Getting ready for the Blåmanen races again

It is soon time for the annual three races up to Mount Blåmanen in Bergen!

Last year the Blåmanen races gradually grew on me. I could not participate in the first one due to travel, I participated in the second one mainly for practice, and I really raced in the third one. The experience was so great that this year I actually planned my travels so that I can participate in all three Blåmanen races. I’m coming home the day before the first race, and leaving again two days after the last one!

Three races; three different courses. Thanks to them I learned great new “hidden” paths on my everyday mountains. And learning never ends; last week it was time to check out the course of the first race. I have never done that one, and since I will be on travel until the race, Frank and I did a test run of it on Friday. But first we had a stroll last Monday to learn the part of the course from Fjellveien via Sandviksbatteriet to Sandvikspilen.

Easier said than done! The stroll ended up taking a couple of hours, because we spent a lot of time trying to find the correct path and eventually enjoying the views.

The start is easy: from “The lady” just above Varegg club house, it goes left and down on Fjellveien, passes the start of Stoltzekleiven and the “BKK building”, shortly after which it takes off to right and into terrain. For a while it all seemed pretty straight forward, but then we started to go back and forth several times and just ended up hitting inaccessible huge rocks. We had read the description and we had studied the map, but in the end we had to ask a nice lady whether we could follow her to Sandviksbatteriet. It turns out that you have to turn left at a point that does not at all look like the continuation of the path. Why are the more established looking parts of the path there when they lead to nowhere??

After feeling pretty stupid for a while, we were soon taken aback by the beauty of the path and the nice views that it offers. From Sandviskbatteriet it was easy to follow the path to Sandvikspilen and the top of Stoltzekleiven. We just went back down via Skredderdalen, but the course of the race continues to Brushytten on the main gravel path, and then on the asphalt road up to Blåmanen.

For the test run of Friday my plan was moderate pace and moderate heart rate. It went easier and faster than expected, although the path until Sandvikspilen was pretty wet and muddy: 15 minutes to Sandviksbatteriet, 35 minutes to Sandvikspilen, 55 minutes to Brushytten, and finally 1:04 to the top. I feel ready!

I really like the course of this first race; I think it fits me well, as it requires quite a bit of climbing on steep uphills and not just running on moderate uphills. In that respect the second race is the worst for me, I think, as it does not involve steep terrain parts. My favorite, though, is and will always be the third one. I cannot forget how surprised I was by the secret character of the path from Skomakerdiket up to Fjellhytten, almost a bit scary at first, and that was the one I actually trained for and did well at. It was one of my best race experiences ever.

See your city from a new angle; join a race!

Elite for a day: Limone Extreme Vertical Kilometer

Another race in Italy - in a quite different division.

When Frank and I registered for the Limone Extreme Vertical Kilometer that took place Friday evening in Limone sul Garda, we thought it would have the same kind of participant mass as in the Lake Garda Mountain Race last weekend. However, as the race got closer, most of our friends who participated in the short course of Lake Garda race left, and Norway's (and Europe's!) best mountain running athletes started arriving in Limone. This was the last race in the Skyrunner World Series, and clearly a much more serious competition than we had realized beforehand. The original course of the race involved an elevation gain of 1080 m on a 3.7 km course of spectacular views and breathtaking cliffs.

Already on Sunday, the day after the Lake Garda race, our friends Bjarne and Frode guided us through this course. The day was sunny and warm, the scenery incredible, and some parts of the course a little bit challenging any anxiety of heights one might have.

We found the course steeper and longer than we had imagined, but we took it easy, and it was an unbelievable experience.

The seriousness of this race became evident during this test, as we realized that there would be a cut-off time after 2 km. If one did not reach this point within 45 minutes, one would be guided via an alternative path back to the center of Limone. I got a little stressed by this, since we spent 57 minutes to this point during our Sunday hike, but that involved low hear rate and stopping for a lot of pictures. At dinner, with my friend Roger's help I calculated that I would be well within the limit at that point during the race.

