Ieri è finita la mia stagione 2009..
Abbiam corso vicino a Jönköping la famosa Smålandskavlen, staffetta a 5 frazioni: 2 in notturna (individuali con somma tempi) e 3 il giorno dopo con partenza a caccia.
Siam arrivati 5i, allo sprint con i 4i (Halden SK 1)..

Per 2 settimane non voglio sentir parlare di allenamenti e gare.
Adesso solo amici e shopping.

Results
MAP (Smålandskavlen, See results, H 21str 3)

These are maps from some of my trainings/races from end of August till 25-Manna:













090827 Clubs Middle Champs 09














090830 District Middle Champs 09













090901 O-training route choices














090906 District Relay Champs













090915 Bosön Trophy 2009 - Long Sprint with mass-start













090930 NattiNatti - 8 legs night relay














091003 ÖsteråkersMedel - Middle distance














091010 25Manna - 25men relay














091011 25Mannakorten - Middle distance

Smålandskavlen next..

Statistica Gronlait CO:

2007: 3/4
2008: 2/4
2009: 0/4

In picchiata praticamente..


Per quanto riguarda le mie gare del w-e:

_Long: son abbastanza contento. Purtroppo le energie mi han lasciato negli ultimi 30min di gara e li ho perso parecchie posizioni. Ho sbagliato 2 scelte di percorso: 3-4 perchè oramai la carta non esiste più oltre un cm di larghezza dalla linea rossa; 14-15 perchè impaurito del verde ad inizio tratta;

_Relay: la possibilità di difendere il titolo è sfumata già al primo punto quando ho incrociato e oltrepassato il sentiero (era un' autostrada) che mi avrebbe portato al punto. Molto probabilmente non son riuscito a cambiar bene da 15:000 a 10:000 e pensavo di esser corto..Non conoscendo più la mia posizione esatta son tornato sulla strada (alla chiesa) e ho riattaccato il punto dall' autostrada suddétta. Poi ho sbagliato molto la 4, la 7 (roccia) e alla 17 mi son fermato prima pensando già di aver fatto abbastanza strada. Insomma proprio una gara di "M". I miei due compagni, anche se son superman, non son riusciti a colmare il gap enorme di 7min.

Sprint nel bosco ai Mondiali 2009. Ho avuto la conferma di poterla correre 3 giorni prima.
Mi sentivo pronto e gli ultimi allenamenti svolti qui a casa con il club avevan dato buoni risultati.
Venendo al sodo:

Son rimasto fuori dalla finale per 13 secondi. Sembra poco ma in una sprint i secondi pesan di più..

Sostanzialmente ho commesso 2 errori, tralasciando il fatto che non ho la stessa velocità dei top-runners:

_la scelta di percorso dalla partenza alla 1. Non ho tagliato subito a destra perchè volevo entrare bene in carta. Tempo perso 8-10 secondi.

_uno molto grave al punto 18. son uscito dal bosco della 17 in direzione e ho controllato i codici delle 2 seguenti lanterne. Quando ho rialzato gli occhi ho visto un albero con la lanterna e mi son fiondato là. Peccato che fosse il punto 19. "Per fortuna" me ne son accorto subito, altrimenti i secondi persi potevan esser anche di più. Tempo perso 15-19 secondi.

Per quanto riguarda il primo posso pensare di poter/voler rifarlo ancora, soprattutto alla partenza di un mondiale.
Il secondo invece è stato un errore di distrazione: le tante lanterne ravvicinate nella zona dell' arena, le urla del pubblico e la voglia di arrivare hanno abbassato il livello di concentrazione e son stato così punito.

La sprint è così: fuori o dentro per questione di secondi.

Altra considerazione: nelle ultime 2 edizioni dei campionati svedesi sprint non son mai riuscito a raggiungere la finale. Anche facendo gare perfette.
A Miskolc mi è sembrato più facile passare in finale. Anche se poi così non è stato..

