World Cup in Liberec

Last weekend I was running World Cup in Liberec in the Czech Republic.

Saturday it was a normal Middle distance. I did several smaller mistakes, and my shape is not the best at the moment either. In the end of the course Pasi Ikonen, who won the race, passed me by 4 minutes, and I ended on a 35th place. Results, splits, GPS tracking and replay of the video streaming.

Sunday it was a Long distance with chasing start. Both my technical and physical performance was a bit better, and I was able to finish on a 31th place, 12 minutes behind the winner Marc Lauenstein. Results, splits, GPS tracking and replay of the video streaming.

In the overall World Cup I am in 18th position before the World Cup Final in Switzerland the coming weekend with Middle distance and Sprint.

Swedish Champs

Last weekend I was participating in the Swedish Championship in Middle distance and Relay. The stiffness and pain I had felt in my back since WOC was much better, and I was again able to run quite relaxed.

In the Middle Qual on Friday was important to do a stable race, since only 6 runners from each of the 7 heats quailed for the Final. I did an OK performance, and avoided any big mistakes. My result was a 4th place, 1 minute behind Anton Östlin. The course was in a nice mix of different types of terrains. Results and splits

Already on Friday I felt a bit sore in my throat, and on Saturday it felt worse, so I decided to skip the Middle Final. It was a bit frustrating to be home while the others was running, but it was cool to watch the GPS tracking and that my club mates were running so well. Filip Dahlgren was in second position when he passed the arena as last starter, and had a good chance for the victory since Audun Weltzien and Peter Öberg did big mistakes to the 11th and 12th control. Unfortunately Filip also lost 4 minutes to the 11th control. Jonn Are Myhren lost some team in the begging of his race, but did a perfect last part, and ended up in second position, only one second behind the winner Erik Rost. This result was really nice for Jonn Are, since he has had a lot of problems with his health earlier in this season. Results

Sunday my throat was a bit better, and I decided to run the Relay, where I had been selected for the last leg in Lidingö’s second team. Unfortunately my shape was not as good as I had hoped, and I lost also quite much time on my routes to the first two controls. It was anyway a great day for Lidingö, since the women’s team won and the men’s first team finish 4th, less than a minute behind Rehns BK. Results

NM Middle distance

Last weekend the Norwegian Championship was arranged north of Oslo. Because I have had problems with my back the last month I skipped the Long distance, but since my back improved very much the last days before the race I decided to run the Middle distance.

The qualification went quite well for me. It was the first time since WOC that I could run relaxed in the forest, without being stiff in my back. I lost some time several places, but had no big mistakes, and finished 1 minute behind Carl Waaler Kaas. Results and splits.

In the Final I lost 30 – 40 seconds to both the 1st and 12th control, and had also some other routes that was not optimal. My result was a 16th place, 2 minutes behind Lars Skjeset. Normally such a performance should have given a top 10 result, but it was many runners doing good races this year, and it was really cool that Lars was able to win (with only 1 second margin to Carl Waller Kaas).

My back was OK also in the final, and I have not been any worse after the race. But I got more tired physical then normal, probably because I have not been running much in forest since the end of June, both because of my preparations to the WOC sprint and my back problems. Results, splits, GPS tracking and replay of the video streaming.

After the Norwegian Champs the full team for the World Cup Final in Czech Republic and Switzerland was selected:
- Jakter gode opplevelser i neste års VM-terreng, orientering.no
Luckily I was already pre selected because of my 13th place in the overall WC.

This weekend I am running the Swedish Championship in Middle distance and Relay, and you can follow the races live with online results, live streaming and GPS tracking.

Norwegian Championship – live GPS tracking

The Norwegian Championship in orienteering is arranged just north of Oslo this week. The first race is arranged today with the Long distance, and the race can now be followed live with results, speaker sound and GPS tracking (from 12.45).

I have as I wrote some days ago had problems with my back the last weeks, and I will therefore unfortunately not run today. But my back has been better the last days, and I will hopefully be able to run the Middle distance with qualification on Friday and final on Saturday. I will anyway not run the NM relay for Wing OK on Sunday because I will run the relay for IFK Lidingö in the Swedish Champs next week.

Live centre for:
Long distance Tuesday
Middle distance Qualification Friday
Middle distance Final Saturday
Relay Sunday

The weeks after WOC – back injury

After the WOC Sprint in France I was watching my team mates running their races in the forest. On the resting day I was also running (part of) the spectator race held on the same map as the first part from the long distance. Unfortunately the results in the Championship were not as good as expected for the Norwegian team, even if we got some medals the two last days. But it was a really nice week in France, with great weather, as you can see on my pictures (I will publish on Wednesday).

The week after WOC I felt tired, and I guess it was partly mentally, since the highlight of my orienteering season was over. The weekend I spent in Helsinki, celebrating a friends wedding. It was really cool be there together with a lot of happy people. I was also able to go training on the neighbour map to next years Jukola.

The last weeks I have had problems with my back, and it has not been any better. After the last hard session three days before the WOC sprint I felt some pain in my back, and it got stiff. I don’t think it influenced in my WOC performance, even if I felt it during the warm up and after the race. When I came home from WOC my back was even stiffer, and I was not able to run relaxed. I got treatment for it several times, and got less stiff, but could partly still feel some pain.

Yesterday I was running my first competition since WOC, when the District Championship in Relay for Stockholm was arranged in a really nice terrain in Värmdö. I was running the first leg for Lidingö’s second team. In the beginning my running went OK, but after some time I felt stiffer in my back. That made it also difficult to focus on the orienteering, and I did several smaller mistakes. To the changeover I was 3 minutes behind my club mate Fredrik Johansson, who had a big lead. I was however less time behind than I had expected after the bad feeling I had during the race, so my shape is probably not too bad, even if I felt like an old man when I was running. Järla won the relay after a strong last leg by Olle Boström.

After the race my back got very stiff. Today I have got treatment and it feels a bit better, but I can still feel some pain even when I am sitting and walking. At the moment I don’t think it is smart of me to run the Norwegian Championship in the end of this week, at least not Tuesday’s Long Distance. If I want to be totally recorded to the World Cup Final in Czech Republic and Switzerland the end of September it is probably best to take a period without running, before I start with easy training.

Norwegian World Cup Selection (The rest of the team will be selected after the Norwegian Champs.)