Physical fitness is only half the battle in the complex and beautiful sport of orienteering. The real game is played in the mind. At the heart of orienteering technique lies a critical distinction that separates elite performers from the rest: proactive versus reactive map reading. While both approaches have a role to play in modern … Continue reading Proactive vs Reactive Map Reading in Orienteering: 🧠 Mastering the Mental Game
Tag: Mistakes
Unleashing Your Potential: Summarizing the series.
In response to valuable feedback and to make it easier for you to access the insightful articles in the Unleashing Your Potential series, I’ve compiled this comprehensive overview. This will help you navigate through all the content, enabling you to access the articles more efficiently. The Unleashing Your Potential series is designed to provide runners, … Continue reading Unleashing Your Potential: Summarizing the series.
Spanish Champs Middle in a Dream Terrain
A couple of weekends ago, (October 21st - 22nd) the Máximus orienteering club held the Spanish Middle Distance, Sprint, and Forest Relay Championships, in a really dream terrain located in the municipality of Hoyo de Pinares, where I had the pleasure of being the course-setter for all the races. The very tight program of the … Continue reading Spanish Champs Middle in a Dream Terrain
JWOC Middle: tricky navigations in a demanding forest
After the exciting Sprint block, the third day of the JWOC 2023 moved to Valea Alba to contest the Middle Distance race, this year with a direct final. The course-setters did a great job, designing challenging courses, where the runners had to be very precise and efficiently use their orienteering techniques to progress at high … Continue reading JWOC Middle: tricky navigations in a demanding forest
Creating an anticipated mental image
Creating an anticipated mental image of the zone of control is often a good method for achieving a precise and fluid attack on the flag. However, we must be sure that we correctly understand the topological structure of the area, which can sometimes be quite complex. In the example, a control where many runners made … Continue reading Creating an anticipated mental image
The learning phases
Mistakes are part of the learning process, and the appropriate approach to them with a positive attitude helps us to improve desirable behaviors until they become automatic. When, for example, we make frequent directional errors in the use of our compass, two options open up: 1) Negative thoughts that do not help us improve; or … Continue reading The learning phases
How to react against a mistake?
Making a mistake is always a difficult and stressful situation, especially when we are in a very decisive phase of the race (for example, last leg of Tiomila, leading by 30", pre-last control,... and you find the control but... It's not yours!) There are different ways to react to this situation, and both attitudes and … Continue reading How to react against a mistake?
Orienteering Coach 