Plans keep changing all the time...

... but all roads lead to Amsterdam. Hopefully.

Planned races are getting canceled and new races are entering the schedule. I decided not to participate in Os Triathlon. I have now completed two official test races of the full course; they were great fun, and I think I had a good training effect of them. But I cannot motivate myself to do the actual race itself. It will take me off my marathon training for several days, and I have no chance of improving my time from last year's race.  The problem is my bike. I do not have a proper race bike. I have a Trek hybrid, which is perfect for pretty much anything other than going fast on asphalt. Last year, my kind friend Irene lent me her road bike for about a month before the race, as she was about to have a baby. This year, there were no natural candidates to ask, I had not time to concentrate on buying a new bike, so I just decided to go with my hybrid. After all, how much difference could it make in just 20 km?

Well, comparing with my training times of last year, the difference is substantial. About 7 minutes! And although my swim and run times are a bit better this year, there is no way I can make up for the lost bike time. It is a bit annoying that equipment has that much to say. After the last test race, it became suddenly very clear to me that I do not want to do the race. If I had the same bike last year and this year, then I would be competing with my last-year self, which would be motivating. But now the time I'd get at the race would have no meaning. Amsterdam is the big goal, and on the way there I will only do the races that I feel motivated for. After coming back from Amsterdam, I will immediately start "project road bike". I will get a proper road bike, and start training with it. 2017 is already long time ago planned to be the triathlon year.

OK, so motivation for Os disappeared. However, motivation for new races suddenly appeared: 5 km and 10 km road running. After running really slowly in the heat for the last couple of months in Turkey, it felt hard to start picking up speed. So Frank and I figured that entering the last races of the Fana summer circuit would be a good way to push ourselves.  The first 5 km race was three days after coming home, and my time was terrible. I started out way too fast, I managed to keep pace 5 for about 3 km, but then got really slow towards the end. The 10 km race was this week, two weeks after the 5 km, and then everything suddenly seemed to start working. I decided to try to go for a steady 5:15 pace throughout the race. It's not a big deal, it was my Oslo half marathon pace, but I want to take one step at a time. I watched the time very carefully not to start faster than 5:15, although I felt very light and strong in the beginning. I felt in control all the time, and just 100 meters before the finish I managed to speed up and pass a lady who turned out to be in my class. The final average pace turned to be 5:16, very even split, and it felt like a good beginning.

The road to Amsterdam is winding. Not everything goes as planned, and I am constantly in doubt whether I am training correctly, running enough, resting enough. I am so afraid of getting injured that I am perhaps resting too much. But they say restitution is the most important part, and there is always some small pain here and there. I should be doing more stretching, more strength training... The list is long. Fortunately, I am really enjoying the training itself. Well perhaps not towards the end of a 30 km run, but the accomplishment of completing a planned training, slowly getting the long runs longer, slowly getting a little bit faster.

7 weeks left now...

Routine slowly falling into place

“Life is 10 percent what you make it and 90 percent how you take it.” (Irving Berlin)

Planning, planing, planning, adjusting the plans, doubting all the time "Am I training too much, too hard, not enough, not correctly?", trying to make it all fit within a heavy load at work that hit me like a wall as soon as I got back, feeling behind, short of time and exhausted, grabbing the opportunities of fun, trying to let my shoulders down, getting a lot of wonderful feedback from friends, and finally slowly settling into a routine.... This is how it has been during the first two weeks back in Bergen.
First of all, my plans of trying to go for runs in the morning before work did not happen. Turning this into a routine without having anybody to run with turned out to be difficult. I have, however, managed to go to weight training classes in the morning before work, so I decided to simply switch those. Weights in the morning, running in the afternoon. Not everyday of course, and weight training not as often as I would have liked to.

And then there is training for Os Triathlon which is in just two weeks. I have quickly come to realize that I cannot set big goals for this race, as the most important thing ahead is the Amsterdam Marathon. Still, training for triathlon is a lot of fun, and participating will be great fun, too. So I have been practicing for it once a week. The first time it was only 9 degrees C in the air, and I think it was the coldest swim I've had so far. The second time, though, the weather was great, I made new friends, and we even had a swim without the wet suits after practice.

It is important to keep the fun elements in the training routine, but it takes a day of running away from my weekly schedule. Is it wise? Fortunately my much more experienced running friends assure me that it is indeed a good idea. Swimming and biking instead of running once a week, can indeed give the same training effect and in addition save the legs.

