Feeling just too itchy about the WOC

Exactly one year ago, I was preparing for the WOC in Japan. I focused fully on it, ready to make the least compromises possible to get in the shape of my life for that event… as it is actually for any World Championships. I discussed my goal with my professors, and they agreed to give me several days off from seeing patients, so that I could go to training camps to prepare well for the event. I thought to myself, I better move every lever towards these World Championships, and catch up later with the work I need to do to finish my education. And because the next year would be my final year in dentistry, I believed I would have to live like a monk to catch up that work I had missed and pass my exams.
The World Champs were a success, like the whole season. I had made technical and physical improvements thanks to the stronger commitment I gave to it, but more so from having learned to get more out of every experience.
It was with one happy eye I came back from Japan because of the success, and one sad one, because I knew I would have to break this momentum because of school.

So, in October I enrolled for the monastery. My plans were to be a good student and to train enough besides my studies to still have fun competing in 2006 and not loose too much so that to make it hard to be back in shape for 2007.
Well, I studied hard, and as every dental student I worked many extra hours including night shifts at the lab waxing up teeth and doing plaster work. But, my training didn’t suffer too much because of it. With some flexibility, I found ways to train pretty well.

Now I have done half of my practical exams, and actually I have survived them without a hitch. And the end is getting in sight… only 6 weeks left of school (than I have my theoretical exams from August until October). Besides the school load which seems to lighten slowly, I am growing week after week in a better shape. My personal best time on my “through the woods interval loop” are getting faster and faster every week. And just three days ago I dropped my 5km track time by 17 seconds.
So, with going through my exams at a greater ease than expected and my good shape in my hand, my heart started to beat stronger when I received the dates of my theoretical exams… They would only start the week after the WOC in Denmark! Since two weeks the thought of running the WOC were got awoken, and day-by-day the envy to take the challenge to succeed again at the World Champs has been growing… making my body and mind itch. I believe I can do really well at the WOC. So I have decided to change my plans and try to make the team for the WOC.

I will have to skip the sprint selection races, because the same day I will have an exam, and as planed already during the winter I will race the middle and long distance selection race. But instead of before, I will not take back my application for the WOC team.

My motivation for Denmark is not to just be at a WOC, but with the shape I am in I feel the need give it my best at the most important race of the year and play hard at what I like the most… orienteering.

From one training to another... orienteering in the Alps!

Marc and I were in the Berner Oberland today and decided to go orienteering on a pass just under the snow limit. Getting up to this alpine pass where the map was involved running up 400 meters in 3km, a good „warm-up“.



The alpine terrain was enjoyable as always, but asked for concentration and was tough running. We were both pretty tired at the end of the day.

US WOC Team Trials

St. Louis, MO
19th-21st May 2006

Being in a situation where I have to run well is probably something that doesn’t happen to me enough. Coming into these team trials I had goals of running at my best and maybe even winning a race or two. On arrival I started to realize that the pressure and stress was going to be harder to handle than I expected. Of course this was mainly do to the pressure I put onto myself, but a component that I hadn’t considered started to become more apparent. The way the selection process is done is based off of 3 out of 4 scores. One score is based off of the last 12 months ranking in the US. The other 3 scores are based off of your results at the 3 races. This means you can drop one bad score, giving the team trial-ers that have a ranking something to fall back on if they don’t have a good race. Those of us without a ranking have a petition system we can fall back on if we don’t have a good race, but this would only be put into practice in very extreme cases. In theory it is equally fair for everyone. What I hadn’t considered is that I had pressure to have three good races to even make the team, the pressure I had put on myself would have been easier to deal with, then the have to feeling of racing well.

Anyway, to make a long story short… this type of pressure is something I think every athlete should go through at some point. I mean ultimately we all do the sport because we want to, and because we like it, but not qualifying had never even come into mind for me before. Suddenly I was faced with the possibility.

My goals were then refined and I gave myself the challenge to be mentally strong for every race. Something I am personally working on anyway.

Mission accomplished?... Kind of.
The sprint and middle distance races were solid races. I felt mentally in control, concentrated and focused. Even though I made no major mistakes, I never felt like I was running my optimal. I didn’t come into the finish and think, yes, that was a great race. I was satisfied with my races, but never thrilled. Good enough, mission accomplished, two-second place finishes, two good scores. Only the long distance to go, and my favorite discipline too!

