Rome 5000 meter Friday

I am leaving tomorrow from here and will travel directly to Rome and the Golden League meeting there.

The aim of the race is to meet the World Championship qualifier of 13.25 that I missed with 8 seconds on Bislett. It is another month until…

the standard has to be met but it would be ok to do it now. Either way, I will travel to St. Moritz on Sunday after the race.

I have very good memories from Rome. I did 13.11 there in 2000 to break Lasse Virens Nordic record and also had a good race there the year after. The track is very hard (like most southern European tracks) and fast. And the crowd and atmosphere is great.

I will race either at 20.40 Norw/Italian time or 21.08. Two different schedules out there. Either way it will be broadcasted directly on the Norwegian NRK2.

Last update before Rome 🙂

Marius

On the internet again

I have now found an internet connection so I will be able to update a bit from here.

Things are going well. It has been great to get away from Oslo for a while and just relax in between trainings. Long, slow days in beautiful surroundings….

Exactly what is needed after the Bislett Games 🙂

I will travel from here directly to the Golden League Meeting in Rome where I will run the 5000 meters Friday the 11th of July. Very strong field there (with Gebrselassie and Bekele) so plenty of speed in that race.. The focus is 100 % on that meeting now. After that I will leave for St. Moritz for my usual summer training there.

All going well !

Marius

13.33 at the Bislett Games

I was abit disappointed with the race at the Bislett Games yesterday. For the simple reason that I was on my way to peaking perfectly for it only 3 1/2 weeks ago at Florø with a good, strong race and it feels bitter that I got sick (twice..) after…

that. I rarely have problems like that but I guess it was sort of an anti-climax after the Florø race that left my body very tired after being out of racing that fast for almost two years.

Considering the times I was running last year the time was some 25 seconds better but this spring has been totally different. I feel back to normal again but last year I was out of it on almost all workouts and all races. That is what is frustrating to think about. Bislett means alot to me and I wanted to run at least under 13.20. Especially in this last meeting at the old stadium.

This evening I will travel away from Oslo, up to 800 meters “altitude” – to the peaceful mountainsides of Norway. There I will stay in the very quiet atmosphere until the next race. I know I can get back to where I was only a few weeks ago. But doing so I have to put this race behind me – rest, train and focus. And there is no better place to do so then far away from city life.

I will try and update from there – but if it gets a little quiet you know why.

Marius

Bislett Games 5000 meter tomorrow

It is getting very, very close to the seasons debute in the 5000 meters. Tomorrow at 21.40 (9.40pm) Norwegian Time in downtown Oslo – in the Bislett Stadium. The field will be extremely strong. Probably the strongest I have ever run in – much better…

then even the 5000 meter Finals at the World Championships in Edmonton/2001. It has all the best Kenyans (expect Cherono), the best Ethiopians (including Bekele and the other very strong upcoming youngsters) plus Salah Hissou. I would say that almost 15 of the total field will be able to challenge the sub 13.00 5000 meter barrier sooner or later…

The tactics for tomorrow ? To start out with the World Championship qualifier in mind (13.21.50) and take it from there. The rabbits will take it out very hard (sub 12.50 pace) so it is just to follow at the tail of the whole field. And hope that some of them will fall off the pace later.

Training has been going ok recently. I did an endurance run pretty hard yesterday and I am on my way. It is hard to say exactly how fast I can run right now but I am gradually getting better for each day.

Please keep all fingers crossed for tomorrow ! 🙂

Marius

Bislett Games 5000 meters :

ABATE Abiyote ETH 5000m men
BAKKEN Marius NOR 5000m men
BEKELE Kenenisa ETH 5000m men
BITOK Paul KEN 5000m men
CHEBII Abraham KEN 5000m men
CHEPKURUI Eldet KEN 5000m men
ESPANA Jesus ESP 5000m men
GEBREMARIAM Gebre-egziabher ETH 5000m men
GENETI Markos ETH 5000m men
HISSOU Salah MAR 5000m men
KEINO Martin KEN 5000m men
KIBOWEN John KEN 5000m men
KIPCHOGE Eliud KEN 5000m men
KIPKETER Sammy KEN 5000m men
KIPROP Francis KEN 5000m men
KOMEN Ken KEN 5000m men
KORIR Shadrack KEN 5000m men
KWALIA James KEN 5000m men
MARTINEZ Jose Manuel ESP 5000m men
SIHEN Sileshi ETH 5000m men
SJØQVIST Erik SWE 5000m men
TAKAOKA Toshinari JPN 5000m men
WOLDE Million ETH 5000m men

The team 6th, 3rd for me in the 1500 meter

The Norwegian team got 6th in the European Cup 1st Division this weekend. After a bit of a slow start on the first day we climbed up to sixth the second – just like in 2002. So we managed to keep the team in the division like the original goal was….

I ran the 1500 meter and got third barely beat. Being a long distance runner you have to run on strength in those tactical (and often slow) races and sometimes the more middle-distance based runners will be able to close in on you with their pure speed at the end. But the race was feeling much better than the Tønsberg 1500 meter two weeks ago so it is going the right direction.

Very easy training today and the most rest possible before Bislett.

