What was I thinking?

The Absolute championships are one of the most expected races of the Portuguese season.

After last year’s great organization and competitiveness in Gerês, this year I was expecting something nice too.
Saturday I’ve started the qualification at 3pm, with a temperature of 35ºC!! Despite the fact that I was running with a water bag, I think I did not worried enough with the hydration before the race and I’ve suffered a lot. I’ve finished 9th.

Sunday we started in the morning and the temperature was a bit better. After last day’s lesson about hydration I’ve worried about it and everything was fine. I’ve decided to give everything I had for this race and I was doing a nice work, not losing more than 30 seconds until the 2nd loops. Here I’ve started in a wrong order (I went to the 20 instead of going to the 17) and I only realized it after I started the 2nd… Conclusion: A lot of time lost, a loop done 2 times and my concentration was lost too.
I think I could have done a nice result but at the end I’ve finished 9th.
Looks like I’ll have to wait for next year to try the title!
I have to congratulate the winner Tiago Romão and my teammate Diogo Miguel, who finished 3rd.

MAP Final(11,1Km)

National Universitary championships

A new agreement was established with FADU (the University Sports Federation) and the national championships are back in the national universitary sports schedule.

The race was this morning in Gambia, near my hometown.
The terrain is not very interesting. It is very flat with a lot of tracks and very easy to run, so I had not very big expectations about a first place.
I knew I had to be very concentrated, run fast from the beginning and try not to be out of the line! That's what I've done. But I've lost about 2 minutes in 2 mistakes, in the 21st and 23rd, maybe because of the tiredness.
Fortunately my opponents have lost more time than me and at the end I was 2nd =)

Results (Men-8,4Km):
1º- Tiago Romão - AEFCM/UNL - 40:02 - 4,7min/Km!!!
2º- Jorge Fortunato - ULisboa - 41:40
3º - Paulo Franco - AEGIST - 42:04
3º - Miguel Silva - ULisboa - 42:04

MAP (8,4Km, 100m)

National championships - Sprint and Middle

Last weekend I was in Santarém and Almeirim in order to participate in the national championships in Sprint and Middle distance. I had not big expectations about these races. I’m not running well and I’ve done one train with Ori-Estarreja in similar terrains to the middle distance and it was dirty and the map was not well made. Beside that I was in some kind of holydays last weeks, visiting my brother in Pzen - Czech Republic and going to the Medical Olympics (of partying!!) in the south of Portugal.


Saturday it was the sprint, constituted by 2 races, one in the morning and another in the afternoon (in the same map!!). The map was simple and the route was not complicated, but actually I’ve complicated it in the first race by choosing a wrong road to the second control. After that, my result was done and I couldn’t do anything to make it better.

Results HE:
1º Miguel Silva – CPOC – 23:33
2º Marco Povoa – ADFA – 24:05
3º Diogo Miguel – Ori-Estarreja – 24:14
10º Jorge Fortunato – Ori-Estarreja – 26:38


Sunday it was the middle distance. I was convicted that I could do a good result because of my performance in the train with Ori-Estarreja and I’ve pushed hard in this race. I’ve lost some seconds to the 8th, 10th, 14th and 26th and at the end I was 4th.


Results HE:
1º Miguel Silva – CPOC – 43:49
2º Diogo Miguel – Ori-Estarreja – 44:17
3º Paulo Franco – COC – 45:03
4º Jorge Fortunato – Ori-Estarreja – 45:33


Now it’s time to get back to work: Study and Train! The selection races for Jwoc are almost there and I want to be there!

