ago and this weekend I'm
running the Swedish
Long Distance Champs instead of the Finnish Sprint Champs. After being
1st and 2nd in Finland in the last two years sprint champs it's sad to
break the straight
flush. However, one needs to change ones ways of thinking in order to
find innovation. I'm not giving up on any dreams, just moving on.
|
|
| Alpine sweep,
August 12th 2014 |
After finishing 5th in the World Orienteering Champs relay together
with Mikko Sirén and Pasi Ikonen I trekked over the Alps to
Zermatt. From there a stretch of
different races started with the Swiss Orienteering Week in magnificent
alpine terrains up to an altitude of 2900 meters. Orienteering in the
open landscapes at
the foot of Matterhorn undoubtedly ranks into my best orienteering
experiences ever. Numerous punched controls and gondola rides later it
was time to leave the
Alps and run the Huippuliiga Sprint and the Finnish Champs (Kalevan
Kisat) 10000m on track back home. My performance in these races were
hampered by
insufficient preparations, but the 7th place finish on the track made
me eager for more track workouts next winter.
Only a week later I found myself back in the Alps running Sierre-Zinal
- the historical race of five 4000m peaks. Most of the
world’s best mountain runners were
present in the World Series race in which 31km’s through
woods, alpine meadows and stone fields is covered. The start is
situated below a huge slope and the
course has a total of 2000m ascent! As a rookie in the sky running
scene I decided to start out conservatively and was able to accelerate
into a good rhythm
once on the top of the mountain and cruised along with the help of the
spectacular landscapes and some Enervitene gels into an 8th place in
2:39.26 - that’s 7
minutes behind mountain legend Kilian Jornet. I did this race to get a
different kind of challenge, and boy did I get one. Now I feel
motivated to train on every
morning and evening as I enter a block of quantity training - with a
map and a compass in my left hand.
If You are interested in winning a Suunto Ambit3 You should participate
in this quiz:
1) What was my HR at the highest point of Sierre-Zinal?
2) My race time as I passed the altitude of the highest point of
Finland?
The answers can be found from my Movescount
Answers should be sent to my Facebook Fanpage
inbox by 13.8.
|
 |
| Summer
& fun also at World Champs, July 4th 2014 |
Sport is not all that matters in life, altough it takes up most of my
days. I have however been doing other things too during the start of
the summer, but not
updated this blog in every turn. My twitter will be filling in the
gaps.
10mila 2., Jukola 2.,... becoming number 2 at the World’s
biggest
orienteering relay, Jukola with my club IFK Lidingö SOK was
close
to a dream coming true. As a
team we performed better than the winning team, Kalevan Rasti, but our
last leg runner Fredrik Johansson would have needed a bigger gap down
to Thierry
than we were able to give him. As a club we have our future goals clear
and can go on with some more confidence after performing well this
year. These
clubmates will be a motivating bunch also as the nights get darker
again.
After Jukola I have been focusing on gearing up my speed for the World
Orienteering Championships. I have been the best in the world once and
don’t feel a
need to prove anything this year in Venice. The setting for a great
event is evident - racing for the title in such an alluring environment
will be extraordinary. I feel
like I have been able to prepare ideally, so I will aim at enjoying the
atmosphere to the fullest. I’ll run the sprint and sprint
relay and hopefully I can also help the
Finnish team later in the week in the mountains in the relay.
 
|
|
| Goal
oriented, June 5th 2014 |
May swept by with a
2nd place in 10mila, a bunch of good training in this
summer’s
World Champs type terrains and with good legs at the 10km in
Terwahölkkä.
It was great to be included in the IFK Lidingö SOK 10mila team
but
slightly bittersweet for me to not be able to finalize a well done job
on the anchor leg.
Teammate Øystein Kvaal Østerbø tells
our 10mila
story Seems like I have been close to
my body’s limits as I got sick at the end of May. After a
week of total rest I was not able to fulfill my potential at Team
Finland’s
test race last Sunday at the Long Distance World Ranking Event in
Asiago. Having been 2nd best Finn at the European Champs and now 5th
Finn in Asiago chances to get to run Long at World Champs are slim. I
have decided to skip the World Cup round in Kongsberg this weekend to
focus on sprint preparations - one month to the WOC sprint today!