The weather worsened towards the race, and on the race morning we woke up to heavy rain and quite a bit of snow on top of the mountains. The race was to start at 6:30 pm for the regular participants and at 7:30 pm a few world elite runners. The bad weather had the very cozy effect that the whole Melkesyre/Varegg group relaxed at the hotel lobby after a long breakfast altogether, chatting about all sorts of things, in addition to exchanging experiences and advice about running, training, eating and all that stuff.

Just before the race office opened the starting lists came up, and we realized to our big surprise that all us ladies from Varegg were placed in the elite class! The idea of starting an hour later than my much faster friends and ending up all alone way behind the elite block scared me a lot, and we all decided to ask for a transfer to the 6:30 pm start. However, this became unnecessary, as the whole course of the race had to be modified due to heavy rain fall and danger of avalanches, and everybody was to start at 7 pm. The new course looked less spectacular and less scary compared to the initial course, but longer and with more elevation gain: 6.5 km up to 1247 m.

During lunch, the conversation was deep and the discussions energetic about the new course. As a perfect compensation, the weather improved drastically as the start of the race approached, and the weather report was looking perfect for the evening.

After taking a stroll a few kilometers up the new course, just to get the feeling and to get the feet going, we decided to take a rest until the race. But this was easier said than done, as the starting point was just below our hotel room balcony, and the race hosts started to talk without a break in three languages via numerous loudspeakers.

An hour before the start, we went down, met the others, did some warm up, got some pep talk, and finally started to line up for the start. I could clearly see that this was a different crowd than in the previous race. Much younger and clearly determined to run the whole way. I was wondering what I had managed to tangle myself into. I completely reset my goal; now I had to work simply to not finish last in the women's class.

The atmosphere was quite magic, though, just before the start, when they started counting down and everybody put on their head lamps. (A working head lamp and a wind jacket was required throughout the entire race, and fortunately poles were strictly forbidden.) Here is a short video from the organizers that gives a little bit the feeling at the start. 

The start was very similar to that of the Lake Garda race, a short flat stretch by the lake and then straight up the steep streets of Limone before hitting the path on the other side of the main road. This time, I started a bit slower than at the Lake Garda race, and I managed to keep my heart rate below 160 for quite a while. However, I had the feeling that I was indeed one of the last of the racers and everybody else was in front of me. The feeling strengthened when a motorbiker from the organizers started moving just after I passed him, as if to say "OK, the last racer passed, we can move on". Well, I had to just do my own race, and already after a few minutes I passed a couple of people who were completely out of breath. I went on a steady pace, for a while with constant distance to those that might be behind me and to those whom I could see in front of me. After exactly 22 minutes I passed a young Italian guy who was already exhausted. From then on, about every 10 minutes I passed a person or two, and nobody passed me, and this was good motivation. On the other side, I had the feeling that I was not pushing enough, but I did not dare to push too hard too soon, as I was expecting a lot more elevation and did not know how steep it was at the end.

The path was steep up on a road paved of small stones for a long while, and then it turned into terrain and quite muddy. My inov8 xtalon shoes were perfect on the road and the rocks, but became very slippery on mud. After passing 5.5 km, I was thinking that there was still a kilometer of distance and 300 m of elevation left, but suddenly I started to hear voices and bells and something that clearly sounded like the finish. So soon? I increased my speed, passed a couple of more people, and suddenly reached the finish, without at all being exhausted.

My watch showed 6 km, which was 500 m shorter than announced, and also the elevation was lower on my watch than what I was expecting. When I learned the finish time of the winners, about 44 minutes, I was very happy about my 1:21 finishing time. In every race, if I manage to finish within twice the time of the overall winner, I am satisfied, and here I was well within the margin. With this kind of achievement, I usually end up in the upper half of the women's list and sometimes quite high up, but not this time. In this crowd, I was number 44 of 53 finishing women, but I am still very happy with my time and with the whole experience. Interestingly, the way down took quite a bit longer than the way up, and this time we took the time to enjoy the wonderful shiny night views of the Garda coast.

At the last race I was wondering whether I started too fast. At this race I was wondering whether I started too easy. I suppose I won't know the answer until I try the two strategies on the same course. At least what seems to work for me is to go on a steady heart rate all the time.

No race for three weeks now. Phew!

Forza Norvegia! Lake Garda Mountain Race

My first race outside of Norway!