Anche questa toccata e fuga in Italia è finita.
Ero consapevole del fatto che le mie condizioni fisiche attuali non son delle migliori e di non esser più abitutato a correre su questi tipi di terreni (una volta a me famigliari).
Qui al Nord "purtroppo" si impara ad usare la bussola ed il 95% delle scelte di percorso giace sotto la linea rossa. In alcune tratte della gara long di sabato scorso non ho proprio visto la possibilità di aggirare valli che mi avrebbero fatto guadagnare qualche minuto.
Comunque mi son riconfermato Campione Italiano a Staffetta con i miei compagni del Gronlait. Certo, avendo in squadra il nuovo campione italiano e il terzo del giorno prima, puoi ritenere di avere le chiappe al caldo. O forse è meglio dire: se hai in squadra due come KS e MT grossi problemi non ne hai in ogni caso.
E' stato figo rincontrare i miei cari amici orientisti. Ma allo stesso tempo preoccupante il fatto che non ci siano facce nuove nel mondo orientistico italiano.
Avrei anche voluto che il tracciatore di sabato avesse tagliato un pochetto i tratti purple nell' area della prima butterfly.
Vabbè.
La settimana prossima mi aspettano i campionati svedesi middle:  nelle qualificazioni ci saran 4 batterie da 40 persone l' una e passano i primi 8 in finale. Riuscire a raggiungere la finale sarebbe già ottimo per quest' anno.
Ci si vede a Venezia.. 

Siam appena tornati da Sälen in Dalarna (a metà della Svezia verso la Norvegia) dove abbiam preso parte alla mitica O-ringen!
Sarà perchè ho fatto la categoria delle pippe, sarà perchè il tempo è stato favoloso (quasi troppo caldo a volte), sarà per l' accomodation a 100m dal centro gare in un cottage da favola o forse per i terreni ogni giorno diversi o forse sarà per la conferenza di TG sulla sua carriera/metodologia di allenamento ma quest' anno è stato veramente tutto molto fico!

Poi forse abbiam scoperto un altro supereroe del Pre-O col quale ho avuto un' interessante discussione sul fattore culo in gara.


Missed:

-famiglia Baccega
-una pasta con i veneti
-italian team at the world cup

La mia camera digitale è stata quasi sempre nello zaino quindi ho fatto solo 2 foto al volo al cottage prima di venir via..

I' m not still recovered after 2 all-nights-standing but I have still forces to write down some lines about this week-end somewhere outside Tampere in Finland.
I want to thank all my mates and my coaches because now probably I understood something more about the meaning of the word TEAM.

I couldn' t train as I would in the last weeks because of a over stretch in the back of my thigh. Thus I was little bit unsure about my capacity to keep the right flow in the forest.
As a typical stupid guy I didn' t care about that and I decided to push quite hard because I knew you had to be aggressive in that tough terrain.

The plan was quite simple:
-no mistakes at the first control
-stay in the pack and check his direction always

I never understood my position during the race because of packs of runners cames everywhere. Of course, when you are running with Halden, Kalevan Rasti and Vaajakosken Terä you can be sure that you are not so bad..Just after let Petter run his perfect race someone told me I changed over around 30th position in a big pack..

I' ll remember for a long time:

-the last 30 seconds before the "take off": incredible silence around you..
-on the way to the first control when I saw that was really dark (especially in the green areas) and I knew my capacities in night-orienteering
- "Dai Giacomo, forza!" Giancarlo Simion was just behind me at 2/3 of the race. Well done Gian!
- After shower and sauna when I saw Pinnen (our 3rd runner) changing in 10th position..at that moment I decided to stay awake all the night

We finished as 31st team:a really good result for a 2nd team!

On saturday night I' ll run the first leg (2nd team) at Jukola in Kaanaa-Tampere.
It has to be really cool, expecially when you have other 1453 runners around you..luckily I have number 49: it means I' m in a good position nearly in front of the pack.

