New year's resolutions

I am not sure I set the correct title for today's post. I do have a lot of goals for 2015, but as it is the end of an incredible year for me, I cannot but take a moment to think back and contemplate.

2014 has been the year when I became acquainted with myself all over again. I have had experiences so out of this world, so unexpected and wonderful, that I still cannot completely believe that they have all actually taken place. I have discovered sides of me that I did not know existed, and I have seen that I am capable of many more things than I would ever have dreamed of, both physically and mentally. And all of this is just because I became passionate about running and competing. And it would only take a simple thing as signing up for Oslo half marathon at the beginning of the year, to ignite a passion which I did not know that I had.

Running and competing have now become a part of my life which I cannot imagine being without. Interestingly, the competitions are perhaps the most important ingredients in all this, at least for me. They give me motivation to train, goals to reach for, and an incredible feeling of accomplishment every single time. A competition does not only test physical strength but also mental strength and willpower. To keep pushing myself when it starts to become really painful is an experience which I could never have imagined that I would enjoy. Well, I don't really enjoy it while it is happening, but the feeling afterwards is unbelievable. I am so high after every race that I have problems sleeping the following night. In addition there is always some kind of festivity around each race where I meet friends and new people, and I get a chance to discuss with experts and learn new things every single time. Competitions are most fun when you participate with friends, though. In every competition I participated so far, I had at least one friend doing it with me. (If you join a group like Melkesyre, you are never short of friends to race with.)

For 2015 I have hopes of training more and smarter than in 2014. Sometime in the future, I even have a far fetched dream of taking some time off work to be able to rest enough to run and train even more. Train in the morning, sleep a few hours, and then train again in the afternoon or the evening. I am already doing something similar two days a week now, but only combining strength training in the very early morning before work with running in the evening after work (and no sleep in between). Of more realistic shorter term plans, I want to divide more of my runs into intervals, and do more long and really slow runs.

When I mention these things to people, I sometimes get questions of the type: What do you want? How far are you going to take this? It almost sounds like I should stop now. But I have only just begun! My goal is to become a better runner, meaning stronger and faster. I hope to be in such good shape that I can participate in a race with short notice, regardless of whether it is 5km, 21km, short uphill, or long uphill. And I want in every race to beat my previous time at that race, at least for several years to come. Then some people ask: Why? The answer is simple: because I think I can.

In 2013 I though I was at the top of my form and I did not believe it was possible to improve it further. 2014 has shown that everything is possible. I have read that a fresh runner can expect improvement for about seven years! So I feel that I have a lot of pleasures and new experiences to look forward to. When I have believed for many years that I am not cut for serious physical strain, it feels wonderful to see that I have been wrong all along. The same is true for many people I know, and perhaps it is true for you, too. If you have a dream, don't wait. Go for it!

I want to close the year by once more thanking everybody who has helped, inspired and motivated me on my way. All these wonderful people have been mentioned in previous posts, so I will not make a new list here. For you my friends, I just quote Afrojack and Wrabel, whose song has been a great inspiration to me this year, and gave the name to this blog:

You got me growing taller everyday
We're giants in a little man's world
My heart is pumping up so big that it could burst

You got me feeling like
I'm stepping on buildings, cars and boats
I swear I could touch the sky
I'm ten feet tall!

I'll put up a sign in the clouds
So they all know that we ain't ever coming down

You build me up
Make me what I never was
You build me up
From nothing into something

I'm ten feet tall!

(Click here to see the full lyrics and listen to the song)

Happy new year!

Running on snow and ice - spikes

Winter is upon us, and with more and more ice and snow on the sidewalks and mountain paths, headlamp alone is not enough as extra running and hiking equipment for this time of the year. Nine days ago I purchased my first pair of running shoes with spikes! As the shoes that were recommended to me are not waterproof, I also bought a pair of waterproof wool socks (yes, they do exist!). I am extremely happy with both pairs of equipment, and I want to share my experiences here with you. I have by now used them (always together) four times:

Uphill interval training with Melkesyre Saturday December 13: Our weekly uphill training with Melkesyre takes place at Fløysvingene. That Saturday, the start of the course was on bare asphalt. The shoes worked very well even this surface. Upwards from Fjellveien to Fløysletten, the ground was mixture of ice and bare gravel, and the shoes worked perfectly on this surface. In fact, I think these shoes can be quite perfect for trail running even when there is no ice and snow! As we arrived at Fløysletten the ground became covered with soft snow, and the spikes became quite useless. On the other hand, no other shoe was good on this surface either; nobody had a good grip.