During the last month
I have participated in a couple occasions where I have been able to
share my thinking models at lectures. My topic “With a
Positive
Mindset to the Goal” includes ideas I have used with success
in
my athletic career but which can be deployed in any goal-oriented daily
life activity. I find it rewarding to encourage people, of various
fields, to go chase their dreams. Do You feel touched? Contact me and
we’ll arrange a lecture for your staff/ team/ training group
etc
to get You going & stay motivated.
  |
|
| On Track to Step Up the Power, April 28th 2014 |
The orienteering season is here - with no doubt the most exciting time
for an orienteer. Instead of frequent updates to my blog I have been
enjoying a healthy body to the fullest which means lots of time out
with a map. I did not make a big deal out of the European Orienteering
Champs, because they aren’t a big deal in a year including
the
World Orienteering Champs. I was surprised of how well I physically
matched up against the best in Portugal’s Palmela, being 11th
in
Sprint, 14th in Long and 6th in Relay. The time gap (Sprint 25sec, Long
4min 35sec) to the winners makes me feel confident that I can close it
during the next months as I build up to the World Champs in Italy. I
have basically not done any VO2Max workouts apart from short sections
during orienteering, so my physical performance level should be better
come July.
10mila
is coming up next weekend, right after the start of Huippuliiga in
Finland. For the Swedish clubs 10mila is the highlight of the season
which means I am about to be a part of something new in my career. The
first races in the IFK Lidingö blues have been fine and I can
feel that the new stimulus is giving me a push forward.
Just
like the effects of a new
environment I think that one should introduce new aspects into ones
training regime every year in order to prevent stagnation. My
cooperation with Anders Gärderud has started off lightly, but
already now I am trying to do some things a little better every day to
improve my running form. After a break from the weight training prior
to EOC I am back to the weights for a couple weeks in order to improve
my power needed for effective accelerations & running fast. By
the
end of the strength phase my body should be ready to do the most
effective workouts of the year. I am not at this stage specializing on
any orienteering discipline, but will continue with a balanced program.
If I manage to stay healthy a combo of both Long distance and Sprint
spiced up with some relays at WOC seems realistic - and something I
look forward to!
 |
| Long Thrill, April 3rd 2014 |
Spring is the time when orienteer’s do the most training in
order
to get confident in their technical level before the competition season
rolls around. I have during the last few weeks done more o-time than
ever before this time of the year. It has been luxurious to be able to
perfect some technical aspects in my orienteering directly between AM
and PM workouts. Physically I have been close to overdoing it all, but
perhaps I am experienced enough by now to keep my horses back before I
reach the edge?
The
Suunto Ambit2 R Quiz I
hosted in my SOME recently portrayed some of the views I have come
across in February & March: Montecatini Terme, Punta Umbria
&
Quaios. Next up in my calendar is the World Cup Long distance race in
Murcia on April 5th - I have’t done a Long distance race for
my
country in quite some time, but now with all the orienteering under my
belt I feel fit & prepared to do them. Although Sprint will
remain
my main goal also in the future I enjoy the calmness which one should
be enclosed in during a Long distance race. 16km and 23km on the plate
in my first Long distance finals in the next 10 days.
The excitement around is rising with European Champs awaiting us in one
weeks time and 10mila being only a month away!
 |
| Tech Torture in Turkey, March 6th 2014 |
The first round of IOF World Cup racing included some twists I had not
anticipated although you should always enter a new orienteering country
with an open mind. The race was warned of having low visibility and
stony ground calling for a safe orienteering approach. My orienteering
was well under control in the Middle Qualification on what surprisingly
turned to be a swift course through the semi-open slopes of Tekirova.
My only moments of hesitance occurred inside the control ring on a few
controls and my body felt ready for racing. When checking out in the
finish I got the striking news that I was missing a punch from 4(!)
controls. I had been punching as in all other races during the last 5
or so years in which I have encountered one (1) unsuccessful punch
altogether...
Since
the
number of controls on orienteering courses are steadily increasing (now
28th controls in Turkey World Cup Middle) I consider the punching
technique a crucial part of becoming a champion. For races utilizing
Emit I have developed a technique where I don’t always get a
backup pin mark in the piece of cardboard which is attached to the
card. I have learnt how long to keep the Emit card at the control unit
to get a succesful punch, but in Turkey all runners were distributed
Emit cards without a chance to test them before the start of the race!
These cards were obviously different than the normally used Emit-cards,
slower.
I find it quite mind-boggling that we in orienteering, which is known
for utilizing technical innovation, still in 2014 relies on a punching
technique which doesn’t provide confirmation for the
competitor
that his/her control visit is registered! There are a few other
punching equipments used in orienteering which gives a signal/sound
confirmation of a successful punch. The Emit backup card seldom stays
on throughout the race of an elite competitor, which is the only
Athlete’s right in this case.
Needless
to
say, I got disqualified for not having all the punches and no backup
cardboard. Fortunately the punching industry is developing new systems,
one of which we used in the World Cup Sprint Relay in Kemer. I enjoyed
the format of the Relay, although the course setters hadn’t
fully
employed route choices where following a runner on a different forking
penalizes you.
Together with Venla Niemi, Fredric Portin and Anni-Maija Fincke we got
a 4th place out of the 1st World Cup relay!
