Losing weight and keeping it down

About 17 years ago, I was around 25 kg heavier than I am today. I was extremely unhappy about the situation, and I kept trying various low calorie diets. They worked for a few weeks, but I was unable to keep up with them over longer time. With two toddlers I found it difficult to find time to exercise, and I thought that everything would be fine if I just started exercising. When I finally started running about 15 years ago, I did indeed lose some weight, but only about 5 kg. I was quite frustrated that exercising was not helping more; I was after all running 2-3 times a week, and I had even started to do the Stoltzekleiven races! What more could I do? What I know today is that exercising alone is not enough. A run takes perhaps 400 calories off, but if you just eat a big muffin you get back all those calories...

After a lot of frustration and trying and failing in lots of diets on my own, what finally saved me was signing up for a Grete Roede course. I was really skeptical to start with, and honestly I did not actually believe that this would help me. Fortunately I had two friends who were also interested in losing weight so we signed up together. A Grete Roede course lasts 7 weeks (8 lessons), and you are in a group of 10-15 people who want to lose weight, some just a few kilos, some perhaps more than 20. You meet once a week, you are weighed by the teacher, your weight loss is announced to the others (but not your actual weight), and then the rest of the session you discuss experiences, what happened during the week, and get guidance and instructions from the teacher. The real clue is that you write down what you eat, and keep close track of your food intake; every single thing that you put in your mouth!

We were lucky to get the kindest and at the same time the most strict teacher you could think of: Anlaug Totland. She was so direct in her instructions that it was easy to just do exactly as she said. To my huge surprise I actually started to lose weight. At the same time I was eating much more than before; I could eat unlimited amounts of vegetables and salad, and this was a big revelation to me. I did not need to be hungry to lose weight! Who would have thought of that? I learned so much about nutrition during the first course, and for the first time in my life I realized that what I needed was not a diet but a life long new way of eating. I also had to learn to stop feeling sorry for myself. I always thought I was so unlucky to put on weight so easily, while others could eat much more and still stay skinny. Now I had to learn to just deal with it! Just think of it as a kind of an allergy. During the first course with Anlaug I lost 8 kg.  I continued on to two more courses with her during which I lost 10 kg more. In total 18 kg in 6 months!

Unfortunately keeping my weight at more or less that level continued to be a challenge. During the last 10 years, whenever my weight increased more than 3-4 kg I went back to a Grete Roede course, and every time it helped me get back on track. Instead of considering this a failure, I tried to embrace it as a great help to regain focus whenever I started to struggle. About 4 years ago I had two courses with the sweetest teacher ever, Elise Hetlevik, and she turned out the be Anlaug's grand daughter! Elise is very young, but she has an incredible energy and an impressive authority as a teacher. I followed an "active" course with her, where we had 45 minutes of a really tough spinning session after the weighing every week. Great concept! And guess what: 2 years ago I had to repeat the process, but this time with Elise's mother, and Anlaug's daughter, Linda Hetlevik! Wow, what a family of great motivators and incredibly positive and cheerful women! After getting once more back on track with Linda, for the first time I also signed up for the "keep your weight down" course. This goes over a whole year; you meet with your group once a month, and the goal is to simply stay focused. I think this is perhaps the most important course of them all, and I regret that I did not do this after the first three courses more than 10 years ago.

Nowadays, for the first time in my life I believe that I will be able to keep my good eating habits and my weight down more easily in the future. The fact that I am running more often and longer, and in general practicing and working out several times a week is of course helping a lot. Having regular personal training sessions is also a great way of staying in focus. My trainer Ketil and I discuss nutrition almost in every session, and in the beginning we also had the exercise of me writing down what I eat and Ketil analyzing it. We made a few changes in my diet, to make sure that I get enough nutrition to recover from the training without putting on weight. Although it was not one of my goals for the PT sessions, I did actually lose 4 kg since I started with them in March this year. I still want to lose a few more kilos, but the situation is quite different now. Earlier, I ran to lose weight, whereas now I want to lose weight so that I can run faster. On the other hand I still want to get stronger, and building muscles and losing weight at the same time is a delicate matter. Fortunately, Ketil is an expert also in this area with even personal experience that is both great motivation and excellent example to follow.

I know some strong people who have managed to lose substantial weight on their own. I think writing down what you eat is a very good method that has helped many people. There are nowadays many apps that you can use on your phone, and you can even scan the food in the store to get the calories directly calculated. You can also join online weight watching clubs, register your progress and share experiences with others. But if you are struggling to do it on your own, please don't waste too much time.

