After a two week altitude stay in St Moritz I am now back again in Norway.
The days after the altitude stay have been very easy, with one rest day up until yesterday. Then I started the hard trackwork again that will be continued up until…
Athens.
It is hard to run those kinds of sessions this close to an altitude stay. You have a down period, about either way how you do it. So you have to stay focused all through the session.
Rest and massage today with just some easy jogging 🙂 Just getting ready for the Norwegian Championships this weekend..
All well!
Marius
We have had some absolutely beautiful days here in St Moritz the last week. Actually, except one day with rain we have had blue sky and nice temperature every single day during the stay. That helps when you are pushing the training like I have tried…
to recently.
I was suppose to run a track session yesterday of longer track intervalls but changed it last minute. I was already in a good climb on the endurance side and did not want to break this pattern. Which was hard as I really like those hard track workouts. But you have to do what is best for you – be smart, and be clearheaded. The gut feeling is good but when in doubt it is always better to go by prior experience and measurements. So I did a job looking back on my notes from previous years of training (I always travel with the last seven years of detailed training diary) and found some good references back to similar situations there.
I combined the endurance session with an evening sprint workout. Which was great in the nice weather. Just resting during the long recoveries on the track.
Today was another easy runs that I did with a couple of American marathoners that I have done the easy runs with recently. 2.12 and 2.18 guys one of them going to Athens for the US, the other one a crazy American living in Bangkok and training in China most of the year. Two nice guys with super work attitude. I like that type of runners. That do not hesitate but love the hard work you have to put in to be your best. Without that kind of mental strength you will have a hard time succeeding in distance running..
Tuning back to Norway very soon,
Marius
I am going into the last period of training up here now. It will be continued pressure allthrough. Because these summer altitude stays are shorter than the normal winter ones I only use periodization within the weeks. So training is very, very hard…
from day one until the day of return.
From tomorrow it is only four weeks until I run the Olympic prelims, the 25th of August. Before that I will travel down to precamp on one of the Greece islands for an acclimatization period. It is important to get away and into such an environment before such a great thing as the Olympics. The setting makes you mentally prepared for what is ahead – in a totally different way than staying at home. But I will travel into the Olympic city as short of time as possible before (a couple of days) to prevent the stress there. No need to spend too much time in that chaos :)) The precamp will be arranged by the federation and is seems like the chief Toemmernes is doing a good job preparing it to fit the athletes perfect. Those small things matter for an event that is held only each fourth year.
Before that I will run the Norwegian championships in Floroe a bit over a week after arrival back home again. I am entered in both 15 and 5000 but will decide which one to race just shortly before. I am looking forward to racing in Floroe, it is one of my favourite place to race. Quite fast track – almost like the old Bislett stadion, (something that can be quite rare around here as we for some strange reason have no fast Mondo tracks in Norway) so very nice to run on. A good place to get some racing before travelling down there.
All well !
Marius
In the period before I arrived St Moritz there had been a period of up and down weather in the Alps but since I came it has been excellent for training. Sun most of the day, shorts and very pleasant temperature.
Athletes are still entering…
the town. A group of Ethiopians and more Kenyans. Plus we have the Swiss athletic schools. I feel a bit bad for some of them, because every second day they are on the track “hammering” intervalls. This at altitude at a very young while probably already doing more work than they are used it.. not much time to rest or build endurance to say the least.
I have now got a hold of an “elite pass” for the St Moritz area, which includes free entries for most things around. Including the bus that travels around the small town. Which is no small benefit – it is pure relief not having the walk/climb up to the St Moritz Dorf every day from St Moritz Baad where we live. The town itself is located about 70 meters higher in altitude – plenty enough to tire up tired legs 🙂 But I like going up there daily – it is the perfect little Alp town and a great place to relax, sit and read between trainings 🙂
From St Moritz,
Marius
One by one, great runners are entering the small city of St Moritz in preparation for the Olympics. Wilson Kipketer (WR 800 1.41) Maria Mutola, Andrea Longo (1.43) Isaac Songkok(3.31 1500) Christian Beltz (13.12 5000) Wolfram Mueller (+/-7.40 3000),…
Jori Jansen (about 1.45 800) a group of Kenyans, the Polish Olympic steeple team plus Norways Stine Larsen (2.27 marathon). In addition to that many other marathoners getting ready for the Games. Quite inspiring with so many great ones in such a very small and intimate place at the same time.
Todays hard sessions went fine. Though it turned out longer than planned as I got a couple of misses during it (probably due to altitude) and I always re-run those intervalls to ensure that the session turn out exactly like planned. So it is good to stay disciplined. Today my “lack” of that added about 6 km of hard work 🙂
Time for some rest now,
Marius
After travelling all day yesterday I have reached the running mecca St Moritz. This morning I went on an easy one hour run just to freshen up the legs. From being very tired from plenty of hard work the last two weeks back in Norway the change of…
atmosphere is great.