As
I
didn’t participate in the Middle Final a stand in a good
position
to put up some remarks on that course. Parts of it was not demanding
enough for the elite level and particularly the fastest route choice to
the 17th control should be reviewed. The video below shows the
dangerous route choice which includes jumping down an approximately 10m
cliff - is it fair to have health threatening elements on the fastest
route choice?
 |
 |
| Tempted to Train - Timeout in Turkey, February
27th 2014 |
Looking at a calendar it feels illusory to start the The World Cup in
orienteering this time of the year. The most important races of the
season are months away and in a normal winter most of Scandinavia would
still be under a thick snow cover. The orienteering elite are however
now gathered in the southeastern most part of Europe to get the season
under way tomorrow south of Kemer on the Mediterranean coast.
I
am strongly focusing on quantity in my training
and during the last few weeks in Andalucía I’ve
done
orienteering more frequently than ever before. It will pay off at some
point, but is the time? I tend to become more critical towards my
orienteering = accepting less mistakes the more I orienteer so it
should be good leading up to these races.
The weekend starts off with the middle distance
qualification tomorrow and hopefully final on Saturday. The terrains
are exotic in their stoniness, but there may also be some ancient stone
coffins and ruins along my route choices. Sunday starts a new era in
sprint orienteering as the first official mixed sprint relay sees
daylight on the streets of Kemer City.
Please
have a look at my Kiririnki crowd funding project at Kiririnki
if you would like to see me maximize my potential. You can get yourself
cool fan products with my slogan to get yourself going too!
| It all starts with a dream, January 23rd 2014 |
As an athlete in an individual sport the hard work is done to improve
oneself, for oneself. There is a strive to reach towards ones dreams,
because if one doesn’t have a clear picture of where one
wants to
be in the future there is hardly enough motivation to push oneself out
of the comfort zone. When an athlete reaches his goal it also feels
good to get recognition from the outside. It was an honor to be voted
2nd in Finland’s Athlete of the Year celebrations last week -
only surpassed by javelin thrower Tero Pitkämäki.
This
nomination was good for orienteering but it proves my gold has also
touched other Finns. Thank You for the respect!
Each time I dress the blue-and-white national racing kit I am proud of
being a Finn. Therefore wearing the blue-white-and-red kit of IFK
Lidingö SOK from now on should feel natural. I have decided to
switch to the Swedish club, based in Stockholm, in order to spark a new
stimulus for development. A new environment and a change in coaching
should have me focusing better in the races where it really matters and
we should also have a good chance at topping the result boards at
10mila & Jukola. Switching from a club sounds to some like
turning
ones back to friends and being selfish. For me it just felt like the
right time to move on and I hope Lynx dreams high for the future. For
all the rest of you out there - get used to the sight below, because
that's all you are going to see of me!
|
|
|
| Champions show the way with some support,
January 13th 2014 |
Sports is a vital part of a healthy society. Growing up playing sports
leads to a healthier population and better behaving citizens. I was
recently selected the Athlete of the year in the Helsinki metropolitan
area and have been top5 in a number of other polls. Therefore I am
somewhat of a role model for younger people, especially for those who
can identify themselves in me. The official “Athlete of the
Year” in Finland will be selected on January 14th in
Helsinki, but I am already honored by the respect the Finns have given
to me up to now.
I
am grateful for the support for my athletic career I have received
over the years from various institutions - without them I could not
have come this far. Now it seems like the Olympic Committee in Finland
is setting up a system where the best athletes are not getting the most
support. Instead those who have been within the support system before
gets continued support even with inferior results and being a World
Champion is not enough to get a full athlete scholarship. There
has not yet been a published decision on how the athlete scholarships
will be
distributed, but some athletes have nonetheless already been getting deposits for their scholarships.
I am not the
only one affected by these new odd rules and therefore, on behalf of
all involved, I would like to start a conversation whether the criteria
are fair? Whenever I feel like there is injustice it is healthier to
open up rather than bury ones concerns.
I
have now wrapped up the high
altitude training camp in Dullstroom, South-Africa. My training is no
secret and all my workouts can from now on be easily accessed through
the Movescount plugin on the main page of my blog. I got started with
running again in the end of December and have now already been able to
run some quality workouts, while the base building has been done on a
mountain bike.
Anytime
one comes to a new place the surroundings
are usually unknown.
For adventurous athletes this might be the perfect motivation to go out
exploring the wild. I know most orienteers have an inborn need to find
new tracks & loops. I have found the Navigation feature of the
Suunto Ambit I am using an invaluable tool to explore new terrain
without getting lost. It is possible to plan a route in Movescount on a
Google Map and use it to stay on the right track while on the go. I did
a hike atop the Table Mountain in Cape Town and would for sure have
gotten lost without this magnificent aid.
