In the end of August I went to Latvia together with the norwegian national team to run World Cup round 3. I started the middle distance a little insecure, and made several mistakes on the first controls. But from control 4 to the finish I ran a stable technical race, and ended as 36th. In the relay I did not understand the terrain into control 1, and in the stress I was not being realistic, and searched it forever. Sad to destroy for the team on the first leg, even though I ran an OK race the 2nd part of the race, I could not repair the damage. My teammates Emma and Marianne ran two very good races and could climb us up to the 7th position! In the sprint compititions in the end I ran a good qualification ending up as 3rd in my heat. In the final I was very tired, but managed to do a close to clean race, and got the 21st position. After the World Cup races, I stayed in Latvia for 4 days to train for the World Championships which will be held in the same area next summer.
After several weeks of working at home, and a good performance in the WRE-sprint which was selection race for the swiss runners (I got the 3rd place), I was looking forward to the races in Latvia. I had the chance to train two short trainings in the forest in Latvia before the races, and learned that it was going to be green and hilly with steep slopes. The middle distance started from the Camel Park close to the city of Cesis, and the courses started out in dense forest with low visibility and soft counterlines, which made it difficult to get a good feeling. I was nervous and managed to leave the small path too early approaching the first control, and ended up on the wrong hill. I realized it fast, but took the insecurity with me towards control two. On this leg I felt unsure all the time, but used my compass and hit the control straight on. To the 3rd I decided to run on the field, and I was able to pull myself together. But out of control 3 I managed to use a path as the north line, and ran 90 degrees wrong. I did not realize it before a 200m. A really stupied mistake, and when I finally came to control 4 I had already lost more than 3min from the start to this control to the best runners. Here I was catched and past by the runner starting behind me. From here on I managed to orienteer ok, and climbed on the result list. A 36th place was not what I aimed for, but this day I was not better.
Because I was the 3rd best norwegian girl in the middle distance I got a spot in the first team in the relay the day after. I was nervous, as I always am before relays, but felt I should be able to handle the challenge. We started out down the alpin hill, and into the forest I followed some of the top teams aiming for the track. We did not hit it and we had to fight through the green and several fallen trees, and the teams finding the path gained 30s. Approaching control 1 I knew my control was going to lie on the top of the slope down to a small stream. My direction was good, but just before my control there was a steep slope, and I stopped. I thought it had to be the slope down to the stream, and its direction was not right. I thought I knew where I was, and went left and found a control, but it was not the correct one. I stopped again, and thought I had to be too fare, and went back up what I though was the stream. I ran fare up the stream realized I was to fare, and ran back to find the same control again, still wrong. Going back up the stream a 2nd time I suddenly saw a control down the slope, and went there. It was mine, but I could not understand it. I continued still stressed and confused and ran up the wrong hill just to lose another minute. All alone, and knowing I had lost a lot - too much - I continued running. My route to control 6 was bad, and I lost even more since the map drawer had not been there. The map was not at all correct, and I lost almost 3minutes. I kept on running and did a good race for the rest of my leg, but the damage was big and I sent Emma out 8 minutes behind the lead. Emma and Marianne hunted well, and climbed us up 15 positions to the 11th position in total and 7th in the nation ranking. Our 2nd team was long in the fight for top 3.
After my big mistakes and disappointments in the forest races, I wanted to do better in the sprints. My qualification race was good, and I got the 3rd place in my heat. In the afternoon I felt that my legs was tired during warm-up, but I tried to think that everyone was tired. I started out controlled, and well technically, and after half of the race I was still in the fight for the top 10. But my legs were empty and even though I fought with all I had, I lost time without making mistakes, and in the end I was 21st. I have almost never been so tired in the end of a sprint race! 4 compititions in 3 days are tough, and my capacity at the moment was just not good enough to feel strong in the last compitition.
After the races we stayed in Latvia for four more days, and we could start the preparations towards next years world championships. I quite much like the terrain, but need to train on being tough through flat green areas and still keep my direction. Also steep slopes up and down will be important. After the training camp I went to Norway to run the norwegian championships in long distance, middle distance and relay.
(The pictures are borrowed from the organizers facebook page and PhotoMiller)
