Baptiste Rollier

Season 2011

2011-11-10T09:09:00.001+01:00

Looking backt at the 2011 season there are some races which comes up more than other and which tell a lot about how I manage to get into shape at the right moment or didn't manage it.

Swiss Middle distance Championship
Between January and the middle of April I spent 27 days in training camp in technically challenging areas (Millau, 2x Clermont Ferrand, Barbatte) and 38% of my training was orienteering. When at home the focus was more on building the running capacities. The factors helps me to performe well at the Swiss middle distance Championship, finishing 2nd behind Matthias Merz.
The annual Swiss Team performance test the week after also showed good improvements comparered to previous years.

Swiss Middle distance Champs

NORT
The spring went up and down with problems to be in shape when I had planned.
Even if Tiomila was desappointment for KOK my race was good and I ran on a good level having the speed of both Lundanes and Gueorgiou.
But the week after I had problem to recover and due to a lack of rest my shape went down quite a lot. Two weeks were needed to get back on a good level.
At NORT I had the same problem. After a good fisrt part of the Tour and a good race at Jukola I had problem to recover and the performance in the chassing start was very desappointing.

Spring Shape

WOC Test races
In the week between NORT and the Swiss test races for WOC I put focus on reloading my batteries. Whit the help of my medicin man I could get back in business. With 3rd and 1st place in the middle and the long test races I showed that my level in the French terrain is good and that I would be a top 6 contender.

Swiss team WOC Long distance test race

WOC
The plan was to spend 12 days in Savoie in the beginning of July in order to get ready for the technical challenge at WOC. But a sprain ankle in the 3rd day put my plan up side down. I had to get on the bike for 13 days and ride instead of surf the curves. The orienteering camps where moved closer to WOC and coming to WOC I had had 11 days with O-training. Between september 2010 and the WOC I spent 50 days and did 88 trainings in WOC relevant terrains.
The 4th place in the long distance was a really nice reward for the work made to prepare the WOC.

WOC Long distance Final

WC Liberec
After 1 week holiday I went back into training mode in order to get in shape for the last World Cup stages. But a Achilles inflammation stopped my plan and I was forced to rest and to train in the water. At the races in Czech the technical and physical shape were in the basement and nothing went out of those 2 races except that the inflammation was gone and that I could run without pain again.

WC Liberec Middle distance

WC Final
The injury beeing gone I pack some trainings in the week between the Czech and the Swiss stages. This mini-shaping allowed my fitness to be sufficient for 6th place at the 2nd last WC stage.

Autumn preparation

World Cup Training in Prague

2011-09-20T19:10:00.006+02:00

Yesterday I did a training for the World Cup which will take place during the week-end in Liberec.

The goal of the training was to train the route choices.

During 3 hours we (it was a team competition) try to find the best route trough the city. The use of public transport was allowed and

Anyway it was a nice training which ended with a tasty pizza and good company. make the decision taking even more interesting as it was not easy to hestimate the "runnability" of the tramway vs metro vs buses.

Successful season start

2011-04-11T22:07:00.006+02:00

The last 2 week-ends 3 Swiss champs were on the plan. First Night, then Sprint and Middle to finish.
I travelled to the night Champs after 8 days of training in Clermont Ferrand area. I was not feeling very fresh but I was going to enjoy the night anyway. I had a quite good race and the legs seemed to work well as I could take home a gold medal. This result gave me a good feedback about my actual shape.

Results

One week later it was time for the Sprint Champs in Bremgarten. Now I felt that the legs had recovered and I was ready to go fast. Most of the race went well and 3 controls before the finish I was in 3rd place. Maybe my brain was little overheated and I missunderstood a tunnel (which was described in the race information...) and missed 15''. Even if the result was still OK with 7th place I would have had a chance to get a medal in this race. Anyway now I see that I'm also competitive in sprint which is good to know.

Results

On Sunday it was back to the wood with the Middle distance Champs. I was quite nervous before the start but I manage to calm down and to find the first 5 controls without problem which was one of the key in this race. The race went well until control 15 where I planned to go straight to number 16. But I came out of 15 too much to the left and I had to correct a lot to find the line again. This cost me about 25'' and that was the decisive seconds for a gold medal.
Anyway, even if I can have some regrets because of 40'' mistakes, I'm very happy to see that my level has improved during the winter.

Results

During the last week I also got a partnership with Icebug which will support me with their very good shoes. It's important for me to know that I'll have a perfect grip in every situations. You can find more about Icebug here or here for Switzerland.

Training Camp in Clermont Ferrand

2011-03-17T14:51:00.010+01:00

Last week I was in Clermont Ferrand with KOK and the Norwegian team in order to train in relevant terrain for WOC 2011.

I did a high dose of technical training in challenging terrain. In the end of the camp I could feel that I start to have the terrain under control and that my technique was working fine.

The long distance training was probably one of the highlight and a good comparaison as 9 WOC medals winner were at the start.

Here you can find a reportage about the camp which camp on the French TV (scroll down to 19'30 min to see orienteers in action).

In 10 days I'll go to Clermont Ferrand again in order to learn more about the terrain and improve my skills.

Into Team Trimtex

2010-12-16T09:20:00.007+01:00

I'm now spending my last days in Kristiansand. After more than 3 years in town I'll move back to Switzerland in order to get to the top at the next WOC in France and Switzerland. The last month went well and I had some really nice trainings around K-town even if the snow appeared 2 weeks ago. Camp Norway and its chassing start was one of the highlight. Now the time is getting short and there is still much to do in order to catch the Color Line boat to Danemark on Sunday.

This week I've also been introduced to my new job. I've joined the Trimtex Team as a sale representative for France and Switzerland and will be responsible for teamwear in those 2 countries. This is a nice challenge to which I'm looking forward. This give me the financial security needed to run orienteering at the highest level and at the same time I've full flexibility in my daily training and for training camps and competitions.

If you want to get new cloths for your club, just contact me at the following address: baptiste@trimtex.no I'll be happy to help you finding the best for your club in the World best orienteering cloths brand.

Season 2010

2010-11-02T16:49:00.004+01:00

The 2010 season is now over and it’s time to look back and see what happened. Between December 2009 and now I was 12 weeks in training camp and 8 weeks at competitions, trained about 550h of which 190h of running and 155h of orienteering.

It started with 3 weeks in South Africa in the beginning of January. We were a small group of 9 runners training hard in the warm climate of Dullstroom. Two weeks later KOK had it’s annual winter training camp in Portugal and after 1 week home I headed to South Italy for the Swiss team training camp. Despite an inflammation in the left foot which bothered me most of the winter the shape was good. Some treadmill tests showed that my VO2max improve well during this period. At the Sprint Cup in the end of March the good shape was confirm by good results in the classic distance (3rd place) and in the relay (1st place).

One week after a training camp in Switzerland in middle of April the test races for EOC took place. My performances there were average but I could qualify for the middle, long and relay.

After 2 wins in a raw at Tiomila we were really motivated to take a 3rd victory. We had good performances all over the night but we crossed the finish line in 2nd position behind a strong Kalevan Rasti. One week later I was in Trondheim with the swiss team for a WOC training camp. My sensations in the terrain were good and I felt confident about my skills.