I live just by the StMoritz Baad, about 100 meters from the running track and 20 meters from the endless paths surrounding this small town.
The weekends up here is especially quiet and nice. As you go on runs you meet families going on bike rides, horseriding groups, campers, people sunbathing, barbequeing all around you. Just the perfect holiday atmosphere while at altitude 🙂 For a runner used to travelling to Eldoret (not a very good “family holiday location” :)) ) this place is a nice change.
Tomorrow is a hard session up here. I do not need much of an acclimatization really, 1800 meters is no real altitude after so many days up high (though plenty high enough to give you a lift in fitness). So I can go pretty hard already tomorrow. Up here I have one single aim : to build as much endurance as possible in as little as possible time. Thats it and I know how to do it – it is only a matter of focus. My spikes are with me but will only be used if they can help me achieve that one single aim.
All well from Switzerland,
Marius
Tomorrow morning I will be leaving for St Moritz. It will be refreshing to be back there again, to familiar surroundings. For training excellent, even better for recovery.
The altitude will be fine also, this time a year. The closer you get…
to competitions the lower you can go and still have a good effect. My system is so fine tuned at the moment that I only need some small adjustments/adaptions so keep on going. The altitude stay down there will be aimed at exactly that 🙂
On with the packing !
Marius
This week I am focusing on the treadmill for intervall work. As I am now into a period of heavy endurance training plus testing I have to do va ariation within that frame week by week to achieve the adaption I prefer. With faster work, track stuff…
or explosive elements this kind of adaption is no problem. But when you go mile after mile on almost the same speed around your anaerobic threshold just to build the optimal muscle chemistry you need to find some kind of variation on this. It is actually quite easy and gives you a great effect. Like last week all of those runs were outside on cinder, this week they are done on treadmill, next two weeks in altitude, next one on cinder, the one after that on treadmill again. Just minor changes but each time you sense a stabilization in effort, speed and lactate you push things by changing some of the outside factors. Training is a matter of adaption, change of rythms, stretching the body further – and you should never get too far away from this element or you will level off at some point or another.
In the winter alot of these things will be changed/adapted through the intervall length etc but now in the summer I like to keep a similar pattern (not much so periodization, only micro cycles) throughout to keep in total control of the endurance element.
This will be combined with a bit of sprint work on Thursday, just to freshen up abit. Then, a few days later off to St Moritz for altitude 🙂 Time to do the last preparation before the Olympics. I cannot wait to get there, to push the body allthrough in one of the nicest running places around 🙂
All going well,
Marius
In about a weeks time I will travel for the last altitude stay of the year to beautiful St Moritz, Switzerland. It is a place I have been three summers before and it is close to perfect for training. Easy travel, altitude, great running paths (even…
quite flat all through), tartan track and summer atmosphere. So I am looking forward to spending some time there 🙂 It is a place where you can put in the mileage needed without feeling the stress is brings with it. You train, walk around the small town, relax, have dinner and do some more training before the late evening comes. Together with plenty of other athletes, runningcamps and elites, that are there. Always people to run with, always plenty of time to relax. What you need in the middle of the summer to build some of the endurance back into your system.
I will probably take a short trip back to my hometown Sandefjord this weekend. To say hi to some people there before the real buildup for the Olympics starts. Plus get a chance to do some small testing in the training routes I have run in since I was a small boy. The easy stuff goes slower and slower year by year but luckily the fast stuff goes faster and faster.
In the meantime some easy runs here in Oslo. I did some extremely hard sprintwork yesterday and it could certainly be felt in the whole system. But from making me dead-flat-tired yesterday I am now back again to almost normal after a night of rest. Which shows me (once again) that recovery is more than fast enough – just like it should be 🙂
From Oslo,
Marius
I am going through a series of tests at the moment to make sure that all systems are working as they should before starting the last preparation phase towards Athens.
This will be continued for another couple of weeks before travelling to…
St. Mortiz, Switzerland mid July for a two weeks stay there. It has been a while since I stayed long at altitude now (only a short one of May) so I am looking forward to triggering the aerobic system again.
After Rome I took two days totally off training. It felt right as I had pushed my limits very hard down there – with a fast start and hot conditions (great test before Athens) It has been long since I last did this, but it was refreshing. Then, yesterday I was hammering intervalls on the treadmill again, testing the lower end aerobic system as a start to the testing protocol. Today I went through a series of speed tests before resting with a two easy runs tomorrow.
My goal is to be the best prepared athlete on the 5000 meters start in Athens. Maybe not the fastest, maybe not the strongest, but at least the best prepared one. By monitoring my system from all views and angles at this time I can go into the preparation phase knowing what to focus on and what to just keep the same. And hopefully be at the start of Athens knowing I did absolutely all I could until then.
From Oslo,
Marius
