World Cup Round 1 and Jukola 2019

Hello all, long time no see! I've been busy finishing up classes for the year, coaching and training for the last few months. Nothing super exciting. But, I just got back from my first international races of 2019, so I figured it was time for another blog post!

Right after my exams finished in late April, I headed down to New York for the Canadian Team Trial races. I'd been doing some pretty solid training throughout March and April and I was feeling really fit and ready to race. Buuuutttttt, on the Thursday right before the races I went for a run and my left hip was super-duper sore. NOoooooOOo not another injury! I decided to still run the races to the best of my ability and hope for the best. I did pretty okay physically in all of the races. In the middle, I had a nearly perfect race on all but 1 control (.... that *one* being a complete gong show...). In the sprint I found my speed and enjoyed a really fun course at Trophy Point. In the long I navigated soundly but had to result to a hobble walk for a lot of it because my hip flared up. Despite this, I still managed to snag a spot on the World Champs team for the Middle distance (which I had a personal spot for winning the North American Champs Middle race), the Long distance and the relay.

NYC off in the far far distance!

The month of May was mostly filled up with cross training and coaching for me. My hip injury, as the sports medicine doctor believed, was a bit of greater trochanteric bursitis. After a week and a half it subsided to just general greater trochanteric pain... some of the muscles in my glutes and lower back were pulling more than they should and causing the pain. I got regular treatment, did my physio exercises and stuck to cross training to help get things settled down. It was under control for the most part which was a big sigh of relief as I was starting to pack up to head over to Finland for the first round of the World Cup.

After a long travel day and some neck-cramping, back-aching airplane sleep, I made it to Helsinki and was whisked away to some of the nicest Finnish terrain I've ever run on (*Heart eyes emoji*). I pretty much passed out in bed that night. For the next few days it was preparing for the WC on some relevant maps, swimming in some beautiful lakes and catching up on sleep. What a life. My hip was feeling pretty good while orienteering, which was so so good. I guess focusing on not getting lost is good for injury recovery??
After a fun team Canada dinner Chez Emily and Andreas on Friday night, I was feeling super excited to get racing!

Saturday June 8th - Middle Distance

First race! My goal going into this race was to approach it like the NAOC middle distance - calm and very in control of my navigation. I wanted a clean race, and not to worry too much about speed. After a mistake on the first control where I wasn't really in the right headspace out of the start, I did just that! I was leading a small group out there and was feeling very confident in the terrain. The terrain was enjoyable and I felt very in control. Didn't have the legs to push super hard, but I ran the clean (...almost) race that I wanted to and finished in a decent amount of time behind the leader. 

It was a pretty warm day for Finland - about 27-28C and full sun, but no humidity. For me, this wasn't really an issue since I'm fine with heat, just not humidity. The volunteers at the water station at the finish couldn't believe me when I said that the heat was no biggie. 

Heading to the last control in the Middle Distance - Photo: HelsinkiOWC

Sunday June 9th - Long Distance Pursuit 

This was my first pursuit race and I was super excited about it. I was starting close to 2-3 other girls and my goal was to use them to keep my pace up. I wanted to keep an even pace for most of the race, not go out too hard, and be in control like the day before. The first leg of the race was a looonggg one, right up a big hill first thing off the start. Not even 2 minutes into the race and I was thinking "oh man this is gonna be a long day". But once I got into things I found my legs and felt a lot better. I was in and out of groups throughout the loops in the middle part of the race. I made 2 little mistakes but was able to quickly re-focus and get back on track. Seeing other ladies out there really helped me push to the end. After the map exchange I had a little brain fart and made silly mistakes, but still had enough in the tank to finish strong. Pretty happy with this race overall!

Team BBQ Chez Emily 

Monday June 10th - Rest Day

Today was a very chill day. We went to the sprint model map, and then hung out of the beach for a bit for lunch.

Windy Beach Day! 

Tuesday June 11th - Sprint Relay 

Woke up pretty sore and stiff, but after a morning shakeout run and some strides I was feeling ready for the sprint relay. My goal was to push as hard as I could physically (which I knew wouldn't be easy given I hadn't done any running workouts since April) and to always be 1-2 steps ahead in the race. From the quarantine area, all the runners were escorted to the start through the underground subway walkways. I think everyone felt pretty badass running in a line down there, I know I sure did. We arrived at the Senate Square in front of the Helsinki Cathedral where we were greeted by about 4000 spectators all seated on the steps of the Cathedral. It was honestly SUCH an amazing experience to see. 

