2010-Year of breakthrough

Thuringen Ultra

Looking back on the year that's just about to end, I'm amazed about my endevaours. I have moved myself almost 3.000 km both on footh, wheels, in the water and even on skies. In addition I've participated in 15 competitions and finished 14 of them. 7 of the competitions being marathons and 7 being ultras. I guess it's only more than fair that my right knee is hurting. I hope that all those who happen to read this blog is just as satisfied as I am right now.
This year was also the first time I participated in an ultrarace. It was a wonderful experience and I still remember vividly my first ultra-Kristins Runde. Further on I'm very satisfied with accomplishing another main goal of mine-breaking the 4h barrier on the marathon. I was almost amazed when this happened at Ålesund Marathon in May and I still cherish the moment and the race.
A transcending experience that took place later on was Thuringen Ultra in the beginning of July. Running the better part of the day through the deep woods in majestic Thuringen Wald in Germany was simply fantastic. The feeling of fullfillment when finishing was beyond everything I've experienced so far.
Another great moment I'll remember with great pleasure is my new personal best on marathon i Berlin Marathon one week after finishing UltraBirken.
Finally, to finish my first 10 km under 50 minutes was a great moment. That happened at Sentrumsløpet in Oslo late April.
Two other races that provided great running experiences was Kongsvinger Skogsmarathon and Stavanger Marathon-both in August.

Technicals:

Sport				Part
		Km	Time(h)	(%)
Running:	L	2 225,7	250,5	76,6 %
Cycling	Sy	586,1	23,9	7,3 %
Swimming:	Sv	5,9	21,2	6,5 %
Triathlon:	Tr	0,0	0,0	0,0 %
Martial arts:	Kp	0,0	0,0	0,0 %
Strength:	St	0,0	23,3	7,1 %
XC-Skiing:	Sl	51,1	6,8	2,1 %
Cross-training:	At	0,0	1,6	0,5 %
Total		2 868,7	327,2	100,0 %

Number of workouts:

Running:           132

Cycling              32

Swimming :       25

Triathlon:            0

Martial arts:        0

Strength:           41

XC-Skiing:          3

Alternative:         4

Total              237

Number of endurance sessions is 95, leaving the rest to quality sessions. That's a pretty heavy load of quality-something to think about, at least when it comes to number of sessions. I also have to consider the workload measured in hours. Average length of a quality workout is 40 minutes. That adds up to 64h (20 %). That's better, but still to much.
Looking at the statistic it's obvious that running is the major part. I will make changes in order to establish variety in my activity, but running will still be important. That is running on trails mostly.

I wish everyone who reads this blog a Happy New Year and success in the year to come.

Helsfyr course-endurance run: Recovering from my knee-injury?

Nedre Blanksjø-Nordmarka

Bitterly cold tonight. It was right at the level of getting to cold, but it was allright to run when I got started. I was eager to learn if my measures since last session at 23th of December had paid off. Since then I've been stretching regularly. In addition I've carried out a session with cross-country skiing and cycling. Tonights session was slightly promising. I ran for more than half the distance before noticing any pain in my left knee. The right knee is not in perfect condition, but it's far better than it's neighbour. Afterwards the condition of my knee was better than after the session at 23th of December. That's promising. Anyway, I have scheduled an appointment with a physiotherapist the 3th of January. I need an independent evaluation of my condition and a training programme for the knee.
Next time I'm running under similar conditions I'll use some knee-warmers. I noticed discomfort due to the cold tonight and the knees are particularly vulnerable.

Technicals:

-Distance: 6,1 km

-Time: 37m 47s

-Average pace: 6:12 min/km
-Average moving pace: 5:59 min/km
-Elevation gained: 56 m( 9,2m/km).
-Calories: 424 kcal.

-Average heart rate(max): Not measured

-Shoes: Mizuno Wave Inspire

-Weather: Partly clouded, -10 degrees celsius, quiet, low humidity in the air, overall very cold

Last endurance ride this year

Summer in Lillomarka

Time for this years last ride on the bike. Being 9 days since my last ride it was expected that average heart rate would be up a bit. I guess I'll be down a bit next week. Before long I hope to shift gear to 12 and thus increase the workload-and speed.
Overall this year I've been covering 586,1 km of which 441,4 is on stationary wheels(1 and 4th quarter). The better part was done in first quarter(322,5 km). I almost didn't use my bike in the other quarters this year-which is a shame. Number of sessions is 32. 23 of these are endurance sessions. The other are quality sessions.
I certainly wont repeat that approach in 2011.

Technicals:
-Distance: 11,8 km
-Time:  30m 00s
-Warmup: 5 m ( 20-25 km/h)
-Recovery: 5 m(20 km/h)
-Working time: 20 m
-Average speed: 23,6 km/h
-Working speed: 25 km/h
-Cadence, average: 89
-Gear: 11
-Elevation gained: 0 m
-Calories:  270 kcal
-Average heart rate(max): 152(159)

Nordmarka Ultra Challenge: crossing Nordmarka from north to south

View north from Kikut

At 1th of October 2011 it's due for a new ultrarun in Norway. The race will be entirely on trails in Nordmarka north of Oslo. The length of the race is approximately 60 km. The course leads the participants through some of Nordmarkas most scenic parts starting way up north at Grua and finishing at the one of the most southern point of Nordmarka-Sognsvann.The course is very hilly and includes visits to six mountain tops-Bislingflaka, Kollern, Pershusfjellet, Kjerkeberget, Kikuttoppen and Vettakollen.
Official split-times at: Tverrsjøstallen, Kikutstua and Sognsvann.
Major check-points along the course: Mylla, Tverssjøstallen, Katnosdammen, Kikutstua, Skjennungsstua and Sognsvann.
Minor check-points: Bislingflaka, Kollern, Pershusfjellet, Spålen, Kjerkeberget, Sandungen, Blankvannsbråten and Vettakollen.