Another plan was to incorporate a lot of Stoltzekleiven sessions into my practice. That has not been happening either; so far I have only been up there three times... A strange and unexpected thing has been happening slowly over time: Amsterdam Marathon, which merely used to be a distant hope, is becoming a realistic goal as I have increased the length of my long runs to 30 km. At the same time, Stoltzekleiven, which used to be one of the main goals of this year, is slowly diminishing in importance in the shadow of Amsterdam. After all, I can always do Stoltzekleiven next year. However, if I do manage to run a full marathon, I am not sure that I will want to do it again.

So, if my general training scheme with some biking, some uphills, regular intervals, some trail runs with integrated Stoltzekleiven, and a lot of mileage in running can give me a good finish time at Stoltzekleiven, I will take it. If not, I will be perfectly fine with that, too. How interesting... Last year, achieving a new PB at Stoltzekleiven became almost a matter of life and death, and  now suddenly it is not so important anymore.

Having friends with the same goals, in particular Frank, is also playing a big role here. There are a few of us who are trying to follow very similar programs, and exchanging training schedules and experiences has been most valuable. Frank and I are doing almost all our runs together, and we are trying to gather with friends as often as we can make our program fit that. We are also entering a few races, 5k and 10k, just to get some speed training. But like with Os Triathlon, there is no way we can put big goals into these races, as we cannot afford to take time off to rest before them.

Training for marathon, in addition to having a life outside of running, does require quite a bit of stubbornness and sacrifice indeed. Most of the time it is fun, but sometimes, especially towards the end of some long runs, I cannot but fall into negative thoughts... "Why???? Why on earth am I doing this????" And then you hit the shower, and as the hot water meets your body, all the blisters and bruises start burning.... Oh well. No matter how it all goes, this kind of training has in fact already made me achieve my biggest all time goal already. I wanted to be in such a shape that I could enter any race at short notice. I am more or less there now. Give me anything, and a few days' rest before it, and I will do it! Seriously.

But not Aurland Extreme.... I will never do that. I promise.... I think :-)

Back to 12 degrees Celcius

Be careful what you wish for 'cause you just might get it... (Eminem)

Four months ago, I had a blog entry with the title "Take me to 12 degrees Celcius".  At the time it was written, I was complaining about the cold running conditions in Scandinavia; I had a few runs in Stockholm and Bergen around Easter. It was so cold that my injury, which I thought had healed, started to bother me again. Going back to the much more pleasant running conditions in Istanbul after the Easter break felt wonderful. This time it's the opposite. The wonderful running conditions in Istanbul turned less wonderful in June and it started to become simply too hot. It got worse in July when I went to Bodrum  (further south) for the summer holidays. The last few runs in Bodrum were incredibly slow. Even intervals of 1 km were at a pace which I was able to keep for about 10 km in the spring. Still Frank and I managed to perform our scheduled training and the last run of the holidays was a new record for me: 28 km! Given the heat, I am hoping that it can count as 32 :-)

Then of course I started longing for the cool summer of Norway. Unfortunately Bergen has had the worst July in more than 46 years, with records of rain and low temperatures. However, as soon as we got home, we were lucky enough to get a nice afternoon of no rain and guess what: yes, exactly 12 degrees temperature! The running felt nice and easy, but not as fast as I hoped for. I was thinking that the heavy training conditions in the heat would result in speedy legs as soon as I hit the lower temperatures. But perhaps it still takes the body a little bit of time to get the speed up, although the form is OK. We will see. In the run of yesterday was also integrated a climb up Stoltzekleiven. Also the time up there was terrible for me. Frank is doing much better. I am wondering whether it is because he was running with me, at my pace, in Turkey for the past three weeks, except the intervals. Perhaps the really slow long runs, combined with intervals at the correct speed, gave him a form boost? This is what is written all over the place, 80% of your runs should be slow, even if you are an amateur and run only a few times a week.

Anyways, back home, I have now started to try to plan my training ahead. The big goal is of course Amsterdam Marathon, but there is also Os Triathlon in just 4 weeks, and then Stoltzekleiven Opp in a couple of weeks after that. I hope to manage a bike+swim session once a week until Os, and 2-3 Stoltzekleiven trainings a week. Is this wise? Should I be concentrating only on Amsterdam? I am not sure. I have started to feel some knee discomfort, so perhaps moving a little bit of my endurance training to biking is not a bad idea. And Stoltzekleiven gives leg strength and uphill training which should come in handy in Amsterdam. The trouble is the time. I have to find time for all this plus 2-3 strength training sessions per week.

I will try to continue my Istanbul routine of training early in the morning before going to work a few times a week. Perhaps park my car at work at 6 am, run to Sandviken along the fjord, go up Stoltzekleiven, and then run back to work, shower and be ready by 8:30. Then do my other runs and strength training in the afternoons. Will this work? Is it too ambitious? Time will show.

