Compass...for what?

Last weekend I went to a training camp in order to train to the National Middle and Sprint Champs that will be held in Santarem in 2 weeks. 7 trainings in 2 days: 2 middle distance, 4 city sprint courses and 1 rocky sprint course.

In the first middle distance (where we also did multi-techniques) I had some difficulty with the map (and I wasn't the only one). There were lots of elements that weren't represented in the map correctly. The map of the competition will probably be similar.

Sunday we did some sprint maps. I just leave here an option that arised some questions. What would you do (from 39 to 41)? Left or right?
Powered by WebRoute - WorldofO.com

I did my first sprint at full speed (10'50, 1.6k (125m) 15c)in one of the best portuguese city maps.




In the afternoon we did a memory course at an easy speed. In other words, we did the course without map, training simplification. I just had an hesitation to the 7th, once the control was hidden in a corner of an house's door.



After that we did a chasing start in this map without compass. Tiago Aires started 5seconds after me but punched the 1st control before me. We had different combinations in both loops and it ended being a fantastic training. I felt more self-confident than ever. I realized that I do more compass orienteering than what I should do, resulting in deviations. Next races I'll rely more in reading the terrain than being concentrated in the direction of the compass.. It was an huge difference!




Once again, I'm really grateful to Bruno Nazário who organized the fantastic weekend's trainings and to Ori-Estarreja the host club.
Tomorrow I'll travel to Algarve in a Faculty's trip. I hope that I'll be able to train there properly.

I just leave here an interesting video that I found at the Internet. Is it possible to beat this Runner's Factory?

Training at Regional race...

Today I went to Sertã to a regional race in order to do some training with map.

4,9k (195m)18c, 29'02 - It was an easy map technically. I just had some hesitations to the 6th, in the valley with the greens. Me and some guys did the juniors course after, doing more 5k.



Physically, I'm feeling really well right now. Friday I did a long intervaled training under intense rain, with times that satisfied me and without suffering much. The track season is starting and I hope that I'll be able to do some PB's this year. In two weeks, there'll be the middle and sprint national O'Champs... We'll see...

Now is 10mila time, and today the plans for the evening are already made: listening to the 10mila radio and chat at WoO while working on a clinical history at the PC =)

32'04 at 10k at Easter's GP

Today I went to Constância's Easter GP. A Total of 10k: 5k + a return of 5k after a 180º turn.


I started in the front but the pace was really really slow. We passed the 1st km at 3'20. Nobody wanted to take the lead alone through the adverse wind. The pace was slow in the first 5k and I was expecting that everybody would bet in the return, after the 180ºturn so I tried to be in a good place in the turn. And so was it... 500m after the turn there was only me and other 2 athletes. The 1st one went away gradually. I ended with the 2nd in a last km of 3'02. I was 3rd overall and won a nice crystal cup =)



The strategy was not the best. I'm better in maintaining a constant rythm since the beginning. Maybe if I went away in the 1st km I could have won but I didn't have the balls to do it. Maybe in a next time... In the end, 32'04 with the first 5k at that pace, wasn't bad at all... and it was a nice morning with all the orienteerers that went to the race too...

You may find the results (SEN M) here

Training camp with Alexander Shirinian

From 4th to 7th of April I was in the training camp of the portuguese team with Alexander Shirinian and Bruno Nazário.

We did lots of trainings like Anticipation, Downhill, multi-techniques, night-O, chasing starts... I really enjoyed being back to the O-life.. I post here the main sessions...

Multi-techniques (slow pace)- It's evident the gross deviation in the azimut part


4x downhill ~=1k with previous uphill fatigue ~=500m - surprinsingly I did it well without major mistakes. I always thought that I was better in longer distances.


Chasing start, 7,9k, 32c - I started 1st (the order was made from the downhill session) but I was soon caught by the others who started less than 30sec after. It was an emotive race, with some mistakes. I enjoyed it a lot!


I ended concluding that I need to develop my compass technique. I realized that in many occasions I am reading the terrain and then, when there are no elements to read I just go away from the route (like in the example below).I do many unecessary deviations (mainly in the night session).


During these days I observed that my O-technique got better during the camp. I just need to have more and more Map sessions... some work to the future...


After that I went to Serra da Estrela, the highest portuguese mountains and did there some nice running session, this one with 1h10 and 700m vertical climbing. However I've been a bit worried with my asthma that has prevented me from giving my maximum lately. It's always the same in the Spring with its pollens.