Get help! It works!

Easy ways don't work

When we want to achieve something, I think most of us are inclined to first test out the easiest and the most effortless way. Unfortunately, in my experience, there is no easy way to success; if something sounds too good to be true, then it most probably is. If you want to achieve something that is important to you, you have to work for it (I am putting it in a bit nicer way than Britney Spears ;-).

Over the years, I have tried many stupid things when it comes to easy ways, both for losing weight and for getting into better shape. For weight loss, I tried all sorts of pills that promise you that you can continue to eat as before and you will simply become slimmer. You won't. I even tried pills prescribed by a doctor; thinking that they will work better. They won't. If you have a serious weight problem, the only thing that works is to change your diet. Not for a short time, and then go back to your previous habits. No, you simply must change your diet for the rest of your life. It is not easy. It actually takes several years to finally become fully comfortable with your new healthier way of eating, without falling back to the old habits. But it is totally worth it! (More about this in the next post.)

I have tried a few easy ways for getting fitter, too. After I started running and feeling in better shape, I thought it was time to tone my muscles. You see, at that time I wasn't really interested in getting stronger, just getting a better physical appearance in an easy way. A friend suggested Bailine, and it sounded like a great idea! In every session, you just lie there for 30 minutes with lots of electrodes attached to your muscles.  The muscles are stimulated and they work while you relax, and you get a work out without lifting a finger.... Well, for me this ended up being a waste of time. I did not notice any improvement of my muscle tone or shrinkage of my waist line; I actually put on some weight during this adventure! I know that some people are actually quite happy with the results that they get with this kind of muscle stimulation. But if you are physically able, then I think your time is so much better spent in actual strength training.

Although I had tried Bailine and was not really impressed, I still went ahead, after a couple of years, and bought a muscle stimulator for home use (the one in the picture). Again, I let myself fool by fancy ads. I was running even more now, and in quite good shape. I thought lying at a Bailine studio was a waste of time, but the home use muscle stimulator sounded like a better idea, since you could use it while doing other things in the house. Of course it did not work; what was I thinking? If you want to tone your muscles or get stronger, you simply have to work for it! However, in the end this did not turn out to be such a stupid buy after all. Since I started to run longer and more often during the last 6-7 months, I find the massage function of this device quite useful. Whenever I have an injury or pain, it helps a lot, along with foam rolling and compression, to apply some mild muscle stimulating massage... "Aldri så galt at det ikke er godt for noe."

Work hard, play hard!

Stoltzekleiven in our hearts

 

I can thank two vigorous women for being where I am today, who gently pushed me onto a path that eventually led me to become stronger and faster: my friend Benedicte and my sister-in-law Gro. You already know how Benedicte got me started on running, and how Gro got me started at Barry’s Bootcamp. Another thing that Gro got me into, many years before Barry’s Bootcamp, is Stoltzekleiven (Stoltzen for short). This is a steep hill in Bergen; about 900 meters in length and 300 meters in elevation, where there is a race every year in September.

Gro and her husband had been participating since several years, and Gro kept asking me to join and I kept refusing, until one day, 13 years ago, I finally accepted. This was not long after I had started running, and I felt in better shape than ever before. Gro, the kindest sister-in-law on earth, immediately took me on my first Stoltzen walk and assisted me all the way up. She was walking just a meter in front of me and explaining to me all the way how much was left and what was to come next, as well as encouraging and exclaiming how well I was doing. We completed this first walk up in 22 minutes, and Gro was ecstatic about how good this was for a first time. I participated in the race that year and made it in 19:35.

After that I kept participating every year unless there was something in the way, and my finishing times slowly improved. For several years I was around 17 something, and then, when I had been a regular at Barry’s for about a year, in the fall of 2013, I made a real jump. I felt really in good shape that year, and during training I made it to around 16:50 a couple of times. I was simply hoping to repeat this at the race... You can imagine how shocked I was when I actually ended up at 15:58! This was so much better than I was expecting, and I seriously thought that this was the best I could ever do. So I decided at that moment to never do Stoltzekleiven again. Just resign while at the top!

During the Christmas break 2013/2014, when some friends asked us to join them on a trip to Italy exactly the weekend of Stoltzen 2014 race, my husband Frank and I accepted gladly, since we were anyway not going to do the race. However, this was before I had set my goal of Oslo half marathon and started my PT sessions with Ketil… During the spring of 2014 my form very quickly and very surprisingly improved a lot, and I started to regret that I would not participate at Stoltzen 2014. By then I knew that I could beat my record from last year, and Ketil even predicted that I could come down to 14 something. So there I was, feeling sad that I would not do the race, and Ketil who has a solution to everything, suggested that I join the Stoltzekarusellen.

