Author: Marius

exactly what times you have been hitting before.

I have had a very good week of training with fresh legs and nice training times. Today was 1000 meter repeats on cinder by the Sognsvann lake. A very hard session. I hate those 1000s. They are much easier on the track or on the asphalt. But I can run many more of them and get totally worked down by doing them outside of the track instead – as long as possible until I have to get the spikes on. I finished up with some anaerobic threshold work to flush the lactate acid out of my legs. A smart way to recover faster from the session.

Tomorrow is some spike work on the track and some plyometric work (jumping). It is time to get a bit more adjusted to the track now even though I run with spikes every week year around.

Marius

great to see an athlete who has been really good for almost 10 years (since 1993) to finally be able to put it all together and smash barrier after barrier.

I am also impressed with the way she has done it – training wise. I had a very nice talk with her coach Alex Stanton over the phone this last October and got some great insight into the way they are doing the training. I already had quite detailed copies of her workouts, intensity levels and periodization but I still needed some clear answers to some specifics. He was very helpful to me in doing so. They have perfected a system of training I believe very much in. High mileage, high intensity (and lots of it), clever periodization and loads of altitude training. I believe this is the best way to good performances but also the most difficult one. It can (and will) break you down sometimes but in the long run when you manage to balance it this is the way to go. Especially for us mzungos who do do have the natural altitude endurance base that altitude-born have.

Training is going well. I am just getting over a small cold but will hopefully be ready again for tomorrows workout 🙂

Marius

coming week is the first “stable” one after the arrival back from altitude. I have done some sessions of the road and some on the treadmill but I am anxious to get on the soft cinder again.

It is something about the spring and running. Especially here in Norway where you have days of almost no sun during the winter. The last few years I have been either in Kenya or Bolivia in the spring. But this year I have done some changes in that (with much more altitude in the winter and a bit of a longer period at home this spring) It feels refreshing to go outside on a run. You can see the snow melting week by week. People are happy and the general atmosphere helps you get out on those hard runs.

Tomorrow will be some 1 minute repeats that will gradually be transferred into the running track with spikes.

Marius

in the 1000/5000 and marathon. He said that even in the summer she could do up to 11 sessions of treadmill running a week – and kept her leg muscles going by doing plyometric excersises/jumping. It is quite interesting because alot of people claim treadmill running does not give you the same kind of training as outdoor running. I disagree. I think it is great especially because it helps reduce the toe-off time – thus making you spent less time on the ground. Which is crucial to faster running.

I discovered the effect of the treadmill in 1999 when it was part of my huge jump that season in performance. I did massive number of runs on the treadmill in front of a mirror to get the right long distance technique (I was than a middle distance runner)

So if you have snow and ice out there, do not hesitate to get on the treadmill (I use the Woodway (www.woodway.com) ones – which are far superior to any other treadmills I have ever tried.

Long repeats tomorrow on the treadmill.. 🙂

Marius

fresh again but will wait another few days before I start up with the gradual post-altitude work.

Spring has arrived here in Oslo. It will be great with some weeks home now to rest plenty and train hard.

Marius

about it recently because all the farmers here are extremely dependent on the rain and now it has delayed for some time. So you can feel the relief around..

Training this week has been fine. It is the third week in a row on rather high mileage so I can feel my legs starting to get tired. It will be great with a few days of total rest when I arrive back to Norway again. After 9 out of 12 weeks at altitude in the new year I have to put in some kind of buffer zone when I come home again now. The spacing until next altitude stay will be more so I have plenty of time for this.

Reports from Oslo say that the weather has changed and it feels like spring. I really hope so. Nothing could be better to leave from Kenya just as the rainy season is starting and arrive back in Norway for the spring !

From Eldoret,

Marius

believe it because it feels (and is) very safe up in quiet Eldoret. But when you start thinking about Kenya as a country you realize :

Their neighbor Sudan is at civil war. Their neighbor Somalia is in civil war. Their neighbor Ethiopia is in conflict with Eritrea. Their neighbor Uganda is in conflict with Rwanda over troops in Congo. Plus you have had two terrorist attacks in Kenya (US embassy in 98 and the Mombasa bomb recently) over the last few years…

The newspapers here are full of stories every day. It seems like the politicians of such a very young democracy are the real idols in Kenya. With scandals, affairs, money and fame. And many prominent people really want to be one of them.

Talked to a friend yesterday that wants to go into politics. He is very smart and has travelled alot. We came into a small discussion over political systems etc.. and got into former Eastern Europe and how many people had suffered economic there. With his eyes wide open he said very surprised : “Of yeeeees. I was in St.Petersbourg a few years ago, and there the mzungos were even asking ME for money!”.. I can just picture it. A mzungo asking a Kenyan for “a little something”…must have been the total shock for him 🙂

I did some long series of 30 sec repeats yesterday and was feeling fine. After full disco (with African drums) right outside our hotelwindow on the full night Saturday I was happy to still fell fresh on Mondays workout.

Marius

I have had some quite nice training sessions here so far. I am enjoying the fast acclimatization and good base I have built over the winter. It enables me to hit the targets very accurate.

The father of one of my best friends down here (he who I assisted building the house) has been sick recently and occupied some of the time between trainings. It is hard for the family, because they have so many priorities to make and very little financial stability to meet them. The small farms do make some money but it is very seasonal. Now, with the dry weather it is a big problem. So we are trying to help them as much as we can.

Tomorrow is an easy day of training. Two longer runs at comfortable speeds 🙂

All well !

Marius

normally is.

So I have done two intervall sessions here so far. One of them quite comfortable the other one harder. It will be the last altitude camp of pure endurance focus before the gradual tapering period starts in May (very gradual – I will not rush it as the World Champs in Paris is in late August)

It is very quiet here this time. The Somalian peace conference has been moved down to Nairobi and we are only two Norwegians here at the moment. The peace conference was here for 5 months and during that time up to one thousands people were in town for it. So things like the taxi business was great at that moment. With the result that now –you have twice as many taxis as before but no work to do…and those who made more money during the conference have not saved a shilling. Typical down here – they tend to think day by day with not much planning :))

I read an article yesterday that the coaches down here try to get the running tracks upgraded. I understand them. Think about it – they have three tracks in the area. Two in Eldoret. One of them is only 394 meters around (Chepkolele) while the other one, Kipchoge, has so many bumps and people using it that it is almost useless. The last one is in Iten but also VERY worn down. It should be fairly cheap to build a three lane weather track (tartan) – especially for the shoe companies that have benefitted with million of dollars from the athletes in the Rift Valley area. But I guess that will not happen in my lifetime 🙂

From Eldoret,
Marius

April during the heavy rains and it was not very fun. It only rained during the evenings but the mud in the mornings (from the heavy muddy soil) made your shoes about five times the weight 🙂

All is still going fine with training. I have only been doing long runs the last couple of days to be fresh for the hard training down in Kenya again.

Marius