You won't succeed unless you dare to fail...

With the sweat dripping from my nose, elbows and fingertips

Blood, sweat and tears... or just sweat, sweat and sweat.

Why do we sweat when we get hot? It is the body's way of cooling itself down. When we sweat, our skin gets wet. As all liquids, the sweat evaporates in normal conditions, especially when the skin is hot, and the evaporation process cools the skin. So far so good. However, mind the phrase "in normal conditions". When the air humidity is very high, then the air cannot take up much liquid, and the sweat does not evaporate, regardless of how hot the weather is and how hot you are. When the conditions are like this, the sweat works actually against its purpose. Instead of cooling you down, it covers you with a layer of wetness that adds to the strain of running or training in hot weather.

Here in Bodrum, although I have been starting my runs very early in the morning (I try to finish them before the sun is up, except the really long ones), the temperatures have been around 27 degrees C at the start of my runs. As long as the air is not humid, this still works out pretty well, due to the constant pleasant wind along the shore. However, when the air is humid, even the wind is not enough to dry the sweat, although it of course gives a cooling effect. My pace has been terrible during the recent runs, and I was feeling a bit down about this. But then I started reading about the subject.

It turns out that under the mentioned conditions, one should add about a whole minute to one's pace (min/km). And one should monitor heart rate carefully for interval training, so that one only cares about the heart rate zone and not the speed. The heart rate goes up much higher than normal under such conditions, and pushing it too hard can actually be hazardous. It is also very important to drink plenty. There are a lot of small shops along my route, but their opening times vary a lot, from 5 am to 8 am. So I have to plan my routes carefully to make sure that I always have an open shop every 6-7 km, which sometimes means that I have to go back and forth instead of going all the way to the end during long runs.

Despite the conditions, I have been able to keep up two interval sessions, one or two 12-14 km go-with-the-feeling runs, and one really long slow run (the longest for me so far is 26 km) per week, in addition to two-three strength training sessions and two-three swimming sessions. I am really hoping that all this will result in a big improvement in pace and endurance once I hit the cool weather of Norway.

There is no shortcut to Amsterdam...

Running away from the heat on a treadmill

And not succeeding...

In the beginning of the holidays I was optimistically thinking that I could do some of my runs on the treadmill to avoid the heat outside or having to get up very early in the morning. Unfortunately, in addition to being very boring, treadmill running turned out to be quite hot, too. The treadmills I'm using this summer have big touch screens connected to internet, so it is possible to watch entertaining stuff from YouTube. I started out with a 1 hour 10 minute long Jerry Seinfeld stand up show, which I thought would keep me going for about 10 km. I managed to finish the 10 km but it was really no fun at all. Even though the gym is much cooler than outside, I suppose it is still pretty warm, like about 20 degrees. It feels fine when you start running, but after a while the sweating gets really annoying. More annoying than outside, and there is no wind to dry you up. The fact that the surroundings are not moving affects the brain in a negative way, I have read. Like, "We are not getting anywhere!"

I then thought doing intervals should be fine on the treadmill, so I tried that the next time. I am used to doing intervals on the treadmill from Barry's Bootcamp and from training on my own. It is much more fun than running a long distance. Still, this time it turned out to be more challenging than expected. I had planned 20 x 400 m intervals with 60 sec rest in between. For each interval I figured out that 14 km/h (about 4:15 pace) is a good speed on the mill for me... I managed to do only five intervals. I cannot really explain what stopped me from doing more, but I think it was mainly the heavy sweating. The sweat was running in my ears and making my ear phones fall off, and my fingers were so wet that the touch screen did not react to my instructions. I then did 10 x 200 m intervals at the same speed instead. And then I simply could not convince my brain to go on.

A few days later I was able to complete the 20 x 400 m intervals outside. Because of the temperature the speed was quite a bit lower, but the heart rate got to zone 4-5 as it was supposed to, and I did manage to complete all the intervals, although I really really wanted to stop after 10. Of course it helped a lot that Frank was with me for the outside intervals. Doing such a thing alone is much harder. Perhaps if I did the treadmill intervals with someone, I would also be able to complete them. But the static speed of the treadmill is also somewhat demotivating for the coming rounds. Outside, you can regulate the speed as you go, and you very quickly pinpoint some landmarks that show you how far you are from the end of the interval, and reaching them is great motivation for the mind. And even though the temperature is higher outside, the pleasant wind and the scenery really helps the state of mind.