Stoltzekarusellen is a kind of trial Stoltzen race repeated four times, with two weeks’ intervals, starting a couple of months before the actual race. The really really cool part about it is that, if you are not registered for the real race, the last Stoltzekarusell race counts as having participated in the real race! The not so cool part was that the last karusell race was just two days after Oslo half marathon… would it be possible to make a good time with so tired legs? Still I found the whole idea really motivating, and I started participating in the Stoltzekarusell races. My finishing times for the first three were: 16:13, 15.23, and 15:08. It was incredibly motivating to keep improving and having these records registered, and I am extremely grateful to Ketil for having suggested this.

Then came the day of the last karusell race. As you might remember, I had serious pain behind my knees after the half marathon in Oslo, and I was really not sure whether I should participate in the last Stoltzekarusell. What if I made a really really bad time, perhaps even worse than last year? But I really really wanted to try, too… The two people I trust the most in these matters, Frank and Ketil, both said “Go for it!” (Ketil with lots of precise instructions about how to treat my legs before and after), so I went. And I managed 15:10!!! Oh how happy I was! I am pretty certain that if I could participate in the real race, which was five days later, I would easily make it to 14 something, exactly as Ketil had predicted several months ago.

I cannot describe how wonderful it feels to think that I can improve even further in the future. My Team Melkesyre has a training up Stoltzekleiven every Thursday, and this year almost everybody in the team achieved a new PR at the race. These people are all amazing and a great inspiration to me!

Next year, my goal is… (I don’t want to jinx it so I won’t write the number)… let’s say a substantial improvement!

Personal training

Getting a personal trainer (PT) is a surprisingly efficient way to quickly improve your form and eventually reach your goals. But what makes a good PT? I had no idea before I got one myself. When I signed up for a chat with a PT at Barry’s Bootcamp Bergen, I wrote the names of a few instructors, and asked to be assigned to one of them if possible. My selection criteria were simple: female or close to my age. I guess I wanted a potential PT to have at least some physical feature in common with me.

I got assigned to Ketil Ola Skjelvan, and I think by now you know how extremely enthusiastic I am about having him as my trainer.  In fact, all personal trainers at Barry’s Bootcamp are excellent; I see them in action with their students in the PT room, and they all do a fantastic job. The reason I consider myself extra lucky to work with Ketil is that his competence and experience match perfectly all the goals that I have set so far. Before a race, besides preparing me for it with exercises, he explains to me in detail and in pictures how the course will be (because he has of course participated many times himself), and how fast I should go at various stages. Every time I manage to do exactly as he says, it works just perfectly! I have reached all my initial goals so far, and many more that were set on the go, simply by following his instructions to the letter. Ketil is also incredibly good in predicting my race finishing times, which means he has an impressive overview of my form. I find all this very reassuring, and it gives me 100% confidence both in the path that I am following and in Ketil's expertise.

Unfortunately, I have heard stories about PTs in other gyms who are not anywhere near this. PTs fiddling with their phones or talking to others while you are doing your exercises… or PTs who are very encouraging and complimenting, but not pushing you hard enough. Based on my own experience, I recommend that you make sure that your PT:

• Gives you his/her full attention throughout the whole PT session
• Understands your goals and wishes, and makes a clear plan on how to achieve them, so that you know all the time where you are headed and why you are doing exactly those exercises
• Is super encouraging, motivating, and complimenting you on your efforts (as long as you are working hard of course)
• Acknowledges every one of your accomplishments no matter how small they are, and makes you feel like you are the best in the world
• Is sincerely interested in your questions, and has the right answers
• Pushes you out of your comfort zone every single PT session, so you become stronger every time
• Knows about injuries, equipment, and nutrition, in addition to having competence in training towards exactly your goal
• Makes you feel like a proper athlete

If you already have a PT and you are not getting all this, then I would recommend to have a chat with your PT, or consider changing. On the other hand, if you are not working properly according to your PT’s recommendations, then you will not get the results you want no matter how fantastic your PT is. Here are some guidelines which I think are important for you to follow for your PT sessions to work optimally:

