Chasing two rabbits II - Oxford Half 2017

The second rabbit is caught, too! 

What a wonderful experience Oxford was a couple of weekends ago! Not only because I actually achieved my goal of improving my half marathon time, but even more because it was a weekend shared with so many friends and so full of precious moments. We were a total of 37 people who traveled together; 33 runners from our club Varegg and 4 supporters. Like in Holmenkollen in 2015 and Amsterdam in 2016, traveling and running with friends is like being on a school trip, with so much laughter that your cheeks and your stomach ache the whole time!

The trip was incredibly well organized by our friend Karl-Magnus, and for the rest of us it was simply to follow his instructions. Most of us stayed in the same hotel, which was 200 meters from the start, full of history and charm, and perfectly convenient. We arrived late Friday night, and the race was on Sunday, so we had the whole Saturday free. We spent it sightseeing Oxford, relaxing and visiting the race village. My friends Mette, Marit and I were placed in start pen E, which read finish time 1:50 - 2:10. We found this a bit too slow for our goals, so we decided to change start numbers to pen D, for 1:45 - 2:00.

The start of the race was 9:30, and the start of the hotel breakfast was 7:30, which I found a little too late. Frank and I had instant oat meal in the hotel room already at about 7 am, and then we went down to breakfast to have coffee and meet the others. At around 8:30 we went out to warm up, around 9 we were back in the hotel to leave our jackets and so on. It is so convenient to have a hotel room so close to the start, exactly like we had in Trondheim. There was no need to leave a bag at the race village.

For the race my intention was to follow the 1:50 flag for as long as I could. It was so pleasant to start at an easier pace than what I usually do, and the first 10 km felt really easy. Around half way I started to struggle a bit, and I saw that my heart rate was a bit too high. At the same time, we caught up the 1:45 flag, which made me decide to slow down a bit. At the slowing down I made a mistake. I was watching my average pace thinking that it was my current pace, so I slowed down a bit too much and discovered it only after a km. After that I managed to get up my speed back to the intended pace, and managed to keep going more or less at steady pace until around 18 km. Until that point I could see my flag guy a couple of hundred meters ahead of me.

Then my stomach started acting up. I have never experienced this during a race before, but suddenly I had a very urgent feeling of having to use a toilet. I didn't know what to do. It was impossible to keep the speed, but could it actually pay off to stop? I calculated that if I took the time to use a toilet (or go behind a tree), I would lose my chance of a PB. But finally I actually stopped completely, and waited a few seconds. Fortunately the short stop helped a lot, and when I started running again the stomach did not bother me more. But now I had to really speed up to be able to go below 1:53, which was my goal. The last kilometer was tough, and I gave it all I had, and had to spend a little time on the ground to recover after the finish. The time read 1:52:22. About a minute better than my previous PB from Tromsø!

Fortunately the feeling of fatigue disappeared quickly, and then it was time to celebrate! Many of my friends got PBs, and some of them by several minutes! The course is very flat, surrounded by many historical buildings and interesting sights, so it is a very pleasant half marathon. Perhaps the best part was the race bags we got at the end. Free long sleeved t-shirts for everyone! They had separate bags for men and women, the t-shirts in men's and women's sizes, and the bags containing goodies, specially designed for men and for women. Really a very nice touch.

We were all impressed by the quality, the design and the functionality of the shirts. No commercials, just the race logo. I've already used mine a couple of times! I must make a comment on race t-shirts in general. Also in Trondheim the race t-shirts were very nice, with no commercials. They were not free, but really cheap when ordered at registration (75 NOK, about 8 EUR). As you might remember I rated Trondheim above Tromsø, I can also add that Tromsø race t-shirts cost 450 NOK (about 50 EUR)! Yet another reason to give thumbs up for Trondheim and Oxford.

Six half marathon races so far this year, which is more than ever before, PB in each of the courses, and overall half marathon PB twice.

2017 is turning out to be a good rabbit year :-)

Chasing two rabbits I - Stoltzekleiven Opp 2017

The first rabbit is caught!

