Jan Kjellström International Festival of Orienteering, better
known as JK, is like a Christmas for British orienteers. It's the biggest
orienteering event in the island and everyone wants to be part of it. It's a
huge social happening comprising of three individual races and a relay.
Individual races are often also selection races for summer's international
events such as WOC and JWOC, so a good start field is guaranteed. It's always a
well-organized event with great atmosphere and good courses. In other words I
wouldn't miss it for the world. But this year I probably should have.
After months of struggle and compromises with an injury I
wasn't ready for a season start and it would have been wiser to go skiing to
the Alps or Northern Finland and continue with some basic training instead of
competing. I wanted to be ready but I wasn't. I had zero confidence in my
shape, which caused some extra stress and panic with orienteering. I didn't
have confidence to stay calm and do my thing but instead tried to hurry and save
the time that I would lose in fitness. It didn't work.
In sprint I got inferiority complex just by looking at my
contenders in their race vests and small shorts before the race. They looked so
professional and fit whereas I felt like an amateur in my long tights and
t-shirt (thank God I had taken off my long sleeve shirt just before entering
the start box!). I started humbly but to my surprise running felt actually okay
and I managed to do quite a decent run finishing 5th, less than 10 seconds from
the podium. I only got confused a few times on two subsequent legs (controls 10
& 11) where I lost some 20 seconds altogether but the rest of it went well. That's
the good news. As well as the fact that my foot didn't protest after the race.
That was really a brilliant piece of news!
Forest races on the other hand didn't go too well. Middle
distance was quite simple and seemingly easy but I wasn't really focused and
lost it several times just a few meters from the control site when not able to
see the flag. It happened 4-5 times and cost me about a half a minute or more each
time, so the outcome wasn't too good. In the long distance I started to run the
course backwards and won't try to explain why I did that. When I finally came
to correct first control I was clearly last and over three minutes behind.
After such a horrible start I knew I wasn't going to get any WRE points and took
it more like a good training. When dropping the pace a little it went smoother again and
I could really enjoy it. The following 24 controls went much better.
In the relay I had somewhat mixed feelings before the start.
I was glad to see Cat, Claire and Tess (all in top form & winners of the individual
races) on the first leg with me but on the other hand I had my doubts whether I
could keep up with them. But instead of even trying I messed up the first
control so that they were already long gone. Another mistake a few controls
later and the game was over. I felt sorry to let down my wonderful teammates
Julie and Sophie who both did a great job and brought us 4th at the end. If I
had done my job too we could have been on the podium. Now we need to wait
another year for that..
So it really didn't go as I had hoped for but it nonetheless
gave me a lot of hope because I see it like a new start. I could run painlessly
all four races and it looks like I can finally start with proper training again
without having to do compromises and think about my foot all the time. I've
been able to maintain some form of fitness by alternative training (and
occasional orienteering) but I need to do some proper running to feel fit and
strong again. Then it will be easier to run better.
Maps, results, routes and splits at the JK2013 website