 
| Rally from Taita
Hills to the Independence Day Reception, December 5th 2013 |
Since I don’t have much to report concerning training as I
have just started a new buildup this post will focus on other aspects
of life as it’s lived in a rural town in Taita Hills, Kenya.
I am a regular here as I have done my Masters Research here in 2010 and
after that come back for various research tasks through the University
of Helsinki which has a Research Station here. Wundanyi town lies on
1400m above sea level and is surrounded by lush green hills where
degraded dirt roads connect villages while most houses a reached only
by pedestrian trails. As I return here this feels like my 2nd home
since the staff as the Research Station is welcoming & helpful
and the atmosphere around the hilly nature is soothing.
One
of my great passions in life is to
experience new cultures in their true form. Going places briefly as a
tourist you just touch on the surface of the everyday vibe but going
around doing everyday chores within a society for a longer period you
get to appreciate the full array of feelings in action. Returning to
your own culture you’ll see the daily customs from the
outside and learn to appreciate some while you’d rather adapt
some you’ve seen abroad.
This time in Taita Hills I got to
experience The Classic Safari Rally, which went by the Research Station
on the very same meandering roads I usually run on. The Rally called
for some rerouting of my bike routes to my mapping venue at Mount
Vuria, but it was not the cause for the 58km whole-day adventure I had
on Sunday. It’s not every day you tackle 1400+ meters of gain
during a bike ride on solely dirt roads and suffer a half a dozen
punctures!
My mapping task at Vuria was successful in
all the joy it brought to me and my research assistant Darius. While
discussing everything from the Taita custom of stealing ones wife to
corruption and the various school manners we’ve covered
pristine cloud forests with endemic trees, amazing viewpoints of Mt.
Kilimanjaro and even trespassed a scull cave. Now there’s a
Land Cover map of this valuable biodiversity hotspot available for
future researchers and hikers alike.
As
I am grateful for this opportunity to do
research at Taita Hills I bought a turkey for thanksgiving for the
Research Station staff. Picking the turkey from a farm, bargaining and
transporting it back in the car before it’s slaughtered in
the backyard is part of the deal but providing this
never-before-experienced treat to these people was priceless! The
everyday good dead was easy to accomplish by every day I drove giving a
peasant from the rural village a ride to the market town, but the smile
on the Research Station staff’s faces received when donating
5 pieces of clothes a piece was truly rewarding.
Going
back to Finland I need to remember to
drive on the right side, use utensils when eating spaghetti and not
pick fruits from a tree when hungry but I promise I won’t
just blend in and quietly feel sorry for myself on the bus. As I am
celebrating the Finnish Independence Day at the President’s
reception on 6.12. I will also remember Darius who on that same day
goes back to his wife’s house to finally - after 7 years
since the stealing - pay for his wife!
| Recouping
cuneiform bone & peroneal tendon, November 17th 2013 |
New York City Marathon was an awesome experience although I am still
yet to experience finishing in Central Park, which 50,304 people in
this year’s race did. After a confusing hours spent looking
for my start-group at the start I got to the start line on-time and
warmed up with Geoffrey Mutai, Tsegaye Kebede, Yuki Kawauchi, Bob
Tahri, Meb Keflezighi and the crew. Right from the gun I could feel
that my left ankle wasn’t functioning normally, but thought
it might warm up along the way. Looking behind me as I reached the top
of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in 2nd place I could see some 54,000
runners behind me! Soon thereafter I found a group running a stable
pace and got through 10k in 33:52, 20km in 1:08:32 and 25km in 1:26:47
enjoying the full-packed streets of Brooklyn. I could feel my ankle
wasn’t getting any better and as I reached the Queensboro
bridge connecting Queens to Manhattan the street was quiet and I
finally heard the pain shooting through from my ankle. My left thigh
had been overworking as it tried to compensate and was already numb
too. I tried to massage my ankle and calf, but running was out of the
question after I slipped into my shoe again. Walking back through
Manhattan & Central Park in the 6°C was quite confusing
as I was cheered on as a winner, while I was freezing in my bare
singlet limping around through police blockades.
A
few days later I found out from an MRI
that I have a small partial tear of the peroneal tendon and bone marrow
edema indicating overload of the intermedial cuneiform bone, which
means the bone is at risk of a true stress fracture. The problems
started in early summer, but I’m glad I had access to quality
healthcare during the season. The injury calls for a good break during
which I will be refreshing my body & soul in order to be hungry
at the start of a new training season. I will be starting the training
with crosstraining & weight training - this way I
won’t eat away the gain of strength by running workouts on
back to back days. I have been working with an osteopath for a few
months now and think I can improve my kinetic chain through a better
posture and hopefully stay injury free while running more powerful.