EOC took place beginning of June in Bulgaria. That was my 1st big goal of the season and I wanted to run once in the top 10 and once in the top 6 in the individual competitions. Unfortunately, after good qualification races, I had to admit that my physical level was not good enough to reach the top places. I took 13th place in the long and 24th place in the middle.

Two weeks later in Finland at the Nordic Tour (NORT) my shape was much better I got a 4th place in the middle-sprint distance. This was nice to see that the shape was on the way up towards WOC. Unfortunately we got disqualified at Jukola and left Halden and Kelevan Rasti fighting for the victory. The NORT sprint in Stockholm was a deception for me as I didn’t make it to the ¼ finals finishing 33rd in the qualification. Fore days later in Norway I did an average performance in the chasing start and took a 12th final place.

The spring races were the basis for the Swiss team selection for WOC. I knew that my performances were little bit under my expectation nevertheless I was confident that I would be able to fight for a top 10 position in Trondheim. Unfortunately, in a strong Swiss team, my results were not good enough to get a place in the WOC team. That was a really big deception and I had to find new goals for the summer. I chose Oringen, the mountain race Sierre-Zinal and the military World Champs in Kongsberg as my new aims. But after some long bike ridings around Kristiansand I got an inflammation in the left calf which prevented me from running for almost 3 weeks. Fortunately calf was better at Oringen I was able to run and to enjoy orienteering around Orebro.

After one week in Switzerland putting out controls, testing courses or cleaning garbage from the arena at Master World Champs I started Sierre-Zinal. The 32km and 2200m climb of the course from Sierre to Zinal offer the view over 5 mountains over 4000m high. My goal was to run under 3 hours and I was really happy and tired when I crossed the finish line in 2h50’.
The week later I was almost not able to walk but at Military World Champs the legs were all right and I took 6th place in the classic distance, 7th place in the middle and 3rd place in the relay. I was pleased with those races and motivated for the training toward the 3 final World Cup races in France and Switzerland.

The training in September went really well and I was ready at the start at the WC in Annecy. My goal was to prove to myself that I’m able to run in the top international level and moreover it was the only and last comparison in the same type of terrain with all top orienteers before WOC 2011. The 7th place pleased me very much and I was glad to be back in business. One week late in Switzerland I could confirm this result with an 5th place in the middle distance and a 11th place in the sprint.

After an average spring, a bad summer without WOC I was glad to have a good autumn season and to see that I’m among the world best. But next year WOC will be a challenge and to perform well in Le Revard I need more training sessions in similar terrain. That’s why I went to St-Cergue for 1 week training camp.

Now I’m back in Kristiansand where I enjoy the nice autumn weather and the early nights favourable to night-o. I will stay in Kristiansand until Christmas when I’ll move back to Switzerland in order to prepare in the best way for WOC 2011 and 2012.

No WOC for me

2010-07-01T21:26:00.003+02:00

The swiss team selections for WOC have been announced on Tuesday and I wasn't selected to run in Trondheim.
This was a huge disappointment, even if I was expecting not be selected after a meeting I had last week with the national team coach.

We had no real test races for WOC and therefore all the international races this spring counted as selection criteria. My international results this spring were not very stable with 35rd place at NORT Sprint, 24th place at EOC middle distance, 13th at EOC long distance, 12th at NORT chasing start and 4th place at NORT middle distance in Finland.
Those results were not good enough to be part of a very strong swiss men's team with many potential medalists. My goal for WOC was to reach a top 6 place and I believe this would have been possible. But being a potential diploma runner was not good enough to be part of the team..

So my plans for the summer had be adapted. Now my 1st goals is O-Ringen in Örebro where I want to enjoy running in a high quality competition, against strong competitors and in a nice atmosphere. My 2nd goal is Sierre-Zinal. This is a mountain race (31km, 2200m climb) which I wanted to run for many years already. In order to prepare for Sierre-Zinal I'll spend some weeks in Switzerland running up the hills and enjoying some hard trainings and long runs.
In the end of August I'll run Military World Champs in Kongsberg.

I wish the WOC swiss team a lot of medals and hope that they can secure more than 3 starting places in each discipline for WOC next year!
Heja Jungs, ich zähle auf euch!

NORT in Sweden and Norway

2010-06-28T16:50:00.004+02:00

The 2nd and 3rd stages of the Nordic Orienteering Tour took place in Sweden (Stockholm) and Norway (Raufoss). After the good result at the 1st stage in Finland I was really motivated to do well.

Sprint in Stockholm
I felt good in the warm-up and was confident about getting a place in the first 30 in order to be able to run the 1/4 Finals. Unfortunately my speed was not good this day and even if I made no major mistake I was not able to qualify for the quarter finals finishing 35th, 5 seconds down place 30th.
This was a big disappointment and many seconds lost to my direct competitors before the last stage in Norway.
The K.O format from the Finals was really excited to follow as a spectator and it was nice to see a Swiss win with Fabian Hertner in the men class.

Results

Chasing start in Raufoss
After the 2 first stage I was in the 10th position, 3'34'' back the leader Daniel Hubmann. My tactics was to an active race with the help of the runners around me.
The fisrt part of the race to the butterfly went well with a good control in the group. For the first 3 controls of the butterfly I ran with Matthias Merz and then I was alone for the rest of it. My orienteering was not very precise and I had to make some stops in order to avoid mistakes. On the way to control 20 I saw Waaler Kaas and Haldin some seconds in front of me and caught them on the way to 21. The last loop was tough physically and had to fight to keep the speed. I lost some seconds on the way to 22 and 23 and wasn't able to close the gap afterwards because my routes to 24 and 25 were not optimal.
I finished number 12.

GPS tracking
Results

On Sunday I ran O-Festival Stafett with KOK. Damien, Isaak and Audun made a very good job on the fisrt 3 legs and I could start with about 3' lead on Anders Nordberg (Halden SK). My race was clean and I managed to keep cool and bring the victory home for KOK. It was nice to win after the DSQ result at Jukola the week before.

Results

Jukola: hylätty

2010-06-21T11:29:00.007+02:00

After a victory last year KOK was really motivated and well prepared to do a top performance at this year Jukola. Unfortunately we had a miss punch and our chance for a victory was gone already at 23.15...
Jostein lost one of his contact lenses and couldn't read the map properly. He was just able to follow the pack and try to get the right control. He didn't punch control number 6 even if on the GPS it looks like he was there.

I was getting ready for a challenging 3rd leg when I heard that we were disqualified. The deception not to be able to defend our title from 2009 was really big. I was really looking forward to running and I felt very confident with the terrain.
Instead of heading to the forest I went back to the accommodation and went to bed for some hours.
In the morning some of us went back to the competition center to run our leg in the massstart. I took a 5th leg's map and enjoyed running the course.
For the small story Isak (4th leg) and Holger (6th leg) had best time on their legs :-)

I feel very sorry for Jostein because he was ready for his leg and was the perfect man for the job. What happened to him could have happened to everyone of us and as we share to joy in the victory we share the deception in the defeat. Now our motivation for next year Jukola is really high and we will work hard to be at the top in Salpa.