We had 2 Jukola-test last week-end in some relevant terrains around Stockholm. I ran good in both and, as our coaches Fredrik L and Oskar M said, it was really difficult to make the teams..that' s good! IFK Lidingö has 2 strong teams (as usual) on the starting line!

Everyone in the club is looking forward to a nice week-end in Finland..probably something like last year?

14 May - Humlegården














The course was too easy. You could see the controls already 100 meters before. It was like a cross country race. Anyway I could miss the route choice to the 7th control..
Results

21 May - Gröna Lund














We knew before the start that the legs 4th-5th and 12th-13th didn' t count for the final result.
Because of that the meaning of Sprint orienteering went away: the crucial legs were exactly after 13th control!
After 17th control we ran into Tivoli Park with lot of people walk around: some runners had problems with that chaos..not those ones who are used to run in Venice!
Results

28 May - Vinterviken













It was chasing start for the first best 10 runners in the earlier stages.
I started as 4th runner, 3 seconds behind Peter Hemmyr.
Already on the way to the 2nd control I was in a pack with Hemmyr and Skarholt. We have been togheter all the way to the 12th control where I missed the control: I couldn' t read the butterfly area and I was standing just 50m from it..I missed also the first control of the first loop.
I finished in 6th position. Not so bad for this kind of Spriddle!
Results

After Tiomila disappointing week-end, May started with a full Sprint calender.
I bought a really fast Saucony shoes just for that..

29 April - Club Champs
Map made by Graham Gristwood.














Results

1 May - Swedish Champs
I missed the final..Bad! The course was too easy and it was just matter of running.














Results

7 May - District Champs
Fun course with different route choices.













Results

10 May - DX Deluxe
Tröengs company is organizing every year this ultra-sprint race. The scale map is 1: 1000 with eq. 1m. Knolls and stones 30cm high are in the map..At half course I twisted my right ankle and fucked up the race.























Results

In the next weeks we' ll run Stockholm City Cup.

" Your team is unfortunately dsq. Some people dont run. You are welcome to run if you want but you dont need to"
That' s the message I received 15min a go.

This is the 2nd time in 3 years that the 2nd team is dsq.

A new season is starting on saturday!
Elitserien Sprint and Middle will be held in Ronneby, really south of Sweden.

Hopefully the snow is falling this week dissolves before competitions..

Just came back from Finland..
IFK Lidingö took part at Halikko Viesti, a 15-runners relay. As usual, nice terrain and short legs for everyone. Our 1st team, with Emil as anchor man, took 11th place and best swedish team. MS Parma won in front of Kaleven Rasti.
I didn' t run and I helped as team-leader instead. Sero ran a solid race in a mixed team.
On the way back, on the boat, we had a great dinner and had fun on the dance floors..

25manna was held yesterday in the south of Stockholm. Many teams from Sweden, Norway and Finland were there fighting for being the best club in the world. Winner was Södertälje Nykvarn, 19sec ahead of Kalevan Rasti. Our first team was disqualified because of missed punched.
Sero ran quite good in the 3rd team and they reached 157th position. I couldn' t run because of my knee. IFK Lidingö 2 was 45th and best 2nd team.
What a strange stuff to hear the song "Running" by Stefano Zarfati at the competition center..
Later in the night all the runners were at 25manna party. Even if we missed the pre-party, I have to admit I really enjoyed it (compare to the last year's crap): Kajsa Nilsson was the best on the dancefloor!

Ecco quello che ricorderò dopo questo w-e a Subiaco..

- la GODURIA nel vedere uscire dal bosco Taverna al punto spettacolo
- il mio "termosifone" in camera
- il misunderstanding con Tenani on the way to the 3rd control during the relay
- avere una campionessa del mondo in società
- i tracciati accattivanti come da speranza
- Miki "morto" dopo il traguardo
- le carte imbustate
- un 3 su 4 per Klaus quest' anno..
- l' accento de Roma. Soprattutto l' " à vooojja" de Marika
- sentire Rigoni che dice "mi sbrusa ma mi congratulo lo stesso"

I spent last week in Scotland taking part of Scottish 6 days. My second multi-days during this summer..

