OLD NEWS >> July - August 2003

2003-08-26 I've just put online some pictures from the last week when my mom, dad, brother and his girlfriend Hanka came to Sweden to visit me.

2003-08-25 After 17 hours and 23 minutes on the course the team Gainomax Recovery which I competed for crossed the finish line of the adventure race City Challenge (C2) in Stockholm. We finished 7th - a place which the guys seemed to be quite happy with. The race was won by Swedish team Maybe followed by one of the best teams in the world - Finnish Nokia Adventure on the second place. C2 started with a fast and technical prolog in the centrum - (orienteering, rope activities and paddling), followed by a long night (MTB-orienteering, orienteering, inlines on Lidingö and long paddling from Lidingö to Hammarby where the competition centrum of the second day was situated). We started the second day after approximately 2 hours of resting and struggled through 6 remaining sections (MTB in Nacka natural reserve, paddling around and orienteering on Södermalm). We (or I) had some problems at the end of the night - we planned that I would be skipping the long paddling from Lidingö (calculated time was 2 hours) but Daniel got cramps and we decided that I would paddle instead of him. I haven't trained kayak-paddling so much and had problems to steer it without a rudder. But after some time we solved it by elastic rope connecting my and Fredrik's kayak. The toughest section for me was MTB in Nacka which was very technical, but the guys were helping me. I was feeling pretty well and fresh during the whole race even if I could skip only a few sections, perhaps having less rest than most of the girls in the other teams. In spite of the fact that C2 was probably the biggest race the team Gainomax Recovery has ever participated in, almost everything worked well and we had a nice atmosphere in the team. I could not help myself and had to laugh on the last orienteering section where Daniel got so thirsty that he stopped by one open-air restaurang at Södermalm and started to drink water from a jar standing on a table there, not really waiting what the surprised people sitting around the table would say about it. We were also crossing 2 cementaries, at both of them was a burial going on... I prefered not to look at the direction where all the guests were standing. I enjoyed the race a lot and was quite satisfied both with the result and my performance.
See the results, pictures and more on City Challenge's website.
Pictures and movies taken by my brother.

2003-08-22 This weekend I am going to compete in adventure racing. The plans were changed - I was supposed to be assistent for my team - Team Silva but a few days ago I was asked by Team Gainomax Recovery to compete with them because their "woman" got injured or sick and could not join them. So now I am getting ready for one of the bigest adventure races in Europe - City Challenge in Stockholm. The race starts on Friday 23/8 20:00 and the first team is supposed to reach the finish at 13:30 on Saturday 24/8. A fast and spectator - friendly race with many short sections (running/orienteering, MTB, kayak, rope activities, inlines) in the capital of Sweden. It is going to be exciting and I am looking forward a lot.

2003-08-17 An orienteering race again - the classic distance "Trampen" in Ludvika on Sunday 17/08. My legs felt heavy and I did some mistakes (totally about 6 minutes). I finished 7th. However, my motivation for orienteering must be a bit higher because I was interested in the split times and even tried to analyze my run after the race. I decided to participate in the Swedish champs in September. Quite good and varied traing this week despite some stomach problems. Check week 33.

2003-07-28 On Sunday (07/27) I participated in Swedish championship in inlines marathon (actually halfmarathon - 21km for women) in Mora. I think I was 6th (out of 7th) some 3 minutes after the best girl (my time was about 43:40). Again, it was very untactical performance - I was pulling a pack with two juniorgirls 2/3 of the course to be overtaken by them at the end. At least I beat the winner from last week. A great fun and a painful back afterwards. One guy from the skating federation came to me after the race and asked me to come to some more races. They must have a lack of girls.... Information about the race at the homepage of Swedish skating federation (in Swedish)

2003-07-26 July is a lazy month. After coming back from Norway my main activity has been laying on a beach (at various lakes around Borlänge), swimming and sunbathing. Of course, I have also done some training (see "Training").
The first 2 weeks of the month which I spent in Norway were fine. I was third at Midnattsolgaloppen but the result was not important for me. The goal was to enjoy orienteering and to train even at the days of the race (so I was not very fresh then). Very nice terrain the first 3 days. It is a pity that the organizers didn't manage to promote the race in a better way so that more orienteers would come to enjoy it.
I did also some climbing with top rope, teaching a few friends the basic techniques which I know from the adventure racing and work. Again I could realize that it is a great pleasure for me to teach others something I know. Unfortunately I injured my right knee during the climbing when I hit the knee against the rock while falling down maybe only one meter (although I was secured). It has affected my traing during the 3 following weeks. Also the hiking in Lofoten and at some other places was great and quite OK traing.
I drove about 3500km during the whole trip and I was quite worried that my 15-years-old-car wouldn't make it. But it did, except for a few small problems. I feel much more confident when it comes to driving now and do not think that it is visible that I have hade driving licence only for 3 months.
In the last two weeks I have been training at home, mostly inlines. Last week I participated in an inline race in Malung where I finished 3rd only a few seconds after the first 2 girls. I have to improve my technique in the curves (learning the step-over) and the skating in a pack. It was my 3rd inline race since I started 2 years ago. I I have to admit that I am more motivated to train inlines than orienteering now.
I try to relax during these summer weeks and gather some energy which I will need after the summer - for moving to a new place (Örebro), starting a new program at the Örebro university, struggling with the residence permit (again!) and searching for job. A peace before a storm comes (a Czech saying).

2003-06-29 I am leaving for a trip to Northern Norway to participate in 4-days-orienteering-race Midnattsolgaloppen and to run and climb in the mountanins.

2003-06-29 Back from the adventure race KFUM Multisport in Örebro 28/6. 2nd place in the mix class (with Jan Johansson) after 8hours&39minutes on the course. A disappointment - the goal was to win. The first secion was a pretty tough and wet MTB-course which made me realised that my biking skills are still on the beginner's level. It cost me a lot of energy and knocked down my self-confidence. We had also some problems with carrying the heavy canoe between lakes, trying various carrying systems and just losing more and more time. But then we managed to get into the race and started to catch up. We were chasing the leading mix team for last 5 hours, getting closer and closer, but finally we didn't make it. It could have been longer. I felt much better at the second half of the race.

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