Riina Kuuselo: Autumn is approaching

After summer comes autumn. It's an inevitable fact, happens every year. But autumn is not just the end of the summer, it's also a new start. Schools start, works start, and autumn season starts. I like to see it as a fresh new start to something better.

After Kainuu I took a little break from orienteering and ambitious training. Instead I did everything else and enjoyed the summer the way normal people do: swimming, boating, cycling around archipelago, spending time at summer cottage, gardening, visiting friends and relatives, and sightseeing. How strange.

Anyway, the calf injury that had bothered me since March and destroyed more or less the whole season, was happy with the break too and started to co-operate again in the beginning of August. I gave it some hard time by running a half marathon and doing a 5h hike in Halden, much more than it could take, but after only some days’ recovery it was better again. Since then I’ve been smarter and not trained more than 60-90min in one go. I still don’t run daily and I’ve kept my weekly mileage low.

First week of August I spent in Halden. I could call it a WOC 2016 training camp because we did train hard in WOC 2016 relevant terrains but for me it was more spending the week in excellent company and having a wonderful time with good friends. Like mental recharging. Girls were in good shape and we pushed each other hard in intervals but outside trainings it was fun and relaxed. A lot of laugh, gossip, cakes, wine, chocolate, champagne, strawberries and candles. What else can you wish for?

After returning home from Halden I was full of energy and decided to start a project called SM (Svenska Mästerskapen), a 3-week build-up to the Swedish Championships. Three weeks may sound like a short time in terms of getting back in shape, but the least I could do was to fine-tune my technics so that I could do my best at my current shape. The plan was very simple: 1 hard O-training during the week and 2 relevant races on the weekend. I have to admit that without a good base these three weekends with two races in a row were quite tough and included a fair amount of suffering, especially on the second day. But I made clear progress during the process and at the end of it got decorated with two medals at our district champs (not going to mention Helena Jansson or Stockholm in this context). Anyway, now I’m happily at the end of that block and looking forward to some tapering before Finnish Championships in long distance (next weekend) and Swedish Championships in long, middle, and relay (week and two weeks later). It will be fun!

Summer in pictures below. Answers to my tweet are found in them.