NO
-weather
-girls
-haggis
-Edinburgh hidden train station
-indian restaurant
-small size control description

JA
- the company
- english breakfast
- shortbread
- courses, with a chasung start after 3 days
- hot dogs
- my legs
- Allan Mogensen, 40 years old and World Champion in USA in 1993, who took 2nd place in M21E
- a "new" song that it will be published on 12th september

Now I' m in Stockholm again: 20-25°C with lot of humidity: that' s strange!
Sero is out in Iceland and I' ll be alone all this week..

Tomorrow I' ll fly back to Italy for 10 days holiday.
I' ll take part of Italian 5 days. I didn' t train so much after Jukola and I' ll check my condition during the first days: it seems there will be really long and fast percours. I hope the temperatures will not be 35° C..

I bought 2 new Active Ankle..The last ones lasted for 1 year!

During this week I had a really appreciated guest..She spoil me all the times!

We just get home from Finland where we had a great time. As usually!
We arrived at the event center on saturday morning after 5 hours trip with the bus from Turku. After a mini model event and lunch we saw the Venla Relay. Then I missed the bus to "our" flat..so, I decided to sleep a couple of hours under a tent at the event center.
My alarm had to wake me up at 01.30 in the night, but the loudy speaker, during the 2nd leg, who was underlining the great performances of our runners (especially Petter - 2nd team), made me awake immediately! Lidingö 1 was 5th and Lidingö 2 was 7th!!!
I ate my breakfast and joined my friends at the finish.
When I came in to the change-over area for my turn I was quite relaxed and ready to keep our team in a good position. The first 2 controls went quite well and then I let my legs running fluently in the next "easy" controls. I was keeping my position, nothing more. But, when the course went again in a really tricky area, I missed a control even if my attack point was clear (paths cross). From then I lost confidence with my navigation and I was ensure all the times..In the end I lost 5 position.
We came at the finish as 49th team. Not bad for a 2nd team.

Then we started to party and have fun with our Eroes (1st team) who took the 4th place! What a beautiful sight!!

The party on the boat on the way back was not as funny as last year. Even if Lidingö guys and girls were the best on the dance floor!

After those two selections, they decided to give me again the chance to run the second-last leg (2nd team) in Jukola. That' s cool!
4 of the 7 guys were in the first team in Tiomila!

Selection races:

- KM Long Distance started really well for me (was really easy in the begin) but when the course went into a serious and difficult swedish terrain I missed one control by to much time. I just came in that area without be sure of my right position..














- One man relay last saturday went completely different! IAfter the first 2 loops (ca 1 hour) I had 2 min gap from the first. The last one was much easier..but my legs weren' t there anymore.














Last wednesday, after the club champs, we had a great time: bath in a not-so-warm lake, grill and football match Sweden-Iceland.


..

Time for Jukola..
This year 1st team will fight for the first 5 positions.
And with the 2nd team they want  to improve the 43th place of 2005.
Tomorrow (club champs long distance) and saturday (one-man-relay training) it will be selections for me and some others for places in the 2nd team.

Köra hårt!

Since I started working 15 days a go my life is completely changed.
No more time to do relaxed things and to enjoy full orienteering..
I can make an example of my boring week-day:

_5.05 alarm clock ringing
_6.30 work begin
_15.30 work finish
_16.45 home again
_18.00 out for training
_20.30 dinner
_22.00 bed

That' s not an exciting timetable for a runner..Every day I feel my legs not 100% ready for a new training!
But until I will have the possibility to train in such following terrains the tiredness it will be not so painful.
Last tuesday we trained in one of the best place here in Stockholm: Kårsta. Prologue + chasing start with 10sec intervals.