Running in front of the Helsinki Cathedral - Photo: HelsinkiOWC

Up Up Up the steps - Photo: Thomas Laraia 

I had a pretty good start and wasn't too far behind the leaders for the first few controls. I felt cool and collected and was reading ahead very well. I took a poor routechoice to the 5th control which lost me some places, and also almost caused me to crash into many runners and almost into a pole (should have practiced my dodging techniques). On the long leg to 6 I read ahead to the map exchange and saw that we had to run right up the steps of the Cathedral. At least it was up and not down - I would have totally eaten it. Sad that we couldn't get those true Darude Sandstorm vibes though (if you don't know what I'm talking about, see this video). Pushed hard to the end but was definitely feeling the lack of speed work in the finish chute.

 Team Canada (Christian, Emily, myself and Jan Erik) finished 15th of the nations teams! 

For the next few days we relaxed, recovered and started training on some Jukola relevant maps. I'd been warned of the TERRIBLE terrain around where Jukola was (emphasis on the TERRIBLE) and they weren't wrong. Well, it's wasn't green-like-JWOC-in-Hungary-green, but it was definitely not as enjoyable as the previous weekend.

We made it up to the small cabin that we were staying at for Jukola on Friday. We went on a model map and it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. The ground was a lot more rough and I was just praying that I could get out of this weekend without a broken ankle.

Saturday June 15th - Venla Relay 

This year I ran the first leg of the Venla Relay for Helsingin Suunistajat's 4th team. I would have been on one of their better teams had I not been injured prior to the race. I was really excited to lead off, and ready to push hard. I started in 347th position (out of 1720 starters), and knew that I had to just close my map and run as hard as I could to get up closer to the front at the start. I was luckily near the edge of the pack at the start and was able to make a quick getaway along the side. Things were going really well and I was feeling really calm. I noticed that things were more quiet in the woods than normal, and found out after I finished that it was because I punched into the first radio control in the top 55! Whoaaaaa! I lost a couple of minutes on the 4th control but still managed to finish my race in 73rd position on the leg. My best result at Venla so far! Let's hope next year I can race for HS again a little closer to the front :)

Can you spot me? - Photo: Pasi Kolinummi

 I punched in at radio 1 in 54th position (#TVfamous)

Sunday June 16th - Jukola Relay

After some "sleep" (all 4 hours of it) I woke up for the second race in 14 hours. I was running the 5th leg for team OUSA.... or team "Various people from countries that speak English, kinda" (2 Canadians, 1 dual US German, 1 Fin, 1 dual US Fin, and 2 Irish). I didn't feel so great when I woke up so I napped in the arena in my luxury sleeping bag in the long grass until it was time to warm up. I still felt sick and started to feel like I had to sneeze all the time. I was still prepared to race (Thank goodness for Endurance Tap gels) but I knew it wasn't going to be as fast as Saturday. The first few controls were pretty good. There were some people with me, and a looottt more yelling in various languages than in Venla. I made a big mistake at 7 and pin-balled around looking for my control with a bunch of other people. I got to practice my Finnish though, I actually understood what the people were saying! Tried to re-focus after my mistake and keep pushing on. Then I made another large mistake at 10 and had to really try and get my head back in the game. By now I was just super pooped and really not feeling well. I slowed down and bit and just went carefully through the rest of the race. Overall, this wasn't a very good race for me. I had the same issues as I did last year after racing on very little sleep. My mind wasn't in the game, and I was having trouble focusing. Maybe this is something to work on if I'm going to double Venla and Jukola again next year. At least the sparking morning sun coming through the trees and shining on the open bare rock was pretty.

Morning #viewz 

The Jukola Hangover was real the next day. Slept in and had a leisurely morning before heading to the Fazer Chocolate Factory with Anton. 15 minutes of feasting on all the chocolate you could handle - YES please!

*Heart eyes*

That evening we went out for a leisurely stroll on the local Iltarastit course in the central park. I saw something I've never seen while orienteering before.... A fully naked old man.

Unfortunately I picked up a cold during the Jukola weekend which only got worse on the flight home.  Hopefully it goes away soon so I can really start training for the World Champs in 54 days!