A visit to the High Altitude Center in La Paz

Today we went to the High Altitude Research Center here in La Paz. It is interesting to see how they are working. With very few resources, they are able to study this kind of altitude daily because of its location. We talked to the professors…

working there and had a good understanding of how things work. Altitude is a totally different world then sea level. Your body at altitude is not the same as your body at sea level. A number of parameters change, and you can feel it clearly as you train or just stay up here. It was interesting, because one of the first things the professors said at the Center was : “Altitude is so much more then blood levels”. I hope that quote goes out to those many people that think you sleep yourself to top performances at altitude (because of an increase in red blood cells). Join us up here, and take a run with us and you will think differently….

The training stress here can be felt now. It is harder to get out in the mornings, and you fall asleep almost instantly at night. You can just feel that your shape is improving, even though I was feeling extremely strong before leaving. Like I said : it is a totally different world and body up here…

Time to go to the track for a good distance workout.

All well from here,

Marius

Ready to go

I am soon leaving for La Paz, Bolivia. Perfect timing training wise. I am ready. I will try and update early next week. The first period at that kind of altitude is hard to predict, and you never know how much energy you will have to go downtown for…

email πŸ™‚

A looooong flight in front of us, but with Henrik and Frank with me, it will be fun anyways. The perfect little group for long stay at altitude. Extremely tough on training and nice and relaxed in between.

Wish me good luck πŸ™‚

Marius

Three days to go !

I am now tuning in to Bolivia. The days before you travel to such an altitude, it is important to take it easy in the training. You need to be on top of things when you enter the kind of stress you experience there.

Today was therefore a…

medium hard day. A good aerobic session to get some circulation plus sprints and weighs. Just a nice mix to keep the muscles going. I really do not have to worry about the lungs the days before I go up there….believe me, I will get plenty of time to test them in La Paz :))

I am also working on all kinds of small injuries before I leave. It is very important to be injury free (or close to) before going to such a place as Bolivia. You have very little chance to get rid of injuries there. So I got some acupuncture (works REALLY well for running related injuries) today and will get som more this Wednesday. That should make me fit and ready to go πŸ™‚

So all well from here,
Marius

Back in Sandefjord to “spring weather”. Preparing for La Paz and the flooding there…

I am back home in Sandefjord for the weekend. We had quite a bit of snow on the night before Friday so it was very hard to run in Oslo. But Sandefjord is 2 hours drive south of Oslo, and here the weather is just like spring. So I can (finally) do…

some training on cinder roads again, and it feels great on the legs.

I did a long anaerobic treshold session today, much longer then what I usually do. It was inspiring to run in the sun, 6 degrees C and perfect running conditions in the forest close to where I live. You just feel more fresh, you relax more in your running and can do more repetitions. And I will need all the training I can get now, because in La Paz……well…..it is about one meter of water in the main street “Prado” (!) and I am going there soon πŸ™‚ Saw it on the news the other day. It is the end of the rain season. It looked really bad. I have been there when it rains before and it RAINS. And with the fog, you can hardly see a meter in front of you. And there is in no possible, physical way possible to go running…

In our original plan we thought about going there at the end of February (right now), but we delayed it a bit. So we will go early in March instead. I am really glad, I do not like watersports… I hope it will be better when we arrive, and it should. Frank is checking with La Paz right now, to see if things are improving.

Marius

Exceptional treadmill session

Mondays treadmill session was probably the best I have ever done. A bit surprising, but I came off an easy week nice and fresh. I started fairly easy and built speed. At the end I was running well under 5000 meter speed, which is fast on the…

treadmill on longer intervalls. I have more power in my legs this year, and am able to glide and “bounce” even at high speeds. I used to be a 800 meter runner, but when training for the 5000 meters some of the positive adaptions you can as a 800 meter runner has been lost. Alot of mileage and long anaerobic treshold work is not ideal for power and speed endurance. But now it is on the way back, and I am really looking forward to bringing this element into my racing shape this summer.

The results on the treadmill today shows that I have improved well over the winter. I have adjusted the training this year slightly. More quality and easier on the recovery days. And longer quality sessions also. The total comes out to be quite a bit more then last year, but still I keep tight to my principles of training.

We have had great weather here recently, so perfect running conditions. Last year I had trouble keeping the mileage high in between altitude stays due to snow and ice. But this time it has been fine.

