Author: Marius

NICE) It is all a matter of distance from the track in La Paz, altitude, living standard, running variation and climate. We now have three choices, but have a few other “factors” that would complete the number of choices. We expect no food (bring our own), no bed but lots of beautiful scenery, nice training areas and variation of altitude. And plenty of angry Llamas…

So wish us luck.. It will be a great experience unless we get robbed or fall off one of the high altitude cliffs 🙂 No worries, this is the most quiet place you could find.

I think Ole is looking forward to seeing some other places here in Bolivia. With Frank and Henrik as my regular travelling partners, we have seen most of what can be seen in the areas, so we do not go on much “sightseeing” anymore. But this is the first time Ole is in South America, and I think it will be fun for him to see some other sights.

I hope (read : hope..) to write some more about it over the weekend.

Until, stay tune 🙂

Marius

people training for long distances up here (and plenty of more in sprints etc). No joggers. No nothing. Except or course a familar Norwegian team of two that scares the daylight out of locals with great determination and small running tights 🙂

Our conclusion to the number of peopel entered in the races is that here people enter 10 km races before they love the competition side of it, but not the training. In Norway it tends to be the total opposite, people like to train but not compete. Guess it shows some of the difference in mentality. Here, sports is truly for fun. Back home, the extreme emphasis on times and top performances has maybe made many of the people who likes to stay in shape avoid competitions.

So for once I did not feel odd when running across the Prado (mainstreet) of La Paz in tights and runningshoes on the way to the park. Nice for once 🙂

I feel well recovered for tomorrows track session. I finally had a good night of sleep after I yesterday managed to build the length of the bed out with 10 cm. Because we a gigants compared to the small local Indians, the beds are only 1.75 cm (5″10) in length here (!) And I am 1.80 tall. So for two nights I had to sleep with parts of myself outside the bed. Things never come easy 🙂

Marius

That is still one of the things we focus on, but the track sessions will take more of the energy this time. Some easy (but in good number) 200 meter repeats on Monday to start with.

So I am building up my muscular tension for those sessions now. Plus I get plenty of endurance from the hills up here (PUH!). You have no idea, the slightest uphill climb feels like I mountain when you are not yet acclimatized to this altitude. The second day up here is always the worst, because you get all the post-proned stress from the travel and acute first altitude time on that day. So I feel like I am sleepwalking around up here with big dark rings under my eyes. Put my in a race right now and I would hardly know what direction to run 🙂

But it is much better this time compared to last. The heart rate is lower and I feel stronger. Plus much more relaxed as we just glide into the same living patterns as we are used to down here.

The co-operation with Ole, Franks friend, works really well. He was a bit worried about the altitude before coming here but things work out fine. We have all kinds of little tips and things we do to deal with it, so we have yet to experience any kind of real altitude trouble with any of the athletes/people that have travelled with us.

From La Paz 🙂

Marius

the season 🙂

More updates from down there. Until then, wish me good luck on the loooong planetrip..

Marius

Frank is unable to travel this time so that is a great choice. I was with Ole in St.Moritz this summer, so I know that he will take care of things and do a good job. He has worked in Olympiatoppen (Olympic training consultant) and has the same training and altitude ideology as Frank. So no conflicts there whatsoever. That is important, because the better you get, the more people want to “help” you with advice/discuss with you. I like doing that, but not when I am 100 % focused on training camps. The challenge has to come at the right times, not when you are doing the most important training of the year. What you need then is rest, focus and a good atmosphere around you.

We will travel to a few other training sites on this altitude stay. The main reason for this is to get some variation in training, but also some greater variation in altitude now as the season gets close. It is only about a month until my first track race of the season, a 2000 meter in Florø the 1st of June.

Track session tomorrow morning. Hopefully in another day of beautiful spring weather here in Oslo 🙂

Marius

idea of how the World Championships last August was viewed from my angle before and after the race. And you can see how Bolivia is.

All is still well. I am leaving for Bolivia very soon so I have taken a few days easy recently. I needed a break now after a period of tough training. So running once a day only 🙂

More updates during the weekend,

Marius

will give a great view on how things are there – they followed us around on some practice sessions, in the center of Eldoret, on the hotel and around in the area. It will sort of be a documentary with lots of “impressions”, but with no particular theme. Just sort of a little step into the world we enter down there when we go on training camps. So enjoy 🙂

All is still well. Nice little sprintworkout today to prepare myself for another week of practice.

Marius

am back to primary school – sit still, listen, sit still 🙂 Lots of team building and things. On Friday, part of that was to learn (Kenyan) Masai war dance (!) I quickly found out that running was more my thing… but we had a great time. I think especially the 2004 team gatherings are important. Not because of what is done and said, but because it mentally prepares your for the Olympics. It started already 1 1/2 years ago, so really early. Plus, you get to know the people that will be with the Norwegian team in the Olympic Village and that makes the whole situation down there more comfortable. I remember in Sydney 2000, how big things were. You sort of drown in all of it. But by building a group of people that knows eachother I believe you can help to elimiate some of that.

One more lecture up there to go. Then back to normal days again 🙂

Marius

the time to start that kind of work. The altitude in Bolivia limits the length of those sessions and I know they are one of the keys to success in the 5000 meters. Long, hard repeats with extremely short recoveries.

The session today went fine, but like always you have to work hard on the first one of any kind of new session each spring. You have to adapt and get into a rytm. For that I usually need 2-3 sessions of the same kind before I feel comfortable.

Frank pushed me through the last heavy ones and I really needed that. But it is a great feeling to know that you have worked your way through. It is all about talent and hard work combined.

Tomorrow is a long treshold session. Just nice and comfortable 🙂

Marius

system is finally getting into the normal rytm after altitude. That is good for me to see.

I did some great workouts today. This evenings anaerobic treshold session was long and hard but also very fast. I ran it in the evening, and I always get people who try to “race” me when doing those. The Sogsvann area where I run is one of the prime areas of Oslo for non-elite runners to go for runs. So when I come by, some of them try to hang with me or run away from me. In a strange way that keeps me sharp – because you sort of go into a daze when doing such long intervalls. And I like to compete, so I always respond to the little “attacks” 🙂

We have mapped out the next stay to Bolivia now. It will be around the 1st of May. So quite busy days back in Oslo now before leaving again. It is all about getting things so ready for altitude stays that you can travel down there with no worries and with all the mental strength you need to do the extreme training program from the coach. The higher you go and the harder you train, the more important is the mental side. You have to WANT the work, otherwise there is no need to just go through the motions. 95 % is not only 5 % less then 100 % it is what makes the difference between a winner and a loser.

All well here from Oslo,

Marius