KOK 2 took a fantastic 14th place. They did a very good job all night long and were reward by a superb top 15 place.

Nordic Tour in Finland

2010-06-18T10:23:00.005+02:00

The first stage of the first ever Nordic Tour took place yesterday in Tuusula in Finland. The competition format combined a middle distance race (25') directly followed by a sprint race (15').

From the start I found a good flow and physically I felt good. At the end of the middle distance I had some problem to understand the fence around the shouting range and hoped for an entry and an exit. I lost some seconds having to adjust my routes. After the map and scale change (1:10'000 -> 1:5'000) I needed some controls to be in advance in my orienteering again. From control 4 it went really well.
I took 4th place which I'm very satisfy with. Now I'm really looking forward to the next stage which will take place in Stockholm on Tuesday.

Results and GPS tracking
Swiss Orienteering news

But in the meanwhile there is an other challenge ahead of us: Jukola. KOK is really motivated to keep the title we won last year and we are ready for it!

EOC

2010-06-11T21:16:00.006+02:00

L'EOC s'est terminé il y a déjà quelques jours et c'est le moment de revenir sur ces courses.

Relais
Kybi a fait du bon boulot et je suis parti en 10ème position dans un groupe à 1’ de la tête. En allant au 1er poste j’ai vu que je pouvais faire le rythme dans le groupe et j’ai pris les commandes. Au poste 3 je me suis fait influencer par un coureur et perdu la direction sur le dos.
Au poste 9 j’étais devant le groupe et bien dans la course. En sortie de poste j’ai perdu ma concentration quelques instants et pas eu un concept pour le poste 10. En montant le nez j’ai cherché le jaune à gauche mais je l’ai confondu avec le jaune du poste et je suis monté trop haut. Cette faute me fait perdre 1’.
La fin de course était bonne.
La vitesse était bonne et j’étais actif dans le groupe en faisant ma propre orientation.

Résultats

Moyenne distance
A l'échauffement je me sentais bien physiquement. Ma tactique était de courir direct en étant prospectif dès les premiers mètres et d’être précis avec la boussole.
J’étais stressé avant le départ mais je savais que je devais me concentrer sur ma technique et ma tactique pour trouver les postes. J’avais confiance en mon physique mais une appréhension de faire des fautes.
Je suis bien entré dans la carte et tout de suite eu mon orientation sous contrôle. J’ai toujours su ce que je voulais voir et toujours eu le contrôle. Mise à part un cheminement pas optimal pour le 2 et une hésitation au 13 je n’ai pas fait de faute.
Je perds régulièrement du temps physiquement et notamment sur la fin de course.
Je suis très déçu de cette course car malgré très peu de faute, je termine 24ème.

Résultats

Longue distance
la motivation était grande pour rattraper la contre performance de la moyenne distance. Ma tactique était de faire des cheminements fluides et d’être précis dans la planification et l’application jusqu’à l’arrivée. Je voulais partir sur un bon rythme pour bien entrer dans la course.
Je sentais un peu le stress mais j’étais confiant quant à mes moyens de faire une bonne performance.
Sur le début de course ma CO était prospective et l’application précise. Physiquement je me sentais bien.
Le cheminement pour le 7 était bon même si sur la fin je suis descendu trop tôt dans la combe et j’ai dû passer un ravin en plus. Cela coute quelques secondes.
La première boucle du papillon (13 à 16 sur le graphe) était relativement bonne avec quelques hésitations aux postes 13 et 14 qui coutent au total une 30aine de secondes. Sur la 2ème boucle (9 à 12 sur le graphe) j’ai lu dans la mauvaise direction et commencé à courir vers le poste 12. Après une 100aine de mètres j’ai remarqué ma faute et fait la correction mais j’ai encore cherché le poste 30’’. Sur ce poste je perds environ 1’30.
Une des raisons de cette faute d’administration peut être que je ne savais pas si je devais prendre le ravitaillement au milieu du papillon ou à la fin. Cela m’a occupé en allant au poste et je n’étais pas tout à fait concentré sur la technique.
Après la faute au 9 j’ai eu des problèmes à garder la prospectivité et l’offensivité et depuis ce moment je commence à perdre régulièrement du temps.
Sur les postes 17 à 19 je perds beaucoup de temps sans faire de faute apparente. Peut-être que quelques secondes s’envolent car je n’étais pas très exact. Au 19 c’est clairement physiquement que je perds du temps. Alors pourquoi est-ce qu’au 20 et 21 où il faut juste courir j’ai des bons temps ! Parce qu’il y a des spectateurs ?! Je dois avoir la même volonté lors que je suis seul en forêt…
Mon plan pour le 23 était de courir légèrement à gauche du trait et d’attaquer le poste par le haut. Sur le nez au centre de la tirée je n’ai pas contrôlé la direction car j’étais passif. J’ai traversé le chemin plus bas que pensé et ensuite cherché la combe avant le poste. Celle que j’ai vue était celle proche du poste 27 et en poinçonnant le poste j’ai réalisé que ce n’était pas le poste 23. Je perds 1’15 sur cette faute.
Pour le poste 25 je voulais utiliser le sentier au nord du trait mais je suis mal sorti du poste car j’étais passif. J’étais ensuite rétrospectif et je cherchais des objets pour être sûr de ma position. Cela me coute 45’’.
Au poste 27 je fais une faute similaire avec un plan que je n’arrive pas à mettre en application et ensuite de la CO rétrospectif qui me rend lent. Sur ce poste je perds 1’30’’.
Les 3 derniers postes sont meilleurs et j’ai des temps corrects.
Au total je fais environ 6’ de faute principalement sur la fin de course car je suis devenu passif en raison de la fatigue.
Avec un temps d’1h50 j’aurais fait une bonne course qui m’aurait permis d’entrer dans le top 6.

Résultats

Bilan
Je voulais courir 2x dans le top 10 et j’avais comme but optimal de faire un top 6. Je n’ai pas atteint mes objectifs lors de ces courses. Les qualifications étaient bonnes mais lors des finales je n’ai pas eu les moyens de courir au même niveau physique et technique. Je crois et espère avoir un meilleur potentiel que ce que j’ai atteint à l’EOC.
Je dois arriver à courir libérer à un championnat comme je peux le faire à l’entraînement. Pour cela je dois me concentrer sur mes moyens techniques et ma tactique puis faire l’optimum une tirée après l’autre. Si je peux courir offensif à l’entraînement, je dois aussi en être capable en compétition.
Physiquement ma forme était bonne et j’avais les capacités de terminer dans le top 10.

Tiomila

2010-05-08T17:21:00.009+02:00

Tiomila is one the big goal for KOK and after 2 wins in a raw we really wanted to take the trophy home once more. Unfortunately we were not able to repeat our performances from the previous years and we finished second.

Audun had a strong run and finished 8 seconds down the lead. He made what he was asked for and gave an optimal start to KOK. Christian (KOK 2) was just some seconds down Audun and built a strong basis for the good KOK 2nd team result.
Isak ran really well on 2nd leg and keep the gap to leading team quite small. For KOK 2 Oystein showed once more his night skills and placed his team in a very good position before Langa Natten
Andreas made a tactical slow start on 3rd leg and ran most of the course in a big group leading by Nordberg. Jon was in the same group and allowed KOK 2 to be in the top positions after 3 legs.
On 4th leg Eirik made some mistakes and lost about 4 minutes to the leading team Halden. It was a little critical at this time of the race with the 2 other favorite team about 4 minutes in front of us.

