I left Athens on Sunday after watching the fantastic performance of Norwegian Javelin thrower Thorkildsen on Saturday. It was a very special evening for Norwegian athletics with a gold medal like that.
All is well. Busy days after delaying…
things until after the Olympics. Just some easy runs in between studies and getting things into system again 🙂
Just a short update from here,
Marius
The Olympic heats ended today with a much different result than I had wished for.
After a very good season, with stability at a high level all through I had hoped to perform well here in Athens. It is not a good experience to be beaten out…
of the heats with that kind of a season behind you. But either way, excuses or explainations will not take you anywhere now. It will never be written in the resultlists that are presented anyways. So the best and only way is it leave it behind you and look ahead.
The season before the Olympics has been much more that I could have hoped for. I am glad I have a body that can race like it used to and a body that has been working fine for six months from February when things started to change around, up until very recently. So things look promising for future running with more of those months and that helps your motivation.
I will leave it at that. Not much more to say. Diappointed but things like this happen in a running career. You have to learn from it, leave it behind and move on. I will, of course, be back again 🙂
Late night in Athens,
Marius
Tomorrow at 19.55 local time (18.55 Norw time) I will race the 5000 meters down here. I am in the second heat, first five in each heat of two plus five fastest times outside of that. In my heat I have the seventh fastest personal best so it will be…
tough. But I will do my best.
Resting this evening after an hour run this morning in the Village around the track.
Wish me luck 🙂
Marius
Heat 1 – Wednesday, August 25, 2004 –
Order Athlete Country 2004 Personal
1 Zaman Sultan Khamis QAT 13:18.41 13:18.41
2 Weidlinger Günther AUT 13:17.59 13:17.59
3 Cragg Alistair Ian IRL 13:12.74 13:12.74
4 Mottram Craig AUS 12:55.76 12:55.76
5 Suárez Alejandro MEX 13:23.14 13:18.13
6 Moussaoui Samir ALG 13:18.99 13:18.99
7 Bellani Hicham MAR 13:05.72 13:05.72
8 Chebii Abraham KEN 13:08.01 12:52.99
9 Lebid Sergiy UKR 13:13.03 13:10.78
10 Belz Christian SUI 13:15.28 13:12.16
11 Rizki Monder BEL 13:15.51 13:15.51
12 Mayock John GBR 13:22.99 13:19.43
13 Garcia Carlos ESP 13:16.40 13:16.40
14 El Guerrouj Hicham MAR 12:50.24
15 Zakaria Mohammed Abdelhak BRN 13:19.74 13:18.19
16 Gebremariam Gebre-egziabher ETH 12:55.59 12:55.59
17 Riley Jonathon USA 13:21.11 13:21.11
18 Bekele Kenenisa ETH 12:37.35 12:37.35
Heat 2 – Wednesday, August 25, 2004 –
Order Athlete Country 2004 Personal
1 Kibowen John KEN 13:01.32 12:54.07
2 Tadesse Zersenay ERI 13:13.74 13:05.57
3 Broe Tim USA 13:18.61 13:18.61
4 Bhandari Rajendra Bahadur NEP 14:34.50
5 González Freddy VEN 13:22.30 13:22.30
6 Carroll Mark IRL 13:18.75 13:03.93
7 Compernolle Tom BEL 13:14.75 13:14.75
8 Birhanu Dejene ETH 12:54.15 12:54.15
9 Kipchoge Eliud KEN 12:46.53 12:46.53
10 Aggoune Khoudir ALG 13:20.61 13:15.91
11 Joseph Fabiano TAN 13:15.90 13:15.90
12 Kiflemariam Samson ERI 13:21.43 13:21.43
13 García Roberto ESP 13:16.13 13:16.13
14 Bakken Marius NOR 13:06.39 13:06.39
15 Goumri Abderrahim MAR 12:59.04 12:59.04
16 Castillejo Carles ESP 13:19.47 13:19.47
17 Saïdi-Sief Ali ALG 13:07.37 12:50.86
18 Aish Michael NZL 13:23.99 13:22.64
Soon I will leave Lesvos and go into Athens…into the Olympic zone finally 🙂
We hit 37 degrees C today so plenty of heat to get used to. I did the run in the middle of the day like normal, just to get the extra hot weather acclimatization….
It will be interesting to see, but as I race already at 19.55 local time (20.55 Norw time) it will probably be in the mid 30s. Most of the prelims in the longer races are later but the mens 5k is just a bit earlier.
I am looking forward to Athens now. A week here is about perfect timing. Now I need change of atmosphere.
Easy run today. I took with me Klas, the physio on the run to keep the pace as slow as possible but he fell off after about 15 minutes 🙂 A nice man who has done an excellent job getting my legs ready for Wednesday. Leif has now moved to the car from riding the bike and followed as I climbed uphill one of the cinder tracks around here. Nice to have some company during those easier runs..
Time for some packing 🙂
Marius
Tonight, the first distance race of the Olympics is held – the 10 000 meters for men.
