Warning: this article is serious and boring. I read some other blogs and I got a feeling I have to think about my season as well. Seriously.
No doubt I’m very happy with my season – results exceeded my dreams. Silver medal from European champs (still a bit difficult to believe), 2 medals (and 2 perfect races) from University World Champs, 12th place at World cup middle in Switzerland very close to top8 and changing to Kalevan Rasti. These are the highlights of my season. So why is it still a bit bittersweet?
3 weeks before getting silver medal at European champs I didn’t even expect to go there and I wanted to be satisfied with World cups in Spain. And I wanted to become the law student nerd I’ve always wanted to be instead (not really).
I have a feeling I trained well only for 3 months in winter. Then I was only competing, travelling, partying, studying and being lazy. My training diary is a funny children’s toy.
University champs were in the middle of August and it was the first time in my life I couldn’t enjoy summer without limits because I wanted to train and prepare well for it. I didn’t make it anyway and I went canoeing and enjoying life with my law school friends for 5 days less than 3 weeks before this peak of my season. I got in a good shape and had perfect week at the WUOC after all but I couldn’t have wondered if I hadn’t.
Therefore I thank especially to my Coach who doesn’t care so much about my stupid feelings and make me come to all the events I finally love and I would miss them so much if I thought about my feelings too much. I still wonder how much better I would be without spending so much time and energy with my other interests. Or maybe I wouldn’t be better. Or I wouldn’t love Orienteering so much without the other things. Anyway I have to admit I was very lucky this year - maybe too lucky considering my training. I hope the next season will be good enough not to be only happy with my results but also to have a feeling that I really deserved it.
Now there is even longer and even more boring summary of the season for real experts:
I started a proper training at the beginning of December after 3 months of big problems with a tendon in my ankle. I missed the whole autumn part of the season 2013 and I couldn’t run for 2 months at all. After those desperate months I got 3 months of great systematic training without any health problems. During this winter training I was aiming mainly for running well at WUOC and trying to get selected to World Champs. European champs were pretty early and I just planned to test my shape in the selections but didn’t really expect I could be good enough just after a few months of training.
What a surprise. I made solid races and got selected. Jan Sedivy decided to focus on World Champs and suddenly I was in a position of Czech relay runner - Pressure. EOC went well. I made 3 good individual races with immemorable result and then I experienced one of the best moments in my life in the relay. Vojta Kral and Jan Prochazka were in such a good shape at EOC that at the time I was changing to Vojta in the leading group I knew it would be the D-day. Waiting in the arena was nerve-wracking but seeing Jan Prochazka finishing for the silver medal paid it all back. 3 weeks before I didn’t expect to participate at EOC and suddenly silver medal was hanging on my neck. Unbelievable.
The rest of spring season was as usual. So many races, travelling and training camps together with law exams made it impossible to keep the systematic training. Second training camp in Italy with the same result – tendon injury – stopped me fortunately for one week only. I got a feeling of proper training just 2 weeks before World Champs at training camp in Italy. I was too excited and trained probably a bit too much comparing to the weeks before so I felt very bad physically at the beginning of WOC. Still I made my long distance quite well and I was satisfied with 22nd place after all. Because of health problems of Vojta Kral I was selected to run relay but it was not my day that time. I was losing a bit physically and after one stupid mistake I changed 3 minutes behind the fight for medals. 6th place was nice after good runs of Jan Sedivy and Jan Prochazka but I was disappointed with my performance.
University champs were in the middle of August and for the first time in my life I couldn’t enjoy the summer with no limits. I didn’t manage to focus only on Orienteering and I enjoyed 5 days of paddling, partying and not so much running with my law school friends. I had hoped I could get into a good shape after it and luckily I made it. The week of WUOC was awesome. Especially bronze medal from middle distance was painful because I had to wait 2 hours in the arena to find out if my early run was good enough. Relay joy with Milos Nykodym and Vojta Kral was awesome again. Damn Sweden faster by a few seconds for the second time in the season but happy with silver medal anyway.
I moved to Helsinki, Finland in the end of August. I trained for a few weeks after being ill and was surprised it was good enough for 12th place at World cup in Switzerland. I joined Kalevan Rasti and spent a great training camp in Sweden with them.
New season is on its way - Time to have fun in life on one hand and to deserve the biscuit on the other. Still difficult to balance.
Photos: Lars-Åke Dickfors, Milos Nykodym