The look back to 2011: FW Part 1

The 2011 passed by and locking back through I can say that it was a good year. I participated in more than 12 FW competitions just in 6 months - 2 competitions a moth average. To take into account that 3 of the competitions have lasted for a week, I can say that it was pretty exhausting. Especially in the end of August when I had 3 weeks non-stop competition marathon.

I have learned a lot during the last season. I made some important conclusions:

1. In the beginning of the season I was taking Top 3 places in Lithuania, this was because of favorable conditions for me and also I had a great physical condition compared to other sailors. That means that you have to approach the season 100% ready - physically, tactically and technically. I have done that so I give myself a plus.
2. Unfortunately, but when the time started passing by other competitors in Lithuania started catching up with me. I guess that they were spending more time on the water than I did. That means that you have watch your condition carefully and never, never stop training (even for a week). I haven't done that, so I give myself a minus.
3. August was a hard month for me: I came back from Poland were I got sick, and I was trying to recover for 2 weeks, nevertheless I've lost 4-5kg weigth and my body mass index was lower than Miranda's Kerr (My 198cm and 69kg - BMI = 17.8 VS. her 175cm and 55kg - BMI = 18.0). How you see I wasn't in my best form, but the competition marathon was just ahead of me. Take a look at my schedule:

• Latvian Baltic Cup - 3 days
• One day rest
• European Championship - 6 days
• 4 days of rest (1.5 of them in the car)
• Estonian Baltic Cup - 3 days
• One day of rest in the car
• JYM World Championship - 6 days
• 18 Days of racing and just 6 days for resting
• During JYM I was totally exhausted in both physical and psychological way. I still had this huge desire to win, but I guess my brain and body just wanted to have some rest.
• Lesson - PLAN. Do not go into such marathons if you want to achieve great results. Prioritize events and choose where will you go. I think you should give yourself at least 1day of resting for 2 days of racing, unless you are Nick Dempsey or any other TOP 10 RSX  sailor. I haven't done this so I give myself a minus. A BIG minus. 
• After that illness in Poland and the Marathon I have  fully recovered just in the end of September when the racing season was going to the end. This is easily seen when you take a look in my results:

• Spring tour, Lithuania -                    2
• Kaunas season opening, Lithuania - 3
• LR cup, Lithuania                         -  4 (2nd Lithuanian)
• Baltic CUP, Lithuania                    - 14th (3rd Lithuanian)
• New Vision cup, Lithuania             - 5th
• Baltic Cup, Latvia                          - 13th (3rd Lithuanian)
• Central European Championship     - 4th
• European Championship, Latvia      - 47th
• Baltic CUP, Estonia                        - 14th (3rd Lithuanian)
• JYM World Championship              - 10th
• Lithuanian Championship                 - 4th
• In youths (U20) I was:
• 1st in all competitions in Lithuania
• 1st Central European championship
• 1st Baltic Cup 
• 2nd European Championship
• 10th in Juniors Youth and Masters World championship

All in all this was a great season with a lot of races, many U20 tropheys, a few overal prizes and a couple of pits.