On wednesday we had the last stage (the 3rd one) of Stockholm City Cup. Nice sprint with route choices and detailed orienteering. Results

Last saturday we ran at Fusine Laghi (Udine) Italian Sprint Champs. We were in a fantastic place with an unforgettable landscape close to the boundary with Austria and Slovenia.
The all course was settle in the forest with only a spectator control close to the finish field. Fast forest with not so many features in..
I did a really big mistake on the way to the 4th control where I couldn' t find my exact position when I jumped on the path. That' s too much for a sprint distance! I lost seconds also at 12th and 13th controls: my concentration wasn' t so high.
Probably my legs weren' t ready for 15min at max speed due also at the day before when I flew down from Stockholm, through Frankfurt and then Verona.. an interminable day! But no excuses..
My clubmate KS won clearly again. A really good start of season for him! Grattis!
Results
On sunday we had a national event in the same place (just 200m north): terrain was completely different with a labyrinth of boulders and rocks.
I was ensure all the time and my pace was slow. I checked next every rock I saw because I didn' t find immediately main things for a good and "fast" navigation!
Since long time I was afraid to mistake!
Results

Yesterday started "Stockholm City Cup 07", a series of sprint races in parks or islands in the town. It was not so difficult orienteering with only one leg with interesting route choices.
Results

We just got back from Leksand (Dalarna) where we ran Elitserien yesterday and Siljanskavlen (4 men relay) this morning.
Yesterday I did a decent race with just few little mistakes but looking at the results it doesn' t seems that.. I can' t already run like a hell as the first runners! Results
Today I ran last leg on the 2nd team. It went well with just a concentration mistake in the end. We ended up as 15th team.Results
Yesterday night we slept in a nice camping close to a lake. What a beatiful place!

I'm back in Stockholm.+7° degrees!!
Just a short summary on my competing w-e at Italian Middle Champs:

_saturday qual: safe race.I took big features for navigation and to check my height on the slopes. At the end I felt my legs little bit tired. Qualified as 4th in the B semifinal.
_sunday final: I started with a not-so-high speed because I understood immediately first controls were in a green and flat area. They went OK, even if I missed the 5th control because of cameraman (bacio @ Franz). I did a really bad route choice at 14th. Just few more words about 22th where I was in the center of the circle looking for the flag, but it wasn' t there.. I finished in 6th place, 4th Italian.

A really good start for my new club, where KS won and MT came in third place.

Results

Since sunday, when I was running in Italy, I couldn' t breath properly (with 25-30°C) and I' m looking forward to have some nice and fast training here in Stockholm again..   
 

Hang hang hang!
That' s what club asked me. That' s what I did.

When I knew that 9th leg at Tiomila was my job, I started feeling little nervous because was my first time in a Big Relay in a 1st Team!
I woke up all the mornings before Tiomila 5 o'clock and started running 7 o'clock to be used to push hard early in the morning. Everyday my legs felt better and better.
Ten minutes before my start I knew that Fredrik was in a big pack. Kenneth and Linus started showing me which ones were the best runners to stay with if the pack split up: Göteborgs runner was the one with more credits! But, already at the 1st control, we were all together. No one tried to go away with own choices..
Even if the speed was really high (I knew that) I understood at half race that I could manage it. Unfortunately between the last control and the change-over, where I really had to work for the team, my powerless legs decided to stop work anymore and I lost some seconds from the pack..Nothing to compare with the big amazing duel between Losman and Gueorgiou!
Klaus did a really good race and we ended 11th!
Girls finished 17th!

I think I gave all my energy for this competition and I'm happy because I did a good job.
Grattis grabbar!

Yesterday I ran Stigtomtakavlen, a 6 men relay with 3 runners on friday night and 3 runners with jakstart on staurday morning.
I ran the second last leg in the first team. My club mates did a good job during the night sending out Henke (4th leg runner) in 4th position just 13sec to the 3rd place.
I did a OK race with small mistakes near some controls. At control number 10, Leksand's Niklas Jonasson caught me up and I stayed with him until the end.
After a while I had problem with my stomach and luckly I found immediately a toa-box..
Results