National Long Distance and Relay Championships

DAY1, Long distance, 11,5k, (535m) - Even if I took all my asthma medication properly, there was something in the air that didn't let me breathe well. I started loosing time to my rivals since the beginning. It was painful to run the race and in the end it took some time to recover my normal breathing. I was really disappointed in the end with all my previous months of trainings being unnefective due to this situation. 2 years ago, a similar thing happened to me: I ended a race with my knees like handball balls due to an allergic reaction. Another big mistake to the 18th and a doubtful option in the long leg (the uphill greens are more closed that what is in the map).



You may draw your option in the long leg below...

Powered by WebRoute - WorldofO.com

DAY 2, Relay, 5,1k, (210m) - The combinatioon of my first controls were different than the other best athletes. I stayed behind the pack and did the first 5 controls alone. Surprisingly I realized in the path to the 6th that I was in the lead and that the pack had done some mistakes in the previous controls. More different combinations than the pack and some lack of self-confidence and in the long path to the 12th I saw the pack 400m ahead. I tried to run fast and punched the 12th with the pack. I punched the spectator control with Joaquim Sousa, in the lead. In the last controls there were many controls in the area that made me loose some time. I ended 2nd, just a few seconds after Marco Póvoa. My teammates did a regular race and we ended 3rd overall.
(the map below is from Jorge and my controls are drawn with red circles)



Below there are some photos of the weekend. With this national champs we earned some portuguese high quality maps to train. You may find more photos at the O'galleries section.

You know you're an orienteerer when...

Found this in a Facebook group. I don't know who is the author but is simply genial!

YOU KNOW YOU'RE AN ORIENTEERER WHEN...

(1) Your compass is one of your most prized possessions

(2) You optimize your route choices to and from the supermarket

(3) You orient a street map of your town to the magnetic north, even
if it means all the street names are upside down

(4) You think there's nothing wrong with wearing clothes made up of 6 different colours

(5) You always have at least one O-map in the toilet

(6) You are always obliged to explain to your friend what orienteering is

(7) You consider taping the shoelaces on your dress shoes

(8) You hang a control point up to your driving mirror

(9) You are the first to go to sleep during a party because you must be awakened sunday early in the morning

(10) You can recite your Sport Ident/E-card number from memory, but often have trouble remembering your phone number

(11) You contemplate moving to Sweden

(12) All of your white socks are no longer white or you buy grey or black socks so the dirt doesn’t show

(13) OCAD is the only software graphics package you know how to use, so you do everything with it

(14) If you’re a Mac’user, you've kept that old Windows PC, but only for running all the orienteering software that only runs on Windows (eg OCAD, Catching Features)

(15) You think nothing of driving for 16 hours in order to
run around in a strange place for 90 minutes.

(16) When your friends no longer think you're insane, and you have even managed to convince one or two to go hiking out back and swim in the muddy swamp with you

(17) You spend a lot of your time surfing random orienteering websites

(18) When your kids think it's normal to find Xmas presents by using OCAD maps of the interior of your house

(19) Your child can read the IOF symbols before they can read the "beginner" clue sheets

(20) There is a bag on the floor you have yet to fully unpack from your most recent orienteering trip

(21) While driving, you never actually get lost, you just make "x min mistakes".

(22) When you get lost on the way to someone's house, they tease you about it for being an orienteer, and you protest that you didn't have a map

(23) You are amazed to think that someone might NOT enjoy running around alone off-trail in the woods, possibly in the dark

(24) You complain about people who park their huge mobile homes between two trees and announce they are "camping."

(25) You read all of the above and find it funny, not disturbing

(26) You are able to speak 2 hours about route choices of a 1 hour race.

(27) You get so pissed off about a race you did you swear never to orienteer again, and then turn around and do another O race the next weekend, loving every minute of it!!

(28) You look at the countryside around you and analyze whether it would make a good orienteering map.

(29) My 2 year old drew triangles on tiles in the bathroom.

(30) You constantly have to tell people you haven´t been in knife fight, got scratched by a cat or had wild sex last weekend.... you were orienteering.

(31) You use the word re-entrant instead of valley, and everybody gives you a funny look.

(32) You think nothing of dropping 400 bucks on a new headlamp.

(33) You own more than one compass.

(34) You teach Orienteering as part of your phys ed curriculum and your students think you're insane.

and João Valente from my club added

35) When somebody asks you your age and you answer M-35...

Weekend's training camp

This weekend I participated in the COC/Ori-Estarreja training camp in S.Pedro do sul/Gafanhas, in order to train in similar terrains to the next weekend's National championships.

