Running through the pain

A week ago I was feeling great and looking forward to 3 Days of Trenches, that is a couple of WRE races in WOC relevant terrains in Asiago. Middle and long WREs were also our selection races for WOC (along with the World Cup). I had a good month behind me. After some hard racing in April I had taken a month off from competing and focused entirely on training. May was a good month filled with high mileage, lots of orienteering, numerous controls, high quality sessions, hard workouts, race pace orienteering, and lots of hills. I had put in hours of training but was still feeling relatively fresh and recovered before the weekend in Asiago. I had been there on a training camp just a few weeks before and I had a good picture what to wait from the races. 

So, everything was looking good - until the moment I got there. Flight went okay, car hire went smoother than last time and even the drive went an hour or so faster than last time. But when I got out of the car in Asiago, my back was locked. I could barely walk and couldn’t bend it at all. It was totally jammed, something I’ve never experienced before. I’ve had some minor problems with my lower back before but nothing like this. Before the travel it was all fine but something mysterious had happened during the travel. Noidannuoli. That’s what they call it in Finnish. I went to orienteer with the others and thought that I could just run and shake it off. Didn’t happen. I couldn’t run, no chance. Even stretching was impossible. My most important races before the WOC and it looked like I wouldn’t be able to run. 

I had one day to get my back in order before the first race. So instead of doing a model event, drills and strides (my usual pre-race routine before important events) I just drove around Asiago in panic trying to find a masseur (unfortunately we didn’t have a masseur with us now that I really would have needed one). But I was lucky, there was a spa hotel near by that offered some beauty treatments. No word of sports massage, so I was pretty sceptical when I went there.. But I asked for a hard treatment and, to my surprise, I got one. It was much better than I had thought and after the treatment and spa I was actually able to stretch and bend my back a little. In the evening I felt already optimistic about running the races but next morning it was again the same that it had been before the massage. Oh dear.

I had promised to give Minna a lift to the event, so I drove her there. I picked up my number and walked around the event centre but when I tried to put my O shoes on I couldn’t  bend my back so that I could have tied the laces. Minna offered to help and I got my shoes tied. It felt ridiculous. I was totally handicapped and going to race. I wasn’t sure whether I could run or not, but took a painkiller and hoped for the best.. My back was very stiff when I started my race and I doubted whether I could run with it. I could jog but not really push very hard. Fortunately the middle distance course was quite technical and I could focus on orienteering instead of running. It was nice terrain and a good course, and I really loved the technical part of it. My navigation was good, only a few small wobbles, and I finished 4th among the Finns, and 6th overall. Considering the circumstances and the strong start field, I was quite pleased. I couldn’t have done much better. Results

I had hoped that running the middle would open my back and I could run better on the long in the following day. But no, it didn’t happen. It was the same. I felt defeated already before the start. I knew that long would be more physical than the middle and I needed to get my back sorted in order to run. Minna was a big help once again. She gave me some hot/cold gel that should ease the pain in muscles and joints. I put some of that before the race and was able to warm up. Terrain was once again terrific, as well as the course, so all ingredients for a great experience. But for me it was just running through the pain. 

I started slowly and controlled, taking the first few controls without problems. After shaking off the worst excitement and getting into nice rhythm I forgot to pay attention to the details when approaching the third control. I was a bit off from the red line and made a small mistake to the control. I lost a minute but kept myself calm. Only a small wobble, nothing to worry about. Next few controls I took nice and easy but then another mistake on number 6. 50m before the control I knew exactly where I was but then somehow I managed to pass the control by a few meters, failing to see it. I realised that I had come too far down and turned back. And passed it again. I was circling in the circle without spotting it. 1,5min. Now I’m getting a bit worried…Next leg (7) is a climb up along a path. It should be my leg, I’ve learned to love climbs. But my back is holding me back and I can’t push as hard as I want to. I try to focus on orienteering and forget the pain...Leg 8 is downhill. Running downhill is easier and I get into nice rhythm again. Rest of the course goes fine but I lose some time on route choices as I try to spare my back and avoid steep climbs. I go around more than necessary. Especially to number 10 I lose a lot by running around and doubling the distance. In contrast, to number 12 it’s good to round it a bit from the right, taking a gentler climb. I finish again 6th, and 4th Finn. Not bad but not really what I wanted. I know I could have done better. There is still a lot to learn and take home from my run. I’m angry to myself for the mistakes I made but on the other hand quite proud how I fought it through with a locked up back. Now it’s done and I can only wait and see whether it was good enough…

Results, splits, maps and everything here

And yeah, there is still one more race to win before the final selections: World Cup in Kongsberg

And my back? I’m working on it!

