No one has ever said that’s easy

Right after WOC instead of deserved rest I went to ARDF Championships. After that was studying hard to be in time for the exam in the end of September. So, the exam passed, why not to go the WC Final? Two weeks before the competition after a lot of hesitations I decided to go. But that felt strange for me. I was hoping my shape would be OK somehow and I’ll be again “somehow” mentally prepared but I wasn’t sure about it at all. In a plane I was looking at the printed maps, but for me it seemed like I was not sure I want to run there, not sure I want to solve the course. I think that was emptiness, tiredness after the tough season.

I started to feel the warning signals of my body, such as some strange feeling of tension inside my right foot, some pain in back, something under the left knee (which I was struggling with during this spring). With such thoughts you can’t be a fighter.

When I was in quarantines, maybe I caught a bit of competition feeling, but that was too tough to stay focused during this weekend.

At least during this season I’ve realized I can be at the top, at least close to it. Even in my basic shape during the World Cup my speed was good enough for me. The problem was in the technical part, I was just somewhere far away mentally. That’s actually, can be seen at the picture below.

I don‘t really want to go into details of my races, but you are welcome to amuse yourself with my GPS and to see what you shouldn’t do in the forest 🙂 I hope I’ll learn this lesson too.

http://www.tulospalvelu.fi/gps/20161015_WCF_L_DE/?v=m3

http://www.tulospalvelu.fi/gps/20161016_WCF_S_DE/?v=m3

I think I have simply too much in my head and then it is hard to be fully focused on orienteering. Probably, I’ll solve it before the next training period. Even if I didn’t manage to do good in Aarau, I’ve learned some from it. If you want to be good in something you need to really love it, enjoy the whole process. In our case you need to be eager to take a map and start running.

I’ve proved myself one more time it’s not easy to do you work “just like that”, especially at the high level. You should be prepared, should be motivated, should be hungry for that.

Anyway, I was happy to be present there and to see me again among all this people, talk to some of them, to see smiling faces at the podium and be happy for their success.

I’m sure I’ll find motivation and I’ll be ready for the challenges during the next season.