Category: News

when I have a break, but once I start running again, the kick of getting into great shape in really something special.

Then I have to study…. first, I was looking forward to a nice fall of training and relaxing with friends, but now it looks like I will try to take my final exams at the University of Oslo in political science….I have been gone (altitude plus Olympics) almost 2/3 of the last two semesters. But it would be nice to get it done, instead of taking it next spring, in the middle of the track season.

About all for now,

included, on the site of the Norwegian Olympic Committee (see link below).
During the Olympics, my direct links to athletics news will still operate, and serve you so that you can follow the Olympic athletics closely. The message board and chat will also be open, and I will try to stop by here as a regular member once in a while. Enough of that..

Today I will do my first real track session down here since I arrived. On the island, we only have a 170 meter track, so we have to travel 25 minutes by boat to the mainland and the Runaway Bay track. I feel okay at the moment, but that session will be my first real indication on where I am really at. My regular endurance work has gone well, but the track work is what tells you exactly what kind of shape you are in, and how your body has responded to the last couple of weeks of travel and training.
Tomorrow, my closest consultant Per Halle will come down here as well. That will be nice, because he has a good eye to details, something that is important in this tapering period. Everything has to be right in order to peak right at the competition.

The next weeks now before the competition, I will use to keep my muscles nice and fresh (with the help of Johnny Høgseth), and at the same time control my training so that I get the extra energy to perform well. I adjust my muscles two times a day now, just to make things perfect. From what kind of tension they have, I adjust sessions in both length, intensity and number. It has worked great before and I hope the close work will pay off once again.

Then I will travel down to Sydney the evening of the 25th. We will go from the Brisbane airport, 25 minutes away from Runaway Bay. Then, at the Sydney airport, we will have a press conference for the Norwegian press. After that we go on to the athletes village. I have prepared myself mentally for all the new things down there. I have to be prepared for a totally new situation, with extra stress and trouble with such things as transportation. In all of this, I need to stay calm, relaxed and focus on the racing. The good thing is that I will be done with all my track sessions and hard work before I leave for Sydney. In that way I can really just take things easy and get my head ready for racing. I will share room with the Norwegian steeplechaser Jim Svenøy (7th in Atlanta, 8.12). I also shared room with him at the World Championship last year, so that will be fine.

Well, I will be back on this page in a little over two weeks time. Until then, wish me good luck for the Olympic racing 🙂

the Norwegian head coach. So we chatted for a while, and took some pictures. His english is actually quite good, even though he only wants to be interviewed in french. He feels ready to race fast, and was now used to the time zones of Australia. So watch out for that man 🙂
It was a great moment for me, as I have now met and talked to (at different occations) all three of the great long distance runners down here – Kipketer, El Guerrouj and Haile Guebrselassie. And it does seem like there is a connection between great character and great performance…
Not much new here except that. Still doing fine, and looking forward to racing.

It is interesting, because the island is so small, and we all run the same paths. In that way you get to see what the different people are doing in their training. Szabo was moving at around 4 min/km pace yesterday, followed by some extremely fast sprints at the soft grass rugby field.

Today I also did my first real training session down here. My body felt fine, despite the 9 hour time difference and long travel. But I have to be clever and careful and respect the adjustment. So I will play things by ear and take one day at a time. Either way my aim is to run fast in Sydney, and if that means taking easy days or do hard sessions, I have to respect my body.

Tomorrow Johnny Hogseth, my physiotherapist will arrive. That will be nice, so be can adjust my quad muscles. They feel nice now, but with his “magic” touch, they will get even better.

We also watched a meeting at the main land stadium today where Merlene Ottey among others raced. The place was packed with 4000 people in the small stadium…you get a feeling everywhere you go that the Australians are extremely excited about the Games. We get special service at the stores and people are very friendly to us.

Well, that is about all from here. No more snakes lately, but a huge kangaroo came right across the road when I was doing my morning run today. Hmmm….I think I like the Norwegian wildlife better, where dogs and maybe occasionally a moose is all you see :-))

From Australia

I came down here as the first of the Norwegian athletics participants, but the Norwegian beach volleyball team was already here. Ron Clarkes (former WR in the 10000 meters) luxerious private resort the “Couran Cove Resort” is quiet, refreshing and extremely beautiful. It is absolutely perfect for an Olympic preparation. We stay two and two together in the king size apartments.