Marius

Leaving for the European Cup

The team will leave very early tomorrow for the European Cup. Norway is in the first division (with the Superleague above) and will meet nations such as Belarus, Hungary, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. From what I can see on the 1500 meter…

pre-race times it will be a quite close race.

I do not know what to expect from the 1500 m. race. I just have to get through it in an ok way and run smart. With a less than ideal period behind me it is important to get back gradually again and not rush into things.

I will be back again on Sunday with time to rest and make my body ready for Bislett.

Marius

Working my way towards Bislett

I now have the Bislett Games in sight. It is only a week and a half away so it is getting closer. In between now and then I will run the European Cup 1500 meter on Satuday, six days before the 5000 meter.

Training has been a sort of the same…

recently. After a nice and steep buildup for Florø I had to take a period of rest due to the infection I got right thereafter. So I am a bit unsure of where I am at the moment – but will start the pre-meet testing again later this week. I have been careful to push my body too much after Florø except the one 1500 meter race. Which has been very smart ; you have to work with your body not against it.

Tomorrow is a track session up here by the Sogsvann lake. The aim is a set lacate point (that I run up to – time it and compare with previously) and it will be comfortably hard. Just enough so that I will be ready for the next training.

All well,
Marius

What a 5000 meter race in Ostrava..

I watched the 5000 meter race from Ostrava on TV yesterday where El Guerrouj made his senior debute on the distance. Like expected he ran very , very fast, 12.50….

But I was even more impressed with Stephen Cherono who did 12.48…I watched…

his 7.58 race in the steeplechase live already in 2001 as a 18 year old – out of practically nowhere. This guy has some talent. As a 16 year old he ran 3.41 in the 1500 meter (in Malmø) 7.48 in the 3000 meters/London (world age best) and 8.19 in the steeplechase also world age best.

I first heard about this guy back in 2000 when I was in Eldoret and spoke with his brother Christopher Kosgei who won the World Championships steeple in 1999. He said that of his brothers “wait until you see Stephen”. By that time, his younger brother Abraham had already run 8.13 steeple as a 20 year old… probably some good genes in there 🙂

I got my thoughts about El Guerroujs long distance career confirmed in the Ostrava race. He will for sure be able to challenge Gebrselassies world record of 12.39.36 from Helsinki 1998. With a few more races under his belt and some more spesific training he will be right there. But I also got the “Said Sief syndrome” confirmed…. very good 1500 meter specialists get their kick totally run out of them in the longer distances if the overall pace is high enough. Said Sief, with far superior speed was twice in major championships outkicked by long distance specialists with 10 seconds slower 1500 meter personal bests. In yesterdays race El Guerrouj could only close in 60.5 seconds. Same happened in his 7.23 race a few years ago and in his indoors 2 mile race. Not even a slight shift of pace at the end – compared to eg. Gebreselassie who could kick even at world record pace.

And we have not yet seen Bekele the Ethiopian in a real 5000 meter this year.. until Bislett ! What a 5000 meter year it could be… And my prediction for the World Championships this August ? Not Cherono (who will have trouble in the Kenyan trials because of a lack of pure kick in slow races) not El Guerrouj (the Kenyans will run him out with their “rabbit” tactics) maybe Bekele (if he stays injury free) but my real bet goes on Abraham Chebii – the fastest sub 13 minute kicker out there..We will see but I am very excited about the event this year.

All is well. A bit tired on yesterdays track session but I have had a very good week of training so that is ok.

Marius

1500 meter in Tønsberg

The 1500 meter in Tønsberg this weekend went a bit like expected. I was feeling strong but unable to run it out like I did in Florø. With no faster training at all for a week my legs were feeling sluggish and not prepared to run really fast. 3.45…

was ok but with normal preparations I will probably run much faster. Either way, it fitted nicely into the schedule leading up to the Bislett Games the 27th of June.

I will soon see the field in the 5000 meter there as of this date. About the only thing I know right now is that is will have the best Kenyans plus Bekele, the very promising (and already extremely fast) Ethiopian.

I now have two weeks of training before the European Cup, six days before Bislett. It will contain plenty of endurance and plenty of race specific training. That is ; 5000 meter speed. I have been building and building up to this point but now I need to do the specific sharpening and get enough rest in between those sessions.

Marius

Finally ready to race tomorrow

Due to a small infection I have been unable to train for the last two days. But I feel 100 % fine now so I should be ok for the 1500 m. tomorrow. I could already feel some problems coming after the race on Saturday. It has been 1 1/2 years since my…

body has been able to work at full speed during a race so the whole system was probably in major stress after that race. But after the two days of rest I went on an easy jog today and was not having much problems.

I read in some newspapers that the Meet Organizer is preparing the 1500 meter race to be an attempt for me on the Norwegian Record (!) Strangly, this is not to my knowledge :)) I will only go out there to run a nice, comfortable race with the pack and take it from there. But definately no attempt whatsoever for the 1500 meter record… it is not the time or place to do such a fast 1500 meter race.

After the race I hope to do a bit of aerobic distance work after losing some important hard trainings this week. I never like to try and catch up with lost work but I do like to adjust the schedule a bit so that you are certain that you bring with you the work needed to run fast when it really matters.

Marius