Orienteering

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It is now the tail end of winter, and I will write about what I did to complement my training last summer in Sweden: orienteering.

 

Orienteering is fairly popular in Sweden. It is so important to enjoy the workouts, and orienteering is perfect for longer runs.

Running through forest and on rough trails is hard and demands stability in the ankles. A lot of small muscles are used in the constantly varied terrain. During my last orienteering, I had an average heart rate of 147 and topped at 172, during the 40 minutes race. 

Being focused on the map and finding checkpoints, I did hardly notice how hard the body was working. 

Of course, if you are a beginner, you may be walking more than running as those controls are hard to find...

It is interesting that an average orienteering race in Sweden only costs about 20 dollars to enter. For that you get a professionally drawn special map, a course set in the forest designed for your age group and ability (there are hundreds of different checkpoints on an average competition). 

All timing is electronic, including punching at controls. At finish, you get your result immediately, and a few hours later, all competitors times are published, including time and relative position between every checkpoint. 

If you choose, you can upload and make public the GPS track over your own routes. Access to the GPS tracks of the routes is free and there you can see what the winner and other competitors did (if they choose to upload).

That is a big service for 20 dollars. Oh, and many areas have free maps and permanent checkpoints in the forest for you to practice on at your leisure. For free. Thank you, all volunteers.

I think orienteering is fun and next summer I plan on doing more of it.

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