Un espresso, grazie!

Just a few days ago I came home from another great training camp in Italian Dolomites seasoned with home-made pasta and a good cup of coffee. I made my first visit there already in 2004 when I ran the Italian 6 Days (which was actually 3 days in Austria and 3 days in Italy back then). Ever since then I've had warm feelings towards northern Italy. Views, mountains, food, wine, coffee, ice cream...everything! It was definitively love at first sight for me. When I later found out that WOC 2014 would be arranged in the very same area it wasn't hard to find motivation to train for that. Last autumn I spent a week there training with the Finnish Team and couldn't wait to get back.

As you can read from my previous blog there was some tiredness in the air before the training camp and I wasn't feeling as perky and recovered as I wanted to. But as soon as we arrived in Asiago I forgot my tiredness, flu, allergy, borreliosis, and the rest of the problems. I just loved the to be there, able to train in those magnificent surroundings together with the national team. It was such a luxury in so many ways compared to my DIY training camps. Initially I was going there for an own training camp with a friend but at the last minute we were able to sneak in to this ready-made training camp, which made everything easier and enabled us to train more and better.

We stayed first in Asiago, training in the middle distance and relay terrain type, before moving to Lavarone, where we could focus on the long distance. The whole set-up was very good  (some of the trainings attracted even some random World Champions to take part) and I was happy that I could do most of the trainings as planned. Some of the harder sessions I had to shorten or split into parts but otherwise I was able to follow the plan. Unfortunately some terrains in Lavarone area were still covered with snow and therefore we had to improvise a bit. But not too much. All in all it was very good and I think I've got a good picture what to wait from the WOC terrains and how to prepare for it. But first, in two weeks, I need to convince the selectors that I can master those terrains. The whole Finnish Team will run the 3 Days of Trenches as selection races. I hope to find my lost flow and fitness before that. Exciting times...

Some pics from the training camp - just to make you jealous :)

Morning run, Lavarone

Minna and dandelions, Asiago

Views from Forte Belvedere 

Lavarone village

Indications of mountain sickness?

Poppies!

Duomo and the sky, Milan

Perfect gloves for Pyrintö chicks

Window shopping in Milan

Roller coaster of emotions

It seems that we have a tendency to create a bit drama when it comes to big relays like Venla or 10mila. Sometimes it's about surprising everyone by winning the relay with an unknown team, sometimes it's about getting disqualified when alone in the lead with a wrong map, sometimes it's about losing it all on the second last control, and sometimes it's about losing it before it even starts by losing 40% of your team (no they didn't die, they just had some health-related issues). Been through it all and I prefer the first scenario.

However, in this year's 10mila the last scenario hit us. Three of us had already arrived in Eksjö for the relay when we heard that two of our best runners had opted out in the last minute. It was Friday, the day before the relay, so there wasn't much to do. All we could do was to transfer two runners from the second team to the first team, two from the third team to the second team, and two from the fourth team to the third team, and for forth team...well, we told them to sell those two remaining legs for the highest bid. I'm not sure how it ended.

Anyway, the news wasn't too cheerful and the first reaction was...erm...maybe it's better not to write it out. Anyway we were more or less f..cked. Not that we didn't have good reserves but the thing was that we had also lost our last leg runner and none of us wanted to run that.  We had all had some problems in the preceding weeks and no one wanted an extra challenge. We were happy with the given legs. Period. Martina had prepared only for the first leg for some time, so she was untouchable. And Sonja and Heidi, reserves who got upgraded into the first team, got automatically legs 2 and 3. This meant that Saila and I had to play rock paper scissors for a few hours before I finally gave up and agreed to run the last leg. Saila's last desperate move was to point out the fact that I had done a couple of strides after the training we had done whereas she had felt too tired for that.  So it was settled. Argh I should have skipped those strides..

When we had finally agreed on the running orders in all our teams we had whole 15 minutes time to register them. There was some excitement that we would miss it but our confident coach Janne got it all arranged in time. After that we could relax a bit and start to adjust to the new situation. After some pep talk, map geeking and discussing tactics we felt slightly better and there was a nice atmosphere within the group. This unfortunate course of events brought us closer together and we realized that we could not change the situation but we could try to make the best of it. We didn't have a winning team anymore but we could try our best and maybe make it to top 15 if lucky.

