2012 Iberian Championships: 2nd round

This past weekend I went to Figueira da Foz to run the 2nd round of the Iberian Championships.

Saturday I had to races, one in the morning, the middle distance with 4.0km in a sandy terrain, and another one in the afternoon, a very good sprint from my point of view with 2km.

In the middle distance I had with me my great companion and homie the whole race. This fellow was my abdominal pain/stomach pain/intestinal pain/whathefuckIdontknowwhatitisbutit'sallwaystherewhenIwanttorunseriouspain. So let's just say that I couldn't concentrate the whole race. I did it just mindless: forgetting which point I was coming from and which was I going for:

So, that abdominal pain that I had in the morning was so rough that it let my whole abdominal area sore. I was a bit afraid of that to happen again when I started. I had pinches of it the whole race and whenever I started to run faster there it was grabing me. No excuses for the mistakes and the lack of planning I made.

Sunday it was the long distance, more suited for me since I can put the same good and confortable pace from beginning to the end.

It was in a map that I already have been 2 years ago in the Selection races. I remember quite well that day. It was a rainy grey day and I did 115mins in a 7.3km race. It was so bad and I missed so much! I think I didn't know how to orienteer back then. It was so bad. Here is the map for your pleasure :)

Well, I can't say that this time it was better. To the first control I a huge mistake because the area was so green. The rest of the race went more or less but I can take many conclusions that will help me from now on to evolve :)

Greetings Orienteers.

Orienteering Break's Over :)

Hi guys,

I haven't been here since my days in Finland because I just needed some time off to think about the next season and what I will do to be successfull.

So in Portugal we had a little summer break from O-races and, at least for me, the break finished yesterday when we did a mass-start race in a map called Lamarosa, in Coruche. It was a very fast and easy map. I was very slow since I have only been training for 3 weeks and that's how it is going to be the beginning of my season: slow and hard. However I managed to do some stupid mistakes:

Next week comes a race that counts for the national cup and for the Iberian Championships. I've already blew my chances of being Iberian Champion with an missing point on the last race, so pressure is off. LOL. Let's see how will be my body's mood to do hard or soft races.

Hugs and kisses ;)

Trip to Finland, Day 8

The fatigue day.


Today was the day that me, Luis and Miguel, decided to go by bike to Kayravali, a map 18,5Km away from Anna's house. Here is the course we did on google maps:

After that me and Luis did together a Long distance training with 6,8Km:

And then came the hard part. Doing the other 18,5Km back home.

Tomorrow we go to Vuokatti to train in the terrains of WOC2013 :)

Trip to Finland, Day 7

Today we woke up very late so we decided just to go a little to the beach and then go to a training of Rajamaen Rykmentii. We were told at the begining that we would have to be cautious and that relocation was impossible. I came to know that when I went to control no9 (thinking that I already knew where it was because I had already been there) and everything looked the same. I searched the control for 20 mins. After that I gave up. It was just training, there was no need to have an headache about it:

Trip to Finland, Day 6

In the afternoon we went to a "famous" orienteering training that usually happens on Mondays in Finland. I was so amazed for seeing so much people to just train. Even more people than in the races in Portugal!

Here is the map we did today where people had the chance to choose a course from 2 - 9 km or get a blank map and draw the course. I decided to do the 7Km one where I did a very big mistake on control no8 where I was not focused:

Trip to Finland, Day 5

Today we decided to take a rest day and just go to the beach in Sääksjärvi. Here is the course we did by bike from Kyläjoentie to there:

photo of the view at the beach

Trip to Finland, Day 4

Today we all felt very tired so we decided to rest on the morning and just "train" on the afternoon.
We went again to map Alhonniittu but this time to the uper part. I think it was a great choice since this side of the map was the most interesting and fun map that I've ever been since I am here in Finland.
In these maps I'll always try to go straight even if it is VERY SLOW and stupid just to get a full experience of what these forests can give you.

Enjoy :)