With a license to run: Varegg

For the first time in my life I am a member of a sports club! A licensed athlete! :-) Varegg is my club and I am an extremely proud member. I have already signed up for my first race as a Varegg racer - it was really cool to be able to choose a sports club in the Eqtiming sign-up form which I am by now so familiar with. I will also compete in the Holmekollen relay race as part of a Varegg team in May.

I feel that I owe so much to Varegg, and it feels great to be able able to support the club by becoming a member. First of all, the annual Stoltzekleiven races that I have been writing so much about are organized by Varegg. But OK; one pays to participate in those, so that is probably not reason enough to join the club. However, I have participated in several other races (and subsequent parties!) organized by Varegg, where participation was either free or very cheap, all based on voluntary work, and I have since December felt that I wanted to contribute in some way or other. The first step was to do some voluntary work, and finally I decided that I want to become a full member.  My membership was approved this week; it feels so good!!!

It is quite amazing how many different training opportunities Varegg offers to grown-ups (veterans as we are called) every single week. In fact, my running group Team Melkesyre is associated with Varegg, although there is no membership fee or any requirement to join Varegg. Another group, called Fjellgeitene, whose members are more into uphill and mountain running, is also associated with Varegg. (Readers who do not speak Norwegian might find it interesting to know that Melkesyre means Lactic acid, and Fjellgeitene means Mountain goats.) I have participated in several activities of Fjellgeitene already, and my plan is to become more active in several of their practices. There is quite a big intersection between the two groups, with people participating in both, and several of them are also Varegg members. Together, Varegg, Melkesyre, and Fjellgeitene offer an incredible variety of training opportunities that are all free of charge and open for everybody to join.

I have set up an example weekly evening schedule which is my dream to be able to follow:

Monday: Restitution training (both Melkesyre and Fjellgeitene offer training on Mondays, so there is always one of those options as well)
Tuesday: Interval training with Varegg
Wednesday: Uphill and jumping training with Fjellgeitene
Thursday: Stoltzekleiven with Melkesyre
Friday: Strength training with Fjellgeitene
Saturday: Uphill intervals with Melkesyre
Sunday: Long mountain running with Varegg, proceeded by social gathering with Melkesyre

Fortunately, my twice-a-week personal training sessions are in the mornings, so they can easily come in addition to this program. But of course such a program would be too tough to follow every week. I think it is not recommended to have more than two hard interval training sessions per week, so I should alternate between the Tuesday and the Wednesday activities every second week. In addition, I have the strict instruction of my trainer to have a completely training free day once a week. Hence the above plan must skip one of the activities every week. So many fun things to do, so little time!

There is actually yet another running group which I have been following via social media but have not participated in any of the activities yet: The HSI running group. Among many interesting activities, they have long and slow runs on Wednesdays. This can fit very nicely into my program on alternating weeks, and it is my goal this year to do much more long and slow running than I have been doing until now.

Back to Varegg, Melkesyre, and Fjellgeitene, I cannot repeat often enough how much energy, motivation, inspiration, and happiness I get by just being with these people, and how much I learn from them every single time. This week's heroes are Lars and Eva. Lars is the "chief fjellgeit", and I had an incredibly inspiring chat with him about injuries, pain, progression, choosing the right activities, etc, yesterday after the uphill interval training with Melkesyre. He has a story similar to that of Bjarne; both have become top athletes as adults after a long inactive life style, and there is so much to learn from their experiences. Eva, my Melkesyre and Varegg team mate, is an experienced runner participating and having great achievements in many races, who also started her racing career late. I learn from her a lot every time, and yesterday we talked quite a bit about injuries. In conclusion, I see that there is nothing special about having pain and injuries when you are a runner passed 40. You just have to learn to know your body to deal with these things in the way that is best for yourself, and choose the activities that you can become good at without having pain. I am now inclined to stop all therapy, all running restrictions, and just go for it again, as before. I am sure this will be the topic of a blog i a couple of weeks. For now, I am just immensely happy to think about all the many amazingly fun activities with Varegg, Melkesyre and Fjellgeitene to look forward to!

Here I come! With a license to run! :-)