The first day down here I went on a 14 km run, the Ron Clarke run, to check out the different paths around the island. There are numerous cinder and soft surface places to run, all over the 20 km long and 3 km wide island. There are no cars here, only bikes and small golf carts. And snakes, of course… yesterday, a 3 meter snake (9″) moved across the road right in front of Åsne Havnelid (one of the main leaders) and myself. Not poisonous, but it made me think twice about going on a recovery run on the narrow paths that evening. 🙂

I have yet to get a “nervous” Olympic feeling, because this place seems so far away from all the energy of the Olympics. Which is really a good thing, because it will mean a nice and sound training period, peaking with the travel down to Sydney the 25th, instead of thinking and waiting for the competition for weeks in Sydney.

I have experiences no yet leg, and is well rested. My body feels good, and all well from me here in Australia. 🙂

hard training before the travel, because it will be so long and damanding. My experience with travelling back and forth to the US is that, the “fresher” I am when I travel, the faster I will be back training when I arrive.

So all well, ready and fit – and getting mentally psyched up to go down there!

have raced the 5000 meters more this year, and I feel very comfortable with the distance. The 10000 meter I raced the 1st of April felt ok also, but I have a great feeling for the 5000 meter now, and that positive feeling plus all the experience I have gained (World Champs last year plus Golden League) will help me in Sydney.

Second, the training period after the Norwegian championships has consisted of a combination of speed work and long hard endurance work. I have run three special tests in this period, to test my body at different paces. The results show that my body runs comfortable and economically efficient on both 5000 meter and 10000 meter pace, but 63-64 laps (5k pace) is where I float the best and where lactic acid levels are relatively at the lowest compared to effort and pace.

Third, the preliminary entries in the 5000 meter and the 10000 meters looks almost the same when it come to competitors. They are both extremely tough to compete in. So that factor showed not to be that important.

Therefore, it felt natural for me to decide on the 5000 meters. BUT I will still be entered in the 10000 meters if things change as I prepare for Sydney!

jet leg issue from before, after travelling back and forth to the US. So I have analyzed my training notes from back then, to find out how many days I need to get used to the 9 hour difference. It is individual, but I have found out I need at least 2 weeks, and 3 -4 weeks is even better for top performances.

The Norwegian athletics team will stay for precamp on an island owned by Ron Clarke, former WR holder in the 10000 meter, right outside Brisbane. I am glad we get to stay nice and quiet, away from all the stress of Sydney. There, we can prepare the best we can before we go down to Sydney two days before we compete. That is perfect, and just like I am used to from the international meets.

All booked and ready to go !

also spend time lately, analyzing my test results in practice and the entries from different countries in the 5000 and 10000 meters. This, because I want to make a decision on what distance to run before I leave Norway. At the moment it looks like the 5000 meter and the 10000 meter both will have prelims (heats) and a finale. In the World Champs last year, the 10000 meter was a direct finale. In Atlanta, they even had two rounds in the 5000 meter before the finale.

I am also happy that Johnny Høgseth, my personal expert on muscle treatment and muscle tension is ready for Sydney. His special treatment will make my legs 100 % ready to race and recoveries between sessions is dramatically decreased when he works with my legs. To have him down, together with Per Halle, helps me relax and feel comfortable. Per has been with me since I was 14, and his experience from the Olympics himself (7th 5000 m. 1972) will be helpful. He is one of the few people I really listen to when it comes to training and adjustments, and when the nerves and tension before the Olympics competitions start to come, he is a good person to have there to calm you down and make you focus. Both Johnny and Per will travel to Australia the 13th of September, when I have adjusted to the time difference and I am ready to do the last hard sessions before the competitions.

So all well with me, as the travel down to Australia is getting closer !

Olympics. There, I can relax and focus on something totally different.

My training is still going well. I am in a period of intense tempo training now, and will continue this until the travel down to Australia, early in September. As an old middle distance runner, I can feel that my body responds very well to the hard 300 meter reps and short speed training. My times in these sessions look very much like those I had as an 800 meter runner, only now I have way better endurance. I combine these 300 m. reps. with race pace 5/10000 meter training in the same session (plus my endurance work, of course) In this way I teach my body to run at race pace with high level of lactic acid in my legs. This anaerobic work is needed when you want to peak as a long distance runner, but you have to limit it to only a few weeks each year, otherwise your endurance will suffer from it.

I can feel Sydney getting closer now, and I cannot wait to get down there. Up to now, my preparations have gone well, but there still is alot of time up to the Games. So every day is a challenge and every detail has to be right before I am on the starting line in Sydney !
🙂