January 2015

Sporty hello!

In this letter I’ll shortly summarize what the Team Management (= coaches + LOF officials) has been up to, share some background about the Team selections, and comments about coming activities.

You will find attached the (draft) LOF Elite Selection Criteria for 2015, and the preliminary program for LOF March camp.

Please share this letter with your coaches.

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SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES IN JANUARY

LOF Elite sprint camp, January 2-4

The purpose of the camp was to give athletes first-hand experience and understanding of Sprint orienteering at international top level. We had also several Latvian coaches joining, and first external participants to improve the level of our trainings further.

Thank you for your valuable feedback which will help us develop the camps in the future!

For details, please see my separate report of the camp sent previously.

Other Team Management actions in January

1. The March training camp dates were adjusted (now 13-15. March) to allow several National Team athletes to join a Military training camp abroad in previous weekend

2. The selection criteria for the National Teams and Championship races were revised for LOF Board meeting approval. Elite yearly budget was drafted for review. The criteria and budget, however, were left on the table and will be reviewed again in February meeting (Feb 18th). This is when we are expecting to get the final Teams and activity budget for 2015 confirmed.

3. Preparations for March training camp have started with booking of external visitors and program planning; see preliminary program in the end

4. Ikis joined orienteering coaches’ seminar in Finland, and gained some new insights and contacts, especially in the areas of Mental training and race preparation.

Comments on Team Selections

The purpose for Teams is to allocate the LOF Elite’s resources for athlete support – primary target is to maximize athletic success in WOC 2015, and secondary to ensure continuous work towards success in WOC 2016-2018. For 2015, the resources are rather thin and WOC expensive, so the most part of support goes for A Team (see the yet-unofficial criteria attached). In the coming years, the situation will hopefully change as WOC comes closer to Latvia – and the sponsors wake up…

ATHLETES: You should have received my message about which Team (A,B,C) I’m planning for you.

Please read the description of support and obligations once more and let me know if you agree.

If you strongly feel you should be in a different Team let me know and I’ll contact you to discuss.

IMPORTANT: being a member of any Team DOES NOT guarantee place in races – the selection will be done based on Championship Race selection criteria only (see second part of attachment).

See you in March camp – which will be super good!

/Ikis

ATTACHMENT:

Training camp, Latvia, March 13-15. Theme: Relay (Championship and International club relays)

Preliminary program:

Friday – afternoon: Orienteer’s core muscle training demonstration (external expert)

Friday – evening: LOF Elite information and discussion

Friday – evening: Possibility for night-o (mostly for visitors not participating in info session)

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Saturday morning: Two-man relay (c. 2x20min per athlete). Race pace, GPS, SI punching, full

Saturday afternoon: Relay orienteering lecture and discussion lead by an individual and relay

Saturday afternoon2: Technical o-course. Moderate pace, light analysis.

Saturday evening: Full (3D rerun + splits) analysis and discussion of morning training.

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Sunday morning: One-man relay (c. 4-6x 5min per athlete). Supramaximal pace, touch-

Sunday midday: Analysis of the training by discussing in group. End of camp. Prize giving.

NOTE: we have preliminary entries to trainings from four(!) different national teams, including foreign junior and female runners; This will be extremely good opportunity for us to learn! analysis.