Last sessions on the outdoor track…..

Now the snow has started to come, and I have probalby run one of the last sessions on the track for the year. Yesterday I did 8×800 meters and floated really well. I wish the track would stay clear for just another month until Kenya…

I went…

out to Nittedal Athletics club, outside Oslo, this evening to do my part of a project we are doing in “Aktives Organisasjon” (www.aktorg.com/the Athletes Organization). We are trying to have the best athletes go out to local clubs once in a while to keep in touch with the young, promising athletes. Too many times, all the elite ones are in the big cities and there is therefore a gap between the young ones and the elite. It is a small thing to do, but it is important to do these things to keep the young ones into athletics.

I will have another treadmill run tomorrow. They are mentally (and physically) challenging and just a thing I have to do – sort of just go through the movements and get it over with. It is all about focus, and I challenge myself when I do not feel up to it – because in a race you never know when you have to move and you need to be prepared to be mentally focused in any given situation.

All well from me,
Marius

Training going well

The lecture on Saturday went well. It is always easy to talk about the theories behind your training and what you have done etc.etc. But the real challenge is to apply this to the audience. Too many times, young athletes try to copy what the elite…

ones are doing and the results are very rarely good…..short-term and long-term. So you have to be careful. I try to give some examples, but to focus mostly on ideas and principles. These are much easier for the young ones to follow.

Training is going like planned. Lots of long hard sessions combined with high intensity work. I am gradually getting in better shape, but felt already from my Bolivia trip that I was in good shape. The next step up the latter will come in Kenya in the beginning of January. We leave around the 9th and stay there for 3 weeks at least.

Marius

Great training this morning

With my training partner Henrik I ran a long series of 800s on the track today….in the beautiful and fresh fall weather. Around freezing temperature, but blue sky and no wind. Coach Frank was there to take lactic acid tests and motivate. Then I…

did a long weightsession before another long run. Total of 6 hours of continous training….puh…..

The tracksession was a surprise. I floated well, and Henrik and I changed the pacemaking. I did the first lap and he the other. I have a little bit pacejudgement, so that is our usual routine. He was looking strong the whole way and had no problem following me. The lactic acid tests showed the same – we had almost the exact same values. This 14.09 5000 meter runner is finally getting tuned into the program. Which is great for him and great for me. Finally I have a good training partner here in Norway in the winter.

I will attend on a press confrence tomorrow concerning the Bislett Stadium where they host the Bislett Games Golden League. The track where they have set more then 50 world records, and I have my personal 5000 meter best from. They were suppose to build a new stadium at the price of some 80 million US$ but now things are going back and forth. The old stadium is close to falling apart….Very sad if they cannot go through with it. It would be a major setback for Norwegian athletics if these plans are changed……so I feel obligated to support things the best I can.

All from Norway,

Marius

First snow today – in full track training

Today, we had our first snow here in Norway. It sort of interrupted our morning track session, but hopefully the snow will be gone by tomorrow. The recent track sessions after Bolivia have been encouraging. I have felt strong and smooth, and the…

change from running flats to spikes has been no problem at all. It seems like I get stronger every year and I can handle those adjustments better and better.

The first snow came a little bit earlier then I like, but in a way I like the seasons we have here. When I was studying and running in the US at the University of Indiana, we had no snow and short “winters”. It was comfortable, but I sort of lost the natural increase and decrease of speed and training stress over the year. I am a much better athlete in the summer, because I use the Norwegian winters (plus some Kenya trips) to build a strong base.

Not much new,

Marius

Still running strong after Bolivia

I am still feeling very strong after the 3 weeks of altitude training down in Bolivia. Another week like this now, and things will get back to normal again.

I will start track workouts again now also. I have stayed off it for a while, just…

to get some general physical and mental rest from it. But now it is time to start again, before the first snow hits Norway. I am not looking forward to that kind of weather…

I will also try to do some more sessions with my training partner, Henrik Sandstad. Up to now, we have been just a little bit to far apart fitness/ability wise. It took him a year of this kind of training to really get adjusted, but now he is doing really well and tests show that he can actually run most sessions with me without any problem at all. That is encouraging for us both – it means harder and better workouts and it is always easier to be two when you do those. Then, when spring comes we will probably start more seperate workouts as I will run track work faster.

Thats all,
Marius

Very light after the altitude training

I have had some excellent training sessions recently, after the good period after altitude has started. Almost over night, from Friday, I have been feeling smooth, strong and effortless been running hard sessions. It is those great training moment…

you wished you had the whole year around 🙂

I will now run really hard for the next days. It is just to float on everything. Then when I start feeling heavy again, I will just adjust the training down again. But the altitude stay in Bolivia sure has been effective !

