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Category: orienteering

Why have I changed so much after becoming an endurance athlete?

Why have I changed so much after becoming an endurance athlete?

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I have notice that, this year, I am now becoming more and more like an endurance athlete as opposed to having a “normal” lifestyle. Before 2018, apart from work and study, my life was prosperous and all-rounded. I did a lot of sports, mostly sailing and orienteering, and also running, swimming, and mind sports such as competitive programming, mahjong and bridge as well as long as they didn’t become too physically demanding. Among them, I achieved a high level in…

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Response to Iron Mike about DNF as learning

Response to Iron Mike about DNF as learning

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On a forum, I left a short response to Iron Mike‘s comment about his DNF rate, saying from my heart that 44% DNF rate?! I would have already given up the sport. I then discovered he has written a blog article responding to this sentence, and happened to read it! Although my open water swimming experience is very little and I haven’t got a single DNF yet in my 7 open water swimming competitions (I got a DNF in an…

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Trip to Europe summer 2019 – day 8 (Fin5 day 4)

Trip to Europe summer 2019 – day 8 (Fin5 day 4)

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The competitions this day were middle distance, then followed by PreO in Tahkovuori. I brought my swimsuit to have some swimming before the race, but due to time constraint, I could only swim for 1 hour, about 2.5 km there. If I planned properly I could swim for 3 hours between the sprint and TempO competitions the day before as there was much time between the competitions, and there were not much walking needed to the starts. The water temperature…

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Trip to Europe summer 2019 – day 7 (Fin5 day 3)

Trip to Europe summer 2019 – day 7 (Fin5 day 3)

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The competitions moved to Tahko starting from this day. The competitions were sprint then TempO in Tahko village. I did class H21E in sprint as I am an elite competitor in sprint back in Hong Kong. However, in the competition I was burnt out after about 9 controls and started to get confused, nearly missed a control point as well. I returned at 31’25”, again the last competitor in my class, while the second last was only 23’53”, much like…

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Trip to Europe summer 2019 – day 6 (TrailO WRE)

Trip to Europe summer 2019 – day 6 (TrailO WRE)

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This day was officially designated a rest day by Fin5, however it was the most important day for me in this trip because despite a “rest day”, there were 2 world ranking competitions, 1 TempO and 1 PreO on that day. These world ranking competitions were held in Halssi, at a walkable distance from Nilsiä which meant I didn’t need transport on the day. We did TempO first, then PreO. There were 7 stations with 5 controls each in TempO….

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Trip to Europe summer 2019 – day 5 (Fin5 day 2)

Trip to Europe summer 2019 – day 5 (Fin5 day 2)

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I started doing the competitions on the 2nd day of Fin5. It was a long distance competition, followed by a PreO (1st competition in TrailO). I took the organiser bus to the competition, but it didn’t work after the competition since the return time was between the competitions. I did class H21AL (L meant shortened distance) in the middle and long competitions, and this day it was about 7.2 km. I was the last competitor returning in 2 hours, but…

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Nordic trip 2019 – orienteering in snow

Nordic trip 2019 – orienteering in snow

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On 4/5, day 5 of my trip, I went to Porvoo for doing FinTrailO. TempO and PreO were held in that day. However, the terrain was too difficult for me, mainly rock and cliff hidden in forest. I scored 790 seconds for 30 controls in TempO, where the winning time was only 237 seconds, and 15 out of 28 in PreO. It was snowing in May! However, the preceding days in the end of April were very warm, like in…

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Nordic trip 2019 – Swedish League

Nordic trip 2019 – Swedish League

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I did my second orienteering competition, Swedish League in this trip on day 4 of my trip, 3rd May. It was a sprint competition with world ranking status. It was the highest level competition in Sweden. The competition was held in Fisksätra with a typical suburban setting, running between low density residences. My friend Raphael, living in Gothenburg, was there as well. However, even I was a so called elite in sprint orienteering in Hong Kong, I got another last…

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Nordic trip 2019 – orienteering in Lidingö

Nordic trip 2019 – orienteering in Lidingö

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The first orienteering competition in my trip was IFK Lidingö, middle distance. It was a national level competition and nearly a thousand people participated. The scale was much more than the competitions in Hong Kong, there were a market and also a stall selling orienteering equipments. I participated in class H21 (H means men in Sweden). The map was very white and the difficulty was very high when compared to similar races in Hong Kong. As a result I returned…

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Orienteering trip to the Baltic coast: last days in Riga

Orienteering trip to the Baltic coast: last days in Riga

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August 10th to 12th: Last days in Riga After I returned to Riga, there were two Latvia O-Week competitions remaining. On August 10, I went to Mazie Kangari to participate in the middle distance race. On August 12, I went to Turaida near Sigulda to participate in the long distance race. On August 10th, I returned to Riga after the competition and took the Ollex Express to the Hill of Crosses. The crosses originated from the Tsarist period. In order…

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