Training camp in Mora and Spanish Champs

I’ve been training from the 4th to the 7th of April in Mora with the Portuguese national team.
The training camp was organized by the national coach Bruno Nazário, with the participation of Alexander Shirinin whose experience was really useful for us.
We focused on concentration and anticipation and in most of the trainings we have simulated the pressure of a real competition. In the last day we’ve done a really challenging chasing start in the map of the last day of POM. The average speed was more or less 5,5min/km and at the end I was very satisfied with it.
CHASING START


After a 2 days break with some mountain bike riding with Diogo Miguel we both went to the Spanish national champs.
The long distance was physically hard and I’ve done some mistakes due to fatigue. My route choice to the 13th control was obviously bad but at that time I was so tired that I didn’t want to climb more… looks like that I have to be psychologically more prepared for climbs!
MAP LONG (9,2Km 450m)


I’m a bit sad about the relay as we couldn’t run it with the other teams because we didn’t confirm our intention to run it the day before..
Saturday afternoon was the sprint in the old part of Villena and with a bit of forest too. Nice =)
MAP SPRINT (2,6km 140m)


The middle distance was the most interesting for me. The forest was very nice and it was easier to run, despite the climbs.
MAP MIDDLE (5,4KM 275m)

I have to thank to João Carriço who provided us transport to Villena and animation during the all trip =)

National Championships in Gerês - Long and Relay

Last weekend i went to a very nice place in the north called Gerês to run the national championships in long distance and relay. I would say that this place is PERFECT for orienteering. In fact, the forests at about 800 to 1000 m altitude with some rocky details are different from any other explored place for orienteering in Portugal and i'm very happy with ".Com"'s organization.

The long distance was hard! It was all about concentration and just one BIG route choice.. maybe strong legs too because analyzing the splits graphic i realize that i was never fighting for the gold or silver medal.
Anyway i'm happy that i'm still alive and ready to work for next year!


Results: (11,5km 535m)
1 Diogo Miguel (89) - Ori-Estarreja - 1:34:01
2 Tiago Romão (89) - COC - 1:34:34
3 Pedro Nogueira (82) - ADFA - 1:41:34

6 Jorge Fortunato (89) - Ori-Estarreja -1:45:26

Map (11,5km 535m)


Fantastic relay!
The main word of sunday's relay was again concentration!
From the beginning we knew that it would be hard to win against COC's team, but not impossible and the fight was until the finish.
I've run the first leg and the pressure was high. I've lost 1 min and some seconds in the 5th control, but quickly I've caught the train again and so i think that my run was quite Ok! I've finished in 3rd, about 30 seconds behind the leading team - ADFA.
Unfortunately COC's team was very good and we were 2nd at the end, about 1min and some seconds behind.
I have to say congratulations to my friends David and Diogo who have fought untill the end and still with junior age i think we've made a very nice result =)

Map (5,5km)

Difficult?

I'm very happy with the last Sunday's Gafanhori's organization near Sabugueiro.
The map was partially new, with high technical quality. I would say one of the bests in Portugal!
The speed was very high in the beginning and extremely low in the second part and it was very easy to get lost!.
My course was very bad. A big mistake in the 2 control made me loose too much time and i was already disappointed with me in the beginning!

A big thanks to Tiago Aires that offered us the possibility of training that afternoon in some Terrains nearby!

POM + "XI Meeting de Orientação do Centro"

Last week it was time to take a deep and healthy breath and leave the heavy air of university and exams in Lisbon.
I was in the 4 days of Portugal O'meeting running in a very slow pace and not fighting for a good position.
The 16,4km WRE long distance on sunday have made some blisters in my feet and therefore i could not run very well.. Despite that, i enjoyed Monday's and tuesday's courses a lot (see bellow). The fast & rocky terrain was very interesting with some green areas making it more chalenging.

MAP TUESDAY:

After those 4 days i went to Diogo's house in Estarreja, my club hometown. We've done some interesting trainings in Tocha with the Czech team.

Saturday morning i took the bus to Pataias were i run the "XI meeting de orientação do centro". The 7,1 km middle distance was very fast again but interesting (Map bellow). I didn't enjoy the long distance as well and with 2 big blisters in my feet i couldn't run as i would like and i quit.

MAP MIDDLE (WRE):