I miss...

I miss the river, the park, the snow, the laught of the girls, the nice words of the coach, the thursday night orienteering trainings, the kilimanjaro, the sunny but very cold days...

I miss Jagniatkow kilometers path, the cross laps, the long long trainings on Sundays, the skiing time in Szklarska Poreba...

I miss the friends and I miss the coach! Yes I really do.

Winter trainings are much pleasant and much easier when you run on such a nice group of friends and with such great coach...Training more than 500min per week alone, with my headphones, is boring. I've been remembering a lot the nice winter training I had last season...

I really miss it a lot!

Saturday night da ba da dan dee na na na ;)

Saturday night da ba da dan dee na na na... pretty baby;)

No..saturday night wasn't time for training on the dance floor but it was the same fun! I ran night orienteering training, 7km, 17controls and 61min runing. I was quite satisfied with my training..! Last season I started to run a bit more at night because before I was always too scared to do it. So it was pretty nice to me to feel confortable in the forest, thinking on map and nothing else (like monsters or bad men in the forest ;)

I made a stupid mistake to the first control (yeah..it was the first one since many months) but then everything went fine. I could run as much straight as possible (there was some green) and I tried to avoid paths also to make it worth.

It was also funny because on the previous weekend we had a training camp of the national team on the same map and actually we ran on the same places and even in the same controls but, sincerely, I didn't realize about this during night! With my small lamp I just could read the map and see some meters in front so everything seemed new :)

Happy endings - I just love them ;)

Like a movie (those where they marry, have children and are happy forever) my season is finished :):):)
My last race, my last km «on the field» were in Spain, Toledo, on Iberian Championships.

This is map from middle distance. Well, for sure it doesn't fit on the «happy ending» style because it was literaly a disaster! I dont know, but I think this time I was more woried with my running speed then with my orienteering technique. So I was absolutely «lost» on my goals for this race and when I thought «this map looks very very fast» I lost all the possibilitys of doing a good race.

But fortunately we had another race on the afternoon, and I was really motivated to do a good job. It was held on the historical city of Toledo,with many crowded and tricky streets. In my mind I had it clear «don't run too fast! otherwise you'll make mistakes». It worked quite well, but some hesitations and a bad route choice cost me some seconds. But in the end of race I was happy with my «orienteering speed». It seems that I had a clear lead with more then a minute to the other runners but well, then Ona Ràfols from Spain came and she beat me...by one second ;)
Besides looking frustrating (in fact it was a bit) I was happy with my race, with my speed, with my good recovery between races and well...you know...Toledo is a wonderfull city so you just have reasons to be happy :):):)

Next day we had long distance and I felt really motivated to do a good race. I started quite well, without big mistakes, but after crossing a hard green on the way to the 6th control I lost my direction and the sense of which hill is what...I didn't stop to check, and well, in fact I stopped...but too late, when I was on the path above. And obviously when I was running towards number 6 I saw Ona Ràfols who started 3min after me...
We ran most of the course together and in one hand it was good because we were pushing harder but in other hand I think we made mistakes because of running together. On the last part I had a bit more fuel on my body and I finished I was about 20seconds faster... Ona wons (1:03:06) I was second (1:05:45) and Alicia Gil Sanchez was third (1:11:01).

And coming back home, with all «training baggage» of the season packed, I had such a great smile! Finally I can say that this season I made a big step on the right direction and my motivation to keep walking like this is high :)

Planning your winter season?

The mercury is falling, the days are shortening and becoming crisper, you've flung the flip-flops to the back of the cupboard for another year and dug out the scarf and gloves. It can only mean one thing - winter is on the way.

For the skier and snowboarder it's the most exciting time of the year, as thoughts turn towards a prized two weeks in the mountains.

Fortunately in Portugal the sun shines all winter and we prepare one of the best orienteering races: NAOM! Problably sounds familiar;) This year it will take part in Crato, a small village in Alentejo, on the south warm and sunny part of the country.