Martina ran the first leg. She did very well but made one parallel mistake where she lost the front group. At the first changeover we were 37th, 4:05 behind. Sonja continued the good work on the second leg and sent Heidi out as 31st, 6:29 behind the lead. Heidi had the legs to hang on to anyone but unfortunately there was no one to follow and she had to orienteer on her own in no man's land. Still she managed to pick up 9 positions and came in 22nd, 7:28 behind. Saila ran very well and lifted us up to 15th place, 10:09 behind the lead. But again, there was a big empty gap in front of us and no realistic chances to catch anyone on the last leg. I was partly relieved because I was still pretty tired and not feeling 100%. I thought I could just enjoy it, without having to push 110%.

So I took all the time I needed to get up the first climb and then slowly accelerated into a nice comfortable rhythm. After 5 controls Lena caught up with me and it was time for goodbyes to my just-having-a-good-time pace. But my body fought against it and allowed me to use only 4 gears. I kept seeing Lena but couldn't really keep up with her. No 5th gear today. In the turning point of the course I made a mistake in the green (control 11) but to my surprise met with Lena again. Also Irina Nyberg from Hellas joined us there. We ran more or less together up to the spectator control, taking slightly different routes and losing sight to each other once in a while but meeting again at the controls.

I thought we had a small gap to Irina just before the spectator control but she must have been there all the time. For me it was just the usual battle between Pyrintö and Domnarvet, as so many times before. From the spectator control I took a different route choice and was a few meters ahead of Lena on the next control. On the second last it was less than that. From there we raced neck and neck towards the last control but then Lena took a shortcut across the terrain whereas I ran directly to the fence. I got a small gap and the rest is history. But I was so focused just beating Domnarvet that I had forgotten Hellas and didn't see Irina coming in the climb just before the last control. Suddenly she just flew past before I noticed. Still, I was more than happy to bring us home 14th. Big thanks to everyone involved! 

Maps and GPS-tracking

Results

Me praying for an extra gear (Photo: Jonas Birgerson)

Happy team getting through with it with a big smile (Photo: Halokeeni Magazine)

Back in Sweden!

A week after EOC we moved to Sweden, somewhere between Trelleborg and Karesuando, to quote a friend. Or between Stockholm and Uppsala to be a bit more specific. Initially we wanted to have a villa with a lake view in Sigtuna but unfortunately our dream house wasn't available. Instead we had to settle for an old mansion (herrgård) in beautiful rural landscape just a few miles from the busiest airport in Scandinavia. Contrasts are huge sometimes. Once again we are happily surrounded by sheep, cows and horses - and we feel like home. It's just temporary but it's really lovely.  

View from the bathroom

We always try to get close to these big metropolises (such as Stockholm, Birmingham and Tampere) but somehow we still end up living in the countryside. There is this strange connection between us and the cows: we never get rid of them. It all started some years ago when we lived for a while in Aitoo (a lovely tiny village some 50km from Tampere in the middle of nowhere with a few hundred inhabitants) in perfect harmony with cows and sheep. After that we have of lost our street credibility as urban citizens for good and seem to carry this piece of countryside within us (meissä jokaisessa asuu pieni lehmä..). 

Stalkers that we can't get rid off

I summed up the time in UK a while ago in another blog text but it wasn't before the last week when it really struck me. This is it, I'm not coming back. I ran my last long run in tears thinking about all the things I was going to miss. I had really learned to love England with its quirks and left part of my heart in the footpaths of Warwickshire. Luckily Sweden has delivered too and made the adaptation easy. It's almost like Finland and has offered everything that I've missed these years. First days I just spent in delight eating all Finnish/Scandinavian food that you cannot get elsewhere in the world. Best of all, you can even get Fazer's freshly baked rye bread in Sweden! Then I realized how much weight I would gain with my nonstop eating and refocused my attention to the gorgeous nature and forests around instead of ICA Maxi shelves. 

Heavenly good

Just a few days after the removal, still somewhat tired from the European Champs and the removal itself, I rented a car and drove to Skåne to explore Sweden and have a go in the Silva League for the very first time. The distance didn't look too bad on the map but it was a long drive there. I had clearly forgotten the size of Sweden.. On the way there I stopped in Eksjö to see how Tiomila training terrain looked like. It looked very nice but I was so tired that all I could do was just to walk around there. On the following morning I was feeling even more tired and had a bit of sore throat and running nose. I was hesitant whether to drive another 200km to the event that I most probably would need to quit anyway. But I decided that it was just allergy and went for it. 