I felt particularly nervous about the long distance, because in the back of my head I still wanted to win (doesn’t every athlete?). Anyway, my preparation for the race was going normally until 10 minutes before my start when I realized that I didn’t have my punch card (yes.. no SI, real punch cards:-)). Thankfully I have good friends who helped me find a punch card (thanks Eddie and Boris), I ran to the start to see if they had extra’s and was relieved to find out that they did. When I had my punch card I tried to get myself back into a correct mental mind frame and continued with my warm-up routine. Three minutes before my start I realized… I didn’t have my compass with me! My shock turned very quickly into frustrations, “what’s wrong with me today?” Eddie jumped to my rescue again and sprinted up to my car and back, bringing me my compass with 30 seconds to spare! I never regained my composure and my race just followed suite. After blowing the 2nd control and being caught by Pavlina, I made one bad decisions after another and never got into a flow. The race was frustrating, but what bugs me even more is that I was unable to gain control in a tough situation.

This is something I should have considered in advance. How would I react if something goes wrong before a big race? Could I refocus, how would I refocus? I should be prepared for anything, but to be prepared I need to think about it in advance. I am grateful to have such an experience it is helping me prepare better for the next big race. Next time I will be more prepared to be mentally strong!

In any case, I had a great experience being back in the States and seeing my fellow team mates and orienteering enthusiasts. It was fun! Thanks to Eric Buckley and SLOC for a great event. Thanks to the US team for your support, and congratulations to Boris Granovskiy, Eddie Bergeron, Eric Bone. James Scarborough, Clem McGrath, Pavlina Brautigam , Samantha Saeger, Suzanne Armstrong, Hillary Saeger, and myself for making the 2006 WOC team.

Here are the maps:
Sprint
Middle
Long

Sandra in the States

Sandra here:
Hello from Laural, Maryland!

I have arrived in the US well and am adjusting to the time zone quickly. I am staying with a high school friend, Lindsay Mitchell , and it is so good to see her again and catch up on thing. This is the best way possible to adjust to a new time zone, hanging out with a friend, relaxing, and doing some running on the side.
Only 48 hours separates me from the first event of the US team trials. The schedule looks like this:
Friday May 19th: Sprint distance race, University of Missouri-St.Louis
Saturday May 20th: Middle distance race, S-F Boy Scout Ranch
Sunday May 21st: Long distance race, Hawn State Park

I am slowly feeling perpared for these races after my back injury. Although after my long flight to the States (which included a 5 hour delay in Newark) my back is hurting a little more than before I left, I feel like I have been able to do several quality trainings in the last week and my fitness should be up to par again, but my heart rate is still higher than normal. I am not sure how strong I will be, but I will do my best.

I will update this page after the events with maps and results.
Wish me luck!!

SaMa update

Sandra here: I thought I would write a short update to what is happening in the life of Sa and Ma. Although Marc would really love to write an update on his life himself, he has an exam at the end of this week and doesn't have time for "extra curricular" activities. I am happy to do it for him.

Quality not quantity, Marc is in form!
It seems that even though Marc has a high stress and busy schedule, he is still able to keep up decent training quality and this is keeping him in good form. Just yesterday he completed an interval training where he saw that his times were faster than last year at this time. This good news comes somewhat heavy hearted, since Marc is not taking part in any international races this year, and watches on the side lines how his team mates compete at the World cup races this week. Of course he can also watch with joy as the Swiss show yet again that they are contenders for the top positions.

1 Week and 4 days until…
The pressure is building as the US team trials for WOC draw nearer. I am unfortunately still having problems with my back, and haven't run a step since over a week. I hope to be able to start with some alternative training today, but I am waiting for the 'ok' from my physical therapist this afternoon. The inflammation that I have in my sacroiliac joint in my back is getting much better. I am almost pain free. Of course it's hard to tell how much the anti-inflammatory medication is masking the pain, and how much is actually progress. I will trust the professionals at hand, and wait its course.
Although my back does seem to be getting more stable, my nerves are getting more and more wobbly. With the US team trials for the World champs in less than two weeks, I feel under pressure to get my back up and running, literally. I am trying to focus on the mental aspects of this challenge presented to me, and keep cool. Clean orienteering and a focused strong head will make up for a small physical deficit due to this injury. Now it's all about achieving a cool head. I will certainly try my best.

