Smart training: find your sweet spot!

Find your sweet spot and stay there.

I have been reading about smart training. As I am now slowly increasing my mileage on flat runs,  I have been looking into ways of training smarter both to recover from my hamstrings injury completely, and to avoid injuries in the future. But to be honest, the main reason why I have become so interested in sweet spot training is because I have been finding it hard to get my running speed back. When I focus on speed runs, I get exhausted and disappointed, and I now realize that this kind of training is not helping me at all to increase my speed and endurance. Instead I find it much easier to focus on heart rate, and heart rate turns out to be the key to smart training. But don't be mistaken; although sweet spot sounds incredibly nice, it is a completely different place than comfort zone.

Of course I do not come up with these things by myself. Being surrounded by a lot of much faster and more experienced running friends, I try to learn from them what they are doing right. Several of my friends have told me that they never train for a long time at their threshold heart rate. They stay about 10 beats lower than that. To me this has been difficult to understand and follow. I thought that by training at your threshold you increase your threshold speed. This is true in some sense, but I now realize that it is true for intervals and shorter efforts like that. In fact, as I understand it, your sweet spot is around 10 beats lower than your threshold heart rate. When I heard about sweet spot training for the first time from my friend Lars, all previous advice finally made perfect sense to me.

Most probably you do not know your threshold heart rate. I took a lactate and oxygen volume test last year and found out that my threshold heart rate was 162. At that time this corresponded to running flat at a speed of 11.4 km/h. I am afraid the speed is much much lower now, but I think the threshold heart rate is still correct. It is the heart rate at which you can go for about an hour before you start getting stiff by too much lactic acid in your muscles, and it worked for me during the uphill races of this fall. At shorter competitions (like Stoltzekleiven) or at the end of long competitions (if I have any power left) I can go all the way up to 169-172. You could calculate your threshold heart rate from your maximum heart rate, you could take a lactate test (It is really a lot of fun!), or you can for example look at the following chart and try to match it to your values:

From this I conclude that my sweet spot corresponds to about 154 in heart rate. It fits with how I feel during training. When I try to run at the speed I could run before my injury, I very quickly go up to my threshold and beyond, and thus get tired. Instead, if I run at my sweet spot, I can go for much longer time. So why is this spot sweet? The next chart explains it. If you train at a heart rate that is above your threshold, you don't improve that much. In fact training too hard has exactly the same effect as training not hard enough! I have been thinking that since I have participated in a lot of competitions this fall, I have got a lot of good training. And then I have been wondering why I have not noticed a more significant increase in my endurance and speed. And now I finally understand it: competitions are not training! Competitions do not build our form, they tear us down. And if we always train at competition heart rate and speed, the improvement will be minor.

The line "Training effect" shows that the optimal effect is achieved at your sweet spot, which is a little bit below your lactate threshold heart rate. What we normally do is to push it as hard as we can at every training. When you are completely a new beginner, this is fine. Your form is anyway far below your limitations and as long as you are not training too often, you will gain a lot from pushing yourself hard. However, as you get faster and in better shape, you might experience that although you are training hard you are not improving anymore. And the reason is most probably because you are training too hard. Just watch your heart rate, stay below your threshold on the longer sessions, and most probably you will see an improvement pretty soon.

So this is now my training regimen for the next couple of months: Two interval training sessions per week, where I go up to lactate threshold during the intervals. One or two tempo runs where I try to stay in the sweet spot for 30-50 minutes. A long and slow run, where I do not care about the heart rate, the distance or the speed, but just run for a couple of hours. A recovery run at zone 1 (for me: heart rate between 120-130) for about 40 minutes. It will be an interesting experience to see whether this will bring me back to my old speed within a couple of months. And I will be strict about one or two complete rest days a week; no running or strength training on those days. Restitution is a very important part of building form! If my form does improve, I am wondering how it will affect my heart rate zones and sweet spot. I assume that I will be able to run faster at the current heart rate zones. But will my zones stay constant, or will I have to go up to higher heart rates?