Ulriken hike with Melkesyre Sunday December 14: The weekly Sunday hike with Melkesyre usually goes to Brushytten but that Sunday, due to bad weather, they had electricity problems and had to keep closed. That's why the plans of Melkesyre changed to a hike up to Mount Ulriken with the hope of a cup of coffee at the cafeteria at the top. However, just before the start of the hike, we discovered that the cafeteria (as well as the the cable car) was closed to to heavy wind. The hike was performed nevertheless, but with no stop at the top due to really heavy wind. Instead, we had a cosy gathering in one of my Melkesyre friends Øystein's car, where everybody drank their coffee from thermos and we ate cookies and rolls that Øystein and Janne had baked. OK, back to track: how did the shoes and the socks work? The start of the course was a combination of ice and gravel, it continued with bare stones and lots of water, and then it turned into a thick layer of snow, with lots and lots of water underneath and all over. The shoes were perfect. I had very good grip all the way, and felt that I could really trust the shoes to hang on the icy parts. The socks were incredible. We were so wet, and my shoes were soaked in water most of the time, but still my feet felt warm all the way. When I took of the shoes, my feet were humid but not really wet. After a few minutes they were completely dry.

Vinterkarusellen 5 km race Monday December 15: BFG sports club organizes a collection of eight races this winter. At each race the participants have the choice between a 5 km and a 10 km course, and those that participate in five of the races receive a medal at the end. I have so far participated in all three of the races that have taken place. The course starts with a round at Fana Stadium and continues on the road to the airport and then turns back after half the distance. For the third race this Monday, Fana Stadium was completely covered with slippery ice, almost like a skating arena. The rest of the course was a mixture of bare asphalt, ice, and slushy snow. On all these surfaces, the shoes worked perfectly. In fact, without the spikes I think this race would be very difficult to complete. On the slight uphill parts with soft snow, the grip was not perfect, and I felt like I lost a few centimeters for each step I took. My finishing time was not as good as I was hoping for, but in the end it turned out to be quite good under the circumstances: I came in third in my class!

The little Christmas whiskey run Wednesday December 17: Fjellgjeitene - the sister running group of Melkesyre - organized an incredibly fun race starting from the bottom of Munkebotn and ending on top of Stoltzekleiven, where we were served whiskey at the finish! The event was followed by a party afterwards, and although it was pretty windy and rainy during the race, we all had a wonderful experience. The start of the course is normally asphalt until the Munkebotn lake, but this part was mainly covered with wet and slippery ice. I was not sure how well I could trust the spikes on this kind of ice, but they performed surprisingly well and I had very good grip. As we got higher up, the ground was covered more and more with snow, which became deeper and deeper as we ascended. The shoes worked fine, but on this part probably normal trail shoes would also work equally good. All in all I was very happy with the shoes and the socks, as well as my performance at the race. The shoes were also perfect for the descent. However, I was helped all the way down by two of my most gentlemanly Melkesyre friends, one on each arm, so my safe and fast descent is mainly thanks to them and not the shoes :-)

I can really recommend this piece of eqipment; I promise you will not regret it!

The very first half marathon: Bergen City 2014

In January this year, my running buddy Benedicte convinced me to try a half marathon for the very first time. Neither of us had ever run longer than 10 km before, and we signed up for Oslo half marathon in September, thinking that we had plenty of time to train for the longer distance. In March I started to try longer and longer runs, just to see if I were capable of getting close to 21 km. Surprisingly, this went so fast and so well that I actually ended up participating in Bergen City half marathon already in April!

Until the beginning of March, all my runs had been up to 8 km, except a single run: during the Christmas of 2013 I had a 10 km run which I completed in exactly 1 hour. At this point I was training three times a week at Barry's Bootcamp, and not really running much outdoors since it was winter (and I had not yet discovered the pleasures of headlamp running). In January I had a long break from running and training due being down with the flu (the second one I ever had) for almost three weeks. In February I was back at Bootcamp, getting slowly back in shape. And in March I started the longer runs, at the same time as I started with weekly personal training sessions. Thanks to the fact that I sent an email to my trainer Ketil after every new running achievement, I have an accurate log of the runs up to my first half marathon.

March 2: 12 km, 4 rounds around Store Lungegårdsvannet, 1h 20min. This went much more easily than expected.

March 4: 15 km, 5 rounds around Store Lungegårdsvannet, 1h 28 min. My goal was to complete this below 1:30 so I was very happy. But I was completely exhausted at the end, and it felt like I could not run a meter longer. At this run, I was surprised to realize that appropriate clothing is really important for longer runs. The underwear I had been using and had been happy with until then turned out to be completely useless for longer runs. My sports bra had metal parts for adjustment at the back, and I got sores from these. In addition, my panties cut into the skin between the legs, which became quite painful towards the end of the run. After a bit of trying and failing, I found my favorites which I nowadays rarely deviate from: Casall iconic sports bra and Craft cool boxer mesh for women.

March 12: 16 km, one round at Lungegårdsvannet, then up to Svartediket until the end, then back and down at Lungegårdsvannet. This was a tougher course with a lot of uphill, and it took me a bit longer than expected: 1h 40 min. New surprise: I started realizing that had no desire for food after such long and hard runs! I found this a very amusing advantage of long distance running, but of course I had to force myself to eat to make sure to recover. Unfortunately, as my form got better and I got used to longer runs, this effect has disappeared...

March 26: 18 km, similar course as the last run; the extra 2 km were at Lungegårdsvannet. I was more happy with the time of this run: 1h 50 min. At this point, I decided to sign up for Bergen City half Marathon, which was exactly one month ahead in time! My husband Frank and my youngest son Aksel had already signed up, so we could now make an almost complete family team. (Our other son was in the north of Norway doing his military service, so his participation was out of the question.)