In many ways this will be the mental start of the last days of preparation for me. Now, I can see the athletes – most of them that I have raced many times…
before out there on the stadium. And you will start to realize that it is getting closer. It was the same in Sydney. I remember, watching live in the stadium, the spectacular finish between Haile and Tergat in the 10k.
The 10k race will break some of the mental quietness out here on the island. Plus tomorrow is some harder work on the track to freshen up the legs before the 5000 Wednesday.
I have rested alot lately. I am used to resting the legs before important races but now I also make sure that the central nervous system is rested. This, because I know that all the impressions in Athen will also be a factor affecting your general level of rest. The Olympics, like I have said many times before, is special in that way..
Total rest day yesterday and only one easier longer session today in the heat. We hit 32 degrees C today so plenty hot enough for acclimatization :))
From Greece and the precamp,
Marius
Today, we have somewhat higher temperatures here. So a good oppurtunity to test out the different cooling vests, hats etc that we have brought with us. So during the run this morning, Leif tried on the hat while riding a bike next to me while I was…
running and this evening durig (before) my intervall training I will try it all on. The hat worked fine so it looks promising. If if gets really hot on the competition day down in Athens you can wear these things very close to the actual race.
Athletes are moving into Athens from here now. The Quatar team left yesterday and today our steepler Jim Svenoey is on the way in. So you can feel the tension building up 🙂 In a week I will be racing the 5000 and five days until going into Athens. Short time, but plenty of time to build the correct mental nerve you have to be in. It is my seventh international championship (two junior) so most of the routines are there already. Plus Leif has been through this many times before also, with the sprinters. So is should be alright.
From precamp,
Marius
I have arrived the island of Lesvos now, for the Olympic pre-camp.
Lesvos is located east of Greece and has about 100.000 inhabitants. Quite good size but at the same time a very, very quiet place for training.
Here you have the peace…
and quietness to just prepare well for the last period. No stress whatsoever – well except the constant security we have around here. Whereever you go,or run – you have one or two police officers behind you. Even on the longer runs they are right there “shadowing” you. Guess it is just the way it is, at least you will always have someone to ask for help if you get lost :))
I will stay here until the 23rd and then travel into Athens. A week from now. Just time enough to get through the last acclimatization 🙂
From Greece,
Marius
I have started packing for Greece now and the travel down to the island of Lesvos tomorrow. It feels kind of strange going through that in the middle of watching the already started Games on TV.
In Sydney I took off almost a month before I…
had to race – getting used to the time change. Which was fine preventing jetleg going into the race, but way too long in terms of preparation. So this time I know the routine. About 8 days on Lesvos, then only two days before going into the Olympic Village. As little as possible time at that place. One of the main reasons is the atmosphere there – the strange mix of 4000 athletes, either very tense/nervous before or disappointed/extremely happy with after their performance. The wide range of feelings, as this is a “once in a lifetime” thing, will affect most athletes before their competition – either way you look at it. You have to be aware of this and plan thereafter.
Training has been going fine since the Norwegian Championships. The last track session will be tonight, so that I can rest properly the first days in the heat down there. No injury problems or anything so plenty of time to do the last tapering needed.
One and a half weeks to go now :)))
Marius
Yesterday we hit 31.4 degrees C here in Oslo, making it the highest temperature of any European capital. I am very happy with that. It makes it really easy to get used to the hot weather I will experience in Athens.
So I did one of my harder…
aerobic sessions yesterday in early evening weather when it was at the hottest. I was feeling strong but could of course feel the heat.
I keep following the selection process for other nations in the 5000 meters at the moment. It looks as if it will be by far the strongest field ever – especially if El Guerrouj runs. You will have some of the worlds fastest and strongest runners – with experiences from the marathon down to the 1500 meters. Making it unpredictable – other than the fact that it will all be very, very fast 🙂
On Sunday I will travel down to Lesvos, an island outside of Greece to do get (more) used to the heat. Then I will stay there as long as possible before entering the Olympic village. In 2000 I travelled 4 or 5 days before to Sydney (from the precamp) and that was too early. Now I have more experience and know exactly how to avoid those mistakes done down there.
Time for another run in the heat!
Marius
I ran the 1500 meters at the Norwegian Championships this weekend.
Coming off a hard training period in St Moritz I waited until last minute to decide whether or not to run the 15 or the 5000, but in the end I felt more comfortable getting…
in some faster laps in the 15.
The field took off at fine steady pace, hitting the 400 in 59. One of the younger and quite talented athletes had the lead helping the field getting stretched out. After about 450 I took over the stayed in front for the remaining of the race. With about 250 to go I slowly pulled away from the last runner that had managed to stick with me. I got 3.41 and the next runner finished in a nice 3.44 – almost getting a pr. It is good to see that the other runners are challenging you like this – it is the way you have to go to get one step further.
I was feeling fresh, strong and comfortable throughout the race. Since Rome the 2nd of July I have run one single track session of intervalls (this last Monday). With all the mileage in there I was hoping to run around 3.40 to 3.42 in such a morning race. This provided me with good information that I am ready to taper for real now before Athens 🙂
Back in Oslo again,
Marius