• You simply must do as your PT advises you (also outside of the PT sessions) in order to reach your goals. If not, then you are wasting your time and money, as well as your PT’s time.
• Let your PT lead the way and be the boss, once you have agreed upon the goals. Don’t challenge his/her authority; he/she is the teacher; you are the student. (Asking questions is of course very good!)
• Have an open minded and positive attitude. Don’t complain about the hardness of the exercises or about being exhausted. This is exactly why you are there; this is what makes you strong.
• Be super focused and work hard during each entire PT session, don’t watch or talk to others who are training at the same time.
• Be honest about everything; this will make it easier for your PT to assess your form and your needs.
• If you are experiencing pain or injury, let your PT know immediately.
• Every now and then, ask whether you are doing all the exercises correctly, and ask your PT to correct you for any imperfections.
• Show your gratitude when you are happy about the results that you are getting.

Give it a try; it's really really fun, too!

Melkesyre: pushing each other to new heights

If you want to take your running experience to the next level, joining a group of runners is a great way of doing it. In August this year I joined Team Melkesyre which is a group of incredibly inspiring, motivating, and fun loving runners. I had met a few of them during the Skåla Opp race a couple of weeks earlier, and I got curious about their weekly training sessions. After emailing with them a couple of times, I showed up at one of the Saturday uphill interval training sessions.

These people are extremely nice and welcoming! I felt a part of the team already at the first session, and I even got a team t-shirt the same day! This first practice was an awesome experience;  it gave me a real "high"; a huge boost of energy, inspiration, and motivation. I was quite relieved to see that the team members are at various levels. Some are super good, participating in many races and achieving top rankings, some are new beginners, and there are people from every level in between. The age range is really wide as well. However, I must admit that I was very happy to discover many people in my age group. I find the great achievements of people in their 40s or 50s (or older!) extra inspiring and motivating; it gives me hope that anything I want is achievable, and I can still get better and faster for many years to come.

The stories of these wonderful people are surprisingly similar, and I could group them into:

• Those who were quite inactive until their 30s (like me!!), and started running and training seriously during the last 10 years
• Those who were active when they were young, then had some 10-15 years of inactive life style, and now they are back in shape
• Those who have been in great shape and racing all their lives

The most unbelievable part is that some of the people from the first category are among the fastest ones, racing and winning all the time. Everything is possible if you just want it bad enough and work hard enough for it! I just cannot describe how inspiring and motivating I find this. It is a source of encouragement every single time I train with them; actually every single day. And the best of all: no matter which shape they were in when they joined Melkesyre, they have quickly become much better and they keep improving all the time. Most of them reach new personal best at every race that they participate, and it is great inspiration to read about their experiences and see pictures that are generously shared on Facebook.

Training together with others gives a unique opportunity to push yourself further than you do when you train alone. Especially in such a group, where most people are better than you (at least to start with), you get pushed all the time, and you improve very quickly. You cannot imagine how nice these guys and gals are in motivating and pushing others. Every time somebody passes me (happens a lot, yes), I get encouraging  comments like, "Come on", "up with the chin",  "don't stop", "keep up with me", "try to pass me", etc. In addition to the weekly training sessions, there are also plenty of social activities within the group. I am really looking forward to joining some of those and getting to know the team members better.

Everybody is welcome at Melkesyre, so you might want to give it a try. There are also such groups at many workplaces, and I have friends who have had similar very uplifting experiences with other running groups. Find one that works for you, and try to go to at least one of their practices every week.

Together we are stronger and faster!

The foam roller - a runner's best friend

 

Tomorrow I am flying to the US on a short trip. It is a ridiculously short trip; I will be on American soil less than 48 hours! Due to the shortness of the trip and tight connections, I am traveling with only hand luggage. And thanks to the extreme shortness of the stay, I don't need to take much with me, so I have space for the most important thing: the foam roller!

If you don't have a foam roller, you simply MUST get one. It is the ultimate health care equipment for a runner. I try to roll every day; it is a great way of massaging sore muscles and stiff bands. Now with my ITBS injury, I should be rolling several times a day. That's why traveling without it was not an option this time. I was worried that it would be a bit too big for the hand luggage, but it fits! And one can even use the hollow inside to store fragile items...

I was not at all so enthusiastic about a foam roller before I owned one. It was recommended to me by my trainer Ketil (as everything else) but it took me a few weeks before I was finally convinced to get one (now that I know how perfectly every single one of his recommendations works, I never think twice). He observed that I seemed stiff on the backside of my legs, close to my ankles. When I started rolling, I experienced indeed a lot of pain in exactly that area! Once you start rolling, you will discover many painful and stiff areas of your body that you did not know were in need of help.