On 5th leg my task was to reduce the gap to the leader to the minimum. My plan was to do it with a safe and clean race. It went quite well even if I did 3-4 20-30 seconds mistakes. At the spectator control someone told me that Halden and KR were about 1min in front and some controls later I could close the gap to them. On the last forking I had some hesitations and this allowed Halden to change over in the lead 45 seconds in front of us.
I was quite please with my run and was confident that it would now be a battle between KR, Halden and KOK

GPS

But on 6th leg everybody seems to look at the other and nobody really made his own race. Therefore many teams could close the gap to Jostein and the others leading guys.
This gave a stressful start to Vegard who was in KOK 1st team for the first time. He missed about 3 minutes at the first control and lost the leading pack. Afterwards he had an impressive run keeping the distance with the strongest runner on that leg.
On 8th leg Damien had problems to find a good flow and missed a lot. Far too much to be able to reduce the 3 minutes gap we had on KR. He even lost 3 more minutes and therefore our chances for a final victory seems quite small at this time of the relay.
On leg 7 and 8 we lost 3'02 and 3'19'' on the best leg times. In comparison KR who lost 0'16'' and 0'23''. This if far too much and it's clearly the legs were our final result was decided.
Holger had a very good race and ran the 2nd best time on his leg with KR running best leg time and increasing the gap to 6'50.
With such a gap it was impossible, even for Daniel, to catch KR and Gueorgiou. But a place on the podium was in reach with gap of 3'47 to the 2nd place. As usual he did a good race and could secure a 2nd place.
KOK 2nd team made a really strong performance and took place 32, 2nd best of the 2nd teams.

Now it's 6 weeks to Jukola and we have to lift our performances if we want to win a 2nd victory there. Everyone in the club is really motivated to do so and I hope that we will fight with the best on each leg and made a optimal performances in Finland.

Results

Tiomila is getting close

2010-04-11T16:40:00.004+02:00

In 3 weeks Tiomila 2010 will be history and we hope we will stand high on the result list.
But only training makes masters and Tiomila preparation is on his way in Kristiansand OK.

Last week-end we spent some days in Karlshamn where we did 3 night O and took part in Elitserien. Personally I was little disappointed with my performance in the mass start because I was too passive in my orienteering and therefore made a big mistake after 2/3 of the race and lost the chance to finish in the top places.
GPS

This week we trained some more night-O in Kristiansand where the conditions are perfect and spent many hours together discussing Tiomila.
On Friday the first test race took place in Furulund. After a good start I made several 15-20 seconds mistakes and lost quite a lot of time on Daniel.

Tiomila test race

Night training

The next Tiomila test races are taking place next week-end at Natt NM and Varstafetten. But I won't take part because I'll go back to Switzerland for a training camp with the Swiss team and the test races for European Champs.
So from now on there will be action and I'm looking forward to it!

Spring Cup

2010-04-01T17:06:00.005+02:00

Last week-end Spring Cup was held in Hillerod. I wanted to use those races to test my physical and technical shape at the end of the winter and make a transition to the 1st part of the spring.

Classic
I lost myself on the warm-up map and arrived almost late at the start. Therefore I struggled to find the flow on the first 2 controls. On the way to number 3 I could calm down and from then on the technique went well. I lost some seconds in the butterfly because I had problem to keep the direction but otherwise the race was quite clean.
I was really satisfy to see the my time was good and to get a good feedback about my physical shape.

Map (tractrac)
Results

Relay
Andreas Hoye did a good job on the 1st leg and I could start some seconds behind the lead. I had a good run until control 43 where I lost about 45 seconds. On the 2nd loop I tried to keep a high speed in order to give Jostein Andersen a good starting position.
He did a good technical race and Daniel started on the last leg in 3rd position 3' behind Orion. Once more he showed his quality as anchorman and he secured a KOK victory in the 1st international relay of the year.

Results

Those races gave me a positive feedback about my actual shape and that the training this winter was good. This is a good starting point in the season and I can look forward to the next races.

Next week-end KOK will train "for Tiomila" in Southern Sweden and we will take part in Elitserien on Saturday.
The other good news is that Kristiansand is now snow free and we will be able to be in top shape at Tiomila. Below some trainings of the last days.

Training camp in Portugal

2010-02-22T18:13:00.004+01:00

The winter in Kristiansand has never been so nice for the last 100 years. It has been snow since middle of December and temperatures rarely raised above 0 degrees. The xc skiing conditions are just perfect!
BUT I'm not a xc skier and I prefer snow free surface, therefore the 10 days I spent in Portugal last week were an important part of the basis training.
I've had a sesamoiditis and I trained a lot on the spinning bike and in the swimming pool when I was in Kristiansand before leaving to Praia de Mira. Down there I could train well and usually did one o-training a day and a second training on the bike. This allowed me to work on my automatisms which were a little rusty after almost 1 month without orienteering.

The WRE on Sunday 14th was a important test to know where I stand right now. I did a good first part of the race and even if I was little bit slow out of the controls the o-speed was good. After the spectator control I made some mistakes and lost about 45'' in total. But the biggest surprise was a MP. At control 26 I punched and heard the bips but the badge didn't register the punching. According to IOF rule 20.5 I was disqualified. It looks like sportident had some problem lately with this and the WorldofO weekly poll is about this subject.

On Thursday 18th we joined the French team, Halden, IFK G and others for a relay training close to Praia de Mira. The terrain was really clean and allowed high speed orienteering at 4'/km. It was really fun to start with 35 other runners in such a training.

Then we headed south-east to Crato where NAOM took place. Unfortunately I got a food poison
ing the day before the WRE and wasn't able to run the race.

Now I'm back in Kristiansand for some easy days before I'll leave to Italy and MOC on Friday.

South Africa part 2

2010-01-27T21:33:00.004+01:00

Three days ago we flew back from South Africa after spending 3.5 weeks in Dullstroom.
We had a very good training camp and a nice escape from the European winter conditions. The last week was especially tough with 6 high intensity trainings in 5 days.

The last test showed that the shape is quite good:

Pictures

South Africa part 1

2010-01-17T13:42:00.006+01:00

For the third time I spend the first weeks of the year in Dullstroom, South Africa. The training conditions and the high altitude are the reasons to come back in this village lost 250km east of Johannesburg.

During the 1st week we get use to the altitude and we spent 3 days in Kruger chasing the Big Five. But the strongest experience was certainly the bush walk and the meeting with a rhino. The guides sneaked us about 15 meters away from him with the help of the wind and the sun. We also disturbed 2 male lions digesting in the shadow of a tree after their breakfast.

Then it was time for serious training. We ran some high quality o-trainings with the Finns who were also here. The last two days have been quite hard with 2 fast trainings to improve our speed (4'-2'-1'-30''-15'') and our endurance (crescendo).

