Busy summer

It's been a long time since I got some time off. The busy period started from the end of May with the one week long pre-JWOC camp. For me, those trainings were the first time on JWOC relevant terrains, so I made the best of what we got.

The competition week started with the sprint, which definitely was not my goal, but with a solid flawless race I knew I could make it to the top 10. My goal still remained the same: to get the engine running for the long distance. I liked the idea of the course being very hard to follow between the narrow tricky streets. On those parts I managed well and was even competing for my predicted position, but on a long leg in the end I misread a spot and thought that i couldn't get through from where I had first planned to go. Having changed my previous plan very quickly, I ran into a wrong street (which was not actually a street) and got very confused... After some adventures, I started running the last loop in the wrong direction and that was that. 65th place in the end. But what concerned me more, were my stiff feet, which didn't allow very quick movements.
Sprint splits, map.

Then the day I had been waiting for... Right from the morning I felt great! Had I achieved this years top shape? The warm-up was modest - a tough course was ahead. I took a bit more secure approaches in the beginning as this was the first run with a 1:15000 scale map. After a great hit off, I added speed and combined the map reading and running perfectly. I had never felt this good this season! It felt great when I had the option to add speed to the already fast running! The first minor mistakes too place after the long leg, where I didn't quite hit the flags as I expected, but I continued to have a solid race. The butterfly was easy and then the climbing started. I didn't have much against the strong hill runners, so I just had to make a clean race. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. I missed a control in an area, where i had already been, cause I didn't see the re-entrant where the control stood. Right after that, I kind of wanted to make up for the loss and climbed up quickly to the next control. Before entering the control area, I stopped for a sec to make sure of my position, which I wasn't. Out of stupidity, I guess, I didn't realise I had to cross the first ditch, instead of starting to look for the hill where the control was. Those were the decisive mistakes. After the spectator control, I was just so tired of the climbing and lost quite a lot to the leaders there. I even walked a part of the climb to the last control. My goal was a medal, which was very close, but since a stupid mistake like that, i can't be very satisfied. Nor am I very sad, but it still doesn't feel good to be the first without a medal.
Long splits, map.

Photo: looks like running, but really isn't

The next days were tough. The muscles on my feet ached for three days after I had given almost everything on the long distance. So the middle distance races were somewhat more difficult. But most of the loss was still gathered from mistakes. In the qualification I made one bad routechoise, but otherwise a solid race and finished exactly where I wanted (between 3rd-5th place). In the final, the technical side started failing already from the beginning. There were only few controls that I passed perfectly. The race was awarded by the same position as last year - 17th.
Middle final splits, map.

On the relay I felt better than on the middle or sprint. I was running the 2nd leg, with Kristo on the 1st and Henrik on the 3rd. Kristo was tired and lost a lot in the second part, so I started well behind (23rd, +4:20) with a lot of catching up to do. In the first part, I made quite a clean race and catught a group that I was able to pass by making a clever route choice. Unfortunately I lost that gap with a slope control (~45-60 second mistake) before the second spectator control. With a long spurt, I kept the lead on that group and finished 10th, with 6:06 behind. The 6th time on the second leg, but only 14 seconds behind the 2nd time. I am satisfied, considering I wasn't fighting for medals. Henrik lost 4 places and a lot of time, so overall 14th place.
Relay results, map lap 1, lap 2.

This JWOC showed me that I can concentrate on my main goals and achieve the best shape when needed. JWOC 2010, watch out!

Photo: On top of the world

Jukola

A week before Jukola, I and Kristo began our last camp before JWOC. The camp proved to be great and now it's just the last finishing touch on the shape. We both were to run the first leg at Jukola, which I wasn't especially excited about.
I knew that this Jukola required more physical strength than good map reading and that's what I was worried about. Seeing the first leg after the start, I was disappointed - why would the first control have to be that easy to take? And consist only of 4km of running on roads and paths? And no forking? Anyway, my muscles were sore already before the first control, because of the camp. I took my own choices and went totally around from the left. I don't know if this route was faster or slower for me, but I when I split with the ones going straight, I was running with Kristo and in the control I was 9 seconds ahead of him. The controls 2 - 7 were the most exciting part of the course and also the best for me. After that the course required more running, where I was quite helpless. I was walking uphill and was slow on the roads. I was surprised that my loss to the leaders after 8km was only 1 minute. They must have made mistakes. Then I made a small mistake with nr 120, where there seemed to be another small hill befere the one where the control is, but I didn't lose much. The last third of the course reminded me of the Nuorten Jukola races - simple controls with tracks and paths between.
I finished 50th, which was about what I imagined my place to be and sent Jaagup to to his duties. My injury-recovering brother made an OK race on the last leg and finished 100th.
I wanted a bit more difficult course than this, or at least more running in the forest. But it seemed that the other longer legs did have that.
Map, team results

Photo: Jukola start (from Jukola official gallery)

Next big event: JWOC

2x Baltic Champion!

This year there were more participants than before - teams from Saint Petersburg and Belarus were present too. This meant that the silver medalist from EYOC 2007, Yury Tambasau (I was 4th), was running my category. Dense forest and limited visibility made this technically demanding terrain very difficult. Additionally, the hot sunny weather didn't make it any easier. Though I heard that a lot of runners disliked the forest, I must say I liked it! Only some places with a lot of rootstocks and fallen trees were annoying. I was certain that no-one would make a flawless race, so anything was possible! The start was good, but before the seventh control I a bit unsure of my heading and lost a bit of time and confidence there. I hadn't missed much on the first part of the course, but that's where the troubles started. To the 12th I ran on the wrong hill and lost about a minute. To the 13th I was very unconfident and had trouble with my direction. The last part of the course was the most difficult for me - I was feeling the heat getting to me and was clearly getting tired. My speed was notably decreasing and it was hard to focus. In the area of the 16th and 17th I couldn't link the map to the terrain and to the 18 I lost half a minute on running and another half a minute by entering the dark green before the control. To the 19th I should have run on the border of the green area, but instead tilted too much to the right. I pushed hard in the last controls and won with mere 10 seconds ahead of Yury Tambasau. 3rd place to my teammate Kristo.
Map, with my and Kristo's route.
Results, splitsbrowser (M20E)
Relay followed on the next day. Kristo was running the first leg, then I and Henrik Berg the anchor leg. Henrik didn't quite succeed the first day, but our plan was to gain a maximum lead for Henrik and then let him make a solid performance to keep the lead. Kristo had his ups and downs and came out fourth, very close to the leader. I was unconfident in the first part of the course and did some mistakes. The second part of the course was technically very easy and called for fast legs (which I didn't have at that moment). The last loop was my enemy on this course. On the way to the 14th my direction was altered by a lot of fallen trees and rootstocks so I was very unsure where I crossed the watercourse. I thought I was on the southern big spur and continued heading north. After realizing where I was, I was mad that I didn't see the control when I was very close to it. Henrik left with a 3 minute lead ahead of our second team. He kept his head cool and kept the lead. Unfortunately our second team lost to the Latvian team and placed 3rd.
Results (M20E), map with my and Kristo's route.
The weekend was physically difficult, but I'm very happy receiving two gold medals, especially after last year's fiasco on the long distance.

Photo: Glad winners heading to the finish