Yesterday we did a nice mass start training with the Norwegians, Estonian and some runners from OK Orion. It was a good possibility for me to check my shape (especially the technique) when running hard. Already from the beginning the speed was good. I did a some seconds mistake on the first control. On the leg to the second control I think I had a good route choice by running straight in the green area without much climbing. I was able to catch up with the guys from the other forking on control 1. At the next forked control, number 5 i had to slow down in order not to make a mistake. It was there where I lost contact to the guys running for 2nd and 3rd position. But there where still some runners around to fight against. On the next controls I had always good control. In the end I arrived 4th in a really nice training. I think it is a good possibility for improvement when you can run so close against stronger athletes.

In the afternoon I did a "follow John" training with Mik Caraglio. The training was going quite well until control number 6. I had to lead and I got lost in the very difficult green area with all this nice rocks before the control. From that point on I started feeling tired and doing some more mistakes. I think I'm not used to heavy training camps any more.

That's also why I took it quite easy in today's training on the same map of the first day. No mistakes for me today. I think I learned something about this terrains. Rest this afternoon. Tomorrow I will run the middle distance World ranking event at Czech Meeting. A lot of good runners are still here and that's why this competition will be interesting.

Maps:
Thursday morning: Adamov
Thursday afternoon: Chata Nedele