Victory in Svalandsgubben

2009-10-25T20:04:00.006+01:00

On Sunday I took part in Svalandsgubben, a 27 km terrain race in Birkeland. This was the 36th time this traditional race took place and I really looked forward to running it. One main reason was that my boss in Ramboll, Oystein Halvorsen, ran it in 1978 in 1:47'52 which is about 4 minutes down the record set by Knut Alien in 2003. That same year Holger Hott ran in 1:44'29 which is the third best time ever and Bjonard Valstad in 1:49'02.

The weather conditions the last days were not so optimal to run a fast race because it rained a lot. Kristiansand was the wettest place in Norway on Saturday with 33.5 mm. The old boys remember when the swamps were icy and it was possible to run on top of them...

The race started quite fast on the first 3 km on the road and I was wondering if it was not too fast for me. But when we started to climb I felt that I could keep the speed of the leaders (Holger and Øyvind Heiberg Sundby). After 5 or 6 km Holger took the lead and we ran away from Øyvind in the technical trails and wet marshes.
Quite often we had water up to the knees and some times higher up... It was a challenge to find to "driest" place to run. It was so wet that the organizers had to shorten the course in one place(- 700 m) because a river was impossible to cross.
At km 10 I took the lead as Holger tried to "swim out" a swamp. I felt quite good then and increased the speed a little bit. We passed Svalandstarnet (332 m, highest point of the race) together. In the downhill Holger started losing some seconds and I could open a gap of about half a minute.
I was a little afraid of the last 7 flat km mainly on big paths and tried to concentrate on having a good speed when I hit the asphalt. Even if the cramps were not far away most of the last 5 km I could cross the finish line in 1:45'21, 1'30 in front of Holger.

So I reached my goal to beat the time of Oystein by 2'30 and more important really enjoyed running this race.

Results
Best times ever

PS: There will be a lot of discussions about the length of the course and the weather conditions tomorrow at work ;-)

130 swampy kilometers

2009-10-21T20:42:00.005+02:00

In order to prepare WOC 2010 I spent 6 days in Trondheim. With Antti N, Fabian H, Hannu A, Philippe A and Sara L we had some good sessions. Here are the main training of each day:

Wednesday
We took part in the NTNUI night cup. At the start it was a surprise to get a map with only curves. But the terrain was really open and it was fun to run there.

Thursday
In the afternoon we went to Vassfjellet and run a "downhill" course.

Friday
We used the map "Nordmarka" to make some downhill-O. Each of us put out the controls on one loop running up and had 4 loops to orienteer down. Fantastic terrain.

Saturday
See Fabian's web page

Sunday
As the weather during the week was "good", the snow melted and it was possible to run up to Vassfjellet (710m). The controls up helped to get strong physically, the controls on the top to get the motivation for orienteering and the controls downhill were challenging technically.

Monday
With Fabian and Hannu we ran the camp championship, 5 short courses. The first 3 loops were just the warm up and each of us could start with a 20sec lead on the two other. On the forth loops we had massstart deciding the position for the last loop which was run as a chasing start. As they were no controls in forest the last control provoke some discussions about the exact location and the results had to be canceled.

All in all we trained really well during those days and could get more knowledge about the WOC terrains. I'm really looking forward to come back to Trondheim.

Go hard or go home

2009-10-14T16:43:00.006+02:00

Last week-end we spent 2 days in Oslo with Andreas. We had some good trainings there and made the most out of the those 48 hours.

Saturday
Morning run
First session of the day: 30 minutes morning run around the most famous training place in Oslo: Songsvann.

Furumomila
The goal of the trip was to run Furumomila, a 10km race in Modum. It was a very nice course on paths through a beautiful forest. Andreas won the race and show that he deserves running Nordic Champ in cross country running in the beginning of November in Finland.

Night-O
After some rest we headed to Puttasen for a night-O. The beginning was set in open forest while the end of the course went through more dense and rocky areas. This was my first night-O after Jukola and some automatism were still a little rusty.

O-talk with BSK coach
In the evening we met BSK coach Martin Schälli in the city for some chatting about orienteering clubs and runners.

Sunday
Oslo Bratteste
The night was short but long enough to be ready for the steepest hill in Oslo area, Tryvann. We run the course of the already famous Oslo Bratteste organised some weeks ago by Slevik IL.

O-Intervals
After a deserved breakfast it was time to run an O-intervals training in Krutthuset. It was good to run fast in order to get warm in the cold and rainy morning weather.

BSK-trening
The legs started to be a little tired but before heading back to Kristiansand, we enjoyed the nice forest in Stensrud.

Now I’m in Trondheim training for next year WOC. An other week of training is in front of me…

High Altitude TC

2009-08-02T16:21:00.007+02:00

After living for almost 4 weeks in the Alps, it's now easy to breath at low altitude. I spent more than 400 hours at Muottas Muralg (2453m) in Engadine with 5 other WOC Swiss team runners.
We enjoyed the beautiful nature for long runs, the paths and tracks in the valley for the fast sessions and the technical and challenging forests for the O-trainings.
We had the visit from many runners and we used some of our spare time to climb some mountains.

But pictures say more than words...

Now the main physical work has been done and it's time to focus on the final mental and technical preparation for WOC. Therefore I'm going to Hungary with the Swiss team from Tuesday to Saturday. After some days at home we are going back to Hungary on Friday 14th for the main competition of the year.

Maps of WOC testraces

2009-07-07T14:02:00.008+02:00

Last week-end swiss WOC testraces took place. We ran 2 sprints, a middle and a long distance.

The 2 sprints went well and I made good results.

I was also satisfy with my performance in the middle distance were the orienteering was usually fast and accurate.

The long distance didn't go as expected and I was desappointed with physical performance that day.

Now it's time to train to be in top shape in 6 weeks and therefore we (6 swiss WOC-team runners) are going to a 3.5 weeks high altitude training camp in Muottas Muragl, Engadine.

Season start (with map)

2009-04-29T22:27:00.004+02:00

After some easy warm up at Tiomila and Torridalsloppet it was time to start the season for real.
I went to Naerlop at Steinsland with high expectations. Unfortunately my technic was still a little buit rusty today...
I hope to be able to improve it until the next competition.

Sorry for the people who worried about me and were on their way to save me from this wild wood.

Good training

2009-02-17T19:25:00.005+01:00

After almost 4 weeks in South Africa during January with very good training (see following video) the landing in Norway was quite tough. It took some days to get use to the cold, the clouds and the working hours. But after this adaptation period I was ready to train hard again.

The last 10 days of training went really well and I ran 320km in 15 days with 15% high intensity (75% of running). My body was able to recover fast between the sessions and I could keep a good quality all the time.

At the end of last week some snow came which made orienteering training a little bit difficult even in costal terrain. But we had one challenging session before which I could use to improve my technical skills.

Now I'm in Portugal for a 2 weeks training camp. The first week will be with KOK in Evora where the Swiss Team is coming on Friday. Then I will stay with them and we will visit costal terrain near Nazare. I'm really looking forward to this camp and to start the competition season with the Portugal O Meeting the coming week-end.

Training camp in South Africa

2009-01-14T12:12:00.003+01:00

For about 2 weeks I'm in Dullstroom, South Africa, with 7 other Swiss orienteers. We are using the benefit of the nice and warm weather in order to boost our shape.