Team Melkesyre has a tradition to participate in the annual Lake Garda Mountain Race. The 2015 edition took place on Saturday, and I was one of the 17 members of this year's troop. The course of the race stretches between the center of Malcesine and the Cima Pozzette peak of Mount Baldo. I did the short version together with half of my team, which goes to 1700 m along 9.5 km.

The day before the race we took the cable car up to 1700 m, and slowly went through the last part of the long version up to 2100 m. The weather at the top was not so pleasant, and the organizers were discussing whether the long version would have to be canceled.

Fortunately, already Friday evening the weather started looking much better, and Saturday morning we woke up to beautiful clear skies.

I had a hard time getting into race mood this time, and it was difficult to make a race strategy since I did not know the course. My goal was to finish in around two hours. I decided, like at Skåla Opp, to go with the heart rate. Try to keep it just below 160 for the first hour, and then push it up to 165-169 for the rest.

Warming up with team mates and knowing that I would have the company of several of them throughout the course gave both motivation and a nice feeling of comfort. And suddenly the start time was there! Everybody started running and so did I. But it was very steep already from the start, and at the lower station of the cable car I started walking. My heart rate was a bit higher than planned, and I had a continuous debate with myself whether I should slow down more or not. I did not have the feeling of pushing too hard, so I ended up going with the feeling rather than watching the hr closely. For as long as I could I followed the back of my friend Arvid, and he helped me a lot for the first kilometers. Especially since this part involved a lot of bottlenecks and trying to pass people with walking poles.

The first drink station came very quickly and earlier than announced. At this point I had lost Arvid, but I got the company of Øystein instead, and he was great to follow with a huge Norwegian flag on his back. The first four kilometers went pretty well and at the planned speed, but I was surprised and dismayed that it was so steep. I comforted myself that it could not continue this steep for the rest, as more than half of the elevation was already done. At the second drink station I took a gel together with the served drinks and felt a bit better, especially since the first flat stretch came right afterwards. It was nice to be able to run for a while and feel the distance shrink a bit quicker. At this point I also lost Øystein, but I had the company of two Italian ladies for the rest of the race. We kept passing each other all the time, and this gave good motivation and helped keep the focus.

Everything went pretty well until I passed 8 km. At that point, I was still feeling pretty good, and I took my second gel to get a boost for the last 1.5 km. I was a bit worried because there was still quite a bit of the elevation left for the last part, but I tried to comfort myself with "Just a Stoltzekleiven left now; you can do it!". The part from 8.5 km until the end became very tough, though. I felt my speed go down, and I could see that several of my team mates who were behind me from the start started to come closer. Perhaps I had started out too fast after all?

Towards the end I felt completely empty, and everything in my body was screaming for me to stop. When I saw more and more uphills where I was expecting the finish line, I really wanted to give up. What saved me was the voice of my friend Hans Erik right behind me for the last kilometer, motivating all the time and finally telling me to run when he knew that we were close to the downhill that lead to the finish.

I finished in 2:03, and I was really finished at the end.

Recovery came quickly with pasta, sandwiches and cakes that were served at finish, together with wine and coffee, and soon we were all dancing and celebrating the good results. Jeanette: number 1 of all women on the short course! Siren, myself and Bente: number 7, 8 and 9, respectively!

The rest of the day was a long long party, and we all had a great time. I am so happy to have participated in this race, and really grateful to Bjarne and Frode to have started this tradition and for the nice organization. On the other hand, I did not get the immediate feeling of wanting to do it again, like I do at the finish of many races. Most of the course is covered with forests, and one looses one of the greatest advantages of a mountain race; the view.

Coming up next, though, is a race with incredible views: the Limone Vertical K race already Friday evening! In the meanwhile: breathtaking hikes and wonderful time with good friends.

Rimanete sintonizzati!

Cautiously back to running

"You have brains in your head, you have feet in your shoes, you can steer yourself in any direction you choose." (Dr. Seuss)

Going back to running after a long break due to injury is in many ways similar to starting to run at the first place. When I was a moderate runner with two or three runs of length 6 or 7 km a week, I used to run around the Tveitevannet lake quite often. When I became more serious about running, my runs became longer, and Tveitevannet, with its 1.8 kilometers around, became just too short. For a few years I did not visit this lake at all. Now I am back there, and it is providing the perfect opportunity for me to go back to fast flat running.