Stay tuned and we will find it out altogether!

Triple triumph - Blåmanen race 3

Yes yes yes! Sometimes everything goes better than expected!

Blåmanen race 3 was yesterday. A bit sad that it's all over for this year. I have heard this from several people this past week - we should have Blåmanen races all the way to Christmas! Yesterday's race was perfect in all ways, in fact in more ways than I could have expected or even dared to hope for. Just an hour before the race I was not sure that I would be able to participate, but then everything worked out in the best possible way.

On Wednesday during a test run of the third race together with Fjellgeitene, I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my ankle. It was so painful that I decided to stop and simply walk back, not to risk any injury. And then started of course several days with worries and wondering about whether I should participate in yesterday's race or not. I have a few long distance running goals for 2016; was it worth risking a long period without being able to run again, just for a single race? On the other hand, I had this kind of sharp pain at the exact same spot once before, and then after a couple of days everything was fine.

What would life be without the caring, compassion and advice of good friends? I discussed the matter with many people. Several of my friends who have had long time trouble with their achilles tendon advised me the be cautious. And a long term achilles injury is exactly what I am most afraid of. But my trainer Ketil and my friend Irene, who is a physiotherapist, concluded from the description that it is probably not the achilles, and as long as it is not painful I should simply participate in the race. Yesterday morning I had still not made up my mind. My plan was to warm up with my proper asphalt running shoes, and then decide depending on how everything felt. I used kinesiology tape on my heel after watching some youtube videos on how to apply it, and during the warm up I had no pain what so ever. At the end it was when talking to my friend Roger just before the race that I made up my mind. He said "that's not the achilles, that's just some simple ankle pain. I get it sometimes, too, and then the day after it's gone". Yes! Exactly my experience, so I decided to race. And it all went so well!

Thanks to breaking the practice on Wednesday, and not running anymore until yesterday, my legs were completely rested. This last course of the Blåmanen races is my favorite. It is also the one I know the best, as I practiced it twice last year before the race, and went there several times again after the race.  The weather was beautiful! Big sun from a cloudless sky. And cold enough for all the mud to have frozen to give a steady, albeit pretty slippery here and there, surface to run on. I used my shoes with spikes and they worked perfectly.

So many heroes yesterday! I got so much help all the way up; it was simply heavenly! On the first flat part I was running with Cathrine and Tone, and we were laughing all the way. On the Fløyen turns, in fact all the way up to Fjellhytten I had the company of Hans Erik. Just like last year! So reassuring to have the same feeling as last year, where this was the race I did the best. This is our course, Hans Erik! Just before we reached Fløyen, we met many of our Melkesyre friends who were doing the regular Saturday intervals. They stopped and cheered vigorously. And then came Bjarne, as always in the middle of the steepest hill! I was so happy to see him, and he kept me company during the worst part. Just at Fjellhytten, Jan Erik was cheering and taking photos. And from Fjellhytten and all the way to finish I had the company Aldona who was just in front of me. I cannot describe how great it feels to be surrounded with all this goodness and kindness. Thank you so much everybody, I owe you all big time!

The best part was that I felt no pain whatsoever in my ankle (and of course my hamstring injury was completely forgotten for the time being), so I was exceptionally happy, cheerful, and not the least grateful all the way. The sun was shining brightly all the time, I found myself smiling all the way, especially towards the end when I knew that I would actually be able to finish without having to stop or slow down due to pain. And then my finish time.... 57 minutes!!! OK, still one minute worse than last year, but one minute better than last week's race, which is for most people a faster race. Last year, I had exactly the same time on both races, 56 minutes. This year, 58 on the last and 57 on this one. So in a sense I did better than last year, given the circumstances.

I feel that I am the luckiest person in the whole world!

Not quite there yet - Blåmanen race 2

Things take time...

