Keen to return
to top shape, Mårten Boström prepares carefully the new season. In
this interview to the Portuguese Orienteering Blog, he speaks of his
goals and motivation to achieve them, but adds that medals and
honors are secondary things.
In a message left on your webpage on
the 6th October 2014, you wondered if it was the moment of the end of
the season or the beginning of a new one. This question was answered
two months later, when you said that “every athlete needs to take a
break”. Using your personal experience, I would like to ask you to
tell me something about the thin line that separates one season from
the next one.
Mårten Boström
(M. B.) - I felt really great after the end
of last season so I was hungry for more. That is the way a
winning athlete functions. I planned to deal with World Cup in
Tasmania as an extension of the season, training up until the races.
But I fell at a night session in Mila by Night, Nacka and that put an
ending to the plan. The thin line which separates one season from the
next is in my experience, including winding down on training effort
and reflecting on the past season to find what worked and what didn't
work. One needs to be eager to train towards the set goal of the next
season.
Looking to 2014, can you elect “that
moment”?
M. B. - My orienteering moment
of 2014 comes from the Long Distance of Swedish Championships, which
I had prepared well and was able to execute my plan technically
throughout the race. When I need to recall how I do when I orienteer
well, I look at that performance. I came 6th, 1:44 behind
the winner, my teammate Fredrik Johansson. The results I got as a
part of a Relay team with my club IFK Lidingö SOK and the 5th placed
Finnish team at WOC were important for motivational reasons, but
technically I didn't perform at 100% in any of those races. Running a
Relay, there are tactical reasons which come into play.
Your season started in Australia.
How was the World Cup's first round in the other side of the world?
M. B. - The start of the World
Cup in Tasmania turned out about how I had envisioned. Since breaking
my shoulder blade in October I had focused on Long Distance training
and got a satisfying result out of the Long Distance race, being
placed 8th. Physically I didn't have the confidence to push hard
enough so soon after the injury, but mentally I was able to handle
the orienteering challenges all the way to the finnish. In the
Sprint, I was surprisingly able to match the pace of the best, but
the lack of technical training and self-confidence resulted in
mistakes at the control points. In the Middle I outperformed my
wildest dreams of mastering such a complicated terrain - I was
satisfied with my 15th place!
“Feels like my body is moving to
the right direction” was something that you wrote after the
Australian adventure. Are you sure of that, two and a half months
later?
M. B. - Yes, my body is getting
better at accepting hard runs, day by day. After Tasmania I went back
to base training for a few weeks. Actually, I have just returned
from a 5 week Training Camp in Spain. The best moments have been to
excel at orienteering, I have done several good technical sessions,
both at night-time and at daytime.
What are the next important steps
before WOC?
M. B. - The next important step
is getting in races, to boost my self-confidence. I know I am able to
stay focused in my orienteering for a complete long distance race -
now I just need to go out and do it in a race. Physically, we are yet
to make a schedule for the coming month's details, but there is still
quite a bit to accomplish to get where I want to. If I am healthy,
JK during Easter and World Cup stages in Norway and Sweden are
the next important races.
Please, close your eyes and listen
to the crowd. It’s the WOC prize giving ceremony and it’s your
name that the speaker is announcing to receive the gold medal. What
do you feel?
M. B. - It is important for an
athlete with big dreams to believe in them fully and imagining
themselves doing a well-balanced performance is an important part of
that.
What are your WOC major goals? Who
will be your biggest rivals?
M. B. - I would like to make the
most out of my race at WOC. Getting a medal and honor is secondary.
I do not race against anyone in an orienteering race - times can be
compared, but it's what happens in my own head that matters the most
to me.
To reach a gold medal is a matter of
“having the best legs”? How do you do that?
M. B. - I believe I can still
improve my technical, physical and mental shape - they go hand in
hand towards the highlight of the summer.
In the end of our Interview, I would
like to ask you to make a wish to all orienteers about the upcoming
season.
M. B. - I wish to all
orienteers, in spite of race or nationality, that they are able to
perform at their best - as the Jukola 2015 slogan says: “Everybody
is a winner”!
[Photo:Mårten Boström /
facebook.com/pages/Mårten-Boström]
Joaquim Margarido