Thank
You for remembering: I received the
Orienteer of the Year award as well as the Mika Kuisma -trophy during
the season ending festivities by the Finnish Orienteering Federation.
Unfortunately I was not able to be present at the festivities as I am
in Kenya for a few weeks time working on my mapping research and
conducting some GIS & Remote Sensing training for Kenya Forest
Service personnel.
During
the successful 2013 season I did 600
hours of training of which 270 hours was running, 170 h orienteering,
31 h xc skiing, 23 h biking, 22 h weights, 21 h circuit training, 63 h
other. I managed to cover only 4500 km on my feet, due to a slow start
after the surgery in September 2012 but did more orienteering than ever
before. My training was according to Heart Rate Zones divided into 52%
easy, 28% moderate, 9% hard, 9% very hard and 1,5% maximal effort. The
outcome was good and I implemented lots of good elements, but I can
still concentrate on better quality. However, my philosophy is that an
athlete should not repeat the same practice too long if he wishes to
see improvement. I hope I will find a physical coach/mentor soon who
shares these ideas and can guide me on the way forward with some of his
own.
| Halfway Around the
Globe to a Broadway Pemiere, November 2nd 2013 |
I have lived up to the World Wide Måre theme of this blog
during the last few weeks. After having journeyed through Malaysia,
Italy, Switzerland, Sweden and China I am now in the Big Apple getting
ready to run 42,195km through the 5 boroughs tomorrow. Before the end
of the year I still have plans to gasp some of Kenya and South-Africa.
At times it have felt like I have had to switch currencies a little too
often but I have definitely enjoyed every minute of each culture.
I
have never been as inadequately prepared
at the start of a marathon as I will be tomorrow morning. But getting a
perfect result is not always the goal - participating and having fun
while doing it is the main thing. The premiere of the Finding Strong
movie on Broadway tonight should also pump my motivation quite a bit,
especially since I’m starring in it. Any movie promising to
unveil “a Journey to Uncover the Transformative Power of
Running” would!
| You are never
alone, or you are lost, October 8th 2013 |
The explosiveness of my body was buried into the Trentino forests
during the week spent training in next years’ WOC-terrains.
Technically my performance in today´s World Cup Final was
decent (including 2 subpar route-choices), but physically I was too
passive, both at the start and at forcing through the parks. I suffered
an injury in my jalkapohja in Saturday’s middle distance
which was making me too careful in the bends. I ended up as 2Xth??
without ever having a chance to challenge today’s best,
Mathias Kyburz. The middle distance was good throughout and I am really
happy with my 20th place there. At the end of the season my name shows
as 11th in the World Cup total standings. Far better than I dared to
imagine after the start in New Zealand in January. It’s been
a long season and I give credit to the top names - impressive to keep
the flow throughout such a long season of World Cup racing!
If
I remain healthy I will round up this
year’s racing with Swedish 25-manna, some PWT races in China
and the New York City Marathon. Plans for next year is naturally
already in my mind and it is clear that orienteering will be my main
focus, as the defending World Champion in sprint orienteering. Other
than that a lot is still open.
The
team I had built up towards WOC in
Vuokatti included persons with various special skills which
complemented each other. Physical coach Jari Ikäheimonen
commanding the big picture as the captain was clearly unparalleled. He
repeatedly reminded me that we are pursuing the level needed for a
medal and demanded me to be all in, every day. Strength coach Atte
Pettinen brought needed stimulus from outside the control circle while
I had a row of people helping me find my strengths inside and between
the circle. The support from my sponsors, the National Team, Lynx
& Sjundeå IF helped me stay on the right track.
Staying healthy throughout all training phases is crucial, but the
people giving their input to that are too many to name here. Within the
next few weeks I hope to find the puzzle pieces needed to give myself a
chance to exceed future expectations towards a World Champion. If you
have something to offer to make me better I would like to hear from
You!
| Måre's
BBQ, September 7th 2013 |
I don’t want to sound all sentimental, but sports is all
about feelings. My season continued with 10000m in the Finnkampen
rivalry FIN-SWE at the 1912 Olympic Stadium in Stockholm. Times
don’t really matter, but beating the odds and the swedes do.
We put up a fight and got, as the clear statistics underdogs, the
majority of the points. The atmosphere was good and even if swede
Mikael Ekvall and Jarkko Järvenpää crossed
the line before me I was happy with my performance and time 29:57.86.
My tactics of fluctuating the pace at the 2nd half in order to drop the
swedes worked for me, but Måre's BBQ was rough for others.
There's a videoclip of a brave contender as a link in the image below.
This
mini track season was a good snack as
I am sure a working on speed in the legs don’t hurt in future
orienteering challenges.