Marius

Finally an easy week of training

After several weeks of hard work, I had to take this week easy. That means about 80 % of normal training on all work. It feels great to finally do some nice, easy workouts and just build energy for the next hard weeks.

We have had some snow…

and ice once again, so it fits the schedule perfect with the easy sessions now. Yesterday I did a treadmill run at the Toppidrettssenter (Top Athletics Center) and just floated for a bit over half an hour. Frank was there, just to monitor that I was running easy enough. And no problem, I was almost too tired to even get started πŸ™‚ With low to moderate lactate acid levels, those sessions are made just to keep you in shape through the easy week.

Now I will spend the rest of the week sleeping, resting and running smoothly. And from Monday on, it is full training again.

Marius

Beautiful running conditions out on BygdΓΈy

I did a nice, long, easy run down south in Oslo today, on an area called BygdΓΈy. It is a place with beautiful running paths right with the sea on one side, and Oslo city on the other. Quiet and nice.

I love to do those runs. Today was a day…

with blue sky, sun and 7 degrees C. Very rare in the beginning of February here in Norway. And the running paths were clear of ice and snow, also very rare. I really hope it will keep like this until I leave for Bolivia in a month. If I can keep my condition until then, I will get a great float in my training.

The post altitude tests show that I am better this year compared to last year. You never know what will happen from now on, but I feel in control of the training. Last year, I had a groin muscle injury bothering me alot since the middle of February. So much that I could not do all the training I wanted. I have to avoid all sprint work, weights and the very long anaerobic treshold sessions. This year I am healthy (with just some minor things bothering me) and that makes me feel very strong.

Marius

Finally some nice running conditions here

After weeks of ice and snow, it has all melted now after heavy rains. It feels great to once again run somewhere else then the treadmill and soccer fields πŸ™‚

I did a track session indoors today. I was running fast times, but not feeling 100 %…

smooth. It was one of those days where your body is not with you. For the first time in three weeks I could really feel all the hard and heavy training. I will see on the next quality session if it is now time for some easy days. I always allow myself two quality sessions to evaluate training stress. You can always have a bad day, but two bad ones in a row should tell you that it is time to do some real recovery work.

We have also started planning our next altitude stay. It will probably be sometime in March. We are now timing everything specific for the season and counting days back from Bislett Games and the European Championships, the two main events of the summer. It is important to do this planning as early as possible to get the maximum out of the preparations.

Marius

Excellent week of training

Usually I take it easy when I get back from altitude, but because of the good adaption I got this time I decided to start hard work at home already from the first day. And it worked really well. I have had a great week of training, despite very…

difficult running conditions. So I have had to run all my long distance runs around on the soccer field and the quality work on treadmills. Not too motivational, but you still get the work done.

Tomorrow is a long, hard day and I will pack my training bag to be away from 10am until 9.30 pm. You just train, train and train. But if you start the week like that, the rest feels easy πŸ™‚

I have received some quite interesting emails from Peter Coe recently. 82 years old (father of Seb Coe), but still going very strong and contributing to my running. He knows Frank from meeting him in Oslo last year and a couple of talks on the phone. They are very much on the same page. So he helps me with specific workouts and general ideas. Then we put it into our system of training. Works really good. His standards are nothing but H I G H. No matter what you do, you can always do it better πŸ™‚ I think he has been really, really satisfied with my performance two times : my 13.11 in Rome two years ago (big personal record – and he had calculated I could do 13.10-12..) and the 9th at the World Champs (where he calculated that below 13.20 would be top 10 in a normal race based on the prelims…I did 13.22 πŸ™‚ ) To have such a man helping you means that you will always stay sharp and never rest physically or mentally.

Marius

Ice and snow :)

Time once again to run through the winter days here in Norway. The travel back went fine, but it was a bit of a shock to come from 30 degrees C to -13 back home. Now it is a bit nicer, only 0 degrees but still….and lots of ice, so I run most of my…

long runs around in circles at the surface-heated soccer field up here. And the quality runs at the treadmill.

I feel fine in my legs and have lifted myself in terms of running shape. Will be fun to see how training goes in the next days, and in a week or two. That is when the real effect hits you and it just feels great to be a runner πŸ™‚

So not much new from here – just adjusting back to home.

Marius