Top and flop! My trip to Sweden had it all!

I had the good luck of being able to travel to Sweden for a training opportunity. My club OK Tyr invited me to a camp in southern Sweden, as well as several days in Karlstad itself, where I was able to enjoy the awesome hospitality of the Hallowell’s. In additions I made a trip to Uppsala to visit Boris, and see this “orienteering paradise” that he lives in. On my way I ran into a bunch of friends, ranging from all the Smiths I personally know, I ran into Hammer and Brent in Uppsala, my good friend Christine who is living in Halden for half a year at several races, and basically the whole Swiss team on different occasions, including even my boyfriend Marc. During my 16-day “training camp” in Sweden from April 14th -30th I completed 16 orienteering trainings, equaling to 14 hours and 30 minutes of orienteering, and totaled over 27 hours of training during my time in Sweden. There were highs and lows on my trip, and a lot of in between. Here is the official ranking.

Top race
Long Distance Elitserie race on Brösarp Västra where I placed 6th in the Elite 2 category.
The terrain was the type of terrain that I am used to, ridge valley terrain, pretty steep, but still fast. Although I felt physically tired, I had a smooth, mistake free (!) race.


Flop race
Middle distance at the Tibro events.
Even before the race I knew that my mental mindset was a recipe for disaster. I tried to get myself focused and concentrated, but with no luck. The terrain in Tibro, although fast and for a lot of people very enjoyable, was difficult technically, at least for me, and I didn’t orienteer carefully enough. The biggest time loss was in a green area, where I zoomed in without knowing exactly where I was “zooming” into. Big mistake, literally. I was never able to get the hang of it…

Best recovery
Long distance at the Tibro events
After the disaster I had in the middle distance race the day before, I was worried about this long distance race. I was right to be worried! I had a rough start, still unable to read the complicated negative terrain. I had started to redeem myself by taking a good route choice on the long leg, only to run 90° wrong out of the control I had just spiked and spend 20’ relocating. After this shameful mistake, I was able to recover really well, and had a great race afterwards. I finally got the hang of the terrain, and had a good time. My splits also showed the positive feeling I had at the end of this race. Nice to recover from the disaster the race had started out to be. Of course my result still sucked!

Fastest orienteering speed
Swedish Sprint championships, 4.49 per km!
I didn’t run the elite category because I want to run the Swiss Sprint championships this fall. It turns out however that the D21 category was the same course as the 3rd heat in the Elite qualification races. The race went really well, full speed and no mistakes! I would have been 9th in the quali and could have qualified for the final. Would have been fun!

Best training
Tom Hollowell took me to a map that was supposed to be similar to the Tiomila terrain. It was flat and fast in the beginning and changed into a technical area about 2km away from where we started. I had been having trouble with direction and following my compass accurately, so we wanted to work on that. The first few km I did with a compass, trying to run the line as accurately as possible with my compass. Then Tom shadowed me through the butterfly loops in the more technical area without a compass. The big highlight of the training was completing a 2km leg without a compass in 9 minutes. This was a really fun training and a confidence booster! Thanks Tom.

Total bummer
During my time in Uppsala I managed to complete two orienteering trainings. The first being pretty tough, I spend a lot of time walking trying to figure out the terrain. During the second training, Boris was good enough to let me follow him for a few legs, while he explained what he was using in the terrain to orienteer. This was extremely helpful, and I would call the rest of the training a success, unfortunately during this training I hurt myself. I somehow managed to hurt my back, which did not improve over the next few days and ultimately stopped me from running in the Tiomila relay for Ok Tyr. Total bummer.

Unfortunately I am still suffering from this injury and am unable to train at the moment. It seems I have a blockage of the SI joint in my back, which has cause the muscle in my back and butt to stiffen up immensely. This is incredibly painful, but I am under good care and receiving physical therapy. Hopefully I will be training again soon. The next big races for me are the team trials for the World championships in three weeks! I am flying to the US for these races, and I sure hope to be pain free by then…

All in all, my trip to Sweden was really positive and helpful. I was able to do a lot of quality technical training and also challenge myself in some tough races. I am confident that it was good training and preparation for the world championships.

For the details of every training, look under the link to my training log.