Vitsippor överallt!

The race itself was much tougher than I had expected and in kind of terrain where you need to feel strong and push hard to do well. My hopes of challenging orienteering and less physical race proved false. I started well but felt tired right from the beginning. Early on the course there were some thickets that literally took all out of me and I kind of gave up. I managed to keep a decent pace in the nice parts of the course but I was too tired to push through the rougher areas and it's there you make a difference. I was thinking about retiring but then I caught up with Galina, which gave me some hope and I decided to continue. I felt tired but did pretty well up to the butterflies. Then I started to lose my concentration and did a small mistake to number 15. Rest of the short legs went fine but on the way back to number 20 I was just focusing on the route choice to 22 and forgot that there was one short leg in between. By the time I realized skipping over 21 there was a long climb back to the control and I hesitated whether to bother at all.. I went back but lost quite a lot of time there. After such a stupid mistake I found it hard to focus again and made small mistakes on the next two controls. So it was a long and hard way home from the butterflies but I didn't retire and got rewarded with a respectable 10th place in my Silva League premiere. Not too bad considering the start field. Indeed I was happily surprised that my bad day was so good!

Results

GPS tracking in 2DRerun 

Spriiiing!

This week I've taken it easy but still enjoyed having all these forests around me. I hope that I've managed to recharge my batteries and will be ready for 10mila on Saturday. We have four awesome teams and I hope we can challenge the other top teams. It will be exciting. Stay tuned! 

10mila online & live streaming

Too much too soon?

It's been a busy month and I've barely had time to absorb everything that has happened. After things started to roll, they've rolled really fast. I've just enjoyed the flow and at some point I lost the grip from reality while trying to reach for the sky. Ever since I started to run again (less than two months ago), everything has gone dancing forward so fast and smoothly that I believed to be a superwoman who would never get tired. But I wasn't. After some serious hammering I finally met with the wall. But let's back up a bit to the World Cup in Spain where I reached my personal best World Cup result.

So after good runs in the Danish Spring I got selected to run World Cup in Spain. When I got the call I had no idea where, when and in what kind of terrain it would be. Initially it wasn't in my calendar and I hadn't thought of running there because it was so close to the European Champs. But now that I wasn't in the EOC team, I had nothing to lose, and I was thrilled to get there. Then, just a few days before going there, Minna announced that she wouldn't run EOC because of her injuries and it opened up a new possibility to get into the team. Message was clear: do a good run and you might have a chance to get Minna's place in the team. Suddenly I was very motivated to run well.

The overlong long distance race on the hills of Murcia under the hot Spanish sun was one of the best and most challenging international long distance races that I've ever run. As hard as it felt while running, I really loved it. I could have taken a few more drink stations on the way and a few extra gels, but still, it was quite amazing race. I cannot describe the feeling when I opened the map and saw the first leg. After some consideration I rejected all winding route choices and went straight. I lost quite a bit of time by doing so, but managed to keep my head cool, hold my orienteering together and push hard until the end. As a prize I got my first ever top6 position at World Cup, and a reserve place to EOC as a bonus. Results

a masterpiece of a course

On the following day I was still too exhausted to race and I probably should have skipped the middle distance, especially if I wanted to recover in time for the European Champs. But once you're selected to run for your country, you're supposed to run.

After Spain I got back home for one day before traveling again to Portugal. And in the next morning I was already running the middle distance qualification race at EOC. My head wasn't really there and I felt a bit stressed but qualified safely anyway. In the long qualification I felt already better and did a good run except a leg where I got badly stuck in some brambles. But I saw from the splits that my speed was good and I felt fairly confident before the finals.

