Presentation Johan Runesson
November 17, 2008 by Niels-Peter Foppen
Johan Runesson performed very strong this season winning four medals at JWOC in Gothenborg this year. Below Runesson is presented for the nomination “The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″ through an interview made by World of O and Ultimate Orienteering.
Nominated for: winning the silver medal at JWOC sprint, the gold medal at JWOC middle distance, the gold medal at JWOC long distance and the gold medal at JWOC relay in Gothenburg this year, and his participation as a junior in the World Cup 2008 program
About: Two of the major sources for international orienteering news on the Internet – World of O and Ultimate Orienteering – are organizing a poll to name “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ and “The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″. The winner in each category is decided in a vote amongst all the readers of World of O and Ultimate Orienteering after all nominees have been presented. Starting November 12th we present all nominees on a day-by-day basis. The poll is sponsored by Trimtex. Voting will be possible after all nominees have been presented from this page. See also all nominees in the initial press release.
Interview with Johan Runesson
World of Orienteering / Ultimate Orienteering – Give a short presentation of yourself.
Johan Runesson - I am 17 years (18 the 20th of November)
I study in my last year at the orienteering school, at the gymnasium in Hallsberg. I run for OK Tisaren. I have a father, a mother and two sisters. I come from Smålandsstenar but know when I study in Hallsberg I spend most of my time there. I started to orienteer when I was around 8 yers old. I started my elite orienteering when I was around 16, just when i moved to Hallsberg. When I’m not orienteering I like to hang with my friends and play other sports.
WoO / UO -What was the highlight of the 2008 season for you?
J R- My highlight this year was of course Jwoc in Gothenburg. When I ran Jwoc last year I felt it didn’t go as well as I had hoped for. So this year I really wanted to get a good set of results in Jwoc and I focused very much to be the best in middle and long distance. I felt in the Swedish test races that I had the ability to do very well at Jwoc, and that raised my confidence but I didn’t expect it would go so well as it did.
WoO / UO – What is your thought about being nominated for the orienteering achievement of 2008?
J R – I feel very grateful of being nominated just for doing the thing I like most in my life, and it is also a good result that my training and training philosophy are really good.
WoO / UO – What are your main goals for the future?
J R – In the future I have right now two big goals in orienteering. It is to be one of the best orienteers in the world around 2018, and then I have a goal for next year and it is to perform as well as possible at NOC and JWOC. To be honest I am most looking forward to NOC where I still don’t have performed so well
WoO / UO – Where is your favourite place to orienteer – where you would advice our readers to travel?
J R – I really don’t have a favourite place to orienteer, because I live in Sweden where I almost can orienteer in every place I come to. I just like to train where I am, but if I have to pick one place, I would say Mohed in Hälsingland. There the map is very detailled and it makes you to not lose concentration any minute because then you are lost. But as a Swedish runner, I really prefer having trainingcamps in others countries so that I can run in the forrest when we have snow in sweden. I have been at camps in Portugal, Italy and the Czech republic and all of them have been great.
WoO / UO – Can you describe your thoughest training week in 2008 (day-by-day)? Did that have any specific impact for your great achievements in 2008?
J R – My thoughest training week was probably two weeks before Jwoc. And I did it so that i could get the last speed and be in perfect shape before Jwoc. I started with two intervals on Monday. 70-20 and 3 min. Next day I did a strength training while running 10 km: I could stop before a hill and make twenty sit-ups and then run at high speed up and then normal speed again. Wednesday I did 4 min x4 in the forest. Thursday I first ran 8 km as a test race and in the evenning I did four 5 min intervalls in a hilly course. Friday I ran an orienteering course as if it was Jwoc, around 8 km. Saturday I trained at a track where i first ran 400 then 300,200,100 and then i did it four times, with one minute rest after every lap and a speed of 90%. The last day I ran in slow speed for about one hour where i stopped at the bottom of a big slope. There I ran 90 seconds at full speed, four times and then slow speed a half hour more. Before the week I had rest two days and the week after I only trained three times so therefore I could train so hard.
WoO / UO – Are you a professional orienteer? How many percent is your work/study that you do besides orienteering compared to a full position – and how many hours do you train each year?
J R – I don’t see myself as a professional orienteer because i am so young, but since I decided to go for orienteering my school is not my first priority. If any competition is over school I always choose orienteering. While I train after school I don’t have so much time at the evenings and that means not so much time for school, but since I put orienteering as my first priority I don’t feel so bad about myself when I don’t get the higest grades in school. That is a big problem for my friends when they are trying to be the best at both.
In a year I do around 400 hours orienteering and then almost 65% is orienteering.
WoO / UO – In your training: Do you put priority on running in the forest or on the road/track? What is your PB in 3000m/5000m?
J R - I have one training philosophy and it is that I will be good at what I train: that means for me that I do as much training as possible in the forest. I prefer having a map in my hand when I train, because it is the mistakes that make you loose time, not your speed. So I don’t have any track results, only my own times at courses in the forest and some road and path courses I do with the club in the winter.