March 29: Form test: 10 km around Lungegårdsvannet: 56 min. Very happy to beat my former 10 km time by 4 minutes!

April 4: 21 km!! Frank and I started from Nattlandsfjellet, and ran all the way to the end of Fjellveien (Munkebotn) and back, via Kolstien, Sollien and Ulriksdal. The course includes a very steep hill between Ulriksbanen and Sollien, which was uphill and very tough on the way back. We calculated the distance so that the 21 km ended at the bottom of Nattlandsfjellet, and not with yet another tough uphill. I completed this run in 2h 12min, which gave me the hope that I could do Bergen City in about 2 hours.

In between and after the above runs, I regularly had some Bootcamp classes, some mountain hikes, and a few more runs between 10-15 km. Most importantly, I had weekly personal training sessions with Ketil, which were particularly designed for the goal of long distance running and strengthening the appropriate muscles for his. I cannot describe how useful these sessions were during this time, not to mention all the encouraging feedback I got from Ketil after every report about the above runs. I truly believe that the PT sessions were decisive in that I managed to increase my mileage so quickly and easily.

April 18: Form test: 10 km, around Lungegårdsvannet: 54 min. I was ecstatic about this achievement, and I felt so ready for the race which was only 8 days ahead in time.

In the evening of this last run I got sick, and I had to stay in bed with fewer for three days. I was extremely worried about the race, whether I would recover in time, and whether I was losing valuable training time. During these days, I read a lot about the subject, and I got many encouraging and soothing emails and messages from Ketil, which helped me stay calm. Three days before the race, I felt well enough to do a test run around Lungegårdsvannet: 12 km consisting of 3 km slow, 3 km faster, 3 km fast, and 3 km slow. After this, I rested for the last two days before the race. In the end, I am convinced that becoming sick was the best thing that could happen to me before the race. If it were not for this, I would have continued to run during the last week, which I now know would be a mistake. The fact that I had to stay in bed gave me perfectly rested legs, and I was fortunate enough to recover completely the day before the race. I could not have been luckier!

April 26: Finally the race day!!! I completed the race in 2 hours exactly, and I was extremely happy both with the time and with the experience. It was such a great sunny day in Bergen, and the setting was incredible. Everybody was so nice and kind to each other, both before and during the race, and I was so grateful and proud to be part of such an amazing organization. I posted on Facebook that day that the experience was "out of this world". It really was!

I'm in next year, too!

The pleasures of headlamp running

This winter, thanks to Melkesyre, a whole new running and hiking experience has been revealed to me: afternoon and evening runs in the dark on unlit paths with a headlamp. I could never have imagined how extremely cool and nice this is! In fact, it has only advantages: the boring paths become much more interesting and exciting in the dark, and if you are up in the mountains the views of the city are incredible. If you are lucky enough to be out when the skies are clear, you can in addition enjoy the stars and refresh your knowledge of astronomy.

In the weekly schedule of Melkesyre there are two afternoon sessions: Monday runs at Hordnesskogen (an unlit gravel path in the forest) and Thursday runs up to Stoltzekleiven continuing to Brushytten. As the afternoons started getting darker, I was wondering whether these sessions would be moved to earlier in the afternoon. When I first heard that the time is fixed and they simply go with headlamps, I was pretty surprised, at least about Stoltzekleiven. I simply could not imagine how it would be to go up there in the dark. Well, it is simply fantastic!!! This week, I had a new PR up Stoltzekleiven; I beat my previous record by 6 seconds! In the dark! With a headlamp!

Earlier winters my running in the dark limited itself to running on lit paths, which basically meant on the streets or at Svartediket (a gravel path by a lake), and definitely no mountain running. As a result, I was doing much more indoor running on a treadmill in the winter, and finding it incredibly boring, at least for longer distances. Joining Barry's Bootcamp helped a lot, as the indoor training there is great fun, and in the end I did not think that I was missing outdoor running in the winter. Well, I was wrong. You never know what you are missing until you get to experience it!

I usually find running in Hordnesskogen a little boring, as it is in the forest with no views. However it becomes much more interesting in the dark! Then you can even imagine that you are on top of a mountain or by a lake. But the real joy of headlamp running for me is definitely up in the mountains. I have now tried several of the paths I know in the dark with a headlamp, and I have had the most wonderful experiences. The setting very easily gets quite magical, with unbelievably beautiful views of the city. And the path looks pretty different in the dark, which adds to the excitement.

As if this all is not fun enough, there is an upcoming mountain race in the dark, which I am really really looking forward to: Det lille julewhiskyløpet. But the course is pretty tough, even in the dark and with a headlamp. I just hope that the snow will not hit us before to race.... To be able to continue with winter running in the mountains, the next step for me should be to get winter running shoes with spikes.

If you have dismissed the possibility of afternoon and evening runs in the mountains or other unlit pahts, consider it again. Try headlamp running; it is really great fun, especially if you have friends to do it with. This reminds me of a song by the German pop duo Ich und Ich: Mach dein Licht an und weiter gehts...

Turn on your light and go!