The one who chases two rabbits catches none, says an old saying. Since after the summer holidays I have been chasing two very different rabbits: PB in both Stoltzekleiven Opp and Oxford half marathon. The races are just one week apart in time; the first one short and steep, the other one long and flat. I have been wondering whether it is possible to achieve both goals, or wise to train for two so different races at the same time. On the other hand, thanks to organized training sessions towards both races the training has been a lot of fun, and I have been enjoying it very much.

In 2014, I had decided not to participate in Stoltzekleiven Opp, because I was participating in Oslo half marathon just a week before. But during the training towards Oslo, I discovered to my big surprise that I was doing much better at Stoltzekleiven than earlier. So I raced anyway and got a new PB recorded. In 2015 when I was not able to run, I was doing only steep uphill races, and I put all my hopes into Stoltzekleiven Opp. That year, training towards this race was actually quite stressing. I felt like I really really had to achieve a PB, because otherwise there would be nothing to show for the whole year. Fortunately the PB came at the race, though I was nowhere close to it during the training sessions, struggling with negative thoughts along the way. Last year, the big goal was Amsterdam marathon, and I simply did not have the energy or the will to train for Stoltzekleiven.

This year, things have been going well since the start of the year, and training has been more fun and rewarding than ever before. In my fourth year as a "proper" runner and race participant, I finally seem to have figured out the right balance between the dedication and discipline that is required to achieve results and the fun and joy of simply playing with friends. I think it is because I have finally confidence that training will work and things will gradually improve. Typically, right after the summer holidays I would find Stoltzekleiven training very hard, and I would have thoughts like "This is my maximum effort, and I am so far behind my PB, how am I ever going to do better at the race?" This year it was rather "I know that every time I train, the next session will feel easier, and I will become faster without increasing my effort."

Frank and I joined the Stoltzekleiven training sessions of Fjellgeitene as soon as we returned from the summer holidays this year. We also participated in all of the four trial races that come every two weeks before the real race itself. The training sessions were Mondays and Thursdays, and every session involved going up and down Stoltzekleiven at least three times. The Monday sessions were my favorite: first time up all at once fast pace, second time up four long intervals with a minute break in between, third time up 1-minute intervals with 30 seconds break in between. Although I know this might sound pretty extreme to many, it was actually surprisingly doable, since the rounds felt easier and easier due to the decreasing length of the intervals. And it was a lot of fun to do it together, with many interesting and funny conversations during the descents.

I could not complete a full training session immediately right after the summer holidays, though. Sometimes I would find my own variant, for example just taking half way one of the last rounds. But most times I would be helped by some of the sweetest Fjellgeit ladies, in particular Linda, Ann Eileen, and Siri. During the intervals, when all the guys and the really fast gals disappeared, we would stay together and push each other through the last intervals. Especially Linda was always incredibly good in coming up with an alternative plan if we felt like we could not take more rounds. Several times, when I did not have time to go to the organized training session, Linda would come with me to do an alternative session another day. The best part is that, although she is so fast that she races in the elite class, she always played along and made me feel like we were at the same level, both of us complaining about fatigue or heavy legs from other training.

This training schedule worked incredibly well. It felt like it worked automatically by simply just participating, without having to push very hard. The progress was clearly visible in the results of the four trial races: 15:38, 15:27, 15:08, and 14:27. The last one was actually a new PB last Monday. And then there was more than 20 seconds improvement again at the race, just five days after that. Either I was really lucky and the race came when my improvement was the biggest, or perhaps I could have done even better in a couple of weeks. In any case, I will try to start the Stoltzekleiven training a little bit earlier next year.

Now the question is whether these Stoltzekleiven sessions have been beneficial or not for the Oxford half marathon training. Personally I think they have complemented my flat running training well. Anyhow I cannot do too much fast and flat running before some injury starts acting up again, and I think Stoltzekleiven has kept me happy, occupied, healthy, and motivated. Of course two races so close are not ideal. First you have to taper for the one, and then for the other, and then you start wondering whether it is too much tapering all in all. Oh well, we will find out in just about six days!

Let's see if I can catch that other rabbit, too.