After some days in Dullstroom we visited the Kruger Park where we try to see the Big Five (lion, elephant, leopard, rhino and buffalo). Unfortunately no leopard crossed our way. But we had the chance to meet a complet familly of lion coming back from its breakfast.

We stayed 3 days at the Lakvenlei forest lodge where there are some orienteering maps. The highlight of the stay was the middle distance training where Graham Gristwood and Rasmus Soes joined us.

We will stay in Dullstroom 10 more days and will make the most out of it...

Training camp in Stavanger

2008-12-14T13:58:00.006+01:00

Last week-end KOK had a short training camp in nice and varied terrains close to Stavanger.
Here you can find the 2 worst mistakes I did and orienteering how it should always be.

Long distance
(slow speed)
After leaving the control, my plan was to see the 2 small noses with the bare rocks before heading to the control (I had seen the control already before running from 4 to 5).

After running over the first gray nose I expected to see the second one but as I was a little bit higher than I thought I didn't see it. Then I got confuse and instead of continuing with the direction and distance feeling I tried to remember the area.

Night Sprint
(cup system, final against Jon Duncan, high speed)
My plan was to take the small path in the corner of the path...

But I never saw the small path and when I entered the green I thought that it would be a little further. It came after a very long time... but it was the wrong one. From then I got crazy.

Looking at the videos and the tracks, I realized how stupid I can be and that even If I did a mistake I could have avoided doing a big one by thinking better (where was the last sure check point? how long have I been running? where could I be?)

Middle distance
(high speed)
Here it went much better. I tried to have a good flow trough the controls and to anticipate and simplify as much as possible.

That's the type of orienteering I'm aiming for. As many have said before the tactic is: full speed - no mistake. The question is: what does it mean exactly?

Training break, 2nd week

2008-11-17T21:14:00.007+01:00

The training break ended on Sunday after a tough and fun week at Spicheren.
As mentioned in the last news, the week started with a step interval course. Once more my coordination was pushed to its limits and I had problem to follow the instructor. But it was nice anyway...

On Tuesday I couldn't miss the Bosu course. This time I had to stand in the right front corner of the room. Once I had the surprise to turn to the left and to see 35 girls watching at me at the same time. Oups, wrong direction!

On Friday I visited the aerobic 1 course. This was maybe the worst course of the 2 weeks. But we had fun anyway:

Apart those "social lessons" two quality trainings took place this week. The first one was an spinning interval session (6', 2x7', 2'8' and 2x7'). It was tough but a very good endorfine shot.

On Saturday I couldn't miss the KOK training set by my boss on the Ultra Lang NM 1982 map. The map is quite similar to Trondheim even if the terrain is a little bit more difficult to run.

Training break

2008-11-09T16:38:00.006+01:00

November often means training break for orienteers. Therefore since last week I've reduced the training amount and tried new sports in order to gain even more motivation for next season.

Kristiansand OK has an agreement with a fitness center where we can train for free, so I used this chance to discover aerobic courses.
The week started slowly with "vekt i sal" which was quite a boring course but my arms were sore for a few days anyway...
On Tuesday the "kick interval" was much better and I came to the limits of my coordination abilities.
The quality of the training increased during the week and on Thursday I could tried some of the exercises shown in the following video.

As I needed a hard session I went to the spinning interval class. I lost about 2 liters during 1 hour and my puls went as high as expected.

I couldn't finish the week without a long jog in the forest surrounding Kristiansand. After a tough night partying with KOK friends it was refreshing to run for 2 hours in rainy and windy conditions.

But the training break is not finished yet and tomorrow "step interval" is on schedule!

5th in overall World Cup

2008-10-13T16:11:00.006+02:00

10 days ago the World Cup final was held in Zurich. My goal there was to keep my 5th place in the overall World Cup standing. On Saturday a middle distance took place in Wangenerwald and on Sunday the World Cup 2008 was closed by a sprint in Irchelpark in Zurich.

Middle distance
With a 16th place I was well outside my goal for this race. Except some time lost (about 1 minute) due to hesitation I didn't make any big mistake. It's my speed which was just to low this day. Disappointing...

Sprint
The race started really well and I was on the way for a top 10 place 3 minutes before the finish. Unfortunately I chose 2 bad route choices on the way to control 20 and 21 losing 2 times about 10 seconds.

Nevertheless I could keep my 5th place in the overall ranking. I'm very satisfy with this result which shows that the training opportunities in Kristiansand are suiting me very well...

Links
World Cup Final
Sprint on TV

Sprint NM in Larvik

2008-09-14T18:19:00.003+02:00

On Saturday NM sprint took place in Larvik with a qualification in the morning and the final in the afternoon. Thanks to a very good race in the final I could take my 3rd medal in NM this year after 2nd place in the middle and 3rd place in the relay 2 weeks ago in Tromso.

Qualification
My tactic for the qualification was to run full speed in order to get the right sprint flow and to have a good starting place for the final. The race went well except control 9 where I took a route choice going straight trough the forest instead of running around on the path.

Final
Winning the heat allowed me to start 3rd last in the final. At the pre-start Pascal Vieser (KOK's coach) advised me to run very aggressively especially out of the control. I managed to run as he told me to do and I was really enjoying trying to save every seconds.
In the finish I was really pleased with my performance and the speaker said I was 4th. But, unfortunately for him, Oystein Kvall Osterbo jumped an impassable wall and was disqualified which gave me the 3rd place.

Links
KOK elite
NM Sprint

Swiss Champs in sprint and long distance

2008-09-08T18:58:00.006+02:00

Last week-end the sprint (Saturday) and long distance (Sunday) Swiss Championships took place in Baden.

Sprint
The sprint was held in the city center of Baden. The course was really challenging because of the high running speed and I had problem to keep my focus all the way. I made some mistake, the biggest one at control 12 where I misunderstood the control area...

Long
In 1985 the fastest time per kilometer was run in this forest. Due to climate warming (maybe) the vegetation has become denser now and the runnability is not as good as 20 years ago.
After a lot of orienteering in Scandinavia I underestimated the difficulty of this continental terrain and I made a lot small mistakes plus a big one at control 18.
In the finish I thought that my performance was OK but when I heard that I had lost more than 8 minutes to Matthias Merz I realized that all the imprecisions had cost me a lot of time in the end.

Those two races were a really good "wake-up" before World Cup Final which will take place in less than 4 weeks in the same type of terrain.

Links
Sprint race on InternetTV
SM Homepage
Swiss Orienteering

NM in Tromsø

2008-09-01T20:41:00.007+02:00

Last week-end Norwegian Champs (NM) took place in Tromsø. It started with long distance on Thursday, middle final on Saturday, with the qualification on Friday, and the relay took place on Sunday.

Long distance
The mountain terrain seems really interesting and the scenery promised to be breath taking and we were not disappointed.
I started well in the race and had no mistake in the first part of the course and I had the impression that I was running fast. Therefore when Lars Skjeset caught me after 35 minutes of running I was very surprise. I tried to stay with him but on the way to number 12 I had to let him go.
The end of the course in the cliff area was really difficult and I didn’t manage to slow down to control 15 where I lost contact with the map. I needed 3.5 minutes to relocate and find the control.
Except control 14 where I lost quite much on the route and control 15 which I missed my race was good and I really enjoyed looking at the mountain and see scenery while orienteering.