I concentrated on track workouts in August and have rested my
orienteering brain, which got an overload of O-thinking leading up to
WOC. This way I should be fresh for the rest of the seasons O, into
which I go as a World Champion. Orienteering is a mind game and it
remains to be seen if I can live up to the expectations from my title.
I believe if I keep up my style and enjoy the challenges relaxed it
will feel easy!
| Digesting Gold in
the Alps & Apennines, August 8th 2013 |
Living as a world champion of orienteering in Finland brings quite a
bit more attention than walking around as a PhD student/ orienteering
mapper. It’s not that I do not like the change, but it felt
good to get away to digest the gold medal in peace. Trekking around
Mt.Blanc for days with only dry clothes in the backpack was truly
rewarding to my adventurous mind and wine tasting in Piedmont before
getting back on the map was perfectly relaxing. The 5 Days of the
Apennines fulfilled my orienteering needs, but getting used to the
Italian way of life and running on WOC2014 mapmakers maps was the key
point. The city O of Genova included dirty, seductive looks while the
relaxed ambiance of the sprintO in Camogli is hard to beat.
The
Engadin valley is one of my favorite
places on earth and there, on the illustrious St. Moritz track I
commenced my track workouts for the year. My stride on the rubber
surface felt brilliant, despite bonking the day before on a 3+ hour
trek on the mountainside. Perhaps I still have hope to slip on the
Finnish track uniform this fall if I keep my stride fresh.
Relying
in our own four wheels on the 2800km
way home from the Alps permits stopping at appealing spots on the way.
A day of driving was nicely split by a sprintO under the majestic
TV-tower in Alexandersplatz, Berlin another by a run in
Warsaw’s Lazienki Park, and a chain of culinary incidents
made each days’ drive the more worthwhile. Returning to the
daily life of Finland feels more meaningful against the backdrop of the
10 countries/cultures visited during this summers’ road trip.
| World Champion,
July 11th 2013 |
I definitely found my flow in my orienteering in the sprint final at
the World Orienteering Championships in Sotkamo, Finland on Monday. I
was able to execute my plan to focus on my orienteering and ignore any
physical sensations along the course. The loud supporting crowd gave me
a tailwind and with the course being extremely demanding my strategy
was the right one. As I finished the race it felt like I had done a
perfect race - a feeling one wish to have along the way to avoid any
side thoughts. One has to decide on the next route choice without
hesitation by the time one punches. The goal is naturally to constantly
take the optimal route, but that’s a huge challenge on such a
course. In this race I did the best orienteering decisions and had the
fastest legs and therefore I crushed the field by 17,1 seconds!
I
became the 5th Finn to win the World
Championships in orienteering (held since 1966) and the 1st one in the
Sprint Distance. Fulfilling one of my long time dreams is amazing, but
doing it one home ground with the wildest audience (?!) in
orienteering’s history makes it double the fun. The Gold
medal feels well deserved, but I could not have achieved it without the
team around me - coaches Jari Ikäheimonen & Atte
Pettinen have designed the polishing of the diamond, my family has
supported my choices and my club (Lynx), Team Finland, sponsors
& colleagues have been sympathetic.
Thanks
for all the support both along my
athletic career and out there in Hiukka stadium. I believe this Gold is
significant for the Finnish athletics folks, but before I celebrate any
more I will try to fulfill these World Championships by representing my
country in the relay on Saturday, together with Jani Lakanen &
Tero Föhr.
| There's a Day
After Tomorrow, July 7th 2013 |
I have been able to keep an upward trend in my training up until
WOC2013 in Vuokatti and now, a day before the Sprint, I feel relaxed
and rested. Running in front of a large home crowd will make my heart
throb even before I get the map, but I do not feel extra stress from
it. This will be my 5th WOC (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007), but the one I
have been able to prepare best for, as I have had total focus on
orienteering for more than a year.
The
goal in the race is to enjoy the feeling
- I know how to tackle the trickiest labyrinths in full speed.
| Expecting a hot
summer, June 12th 2013 |
The summer is well on its way and a good one it's been so far. I have
been able to transfer the good winter & spring training period
to quality races in the last few days - 2nd fastest in Nordic
Orienteering Tour's final stage in Kuusisto along with stellar sprint
performances in Stigtuna & Turku qualification. As I did not
get up on the podium at a single race at this World Cup round I still
have factors I need to work on. I have been selected to run the sprint
distance at the World Orienteering Champs, but still contend for a spot
in white & blue also for middle/relay. My orienteering
performances have been extremely stable, which is a good starting point
for development - but a medal run needs to incorporate controlled
agressiveness. Physically I have reached a good level, but there is now
room for developing sessions also outside of racing.
