The orienteering season has started. After the Uganda training camp I have had a few weeks to build up my training before the first competitions start.
Victory at the Danish Night Orienteering Champs - my first Danish Champs title since 2018.
Nordjysk 2 days
The first competitions were organised in Svinkløv plantation in North Jutland. First day with a long distance and second day with a middle distance. I had planned to run the long distance as a good workout at a moderate pace, as I estimated that my programme would otherwise be too hard. After all, it is only the beginning of March and the important competitions are not until the end of April.
A big snowfall in the days leading up to the competitions meant that the start times were not completely irrelevant. With at least 10cm of snow in the terrain, it means a lot to have the advantage of starting in the late end of the starting field. I started among the first on the long distance, but which only made it more interesting from an o-technical point of view, now that I was not going to send it anyway. Ended up coming home with a miss punch - can't remember if it has happened to me before in a competition, so it shouldn't happen again. Quite embarrassing.
The middle distance had a slightly better start list, as most of the runners with good chances of winning started not too far from each other. I put together a reasonable race and won the race. 18sec ahead of Rico Hejlskov Mogensen. Rico won the long distance the day before quite convincingly. I made several 5-20sec mistakes on the course, but no bigger ones. So I still have a long way ahead of me o-technically.
Working my through the snow at the Nordjysk 2 days. løjer mig igennem sneen til Nordjysk 2 Dages. Can't think of a single scenario where snow is something you hope for in a race.
Danish Night Orienteering Champs
The weekend after the races in Svinkløv it was time for Night Champs, which was held in Stenholt/Buchwaldt plantation - a bit west of Silkeborg. Not a competition I have run before as a senior. In the week leading up to the race, I acquired a new headlamp that shines significantly better than my existing lamp. Great with an upgrade, but maybe a little too late up to the competition to be able to test it properly.
The first part of the race was a bit slow. I make a lot of mistakes, none of them cost much more than 45sec but I made a lot of them. From control 10, about one third into the course, I got my shit together, and from here I got things under control. From here it went really well until I had 8min left of the 12,5km long course. My lamp goes out, and from here I only have the emergency flare left, which does not shine much more than a flashlight in a mobile phone. Enough light to take finish the race, but costs me about 2min at the end. Luckily I had a lead to take off and (fortunately) take the victory with 2sec ahead of a strong running first year senior Asbjørn Kaltoft.
Danish Spring and sickness
The third weekend in a row with competitions was to be Danish Spring on Zealand. Three World Ranking Event races. Sprint in Frederikssund and long and middle distance in Tisvilde Hegn. I got through the sprint fairly well. Feels there is much more in the tank but without a sprint map in hand since last spring, I probably can't expect much more. Finishes as no. 5, 43sec after both Andreas Bock and Ralph Street. I had a bit of a sore throat and did not feel quite good. The day after on the long distance day it has gotten worse. I am at the stage before being downright sick, but still choose to give the race a shot. Pretty stupid. Tried to justify the decision with the fact that I lack the WRE points. It didn't turn out well. There was not much in the tank and I had to cough a lot. Pulling out of the race annoyed that I even tried. Sunday on the middle distance day, I had fortunately become a little wiser and did not go out to the arena at all.
Together with Tim Robertson we went straight back to Aarhus. The plan was to have a week's training camp at home in Aarhus. We both usually progress a lot when we train together. The training camp ended up being the training camp with the worst outcome I have ever experienced. Tim had been injured in the knee and could not really run and my illness persisted throughout the week. We got a single jog together of 5km, which neither of us should have run. Frustrating as it can be, but that's the situation - injuries and illness are part of the game.
At the time of writing, I am still sick and hope for the first post-sickness training day tomorrow. So almost 10 days without training. Especially the lungs are badly affected. Critical in relation to the season which really only really has to take hold now, but I remain optimistic. Can't do much more than stay calm and wait for the virus to pass.
In 12 days is the first selection race for the first World Cup round in Norway. I still believe in it :-)