In the middle distance final I had a good run except two controls where I lost a bit over a minute all in all. Not bad but too much on such an easy course. I was 18th but only 30sec behind the 10th place, so it wasn't that bad. Just awfully many girls within that half a minute. "I can do better on the long" I thought. Results

I had a good feeling before the long distance final but once I had started to run I noticed quite early that the springy legs I had had before were gone and my running felt slow and ineffective. I tried to tell my legs to go faster but they wouldn't listen. I did technically a very good performance but physically I was really struggling. Because of the tired legs I used paths more than necessary and lost therefore even more on the long legs 6-7 and 11-12 because the straight route was always the fastest. I did my best on that day, but still, 19th place felt disappointing in the light of my previous long distance performances in Spain and Denmark. On the other hand, just making it to the team was an achievement for me so soon after the injury. Considering where I was two months ago, I guess I should be happy with my two top20 positions. Or as my aunt put it: you did pretty well in the disabled class. Results

It's easy to be smart afterwards but it was indeed a pretty tough combination to run both middle and long at EOC. None of the women who did this combination celebrated on the long distance. Signe Soes, who won the middle on the day before, was the best of us with her 6th place in the long final. Even fewer athletes ran first the World Cup events (long + middle) in Spain in the preceding week and then the same combo with qualification races at the Europeans. A few of the very best tried that, but even they failed. So it's no wonder that I failed. Take home message from the European Champs is clear: focus only on your main target and forget everything else. Don't be greedy!

One more thing. After all negative feedback, big thanks to the EOC organizers trying to solve everything the best way even if there was more hassle than usually. Especially pulling off two new long distance courses overnight and getting it all right was impressive. Finals were fair and the best athletes won.

All results, maps and tracking from EOC here

Season opening

Initially Danish Spring was supposed to be my season opening and I was quite excited about it. To be honest I took a bit of head start already in Portugal a few weeks earlier but it was still part of my recovery and I wasn't really racing there, well at least not before the last day... In contrast, Danish Spring was all about racing. I had told everyone so. I had even told our head coach in the Finnish team (when informing him about my pelvic fracture months ago) that if everything went well I would start my season in the Danish Spring and try to do well there. This of course meant that I suddenly had enormous pressure to perform!

I didn't have a clear execution plan before the middle distance but thought that it would be eyeballs-out-type mad racing. Everyone knew that it was going to be fast but no one seemed to care about the technical challenge. It turned out to be fast but at the same time quite technical with short legs, sharp turns and well-hidden controls. I was lacking confidence in my speed and felt that I needed to run a bit overspeed if I wanted to keep up with the other girls. This meant that I was a bit in a rush most of the time and wasted quite a lot of time and energy in unnecessities. But I am proud that I managed to hold it together even if I lost 15 seconds here and there. Some small errors, slight overshootings and hesitation but no major mistakes and as a whole a decent performance and a respectable 8th place. A result that gave me confidence for the long distance.  

Next morning I felt much more confidant before the start because I didn't need to worry about my speed anymore. I knew it was good enough and it would be all down to technical performance. Still, a few minutes before the start I was again very nervous and had butterflies in my stomach. But in a good way I guess. I didn't get the first control quite as beautifully as I wanted to but after that it started to roll. It was important to get the short legs in the beginning right and after that I accelerated and enjoyed the flow. I enjoyed all about it: the course, the terrain, and the feeling to push hard. At the end I was quite exhausted (the way you should be after a good race) and had some difficulties with the second last (contours getting more and more vague and amorphous in my eyes) but apart from that my run was near to perfect and I was very happy with it. My smile got even wider a while later when I realized that I had beaten everyone except Maja and Eva. Another hard-to-believe result after the injury!

Last but not least, I want to thank people around me (friends and rivals) for support and patting on the shoulder! I had some pretty hard winter months and it was great to see fellow competitors being genuinely happy for me for my comeback (I guess we've all been there and know how cruel life can be sometimes...). Sappy or not, I'm touched by the fact how supportive our competitive society is!

Interviews with the top3 women right after the race here

All results, maps and tracking here

Secret weapon of my preparation: searching toughness from the north!

P.S. There are many ways to the top. Those lazy athletes relaxing on a parking slot in my previous blog represent the very best athletes of their countries and you will find them all running European Champs. Go Lillomarka!

P.P.S. My good results were indeed noticed(!) and I got selected to run World Cup in Spain!! It's not EOC but it's still great!! :D 

Strålende Treningssamling

As soon as I got the result from the second scan I headed to Portugal. Sacrum had healed well and I got permission to start to run again, gently and cautiously with care. Doctor told me that I should still avoid contact sports and anything where I might hurt myself. I wasn't really sure whether orienteering counted as a contact sport or not but thought that it should be alright as far as I didn't fall or hit myself. Easier said than done.

I was offered to join training camps of Lillomarka OL, Halden SK, and Team Finland. Obviously I chose Lillomarka. First days we spent in EOC relevant terrains around Coruche before moving up to Viseu.