Middle distance
The qualification on Friday went well and I took second place in my heat.

In the final the tactics was to let the orienteering decide the running speed. The beginning went good but I missed number 5 about 30 seconds because I misunderstood the map in the control area. Attacking number 6 I had some problem knowing the height I was running and some seconds went away. The technique was aggressive all the way to number 18 where I made a parallel mistake. At the spectator control I understood that I was leading by 30 seconds. That makes me nervous and I forget to have an accurate plan for control 21.
In the finish I took the lead but only until Audun Weltzien crossed the line with a time of 35’49, 2 seconds faster than mine.
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to win the “Kongepokal”, maybe it would have been too much for a Swiss who does even speak Norwegian…

Relay
The relay closed the NM week-end in Tromsø. Jostein Andersen, Holger Hott and me were running in KOK 1. Jostein had some problem on first leg and lost about 7 minutes to the lead. On second leg Holger closed to gap to 3’5 minutes.
My plan was to start carefully in order not to miss in the first part and try to catch as many runners as possible. I made some mistakes at number 150 and 162 but the rest was quite good. At the spectator control I heard that I was only 30 seconds back third place so I tried to push more on the last loop. At control 109 I saw Anders Nordberg searching his control (104 ) and I knew that I would pass him. Coming to the finish I expected that we would be fourth but Oystein Kvaal Osterbø made a big mistake at control number 90 and I passed him there without seeing him.
We took third place behind Tyrving and Froll and KOK 2 finished fourth.

Links
NM
KOK elite

O-Ringen chasing start

2008-07-30T11:09:00.004+02:00

After 3 very good World Cup races, I was starting 1st about 30 seconds in front of Tero Föhr at the last O-Ringen stage which was a chasing start.

As I was nervous, I missed the 1st control a little bit and Tero caught me. Then we ran together almost all the way to number 11 where I chose the right route through the swamp. Unfortunately Tero went left on the road and was about 30 seconds faster... I didn't see him until after the finish, which he crossed 1st. On the way to number 13 I saw Dimitriy Tsvetkov behind me and he took a different route to number 14 where he was in front of me.

I crossed the finish line very tired and in 3rd place.

After Oringen we (with Benno Schuler) went to Borlänge where we went fishing for 2 days without much success. Anyway it was very relaxing to bathe in the sun and to go for a swim when the fishes weren't hungry.

2nd, 3rd and 11th at O-Ringen World Cup

2008-07-24T21:42:00.007+02:00

From Tuesday to Thursday 3 World Cup races (sprint, long and middle) took place in Sälen where O-Ringen is organized this year. The mountainous terrain makes the orienteering challenging and the scenery beautiful.

Sprint
The sprint was held mainly in forest with a small part in a cottages area. The orienteering was challenging and I made a good performance finishing 11. My shape was not at his best but I manage to concentrate on my technique and didn't make any big mistake.

Long
This race was a though one with a lot of running in open mountain slopes. It was really fun to run there and I could keep my orienteering under control almost all the way except at controls 17 and 20 where I lost about 30 seconds each time. I finished 2nd behind Tero Föhr and was for the first time on a World Cup podium.

Middle
The middle distance took place in open mountainous plateau with 4 downhill controls down to the finish (we went up by ski lift to the start). I enjoyed very much running there and could keep a good focus all the way. I took 3rd place behind world champions Daniel Hubmann and Thierry Gueorgiou.

Links
Results
Swiss Orienteering

Bronze medal at WOC relay

2008-07-22T23:06:00.001+02:00

WOC relay took place last Sunday close to Konice. I was running first leg for Switzerland with Matthias Merz and Daniel Hubmann.

I wanted to do an active run in front of the group but I wasn't able to do so. On the first part of the course I had a little bit longer gaffling and was at the end of the pack after 5 controls. On the way to number 8 (61) I struggled in the uphill and lost some time on the leading runners. I missed number 13 (62) because I thought I would see the control while running along the green but the control stand in the green and I had to come back when I realised that I was to far. This mistake combine with a little bit longer gaffling made me loose quite much time on the leaders. The rest of the course went ok except number 21 (79) where I lost the direction and went to much to the left. In the finish I was very disappointed with my performance and I felt very sorry for Matthias and Daniel because I wasn't able to build a good basis for the rest of the relay. But...

But this was a very exiting competition and big changes happened until the last part of the relay. First Matthias made a very good run and came back 4th with Kramov from Russia. Then Daniel ran a strong last leg and was still 4th about 1km before the finish. I was then ready for a diploma and disappointed that I ran a bad first leg which buried our chances for a better result. But then Thierry, which was on his way for a first gold medal for France, got bitten by a bee and had to abandon the race which gave us the bronze medal...

Now it's still a strange feeling because I made a performance which doesn't deserve a medal by a got it anyway because my team mates were really good and that the French were very unlucky. Anyway a medal is a medal and sometime you have to be lucky!

12th at WOC Middle

2008-07-18T12:10:00.005+02:00

Yesterday WOC middle distance took place in Rymarov about 50km north of Olomouc. My goal was to be in the top 12, which I reach with a 12th place, but...

The qualification, which was in the morning, went well except control number 3 where I missed about 1 minute. Otherwise I had a good flow and everything was under control. At the finish I was a little bit surprise to win my heat because I made one mistake and I haven't had the impression that I was pushing hard. Anyway that was a good confirmation that my physical shape was good and that my tactic in this terrain was appropriate.

Winning my heat allowed me to start second last. Of course I was nervous at the start but my concept was clear and I knew that everything started by zero again for the final. The first part of the course until control 7 went well except a small mistake at number 4 where I lost about 20 seconds. At number 8 I saw the big cliff north of the control but I couldn't see the knoll. I lost about 30 seconds there searching for the control. On the way to 13th I knew this control would be difficult that's why I ran very precisely all to way to the green. Entering the green I thought I was just at the vegetation border but in fact I was lower. In the green I lost contact and suddenly I got lost not knowing where the control should be. I had to go out of the green, to the path, and back into the green to find the control. 1 minute lost. From there to the 23rd control my orienteering was good and I was on my way for a top 10 place but at number 24 I thought the control was north of the green but when I was there I didn't see it. Then I checked onthe right to be sure I was at the right place but no control. After some seconds I checked the control description and saw that the control was placed at the corner of the ditch... 30 seconds and place number 7 gone... That was the mistake to much!

Even if the result is OK, I'm very disappointed with myself now because I wasn't able to give my optimum at this race...

Links
Results
Swiss Orienteering

Jukola

2008-06-17T13:14:00.004+02:00

Last week-end Jukola took place about 50km north of Tampere. After a very good result at Tiomila, we expected to perform well at Jukola too. We hoped to reach a top 3 place.
Unfortunately not everything went right and we lost the contact with the lead already on 1st leg. Afterwards we were not able to close the gap and we crossed the finish line in 12th place.

My race wasn't good. I wanted to take some risk in order to gain some time but it seems that I forgot my head at the start and I made passive orienteering not taking time to plan the routes and not being precise with my compass.