All well,
Marius

Met Lars Martin Kaupang for the first time – Norwegian 1500 m.record holder :)

On Monday I met Lars Martin Kaupang, who has the Norwegian record in the 1500 m. with 3.37.4 back in the mid 1970s. I have never met him before, even though we both come from the “Kaupang family three”. A family that also includes the Tveter family…

(with several Olympians in speed skating and now also one of the top 20 female Junior Cyclists in the world Helene Tveter) So some good genetics there 🙂

We had a good talk, but I think he underestimates my ability in the 1500 meter :))) With an even race when I did 3.40 this summer, I think I could have done 3.38s. My splits were 2.00.9 at the 800 meter, then 1.54.8 on the last 800 meter (if you calculate). And no real pacemaking – front running. So Lars Martin – beware. Your record is old, but breakable. No worries though – it will stay in the family.

Training is going well. But I am in the really demanding period after altitude. I am now just hanging in there until next week when I will feel light and ready.

All well,
Marius

First quality session after my return from Bolivia

I have now run my first hard session after Bolivia and felt extremely strong and fresh. And I know it will just continue to get better and better for the next two weeks. My training camps are hard and demanding, but the effects lasts longer then the…

camps and the hard work there. It is definately worth it.

We (Frank and I) are heavy into planning for next year now. It looks like I will go once to Kenya in January, but have Bolivia as my base for the rest of the year. From March and on, Kenya has the rainseason but in Bolivia it is dry. Plus, you have a really nice tartan track in La Paz, but in Kenya only cinder up in Eldoret. So when the season comes closer, and in the season, Kenya is not a good alternative. Plus you get kind of tired of the same training routes when you go there every year. It is good with some change once in a while. Also, I found Bolivia much more relaxing. The Kenyans are really friendly, but the atmosphere can be sort of loud. In Bolivia, you get all the mental and physical rest you need in between training sessions. When you train sometimes three times a day, the only other thing you do that day is to sleep and eat. We had a few of those. Where we slept 11 hours at night and 4-5 during the day. Then it is nice to be such a quiet place like Bolivia.

Next week is a full training week again. I feel ready for it and my breathing is perfect (very light during hard exercise) after my body has adapted to the thin altitude air.

So all well,
Marius

Back in Norway

I am back in Norway again after my very successful training trip to Bolivia. I am feeling quite well in my body and had some nice long easy runs back home now. I am used to seeing the city of La Paz with moutains all around it, and I have to admit…

that looking down at small Oslo from above the Sogsvann lake (where I live) was not quite the same 🙂 With the kind of terrain that you have in the highlands of Bolivia, you understand the great power of nature. The one day we had bad weather down there, the mountains and winds showed its power.

I will run easy the next days also. These altitude stay are tests to the whole system, and my experience is that the test is not complete until you have rested for the first days at sea level. THEN you can start benefitting from it – not before.

Just a brief update from me. In great shape and looking forward to feeling it in training !

Marius

Henrik – the first Sandstad to come home alive from Bolivia..(plus two photoes out)

In a few hours we will leave La Paz and Bolivia. And it looks like Henrik Sandstad, my training partner, will get back to Norway alive. Which is the first time a Sandstad does so. Sounds strange ? This is how the story goes :

The last time…

one in his family travelled to Bolivia things did not go so well. His great-great-grandfathers brother Ole Sandstad was the last Sandstad to visit Bolivia about 100 years ago. The traditional love story. Man from the far north falls in love with exotic women from the south. Man travels south for his love…..and never comes back. Henrik is looking more into the story, but it was investigated all the way until the 1960s as murder. Quite creepy, but thankfully not exactly illustrative for Bolivia today 🙂 Yes, they have beautiful women here, but the closest we have been to danger so far is walking across the street in La Paz with about 4 microbuses and taxis wide in the narrow streets on full speed and bad brakes. Luckily, we know how to run…

We spent the whole morning today sitting outside on the Prado (main area/street of La Paz) on a bench looking at people going to work and students going to school. 8 am, sun, 20 degrees and fresh mountain air. After so much hard training, such small things – to actually sit down and watch people around feels quite nice. I really like Bolivia, the relaxed atmosphere here, great weather and nice people.
Definately a place to come back to !

We have also done some shopping lately, and have found out that I am size XXXL down here 🙂 And I thought I was built like a distance runner. Down here, I am about the tallest you can find (1.82 tall/6″).

As for training, we are REALLY tired now, but in great condition. We are tired in a healthy way, not overuse tired. Which is a perfect way to end an altitude stay (and the way I like to end it) Now I will take some easy days after arrival to Norway and feel fresh for the next month.

Last update from Bolivia –

Marius

Ps : Two photoes out on the web under “Pictures” and “Bolivia 01”. More later after I come back home. These photoes show the mountain area Cordillera Real in the background and myself running on the cinder paths. All mountains you see are above 5000 meters with the tallest one over 6400 (to the far left)