It is nice to have WOC at home ground, since I may spend the last
preparing period in familiar surroundings, and without taxing
travelling.
I
was recently named a member of the Athlete
Commision at the International Orienteering Federation. The athletes in
this forum aim at making the sport fair for everyone and try to prevent
race formats such as that seen in the Finnish Huippuliiga final to gain
ground. At Jukola next weekend in Jämsä - the
orienteering family's highlight of the year - most participants will
get an unforgettable experience. Some will win, most will not. From my
last year's experience of running in pitch black forest in the lead of
Jukola's 1st leg I advice: Danger is very real, but fear is a choice.
| Testing...
testing, May 7th 2013 |
Having methods to evaluate how the training has bitten in certain
periods is important to find out which kind of exercises improve ones
physical capability. The tests should be planned to specifically
evaluate the physical capabilities needed in ones race day performance,
they should be done repeatedly and in uniform conditions. As the
physical part of the sprint distance in orienteering can be broken down
into 12-15min running with corners/obstacles resulting in
accelerations, the 3000m stop-n-go sprintertest (with a punch every
200m) and the 6x40m/3' are appropriate tests.
In
the last few weeks I have done a
treadmill test, blood count, doping test, lactate control test 6x40m/3'
and spirometry tests for asthma. From knowing that my VO2max is
72ml/kg/min, my aerobic threshold is at 4'00"/km & 152 HR and
my anaerobic threshold is 3'26"/km & 172 HR I can better
control my daily exercise level. As my blood iron storage was low I
have opted to take a regimen of iron and know nothing else referred to
anything being wrong upon the most important stage of the training
year. I will be using some medication by which my asthma should be
healed, improving my maximal physical capability. From the 6x40m/3' I
have learnt that I need to focus on transferring all the strength
training I have done throughout the winter to my acceleration speed.
In
the beginning of the training season I
had plans to try to aim at both the sprint distance and the long
distance for the World Orienteering Champs in Finland. As I won the 1st
stage of the Finnish Huippuliiga series (which was a WOC test race) and
was far slower than the best at the Silva League long distance races
the following weekend the choice is getting clearer. I did however
accomplish to run a 3rd fastest time on the 7th leg at 10mila starting
in the restart, as the Lynx teammate Niklas Saramäki suffered
a bad injury on the long night -leg. That shows I am capable of keeping
a good pace also in the forest and the Silva League terrains were not
anywhere near to those which awaits at Tipasoja WOC-long distance.
During
the last weeks I have also tested
exerting a mustache, but this test FAILED, based on the feedback I have
received at home...
| Complete
Andalucia, April 7th 2013 |
It's been 6 pairs of Sauconys, 828 run km:s and 544 orienteered
controls since I left Helsinki in February (Note: not all Sauconys were
new upon departure, but the smile on a Taita villager's face after
donating a worn pair of trainers to them is priceless). During the
sprintO sessions, mainly over Easter I navigated to 247 controls,
executing the fastest route 85,4% of the time. There is still desktop
work to be done in visually identifying the best route for me, although
the map does not always represent the whole truth about the leg. It
feels like the sprintO routine for Mauri-towns of Andalucia has caught
on, now I just need to transfer it to Finnish surroundings before the
start of the season at eSprint 20.4.
Barbate's
La Brena forests might be the
closest snow free WOC2013 Tipasoja Long distance terrains at the
moment, so my decision to prepare for the season here was good.
Trusting the compass direction in featureless areas and staying in
bearing are lessons I've learnt during these 3 weeks exceptionally good
O conditions. In the forest I found the control straight in 86,2% of
the cases, but reducing the big mistakes would improve my total time
the most. Just like expected my mind does not tire from orienteering
weeks in a row, but I did the best technical performances on the last
day of the training camp. I will spend the next months in Scandinavia,
but concentrate on Tipasoja-like terrains, with the first long distance
starts in Silva League in Tibro 27-28.4. By now the forests should be
accessible in southern Finland, but at least until today only in
snowshoes...
| Running up off
Africa, March 26th 2013 |
The rainy season commenced in Taita Hills as I was finishing up my time
there. The training regime we had planned for the period was fulfilled
and the hills did not burden my going anymore at the end. Without
trying to gain ascents I monitored with my Suunto Ambit that I did
4500m:s of climbing during one regular weeks running training. The
first twenty days in Taita I was mapping indigenous forest patches
around Vuria at 1800-2200m altitude, while the last 10 days passed
teaching Kenyan foresters in GIS and GPS fieldwork. Some days I
combined work with training quite effectively as I recorded paths while
running around - who said it is not possible to combine running and
work?
I
have now joined the Finnish orienteering
national team in Andalucía, Spain where I will be spending
three weeks orienteering daily, if all goes as planned. We live in
Caños de Meca on a map which extends 10km over varying sandy
terrain, in addition to nearby tricky old towns for sprintO.