Links
Results
GPS tracking
KOK elite

WOC test races

2008-06-10T08:37:00.007+02:00

Last week-end test races for WOC were on schedule. A middle distance on Friday, a sprint on Sunday and a long distance on Monday.

Middle
After an easy week in order to recover from EOC I was ready to perform well at the first test race for WOC.
On the first part of the race my orienteering was a little bit shaky but after a few minutes I found a good flow and the rest of the course went well. The change of type of terrain made the course very interesting and challenging.
I took2nd place about half a minute behind Daniel.

Sprint
On Sunday morning my legs still felt tired of the downhill running from Friday and I needed a good warm up to get a good feeling back. The course offered many route choices and it was important to do prospective orienteering not to miss any small passages between the houses.
My run was good and I finished 5th 33 seconds behind Matthias Merz.
More about the Bodensee supersprint which took place in the afternoon here.

Long
The long distance took place in the same terrain as World Cup Final 2007. It offered a lot of route choices and some steep slopes.
I'm satisfied with my performance and I didn't miss except control 30 where I ran to far. In the finish I was glad to see that I took 3rd place but also very impressed by the time of Daniel who ran 7 minutes faster than me.

Silver at EOC relay

2008-06-01T14:25:00.003+02:00

Today's relay closed the EOC and with Matthias and Daniel we could take the second place behind Russia.
Before the race I was quite nervous because our goal (a medal) was high and many teams could fight for a place on the podium and because it was the first time I was running for the 1st Swiss team in an international competition. Moreover the terrain promised to be very technical especialy in the beginning.
My tactic was to have full control of my orienteering all the way in order to avoid being influence by other runner. It went well in the beginning and I could take the lead on the way to the 4th control. Then I could do my own orienteering all the way without being to much influence by other runners.
This was a technicaly and physicaly challenging course and I was glad to let Matthias go in the forest in 4th place about 1 minutes behind Sweden who had an impressive run on the 1st leg (E. Ohlund).
Matthias had a very good run and was in the lead with Russia for most of the course before doing a 1 minute mistake at the second last control. Daniel caught Novikov at the 2nd control allready and ran with him some part of the course before having a longer gaffling and loosing contact with him.
We crossed the finish line in a very good second place some second behind Russia. Finland got third spot.

Links
Results
Swiss Orienteering

Challenging EOC middle distance

2008-05-31T17:13:00.003+02:00

The middle distance final took place today in a very swampy and green terrain and it was a real challenge to find the controls without doing any mistake.
Yesterday, the qualification was more hilly and it was important to have a good understanding of the curves in order to avoid hesitations in the control area. My race wasn't very good and I made several small errors which cost me some time. During the race I was unsure if it would be enough to make the final and I get a little bit nervous but in fact nobody had an error-free run and I could qualify quite "easily" for the final.

The terrain description for the final said "30% of the map is covered by swamps" so we expected to have some controls in the swamp area and then different terrain type with detailed area and the flat part, north of the finish. In fact most of the course was in the swamps and this offered a very challenging orienteering. Even Thierry made mistake, that the proof that it was difficult. I make many errors in the beginning at controls 1, 2, 4, 6 and 7. I had problem to keep the direction in the swamps and I was never sure that the control would be behind the next hill. From control 7 it went better and I finished in 13th place.

Links
Results
Swiss Orienteering

6th at EOC Long distance

2008-05-29T13:36:00.004+02:00

After a bad start in the sprint qualification where I missed the final for 1 second, I needed to get the self confidence back for the long distance.
Therefore my tactic in the long qualification was to have full control of my orienteering during the all course and especially at the beginning. That was the right tactic and with a 2nd place in my heat I saw that my technic was ok and my physical shape at the right level.

I choose the same tactics for the final. Even if I did see a good option to the 1st control, I found the flow quite fast and I could keep it all the way to the end of the butterfly. I had a lot of respect of controls 16 and 17 and I lost some time there doing retrospective orienteering. Then the concentration level was a little bit up and down which provoke a 1 minute mistake at control 25. At the spectator control, I heard that I had the 3rd time and was in the battle for a final 6th place. This gave me extra energy and I could rise my focus for the last 1.5km.
The swiss showed good performances during this race and 3 of us finished in the top 6 with Daniel 2nd, Matthias 4th and me 6th.

Links:
Results
Swiss Orienteering

Pinselopene in Hamar

2008-05-14T16:54:00.009+02:00

Last week end Pinselopene took place in Hamar. The first of the three races was a sprint held in Hamar vest. The terrain was a mix of park and urban area. On Sunday we ran a middle distance in a very nice terrain alternating from open and fast to green and rocky forest. The long distance took place in the same terrain on Monday.

Those races allowed me to test my shape before European Champs which take place in less than two weeks.

Sprint
My race went quite well and I'm satisfy with my performance. Except for a small mistake on the way to the 5th control where I lost about 10 seconds, I didn't do any mistake.

Middle
My motivation for this race was high and I really wanted to do fast orienteering. But this end up in a to fast and furious way of running and I almost never had a plan how to hit the control. Not a good way to orienteer but a good way to remember what not to do in the next races!
Of course I was very disappointed with my performance that day!

Long
My plan for the long was to plan! After my bad orienteering in the middle I wanted to make a better performance in the long distance.
But the start went really bad and I missed the first control by two minutes. After that I always had the feeling the something was wrong with me. Anyway, I tried to concentrate not to miss anymore and analysis of the splits shows that my speed was good. On the way out of the butterfly a make a direction mistake which cost me about one minute. The end of the course went well and I could still push hard.

Even if my performances were up and down I'm satisfy with those three races because I made important experiences for the next future and I know that my shape is on the right way and that I'll be ready in 10 days for the European Champs.

Map KM Lang

2008-05-04T15:10:00.005+02:00

Today the regional championship over the long distance took place in Torrridal. The terrain and the course were challenging and I had to fight all the way to keep a good speed.
My orienteering went quite well except on control number 7 where I wasn't very precise leaving the nose with the path. This end in a 2 minutes mistake. Otherwise I'm satisfy with my performance and I could get first place winning a nice picture which is now the first picture hanging in our flat!

Next week I'll run Norwegian test races for European Champs in Hamar to get some good experience and to test my actual shape.

Tiomila map

2008-04-30T23:53:00.003+02:00

Tiomila map with my route.

GPS tracking

Tiomila

2008-04-30T20:13:00.002+02:00

KOK has been waiting for this moment for 6 years. Thanks to Andreas, Arild, Eirik, Rasmus, Ivar, Jostein, me, Holger, Damien and Daniel the dream became reality.

Last autumn a big change happened in my life when I decided to move to Kristiansand. The goal was to get a better orienteering environment in order to improve my skills. Now I can say that this was a very good decision. The atmosphere in the team is great, the standard of the trainings is very high and everyone is very motivated to be in the first team which rises the overall level of the trainings.
The Tiomila victory is the results of the 51 common orienteering trainings during the last 5 months. This is not luck! I overreached my first goal of the 2008 season thanks to my teammates. Now it's time to get ready for the first important individual competition of the year, the European Champs in Latvia.