We spend our spring school holidays in sport — this time in Alūksne!
At the start of the training camp, the weather pampered us with +14degrees. Well, what more could you wish for — the forest invites you to run! We also do this on the way to our accommodation in the dormitories of the Alūksne Gymnasium. The terrain is similar to what it will be in the Baltic and Latvian championships.
Beautiful pine and spruce forest with medium terrain, steppes with swamps. The main task — direction and “reading” on the map.
After training, we settle down and go to a cafe 500m away for lunch.
In the afternoon, a long sprint workout with start and finish right in front of the dormitories. We use part of the Aluksne Old Town sprint map. Very interesting for an off-road sprint. The main thing — to notice the optimal option for choosing the path!
In the evening, theory with gps path analysis.
The morning of the second day begins with the traditional morning dew. We will run through the nearby Jāņkalniņa from which you can enjoy a nice view of the old town of Aluksne.
Morning training is planned for us at the Orientation Training Ground Woodpeckers, but there, in the immediate vicinity, military training with shooting and bombing takes place. After a brief consultation with the military training management, we decide to conduct this training in two days. We are going to a completely different place on the other side of Lake Alūksne. This time we do a workout on a terrain map. Excellent terrain with very detailed and interesting terrain and all this in a neat mixed forest of Vidzeme! With the youngest and less experienced censors, we do the distance together with the coach learning the nuances of the terrain.
The warm weather had pulled the snakes out of their sleep. It scared some good girl a little. We also met some good deer, a forest backpack and another white hare.
Afternoon workout in the stadium and a little also on the nearby Temple Mount.
In the evening, as usual, theory.
The morning training of the third day is repeated in a similar terrain to that provided for during both championships. The previous task — direction, understanding the map, but places must be able to “jump” from islet to islet without error, as well as teach to keep the direction without losing height on the slopes.
In the afternoon workout — the long sprint. This time we use the other part of the city. The territory of the Alūksne Manor Park dominates.
The morning training of the fourth day takes place a couple of days before at the “postponed” orienteering training ground Dzeņi. The area is traditional for Vidzeme — a forest of mixed trees with young trees, a small “round” terrain, swamps for the steppes. The task is to pay attention to the choice of the road, the direction and the understanding of the map.
In the afternoon, a mountain workout on the Temple Mount, but before that a small excursion with a climb to the Temple Mount lookout tower. True, the view of the city of Aluksne and the lake was completely obscured by thick fog.
The main task of the workout: the technique of running from the hill. On the way back to their abode, some managed to grind due to the brilliantly thick fog!
In the evening gps path analysis.
The morning of the fifth training day awaits us with a real, beautiful, white Aluksne winter. Wet snow, about 7 — 8cm stuck to tree branches. Beautiful!
Morning training takes place repeatedly on the terrain map. The distances are planned in such a way that the familiar trails of runners do not greatly facilitate the degree of difficulty of orientation.
Let's analyze this workout already at home.
In general, 5 days went smoothly with intensive training. Everything planned was realized thanks to Vilni Velķer, the head of the local landmark family, who not only kindly provided us with map materials for planning, but also marked the checkpoint locations, talked about very good accommodation and excellent food. It was a pleasure to be in the beautiful Alūksne and we will definitely come back!