Already right after the summer holidays, my physiotherapist Ane started pushing me to start running again. I started with quite short runs, with long walking warm-ups first. Tveitevannet is perfect in this sense, as I can walk down from home and arrive there properly warmed up, and then start running. For the very first run after the summer, I did one and a half rounds, just 3 km, and walked the rest to complete the second round. The lake has also been perfect for restitution runs; three rounds gave the right amount of distance and time, especially since my zone 1 running speed was pretty low after the long break. After these first attempts of flat running, I have been busy with mountain hiking, mountain races, swimming, biking, triathlon, and not the least training for Stoltzekleiven, so I haven't been running at all for the past weeks. Of course, all these activities have improved my form and made my hamstrings stronger, but running is a completely different matter. No matter how good my uphill form is, I am really completely out of shape when it comes to flat running. It is also the exercise that is the most strenuous with respect to my injury, so it needs to be treated delicately and seriously.

Some of my running attempts in between all the mentioned activities have not been successful. My legs have been tired from other training, and my hamstrings did not always feel well when I tried to run. Several attempts ended up being much shorter and slower than first intended, which was not too bad as they gave nice zone 1 restitution sessions, but not real running training. This week, as all the races are done for a while, I have finally been able to do some serious running training. On Tuesday I was at the Varegg interval training session, where we had fast runs of length 200m and 400m, with 200m and 400m jogging in between. Wow was this tough! My legs seemed to have lost all their ability to speed, and I was all out of breath with a very high heart rate. I had the excuse that I had not rested after Stoltzekleiven (Barry's Bootcamp on Sunday and Ulriken on Monday), but still... On the other hand it felt wonderful to be training with the gang again, and in particular I was very happy that what was stopping me was my breath and running form, and not any pain in my injury.

Yesterday morning I had perhaps the most successful running training in a long while. I had four progressive rounds around Tveitevannet. First round at pace (minutes per km) 6:30, second at 6:00, third at 5:30, and fourth at 5:00. I was really happy that I could do this without having to stop and without pain in my injured area. Then I walked for 600 m and then I had nine sprints up to Sletten Church. There is a short and steep hill from the lake to the church. My sprints up were about 35 seconds long. My initial plan was ten sprints, but I felt a sharp pain in my heel at the end of the ninth so then I stopped. I ended the whole thing with 600 m walk back to start. What is really cool is that the time I spend completing a round around the lake now, even with the easy 6:30 pace, is so much shorter than when I was a moderate runner a few years ago. Well, I suppose I was rather a jogger than a runner then. My last round yesterday took slightly more than 9 minutes. Next time I will attempt at doing a round in less than 9 minutes. If I can then repeat this two or three times (with a couple of minutes rest in between), I think I will be ready for a 5 km race again.

Training on your own requires quite a bit of self discipline when you have a schedule you want to follow. When I was doing my first round, I was wondering how on earth I would be able to go faster, but then I got warmed up, and round 2 and 3 went so well, even better and slightly faster than planned. During the fourth round, though, my heart rate was around 165, and I started to get exhausted. When there were 400 m left, I actually stopped. But as I was going to stop my watch, I saw that I was below 5:00 in pace (4:45) and that gave me renewed motivation to continue and complete. This is exactly when running with friends comes extremely handy. You simply don't quit when you are running with someone else with the same goals. The same thing happened during my uphill sprints. I had planned ten, but during the fourth I was thinking that perhaps five was enough. During the fifth, though, I thought "Come on only five left" and pushed myself to continue. Passing half way has an incredible mental effect. Suddenly completing becomes much easier. I really wanted to do ten, but I am glad I stopped after the ninth when I felt the pain in my heel. My heels are a bit stiff these days, something I never had problems with before, and I am very cautious as I know that many of my friends have had heel injuries. So it is important to listen to your body. But not when there is no pain. Your body (actually your brain) is programmed to always try to make you take it easy, so most of the time you have to fight against its attempts to convince you to stop.

The moment you are ready to quit is usually the moment just before a miracle happens.