Blåmanen race number 2 was yesterday. As fun as always; I just love these races! But it is time to realize that I am far behind in my running form compared to last year at this time. OK, so it should perhaps not come as such a big surprise. I have, after all, just started running again, and the longest I have run since January is about 12 km. Last year at this time I had completed three half marathons within the last six months... Well, at least I have been able to keep my uphill form; I cannot describe how happy I am for this year's record at Stoltzekleiven. That is in fact my only registered accomplishment of 2015, so it saves the year. Although I participated in a lot of uphill races this fall, they all involved (for me) fast walking and not running. And that is the clue. I have lost a lot of speed when it comes to running, and it is taking me time to get it back.

Last year I completed the Blåmanen race 2 i 56 minutes, and I did not even push it. This year; 58 minutes... I probably did not push it as much as I should this time, either. I had a good feeling throughout the race, and was not that exhausted at the end. I also saw afterwards that my heart rate did not go as much up this time as the first race last week. So I could, and probably should, have pushed a bit harder. Or perhaps not. Who knows?  I am still in recovery, and perhaps I am avoiding to reverse the healing of my injury this way. By pushing not too hard. I don't know. What I do know is that I should focus on the positive.

I am extremely happy for:

1. I can run again!!!! I can run almost as much as I want. And I know that my form will come back; I just need to work hard and give it time. The most important thing is that my injury seems to be getting better and better all the time. Just a couple of months ago, I was not at all sure that I could ever run as I wanted again. I now start believing that I can. And I am extremely grateful for that.
2.  I am participating and having incredible fun at various races. And I get so much compassion and encouragement from my friends. One of yesterday's heroes is Ove. At the beginning of the uphills I was having a hard time, and he kept talking to me all the way; gave encouragement exactly where I needed it. It felt easier and easier as I got used to the pace. And Bjarne with his camera in the middle of the course, taking pictures, cheering, giving advice... I was actually looking forward to seeing him and wondering where he would pop up, and that thought helped keep me going. And then Patricia and Solveig handing out drinks and cheering just before the last hill, and Christian and Åshild at the finish. Thanks so much guys! And Roger when he came to finish; always a caring clap on the shoulder. I feel the luckiest in the world to be surrounded with these people.
3.  There are so many fun things going on throughout the winter. On Wednesday I participated in a test run of yesterday's race with Fjellgeitene. These guys are amazing. I now finally dare calling myself a fjellgeit (mountain goat), too. When registering for races it will be now my standard to write "Varegg/Melkesyre/Fjellgeitene". There will be a test run of the last Blåmanen race the coming week, and then the race itself, and then more races, and training for them. Looking forward to all of that! I also have some long term goals, which I will tell you about in due time. In the meanwhile, I tell myself:

The most wonderful time of the year: Blåmanen race 1

One down, two to go!

The Blåmanen races are on! Yesterday was the first one of this year's three races. I came home from Paris Friday evening, and I was very tired after a week with early mornings, long days at work, and little sleep. Still yesterday morning I felt very ready for the race. I also felt very happy and excited because I knew that I would meet many of my friends whom I haven't seen for a few weeks. This race series offers one of the most fun race experience ever. I think it is because I seem to know about 80% of the participants. It is like a playground!

I had a test run with Frank a few weeks ago, which I completed in 1 h 04 min, and yesterday my goal was to go below 1 hour. Unfortunately, it did not work. I completed in just over the hour. Although I have been running and trying to push myself in Paris, I haven't had uphill training for the last three weeks. I went with really high heart rate throughout the race, and was pretty exhausted in the end, so at least I think I pushed as much as I could. Although slightly disappointed about the time, I am so happy about so many things around this race. For the first time in a long long while, I did not feel any pain in my thigh or butt while racing, and it was only my breath that was limiting me; not at all my legs.