Soft terrain, rich of stony details and some tricky streets for sprint night race are waitting for you!

Take a look at http://www.gd4caminhos.com/naom/2010/

II Trofeo Sierra Norte - Madrid

Last weekend I flought to Spain to re-start on orienteering game. Pine and stony forest, tricky areas on middle distance, sounded really nice but I was still praying to don't have pain on my tendon...so I was decided to run carefully.
My teory of «slow speed, no mistake» didn't work very well. In fact, when I started my race, my legs were a bit confused about the speed. After swimming and riding bike, running on the forest was pretty different and it was hard to find the «correct» speed. I always felt running very slow, so I was all the time pushing harder. Luckily I survived quite well with all the training of the previous months;) I still made some mistakes but I was fast enough to get the first place. Truly speaking I was surprised! And happy :)

1. Maria Sá COC (Barcelona) : 1:05:46
2. Ona Rafols COC (Barcelona) : 1:07:02
3. Esther Arias Enero P.GUARA (Huesca) : 1:16:34
4.Anna Serrallonga Arques GRIONS-GIR (Girona) :1:17:39
5. Alicia Gil Sanchez COLIVENC (Alicante) : 1:20:20

After some nice evening in Madrid, I felt really tired to run middle distance. In the other hand, running a bit slower seemed nice to avoid mistakes... yes, I felt tired, but I had the nice feeling of fighting all the time, against mistakes that could appear with my tiredness. In the end I was second,one minute and a half behind Ona Rafols.

1. Ona Rafols COC (Barcelona) : 31:22
2. Maria Sá COC (Barcelona) : 32:44
3. Alicia Gil Sanchez COLIVENC (Alicante): 37:07
4. Anna Serrallonga Arques GRIONS- GIR (Girona): 37:16
5. Esther Arias Enero P.GUARA (Huesca): 42:32

Article of Catalunya newspaper ;)

Working on...

My imune system is working on producing a big army for influenza virus that can appear easily on coming winter. Last tuesday I was vacinated for normal flu but unfortunately i've been suffering of unpleasant side effects like mialgias and asthenia...Boring! Hopefully I'll be protected for all winter for this kind of virus...we'll see!

My musculoskeletal system is working on recovery of my tendon and it seems to be working pretty hard :) yesterday I was on phisioterapeut and aparentely I'm cured of this small stress injury! Thanks God! But of course re-start running has to be slowly and carefully with a lot of stretching in end of training. Nutritional care seems to be really important too!!

Next weekend I'm flying to Madrid (Spain) to run national competition on nice spanish terrain. By the way it will be my first race with the catalunya colours! Next season I'll be running on COC (club orientacion de catalunya) colours in some spanish orienteering races. Tipical spanish pine forest and some stony areas are waitting for me, but of course I'll be there running carefuly because of my tendon, so it will be a great opportunity to run without mistakes :) I'll try;)

And finally my brain is also working on my final teses of my study. I'll make a review about the impact of gymnastics training on growth and maturation, nutritional behaviour and bone density of child gymnasts.

Also I've already started to learn the huge book «Harrison - Internal Medicine»... I think in the next 365 days it will be the «person» which i'll spent more time with:) I have to learn quite hard because november 2010 i'll have examnation wich will decides a big part of the direction of my future life as a doctor... so start slowly, life begining of running season, and then closer to the «competition» work harder ;)

Riding and swimming

All season went perfect when we talk about injuries...Unfortunately now, just in the end of season, i've got some stress injury on my left quadricipete tendon. Two years ago I had the same problem (a bit more serious) and now it seems to be back :( Last week was spent on the crazy ambience of the pediatrics emergency room where all child are forbiden to have a normal flu...all of them are suspected to have swine flu and so...the caos! My time for refresh brains on training didn't exist and only a few hours on phisioterapeut make me feel «on training».
Last weekend I started to swim and ride bike and today i'll make the experience to re-start running...i'm crossing my fingers for nice feelings :)