Thierry Gueorgiou kommer till O-Ringen Halland för att vinna!

O-Ringen ger energi att fortsätta satsa

–O-Ringen är den sista, stora tävlingen jag inte har vunnit i min karriär och är en av huvudorsakerna att jag vill fortsätta satsa på orientering då jag fortfarande har något att jaga och uppnå. Jag ger denna satsning två år, så kanske kommer jag fortfarande att jaga en O-Ringenseger i Boden 2013, fortsätter Thierry.

Vad tilltalar dig med O-Ringen Halland?
–De senaste åren har jag skippat O-Ringen för att helt kunna fokusera på VM. Till nästa år är det annorlunda eftersom jag lägger lika mycket vikt vid att vinna båda dessa tävlingar. Jag tror också det kan ge mig den energi jag behöver för att orka med vinterträningen, svarar Thierry.

–Jag har redan tittat på lite kartor inför sommarens O-Ringen och har även hört en del kommentarer. Detta verkar väldigt lovande och det bjuds på flera olika terrängområden, vilket gör att du måste vara väldigt komplett som orienterare för att klara av utmaningen. Stränderna runt omkring kommer också ge mersmak till arrangemanget. Så på sommaren ser helheten ut att bli fantastisk, fortsätter Thierry.

Nedan hittar du hela intervjun som O-Ringentidningen gjort med fransmannen. I kommande nummer av O-Ringentidningen kan du följa Thierrys träningstips inför O-Ringen Halland, för att du som läsare ska kunna vara så väl förberedd som möjligt inför sommarens stora utmaning. Men redan nu får du en smakbit av hur Thierry ser på återhämtning, vinterträning och vikten av att sätta upp mål, vilket du kan läsa i intervjun nedan.

Intervju med Thierry Gueorgiou

What are your other plans for next season?
–Of course, the World Championships in Switzerland is part of my plan and I will prepare as well as I can to keep the level I had this summer. But I am also looking for some other nice races in Sweden with European Championships and Tiomila.

What do you focus on during the late autumn, october-december?
–Traditionally, October is the easiest month of the year for me. My training amount is reduced to 30% compare to other months and I am not orienteering much during this period. My body is usually quite tired after the competition season and I need about three easier weeks to feel fresh again. In fact, it is the only time of the year where training isn’t the first think I have in my mind. It is also the time for real holidays, and I try to visit some exotic places (like Mauritius last year and New York this year).
Then in November, I start the first training phase of winter. It takes couple of weeks to reach the training volume I will have during most of the winter. As I have been stopping serious trainings for some weeks, I never have great feelings at that time of the year, but the key is to be patient and increase slowly my trainings hours. My goal is always to be able to get my first tough trainings week from 1st December. It is still a long way to the first competition of year and you have time to make some physical improvements.
But, one of my biggest goals as well during this period is to start developing my orienteering technique. We never start too early. So, already in November and December, I have several training camps.

What can you recommend our readers to focus on with trainings, technique and so on during this period?
–It is still a long way to the first competition of year and you have time to make some physical improvements. But I say it again, the most important is to be patient and friendly with your body. The first concern on this period should be to not get injured or sick, especially when the weather gets colder.

I think it is also really important to start to work with your technique at the time of the year, especially if the terrains around you are still snow-free. It is wise to use some time to look at all your maps from the competition season and try to see what kind of mistakes comes most often and on what you need to put some focus on the coming trainings. It can be compass, precision on the last meters to the controls, making easier plans for example. But if you want to improve technically, it will take more than 1 or 2 trainings to become reliable under competition’s pressure, therefore you need to start as early as possible. In spring, when the competition season is on, it is going to be already too late if something is not under control.

But we can speak all we want in the language of planning and motivation and focus, of maximizing your days and achieving your goals. But none of it means anything if you don’t begin with a dream, if there is not a reason to push forward, a reason to concentrate, a reason to discipline yourself. That’s why I believe that autumn is the perfect time to see what you would like to achieve in the next season. We all dream differently, at varied scale, with diverse focus. It can equally be, winning a WOC gold medal, achieving a top 50 place at O-Ringen, or finishing an orienteering course without having felt “lost” in any place. The importance is not the range of your dream. The importance is the continued and dogged pursuit of it.