If you want to try it, get one with textured surface for deeper and tougher massaging.

Running analysis at Drevelin

Today I had another interesting and fun experience that I want to share while it's still fresh in memory. I had a running analysis at Drevelin, conducted by Kirsten Marathon Melkevik.

During the last three kilometers of Oslo half marathon, my legs, especially right behind my knees started to hurt really badly. After the race, the pain stayed for a few days, and then slowly disappeared. Unfortunately about ten days ago, it came back, and this time it seemed that it was here to stay. I was blaming myself for not resting enough after Oslo, as the pain came during the last of four consecutive days of long uphill running. My physiotherapist suggested that my feet might not be correctly positioned during running so that my knees could be bending inwards. When I mentioned this to my trainer Ketil, he immediately recommended that I talk to Kirsten at Drevelin.

I called last week and got an appointment for today, and in the meanwhile I kept searching the Internet on what might be causing my pain. I concluded that it must be ITBS, and the remedy seemed to be extensive massaging with a foam roll and stretching properly. I did this for a few days without getting any improvement, but then I read the information again, and realized that I should be massaging somewhere completely different than behind he knees: the side of the thighs! And boy did this hurt!! I was very happy that I had found the source of the pain and how to deal with it. During yesterday's personal training session, Ketil put special emphasis on strength exercises targeted for this injury, and today I was feeling better than in many days. Almost no pain! Now it was time to find out the cause of the injury and whether I needed insoles.

So there I was today at Drevelin and was greeted by a smiling Kirsten. I must admit I was a bit starstruck at first (for my friends out in the world: Kirsten is a big Norwegian star in long distance and uphill running),  she turned out to be the nicest person on earth! Before the running analysis, she examined my feet, hips, and legs, and concluded the same injury and the same remedy that I had figured out, so that was reassuring. She also predicted that there was nothing wrong with me except my running shoes! I went on the treadmill with my usual running shoes, she was watching and filming, and afterwards we watched it together.  It was easy to see that I was not stepping right, I was pushing my weight inwards, although when I am standing still my natural inclination is to do the opposite. So my knees were indeed bending inwards during running. Then we tried again with a pair of shoes Kirsten suggested, and I was quite shocked to see the difference. With the new shoes, I was running with my feet nicely leveled and no imbalance. And this despite the fact that both shoes are advanced running shoes made for normal feet. The problem with my old shoes was that they were a bit too much built up on the inner side, and a bit too soft. Who could have known??

Kirsten was very reassuring that my injury would soon be gone with proper shoes, no uphill running for a while, and a lot of massaging and stretching. I am really really happy about that, especially the fact that flat running and all other exercises are OK to go on with. She was also extremely positive and supportive, and complimented me generously on my balance and running style, and the strength of my legs and ankles. You can imagine how inspiring and motivating it is to get such feedback from a star. She definitely made my day!

If you're struggling with recurring injuries, you might want to get a running analysis.

Fitness test at SIB Testlab

Now here is something that was really fun to try! I had my fitness level tested at a lab in August this year. For a few months I had been reading about running and paying attention to terms like VO2 max, heart rate zones, and lactate threshold. These are indicators of how good physical shape you are in, and I was curious to find out my values. There are plenty of online calculators for VO2 max and your “physiological age”, but somehow I could not trust these as the information they ask for seems too shallow. So one day, during a personal training session, I mentioned this to Ketil, and he immediately suggested SIB Testlab at Vektertorget in Bergen. He had himself been there and taken the test. (This guy is unbeilevable; he has so much knowledge and experience on so many things, in particular all the things that I am interested in and curious about. Whatever I want to try out, he has already done it and can give me tons of advice on the topic. More about personal trainers later.)

I made an appointment at SIB Testlab and showed up there not knowing exactly what would happen. I knew that I would be running and sweating, so I was in my indoor training outfit, but I had underestimated the whole procedure. It actually turned out to be a full workout! The day before, I had been doing some interval training so my legs were tired, and I had a sore throat, which made the test day not an optimal one. For the VO2 max test, one really needs to push it to the limits, so if you’re on a bad day, you might end up not being able to complete the test.