Saturday morning, 6xshort loops - I did some hesitations in the first loops that costed me some time. I usually do this kind of mistakes in the 1st controls of 1st competition days.

Saturday afternoon, 5k course - In a rocky terrain where the progression was really difficult. It was a chasing start. There was Macro-o (I missed the 16th) and loops. In the 11th control we had to flip the map over. I was expecting worst, once I have some difficulty in these maps (I'm not able to run fast in this rocky terrains and I have to develop my "rocky O'technique"). I usually train on the road or track. I really need more off-road trainings in hilly or rocky terrains in order to develop this kind of running technique.


Saturday evening - We trained anticipation in a sprint course. While running to a control we had to memorize the next one.

Sunday morning 7x ~=1,5k loops - Really nice training. We did each loop with a mass start (2 or 3 at a time) with forking and different controls. In the end, 12,5k in a fast pace. I analysed the pace graphs and the goal for the next weeks is to minimize the red bar, tryingto go at a slower pace without those hesitations (I'm not referring to the next graph where the red bar is control punching).


I'm really thankful to Bruno Nazário who organized this weekend trainings and also who invited me and to Ana Oliveira's family with whom I stayed with.

Conclusion of the rocky terrains - Start slow and navigate precisely (it isn't possible to run really fast). Don't attack a control without knowing the element of the control and without a consistent route attack.

Ori-Alentejo Trophy

Today I went to Arraiolos to participate in the 3rd OriAlentejo Trophy and to train the rest of the day there.

Competition, 5,9k (195m) 48'08 - I did a good start in the fast area. I entered well the closed area. It was really difficult to run in the greens and the visibility was reduced. After the 2nd spectator control (11th to 12th) I caught another athlete, didn't attack the control to the left and ended in the greens. To the 18th, huge mistake! It's unforgivable. I was with the athlete that I had caught previously and ran faster than I should in the open area and passed next to it. Even if I won the race I was disappointed with my course.

Afternoon, 3,4k, 23'59 - We went to Sabugueiro to train in a mixed map. We went in a normal pace because of some tiredness. There were still some controls in the terrain. Even in a slower pace I ended doing some mistakes.

After it we went to Évora to do this 6,4k (210m) course. It's the "electric course" once its fences are electrized because of the cows. If you touch them you'll feel them hard! =) There were some controls in the terrain too. We did a mass start once there were different combinations (this is Jorge's map so there are some controls that don't match). We went together in some controls. The greens have lots of paths that aren't marked.

I really need to develop my O'technique fast. I still do some unforgivable mistakes and some unecessary distractions. I've already fixed my errorsat start. No running without map! (once again I did an huge mistake because of it). This week I'll start the 2nd semester at University. Next weekend, training camp again. We'll see..

Some days off...

This week was University-free! Just training and skiing all day in Spain. I was really needing this days off. I've made there some nice running sessions with huge accumulated elevations. In the end of the days I was totally broken.

Last week I also had a meeting with Lurdes Silva, the portuguese sales manager of the brand Silva. I'm now sponsored by Silva and will be using its headlamps in the next seasons.


Last week I also bought a Garmin 405. What a training tool! With this km pacer, the problem is being able to run slow... The other sensational characteristic is that it writes my training diary automatically - I only need to be in a 5m range of my PC. I've tried twice to do a proper training diary without success (I'm too lazy)... I hope that this time I'll be able to do a proper one... and I can't wait to start analyzing my O'courses with it!


This weekend, the Ori-Alentejo Trophy, 1 intervaled training and some O'trainings.

Regional cross-country vice-champion

Today I went to the Regional cross-country championships. 4km, 11'46. I was not really enthusiasted with this race. I was a bit disappointed with the last friday's 2x3000 intervaled training and my intention in this race was to develop rythm in a faster training.


Today, without exams in my mind I started with the pack. The 1st 1k lap was really, really fast with a team attack breaking the group. The 2nd 1,5k lap was slower and in the end of it, there were only 3 athletes (including me) in the pack. In the last 1,5k lap there were some minor attacks but we ended the race with an enthusiastic final sprint. In the beginning of the last 100m I was 3rd but was able to pass the 2nd one in the last 2 meters (photo below, there's only my shadow). I ended being 2nd overall and the best sub-23. I loved the race, didn't suffer much and was happy in the ending. Now I have a motivation boost to work in order to get better in the next months. Next week it'll be holiday with a lot of trainings and orienteering programmed.