Happy new year!

Hopes don't work if you don't.

It is strange what kind of a psychological effect the new year's has on us. We feel it's time to assess the year that has gone and to make wishes for the year to come. For myself, I already performed this act about a month ago. The end of the down period after Amsterdam marathon was the turning point of the training year for me. I reviewed the goals and hopes of 2016, I set new goals and hopes for 2017, and I already started working on those at the end of November.

One thing that characterized 2016 for me, in terms of training, is street running. Most of my running was done on flatter asphalt or gravel surfaces. I have also accumulated the most running kilometers during a year: 2150 km this year, compared to 1400 km last year, and 1200 km in 2014. Now, this is pretty interesting. Everywhere we read that your basic running form is directly correlated to the number of kilometers run. It is also logical to think that the danger of injury is also related to the mileage. However,  I think neither is entirely true. At the end of 2014, I think I was in better shape in the sense that I could run a 5k faster than I think I can now. I was also clearly better at uphills. And I got seriously injured at the beginning of  2015, due to the training done in 2014. The mistake I was making then, I think, is that I was running too fast at every training. I was also doing quite a bit of fast intervals on the track field, and sprinting (20 km/h) on the treadmill. With the result that my form improved quickly, but I also got injured quickly.

I am honestly not sad for my injury. It taught me to be patient and to work more systematic towards my goals. I have a lot more endurance now for longer races. So my goal for 2017 is to combine all of the above, and train more varied. Less street running kilometers, more biking, swimming and climbing kilometers, and more hours of training in total. Take into account heart rate zones, have more zone 1 sessions, and more threshold / sweet spot sessions. And this is in fact the only goal I want to set. Because in 2016, what I mentioned as hopes came true, but what I mentioned as goals became unimportant and forgotten.

The three hopes for 2016 were Bergen City haft marathon, Bergen Fjellmaraton, and Amsterdam marathon. All of them finished, which is really more than I dared to expect. The three goals were a new record for Stoltzekleiven, 5 kg weight reduction, and being able to perform chin-ups. None of them happened. I didn't even participate at Stoltzeklevien, which was just a couple of weeks before Amsterdam, I didn't dare to diet during the heavy running period around Amsterdam, and I wasn't motivated for the chins without the weight reduction. What seemed so important, and indeed doable, at the beginning of 2016, became less and less important and interesting as the things that seemed less possible became more and more realistic to achieve. So I simply move these not achieved goals to the list of hopes for this year :-)

For 2017, again, I have also some scary hopes. But I am still not sure whether or not I want to go for all of them. The intensive training period before and the fatigue and form loss after Amsterdam still makes me hesitant to go for another long endurance race. I keep changing my mind every second day. I think I will have to wait until I can start serious bike training and see how good (or even more importantly: safe!) I feel on a bike before I can make up my mind for sure. But some steps on the road are already taken. Frank and I bought new bikes in November. So we're in it together. If we are. I'll let you know.

Happy new year!