I was welcomed by Dag Hilland who conducted the test. He is a great motivator and I really enjoyed doing the test with him. First I was on a scale and my weight was registered. Then I went on the treadmill for the lactate threshold test. From my age, how many times I run every week, and what kind of performances I had on previous races, Dag calculated a starting speed of 8 km/h on the mill which was at a slight incline. I ran at this speed for 10 minutes. Towards the end of this round I had to breathe into a tube (like the one on the picture) for about half a minute, and at the end I got a short break, where Dag pierced my finger for a blood sample. Then this whole procedure was repeated with the speed increasing by 1 km/h every 5 minutes.  My test ended when I completed the round at which the speed was 12 km/h (and all fingers of one hand had been pierced). Although I was not at all exhausted, my lactate threshold was reached. Already at this point Dag could tell me that my threshold was probably around 11.4 km/h. After this came the VO2 test. During this test, I breathed into the tube the whole time (but no piercing of fingers). This time the mill started at a bit more incline and a speed of 10 km/h. After every minute, Dag would ask whether it was OK to increase the speed by 1 km/h, and I would indicate yes or no with my hand (as I was not able to speak due to the tube). We continued without a break until we reached 15 km/h. After 60 seconds there I had to say no to a further increase of the speed as I was barely managing. But my VO2 max was not reached yet so Dag asked if I could go on for another minute at the same speed. I indicated yes to that one. Fortunately by the end of that minute we reached the VO2 max (I was watching it on the screen, it has to increase until it starts decreasing, and that’s how you know that the max is reached). During this whole procedure Dag was incredibly helpful, shouting and cheering me on to continue as I was getting more and more exhausted. He was exclaiming enthusiastic comments about the values I reached, which was extremely motivating.

My VO2 max value ended up being 52.6, which is supposed to be pretty good even for younger females, so I was happy about that. I was a little worried about my threshold speed of 11.4 km/h, since my aim for Oslo would be to run with an average speed of 11.5 km/h (which would give exactly 1:50 as finish time). In the end my worries came true; I could keep 11.5 km/h only for 18 km, and got very much slower at the end. Wiser now, I think I should have planned an average speed below my threshold, like 11.3 km/h, which would perhaps be possible to keep for 21 km and would give 1:52, better than the 1:55 I ended up with. (If you've never competed, I know what you're thinking: "1:50, 1:52, 1:55... why on earth does it matter?". But once you start competing with yourself, believe me: every second counts!)

Later that week, I got a full analysis of the test by email from Dag, and I could find my heart rate zones for training. For example, my threshold of 11.4 km/h corresponds to heart rate 162. So I should be doing my hard and very hard training (like intervals) at and above this heart rate, whereas my zone 1 training (slow and recovery runs) should be at around heart rate 123.

I think this test will be a great way to compare where I am now and where I will be in a few months, when I am planning to take the test again. If you’d like to try this out I can really recommend SIB Testlab. I saw a newspaper article about this test recently; it turns out that major gyms offer this test, too. However, the SIB prices seem to be the most reasonable of them all, and I cannot imagine a more motivating test coach than Dag.

I’ll be back at SIB in April/May 2015!

How to start running

When I was in my late teens and early twenties I tried a few times to start jogging. We lived close to Tveitevannet, a lake which is 1.8 km around and quite flat, and this was the venue for my few attempts. Unfortunately they all ended in complete frustration. I could only run a few hundred meters and then I would be completely out of breath and exhausted. I did not see the point of this endeavor and I simply gave up!

About ten years later I was inspired to try again. This time we lived on top of a hill, about 2 km from the same Tveitevannet. I had just met Benedicte, who lived close by and would soon become a close friend. I was impressed to learn that she could run down to Tveitevannet, around, and all the way back up. She had started not long ago, and this motivated me to give my old running project another try. If she could do it, then maybe I could as well?

At least it was easy to get started. It was 2 km downhill to the lake, so no problem to run all the way until I reached the lake. (I am much more cautious about running downhill nowadays.) Around the lake I would run some and walk some, and then walk all the way back home. After a while I could complete a whole round around the lake without having to walk. The clue is to take it really easy. Just run very slowly until you can do a few kilometers without walking, before you try to increase your speed. The next phase was to try to run up the hill on the way home. Again, walk some, run some, until one day I could run it all! Albeit very slowly! It took only a couple of months from the first attempt until I could run the whole course, from home and back.

Why did it work when I was 30 but not when I was 20? I think I was much more motivated the second time; I was quite desperate to do something about losing weight and getting in shape. Being older, I was also perhaps more patient. Having a role model, who was around my age and in a similar work/family situation, definitely helped a lot, too. It is really great to have somebody to run with, especially in the beginning. You can push each other, and appointments make sure that planned running actually does happen.