Fortunately for my African withdrawal symptoms, we are so far south in
Europe, that I can see Africa daily across the strait of Gibraltar. I
cannot recall a time when I would have done this much orienteering so I
have to be careful that I do not overdue it - usually the effect
afterwards an O intensive block has been criticality towards even the
smallest mistakes. In such an inspiring surrounding I have started
analyzing my O technique with some new tools. My challenge is
performance control throughout the course and in order to find where I
get sidetracked I need to monitor my doing thought by thought on top of
the GPS-curve.
| Mambo vipi?,
February 22nd 2013 |
I had planned to update my blog soon after returning from my last trip
to Kenya. Two weeks in Helsinki flew by and now I'm surrounded by
rainforest again - perhaps I've had too much on my table lately... The
change back to tidyness, promptlyness, darkness and running in the snow
as opposed to the blistering sun is motivating. I do appreciate the
comfort of the snow packed paths in Helsinki but they are by no means
ideal training conditions this time of the year.
On
the way home from Africa I took the
opportunity to do sprintO at Bergen Sprint Camp in early February. It
was great to get another assurance of a succesful training program
midwinter as I was fastest in 2/4 races against the norwegian national
team. The weekend offered a set of excellent technical challenges and
the streets were mostly firm.
My
program cosists of much more orienteering
specific training as opposed to having a pure running focus. For me,
personally, it is important to have it clear in your mind what each
workout serves in perspective to my goal - running well at WOC in
Vuokatti in July.
Here
at Taita Hills the wait for the rains
continues as does my mapping of the indigenous forests in between runs
on the hilly mountain tracks.
| Getting around New
Zealand, January 16th 2013 |
Running World Cup orienteering in January is something out of the
ordinary, but doing it in the 3rd southernmost country of the world
makes the image more acceptable. New Zealand boast with extraordinary
nature, and experiencing that was personally equally as important as
getting good routine from racing on the highest international level
early in the home WOC season. Due to the northern winter athletes might
not have exhibited their top physical level, but challenging terrains
made all focus slightly sharper on the navigation.
Woodhill
forest provided the best training
possibilities for WOC 2013 long distance available at this time of the
year, but our first week down under was mostly occupied by touring the
north island in our Lucky Rental shag wagon. We ran into a 14m
circumference 2000 year old kauri tree, ran on hot water beaches,
kayaked through waterfalls and admired one grassy open sheep landscape
after the other.
Soon
after New Year’s we ventured
southwards, away from the equator, to explore the geothermal wonders
and breathe in the volcanic landscapes of Mt. Doom in Tongariro
National Park. A long run along the Tongariro Alpine Crossing was
enjoyable, but might have left the energy level in deficit for the 1st
World Cup race on the dunes outside of Levin. My orienteering was not
totally in control on the sandy knolls and ended up missing a control
despite getting a grasp of the O later on along the course. I thought I
had just orienteered sloppily and therefore found myself way of at the
11th control, but in the finish I found out I had somehow navigated
straight from the 9th to the 11th without being anywhere near the 10th.
The
sprint consisted on a qualification
& final in windy Wellington. I was satisfied with the run
around the Parliament house and even if I for the 1st time in 4 months
felt like I was running with a good stride just barely made it to the
final. Not even the 3 earthquakes occurring during the race could
distract me from satisfaction of the heel healing process. The final
offered tricky route choices, where the run distance was 3x the crow
flies distance, right from the start and I lost lots of time. Also
physically I had a weak day and ended in a 31st spot in the hilly,
overlong race.
After
a few days of recovery, wine tastings
and excellent sprint trainings under the sunny skies of
Hawke’s Bay it was time for the double middle distance World
Cup Event 3. The hills behind Napier had trees far apart but dense
contours. The prologue in the morning did not create too big a
challenge, since I had already gripped using trees and fences for
navigation. The loss to the best was purely physical. I was able to
continue in the same manner in the final and advanced a few places to
24th in the brutal heat and the terrain offering no shade. Perhaps I
had managed keeping cool lying in the nearby river better than most,
since I didn’t hit the wall until in the last loop from the
map change.
Overall
I was happy with what I accomplished
during the New Zealand trip and confident I can start running more now
during the next two weeks while in Taita Hills, Kenya. There is lots of
work to do but I'm getting to the stage where I have the legs to reach
for where I need to be in a few months time.
Even though it’s a long trip to far away I refused the offer
of selling my southern hemisphere compass to a young fan. Rumors are
there will be a World Cup in Tasmania in 2 years...
The
races page has been hacked so I
haven’t updated that – any hints in how to fix the
bug there will result in a fan-pack from martenbostrom.com!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
