Finland!!

Fin 5 was a really fun week of orienteering. I had 2 training's in the forest with a local before the first race. This was very helpful. I was suprised by how rocky the forest was. Maybe a bit like Australia. Broken rock on the ground made it hard to run. Navigation was not too bad as there were big hills and cliffs to use. I learnt the Finnish technique of going straight no matter what. (= This worked pretty well although I think I was still not as fast as it as the top girls. This requires confidence that just comes with experience. I came fifth overall for the week of racing in D20E.

I was lucky enough to get a start in the elite sprintrace. One of the best sprints ever. So many controls and a mixture of forest and town. There were a few tricky walls. I had a fairly clean run also so I was happy. Lost time on one leg (13-14) near the end when I had a plan but did not stick to it definately enough.

After Fin 5 I had a day in Helsinki to see the city. A quick visit to Suomenlina was interesting. A very historic fortress on an island in the harbour. I then had a few days staying with Petteri Mukkonnen in Kangasala. The terrain there was even trickier than Fin 5. We trained on the Ponsa map twice. It was much flatter and less definate features than around Lohja so you really need to use your compass. The forest was so nice for running though. Petteri made a contour only map for one training at Ponsa. I was okfor the first 3 controls on this map but once I was slightly off the bearing on a leg and it was very hard to relocate. Continued with the normal map. We also trained at a map on edge of Tampere city which was off depression terrain type. The terrain is definately quite heavy running so you get tired faster. I see now why you need to dointervals up an overgrown hillside.

I am now staying in Jyvaskyla for a few days with Hanna Raitenen. We will do a few trainings before heading to Oringen on Friday. We did a small sprint race today in the town of Multia. It was a ´typical´Finnish sprint race with lots of vegetation and not so many buildings. I lost 30sec getting stuck in some shrubs. I was 2nd junior girl.

It is Thursday now. I was about to go out for morning training on map behind Hannas apartment. However the sky got darker this morning and now there is a massive downpour and thunderstorm! Lightning too! crazy! Hopefully it clears up soon. The forest map is of a hilly area with many paths and a downhill ski jump.

I will take rest on Friday and maybe easy jog on Saturday to prepare for Oringen. It will be a tough week of long races (-: Very exciting