If I could, then you can, too. Just do it!

Bootcamp training

I remember very clearly how nervous I was when I was about to attend my first class at Barry's Bootcamp in Bergen in May 2012. My sister-in-law Gro was already a regular there and she kept recommending it to me. She was extremely happy about how much stronger and faster she had become in short time there. I was skeptical, mainly because Gro was in much better shape than I was (she still is - we both kept improving and she is always an inspiration). I simply thought Barry’s would be too tough for me. At that point I was either street running or fast uphill walking a couple of times a week as my regular exercise. I was also a attending a self service 24/7 open gym, and spent time on the treadmill there when the weather was too bad for running.

In the beginning of May 2012, I was thinking of getting in shape for the summer, and suddenly one day I decided to give Barry’s a try. I bought 20 classes online without even trying it first, signed up for a class and showed up. My goal was to finish all these classes until the end of June, before going on holidays. The way Barry’s works is that every day of the week targets particular body parts and all classes that day are designed to work out those body parts. Half of the time you are running on the treadmill and half of the time you are on the floor strength training, changing between the two at various intervals. Your instructor is super motivating and all the ingredients are there so that you really get to push your limits. That first class, I was so happy to be able to run above the minimum speed suggested by the instructor. But when it came to strength, it felt like I simply had zero, nada, nothing, not a single muscle in my body. I could not do the exercises properly, and I could not even lift the lightest weights. It was frightening to see how weak I was, but a real delight to experience the increase in my strength from week to week. By the end of June, when I finished my 20 classes, I could perform all the floor exercises, and I had even advanced to heavier weights. I was ecstatic! I had clearly found the proper way and place to train.  I was home!

So I became a regular. The instructors at Barry’s are simply amazing. They are all highly skilled, and extremely positive and motivating. Every class of every instructor is different every time; you never know what is coming. Nothing ever becomes a routine for your body, and it gets to push new limits every single time. The customers are at various fitness levels; some are really fast and strong, but far from all. Although it’s fun to try to beat the person on the treadmill next to you, it’s not a competition. It doesn’t even matter if you cannot make the lowest speed suggested by the instructor. The only thing that matters is that everybody does his or her best.

If you want to get serious about your running, you need to get your body strong as well. Not only your legs, but also your back, core, butt, and arms.  The intervals on the treadmill provide a great boost to your running, too.  So bootcamp training is highly recommended. I love Barry’s Bootcamp, but there are probably other similar concepts out there, like cross-fit (which looks really cool and I’d like to try it at some point) and bootcamp classes offered at regular gyms (I have no idea about the level of those). The most important thing is to sign up for something that really gets you out of your comfort zone. If it’s all too nice and cozy, and you’re not drenched in sweat afterwards, then believe me it’s not working.  Don’t throw away your time and money on easy exercising, thinking that you’re getting better. Sign up for something that is both hard and fun, with surprising elements so it doesn’t become routine, and where you notice that your form improves all the time.

Harder, better, faster, stronger!

Last things first: Oslo half marathon 2014

My running buddy Benedicte and I booked our tickets and hotel for this event several months ahead of time, and we left Bergen on an 08:30 flight to Oslo on the day of the race, Saturday September 25. Our starting time was just before 2 pm, so this seemed to be a perfect plan, but as the race day got closer we both got a bit worried about what would happen in case of delays. Fortunately everything worked perfectly, the flight was on time, and at 11 am on the race day, we had already fetched our race numbers and arrived at the hotel.

I had a bit of pain in my legs from a test run on Wednesday the same week, but with compression and massaging, everything felt actually quite good on the race day. After advice from my trainer Ketil, I had bought compression socks and wore them on the flight. Flying on the day of the race is after all not the best way to get ready for it, even if everything works on time.

I really wanted to finish in around 1:50! I had made Bergen City in 2:00, I was in much better shape now than then, and everybody kept saying that Oslo is so much easier than Bergen, because it is much flatter. Well, it did not work out quite that way for me. I realized during the race that it is really of great help to know the course. In Bergen I knew exactly where I was running, how long it was until the end of that road, that hill, etc, whereas in Oslo I was completely lost. The few hills arrived towards the end, I started to get exhausted, and I had no idea how long an uphill would last, although we had of course studied the map beforehand. Until the 18th km I managed to keep my schedule of 1:50, but at that point my legs and feet really started to hurt. Still, frantically calculating in my head, I was thinking that I would be able to finish in 1:52 in the worst case. Towards the end it was so painful that the only thought in my head was “don’t start walking, don’t start walking”. I finished in 1:55:01. Not extremely happy, but not devastated either. I think one of the reasons I got pain towards the end was that I did not include enough mileage in my training towards Oslo. I did a lot of intervals which gave me a great increase in speed, but I think I should have done a few more longer runs close to the race.