Frank and I arrived the start well ahead of time. We had both decided to start individually before the elites, Frank a little later than me. We were extremely lucky with the weather, which was sunny between heavy showers the night before and the following afternoon. After getting our tags for timing, saying hello to our friends, and warming up a little, it was time to start. I was chatting with people and missed my friends who started a couple of minutes before me, so I was alone most of the time. The track until Sandvikspilen was extremely muddy. In the beginning I was trying to jump from stone to stone, but in the end I did not care anymore where I stepped. Sometimes I was down into the mud up to my knees, which was fine except that I was afraid to lose my shoes a couple of times. As I was getting close to Sandvikspilen, which is the end of the steepest part, I was feeling pretty tired. Then I heard the voices of friends who were cheering and taking pictures. It was wonderful to have Bjarne, Helge, and Cathrine there at the top! They made sure that I kept going at a moment when I wanted most just to stop, or at least slow down.

As usual, all the time I was wondering whether I had started too hard. Compared to our test run, I gained a minute until Sandviksbatteriet, another minute until Sandvikspilen, another minute until Brushytten, and finally another minute until the end, so I seem to have run pretty evenly. I was hoping to be significantly better at the race than at the test, since I had significantly lower heart rate at the test, but I had forgotten all about the backpack... I did not have a backpack at the test, while at the race a backpack of at least 1.5 kg is compulsory. I must remember to train with a backpack (or lose 1.5 kg until next Saturday!). Since this was the first time I did Blåmanen race number 1, I have no previous recorded time. So at least I can hope for an improvement next year. In the meanwhile I am really curious to see whether I will be able to improve my time in the next two races, compared to last year. Already looking forward to next Saturday!

Thank you Varegg!!!

Run the city!

Put on your running shoes and be there for the sunrise!

When on travel, especially in connection with work, I find morning runs essential to keep my form and burn some calories. Even before I became serious about running, for the last 15 years I have always taken my running shoes with me whenever I have traveled. Although at home I usually do my training in the afternoons, when on travel, mornings are often the only possibility. The days are perhaps long and packed with meetings, discussions, or presentations, and there is always some social program in the evenings. Running is a great way of seeing a city. Most times, there is a river, lake or sea nearby, and it is convenient and nice to run there.

(Duluth, Lake Superior, USA)

In winter it is a bit more problematic as it is dark in the mornings when I have to do my run. Sometimes, if I do not know whether the city can offer safe surroundings for running, I try to choose a hotel with a treadmill. Although one can be surprised that what the hotel advertised as a "gym" is just a treadmill and a rowing machine in a tiny room, there is usually nobody else there at 6 am.

(Verona, Italy)

When I could not run during the period of my injury, I felt pretty desperate when I was on travel. Work travel involves a lot of sitting still for long hours, and sometimes food is served so there is not the option of choosing salads or lighter meals. Putting on weight is always a worry for me, and sitting for long hours made my injury ache and feel stiff and painful. I almost dreaded travels in this period. It is therefore great to be able to run again, and this time I am in Paris for a couple of weeks, a city which offers great running opportunities.

   

There is for example the Bois de Boulogne, very close to the city center, with two small lakes, lots of trees and soft grounds to run on. On work days it is a bit too dark and too lonely to be there early in the morning, but it is a perfect option for a little later in the day or on a weekend. It is possible to combine its paths to as long runs as you like. 

I like to run in the park by the Eiffel Tower. It is about 1.7 km in circumference, which is comparable to my Tveitevannet Lake, and although it is very central it is surprisingly quiet and detached from traffic. There are a lot of people running there even at early morning when it is dark, and many cleaners, caretakers, etc, so it feels safe and social. It provides soft ground to run on, and it is perfect for intervals or progressive rounds. If that becomes boring you can combine it with the path along the Seine, which goes all the way to the Louvre museum, and the gardens next to that museum are also very nice for running. It is possible to make a round of about 15 km combining these parks and gardens with the paths along the Seine.

Since the Blåmanen races start in less than a week, I wanted to put some uphill training in my program. I remembered that there were a lot of stairs at Trocadéro, just across the bridge from the Eiffel Tower, but unfortunately, the stairs were fewer than I could recall. Although my interval training there became a bit too monotonous, I was rewarded with the most beautiful sunrise views of Paris.

Early bird gets the worm!

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!