After the first ten intervals we had a break of two minutes instead of one, and we drank some water. I was seriously considering not to continue, but I thought I could do two more before I stopped. After 12, I thought I could do 15 before I stopped. And then I thought, in the worst case, I can just go slower for the last intervals. There is something very special about passing half way, regardless of the distance or the count. Once you pass half of what you had planned, you are able to convince your brain to complete the rest. However, the thought that you will perhaps stop after just half of what you planned also helps your brain during the first half. Like, "If I really do well now, perhaps she will let me off the hook earlier than planned". It is a strange game. It is mainly about tricking your brain to continue all the time...

As a good running buddy repeats frequently (in stronger words): I really don't like running! :-)

Run, swim, lift, sleep, repeat

Holiday for the mind, boot camp for the body...

Holidays have started! I have been in Bodrum since Tuesday evening, and this is what has already happened so far:
Wednesday: Treadmill running and weight training at the gym, then swimming in the sea.
Thursday: Treadmill running and weight training at the gym.
Friday: Outdoor running and swimming before breakfast, weight training at the gym in the afternoon.
Saturday: Long run outdoors.

The rest of the family is arriving in a few days, and until then I have full freedom to just eat, train and sleep as I want. I get up very early, I sleep in between the sessions, and I go to bed very early. My mom serves me the most delicious and nutritious meals, and my mind is completely empty of work and other worries.  I don't even bother to stay at the beach outside of swimming, which fits perfectly with the fact that we've been on a ten-day-long public holiday and the beaches have been super crowded.

As always, planning is half the battle. Before coming to Bodrum, I checked possible gyms to attend for a month. Last year, I tried out the gym at Turgutreis marina, which worked out pretty well. But they did not have all the equipment that I need for my HSR exercises. To be as well prepared as possible against injuries towards Amsterdam marathon, I have restarted regular leg curls, leg extensions, hip abductions (inside and outside), and seated leg presses, in addition to various other exercises. I found out that a new gym has opened much closer to where I stay: Pürivol spa and fitness center of Swissotel Turgutreis. They have all the equipment that I need, and I started my membership there already the day after I arrived.

If you are planning to do something similar, I think starting your subscription already on the first day of your stay is important. Otherwise, things might get postponed and in the end perhaps never happen. When it comes to running, I was thinking that I would have to do it alone until Frank arrives next week. However, I have been so fortunate to have several of my friends from Team Istrunbul here for the public holidays. They have kept me company for the runs of yesterday and the day before; it has been great fun, and I am really grateful. What's more, my mom keeps me company for the swimming sessions. In fact, we're off to swimming right now!

Happy active holidays!

End of an era, beginning of something lifelong

It's not "good bye" it's "au revoir"...

My time in Istanbul is up. I cannot believe how fast the last six months have passed. I remember it like yesterday how excited and anxious I was about joining Team Istrunbul when I arrived.  A bunch of total strangers just half a year ago, a sweet gang of good friends, some of them really close, now. Work and reconnecting with old friend were the main reasons of my stay in Istanbul. But what has had the biggest effect on my daily life is my interaction with my new running friends. I have, after all spent a couple of hours with them 4-5 times a week for the past few months.

Planning is half the work, and I am very happy that I managed to get in touch with Team Istrunbul before coming so that I was ready to go from the first morning. I cannot imagine how training here would be if I did not join the group immediately. I would probably not even come up with the idea of running early in the morning, before work, especially in winter when it was dark and cold. I would most likely try to run in the evenings, and maybe give up after a while, seeing how crowded the pavements are during the day and in the evenings. Perhaps I would run much more on treadmill at the university gym. I would definitely have much less fun, many fewer friends, and not even close to the improvement I have had in my form.

Saying farewell to my friends in Bergen when coming to Istanbul was not so hard. I would, after all, return after a few months. Saying farewell to my friends in Istanbul is much harder. I will probably not come back for such a long period in a long time. But I will definitely come for shorter visits, as I have always done, and for sure I will go running with them every morning whenever I am here. But apart from that we have many opportunities to meet at races. Already in October many of them are also going to Amsterdam marathon. Then there are plans of coming to Norway for Bergen City marathon and the Tromsø midnight sun marathon in 2017. In fact, many of them are in Norway right now, racing today in Haugesund Ironman. One of my goals for next year is to participate and complete the 2017 version of this race, and I sure hope to see my Istrunbul friends there then.

In addition to running together, we have shared a lot of other nice moments. These beautiful people even threw me a farewell party. I have been so impressed with the kindness I have been shown. I have been invited to guest training and swimming facilities of some, yoga classes of others, to coffees, dinners, homes, and weekend trips. We have shared so many laughs, some serious and thoughtful moments, a lot of madness, and quite a bit of love. Thank you so much for everything guys! I will miss you a lot, but you know this is not the end. It is just the beginning!

Sometimes it takes a short time to grow an old friendship...