In the evening of the run, while lying on our beds in our hotel room, Benedicte and I both exclaimed that we would never ever run a half marathon again. (Just the same day during lunch we were talking about running a full marathon and being really optimistic about it…) Fortunately, the next morning everything felt better, and we both agreed that we were already looking forward to Bergen City half marathon 2015!

Trying to be as objective as I can, I must say that Bergen City Marathon was much better organized than Oslo Marathon. The half marathon course in Bergen is a proper loop, whereas in Oslo we kept running back and forth along boring areas. The drink stations in Oslo were a joke! No food at all (in Bergen we got bananas and chocolate) and the last station was just 2 km before finish. (I even subscribed to sports gel, but ended up drinking my own gels.) On the positive side, the crowd in Oslo was really great towards the finish; at one point I did actually start walking and several people cheered me to start running again. It is also a great idea to print the first names on the race numbers. The crowd was shouting my name and cheering me on during the last kilometer; that was great fun!

Next year? Bergen, for sure! Oslo, probably not.

How it started

It actually started about 15 years ago (before that I never ever ran), and progressed slowly until the end of 2013, but that's a story for another post soon. My serious running adventure started in February/March 2014, and progressed very quickly. In December 2013 I was in the following shape: I exercised on average three times a week. (I called it exercising then, now I call it training.) A typical exercise session for me was a 5-7 km run, or a fast hike up to Mount Ulriken the steep way, or a class at Barry's Bootcamp in Bergen. I started at Barry's Bootcamp in May 2012, which quickly resulted in a significant improvement of my form. By December 2013, I was quite happy with my fitness level, content with my exercise scheme, and all I wanted was to keep things steady at that level for the future. Well at least that's what I thought I wanted...

During Christmas 2013 I had my first 10 km run. I  managed to complete it in exactly one hour, on a slightly hilly asphalt road on a windy day. I was really happy with this achievement. During that Christmas break, my dear friend and neighbor Benedicte (she was the one who got me started on running 15 years ago) suggested that we participate in Oslo half marathon in September 2014. I was really skeptical at first; 21 km sounded really a lot at that time, but when she went ahead and registered, I got my act together and signed up as well. Around the same time, at Barry's they were offering free consultancy sessions with a personal trainer (PT). I had previously considered the issue of a PT and decided against it since I had no future goals and I was happy with the level of my training. Now that I actually had a goal I decided to sign up for a chat with a PT. That turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made. I was assigned to one of the great staff of Barry's, Ketil Ola Skjelvan, and in March 2014 I started regular PT sessions with him.  This immediately gave a boost of my form which was quite unbelievable. In the meanwhile I started to increase the length of my weekly runs, first to 12, then to 15, 16, 18, and finally to 21 km. The day I managed to run 18 km, I decided to sign up for Bergen City half marathon, which was already in April 2014,  just about three weeks ahead in time. My PT Ketil was of incredible help during this time; after every achievement I would send him an email, and get a lot of super encouraging feedback. In fact he was the one who convinced me that I could already do Bergen City, five months before the initial goal of Oslo.

I completed Bergen City half marathon in 2:00:51, and I was extremely happy with that. I figured that signing up for races is a great motivation for training and running, so I continued to participate. After Bergen City I participated in Ulriken Opp, Bergen Fjellmaraton, and Skåla Opp, before the initial goal Oslo was completed in September, just a little more than a couple of weeks ago.

I plan to post about every one of these events, and about bootcamp training, personal training,  interval training, how I trained for Bergen City and for Oslo, how it is to test your fitness at a test lab, weight watching, nutrition supplements, detoxing and juicing, and many many more things. For now, I just want to say that if you are considering to increase the length of your runs, do not hesitate even if you have never run more than 5 km. (And if you've never run before and want to start, there will be posts about that as well!) Just increase slowly, and you'll be there in no time.  You will notice that longer runs have lots of benefits. If you are struggling to watch your weight, it's a great way to keep it under control. If you want to go for it, signing up for a race is a really good motivator; I can highly recommend it.

Good luck!