Lovely Lucy and sunny Sao Bartolomeu do Outeiro

I knew only a few from Lillomarka before the training camp but they were a wonderful bunch of fun and extremely friendly people and a fresh mixture of different nationalities. Most of them were Norwegians but spoke so good English that I got confused which of them were really Norwegians. I also tried my best in Norwegian language and they did their best to destroy my Finnish (by repeating a stupid Finnish word that sounds awful in English). Despite that, they were really awesome and I can't remember when I last had such a good time or laughed so much on a training camp. So thank you all!!

Lillomarka style sprint preparation

I must admit that I had my doubts when I travelled there with my inflatable round cushion and other special equipments for disabled and had my restrictions to drive or sit in a car. What would they think of me? Would they make fun of me? Luckily, they barely noticed my disability and I was treated like one of them. They even waited patiently for me after each training as I walked around courses, spending twice as much time as the others. Not a word of annoy. They just had this wonderful we-are-here-to-train attitude, which meant that everyone had right to train as much (or in my case long) as they wanted.

Lillomarka style strength training

Social nights with different games were a big hit but I'm not sure whether it is appropriate to write too much about them.. More details about the Lillomarka training camp with maps and pics by Ingvild Wang (in Norwegian) here and by Helen Palmer (in proper English) here.

After a week it was time for goodbyes and I was almost in tears when they left me. Nothing to do with the fact that I was dropped in the middle of nowhere with no good plan what to do next. I hugged a guy next to me so hard that I was afraid of breaking his bones. Sorry Helmut, I hope you're okay!

But no worries, my dear club mates Lotta and Tytti were already on their way to rescue me from the threatening outskirts of Coimbra. I had barely finished my espresso when they already wheeled their sporty Nissan in front of the cafe where I was sitting. Next four days I spent in Figueira da Foz together with my very best club mates Lotta, Tytti, Sonja and Suvi.

Their enthusiasm was infectious and I forgot my homesickness and tiredness immediately. On Wednesday they announced that they've entered us all to a relay competition. I hadn't thought of racing before Danish Spring but suddenly there I was, standing in the line with other first leg runners. It was quite extreme relay opening where I lost quite amount of time in crossing some lakes but still it was a victorious season opening for us.

Invincible

On Friday we made an attempt to get 5 persons, 5 big bags, 5 smaller bags and 5 bags of food into a small 4-person car and drove to Mangualde to take part to Portugal O Meeting. It became quite clear that we couldn't possibly do another trip like that, so we decided to send Suvi home earlier so that we would have more space on the way back to the airport. Suvi had some exams coming up and was happy to do so.

I had somewhat mixed feelings before Portugal O Meeting because it was supposed to be Finland's selection races for EOC but I knew that I shouldn't compete. Weeks before I had already made myself clear that I couldn't possibly try to qualify for the team. It was far too early for me to race and I should still take it very cautiously. But still, it felt weird to be there and not to race. First day I started very carefully, avoiding falling on the rocks, but increased the pace towards the end as the course turned more runnable. I was surprised by the result and felt more and more tempted to race. Fortunately the terrain in the second day made it very clear that I shouldn't. It was perhaps the most dangerous and most challenging course that I've ever run. I loved the technical challenge but it felt more like an obstacle race than orienteering. Third day was slightly easier but still filled with stones and reduced visibility.

My favourite terrain - but not for disabled

Forth and last day was a long distance race in a chasing start form. I didn't think that I could run a full long distance race after only a week of running but decided to start and then quit whenever I wanted. I ran more offensively than in the previous days and enjoyed the fact that it was more runnable. Initially I had planned to stop before the last loop but because I was still feeling fairly good by the time I got to the spectator control I decided to continue. In the butterflies I made a mistake on one control but apart from that it was a very good run. Still, I was more than surprised to catch so many girls in front of me. On the third last control I got along in the bronze fight but lost it in a downhill race to the second last control. My legs were filled with lactate and I was afraid of taking any risks. In the last climb I had no power in my legs to close the gap. I was just extremely happy with my run and I didn't care about the sprint. I finished 8th in the chase with a big smile on my face. In the day's results I was 3rd after Simone and Annika. I couldn't have wished for a better comeback!

Portugal O Meeting results, maps, tracking and photos here

More about second part of the training camp in Suvi's blog

And one more thing. Suvi and I both lost our trousers while we were running the POM. Suvi lost her dark blue Noname running pants and mine were black wind- and waterproof Haglöfs trekking pants. Both were very muddy. Please return them if you find them!