Course description: 
-Starting point: Grua( Just over 1h by train north of Oslo)
-Part I: Grua-Mylla.
-Part II: Mylla-Bislingflaka-Kolleren-Tversjøstallen
-Part III: Tverssjøstallen-Pershusfjellet-Spålen-Finnerudsæter-Katnosdammen
-Part IV: Katnosdammen-Kjerkeberget-Sandungen-Kikuttoppen-Kikutstua
-Part V: Kikutstua-Osmarka-Blankvannsbråten-Bjordammen-Skjennungsstua
-Part VI: Skjennungsstua-Rishøgda-Vettakollen-Bånntjern-Sognsvann
-Finish: At Sognsvann in Oslo(some 20 minutes from the city center by municipal transport)
The course will follow marked trails and each participant will be provided with one map. However it may occur that the marking is insufficient and each participant is responsible for his/her own navigation.

Estimated distance: 60-70 km
Estimated elevation; 1.500 metres
The course will be logged using GPS during the spring/summer 2011.

Support:
Each participant must provide his/her own nutrition. Water is available along the course from streams and lakes.

Entry:
Number of participants will be limited to 50 in 2011. Registration will open 1th of April 2011.


Arranger:
Team Nordmarka

Contact:
Jannicke Bergh,
Phone: +47 99 49 33 42
e-mail: jann-35@online.no,
web: http://jannicke-athletics.blogspot.com/2010/12/nordmarka-ultra-challenge-crossing.html


More information will be provided on this blog-post leading up to the start of registration. The course is subject to alterations.

Skiing through the heart of Nordmarka

Gunnar crossing Kalvsjøen

Me, at Kikut

A lovely day out there in the woods through the heart of Nordmarka north of Oslo. I had the pleasure of being accompanied by a runner-friend of mine, Gunnar, on a day with nearly perfect conditions-cloudy, no winds and with modest temperatures. We travelled by train to Movatn and headed northwest towards Kikut. Encountering a long ascend at first but this was soon followed by a wonderful stretch over the lake Kalvsjøen. Our pace went up markedly and we arrived shortly after at Gørja some 8 km after Movatn. We had very good tracks after that and kept our pace as we were closing up on the lake Bjørnsjøen. Before long we started the crossing of the last part towards Kikut. After 2h we arrived at Kikut and it was time for a planned break and a snack. Kikut is a lovely place some 15 km from both Movatn and Sognsvatn and easy to reach both on foot, with a bike and with skies. It was nice to spend some minutes inside the cottage, have a cup of coffee and some snack before heading towards out final destination Sognsvatn.

Gunnar, at Sognsvatn

Leaving Kikut we started to cross the lake Bjørnsjøen and headed towards Bjørnholt. Crossing lakes is a bit funny. If the track is of good condition it's possible to maintain a high pace and we shure did. Not long after we arrived at Bjørnholt. Darkness was closing up and we decided to stick to the road until we reached the southern part of the lake Skjærsjøen. It was pretty nice to be out skiing in pretty dark surrondings. I just love to make a short stop now and then and just listen to how quiet and nice it is out in the woods  at times like these. Arriving at the illuminated track to Sognsvatn we were able to se just how dark it really was. A pretty plan stretch along the lake Åklungen and some long descends and we were finally arriving at our final destination Sognsvatn, some 30 km from out starting point-Movatn. It doesn't get any better than this-spending the better part of the day skiing in the woods.


Technicals:
-Distance: 29,35 km
-Time: 3h 40m 39s
-Average pace: 7:31 min/km
-Average moving pace: 6:34 min/km
-Elevation gained: 338 m(11,5 m/km).
-Calories: 1.916 kcal.
-Average heart rate(max): didn't measure
-Skies: Madshus
-Weather: Clouded, partly snow, no wind, -3 to -5 degrees celsius-good conditions

Running: still a long way to go

Sandnes-Christmas eve

Yesterday I had my first running session since my last race-Bislett 24h race at 27th of Nov. I ran at a very moderate pace and the distance was very short. Naturally I was very eager to learn if I still suffered from any pain because of my knee-injuries. I headed out in the early evening, temperature just below zero, light winds and a bit of snow. After just one km I noticed pain in my knees-especially my left kne(particularly the back of the kne). I got a bit worse and stabilized at a nmoderate level, but I was in no condition to push on towards higher pace. Clearly I have a long way to go in order to recover from my injury. First thing next week I'll schedule an appointment with a fysiotherapist in order to establish a training programme to strengthen what muscles that need strengthening in conection with my knees. I addition I will carry out a stretching programme and use ice extensively for the next two weeks.

Technicals:

-Distance: 6 km

-Time: 37m 0s

-Average pace: 6:10 min/km
-Average moving pace:  min/km
-Elevation gained:  m( m/km). 10-ok
-Calories:  kcal.

-Average heart rate(max): Not measured

-Shoes: Mizuno Wave Inspire

-Weather: Clouded, -5 degrees celsius, light wind, high humidity in the air, overall cold

Endurance ride

Nordmarka at winter

A good ride tonight. Heart rate is down and my overall feeling is better than after the last session.
I'm down in zone 2 and I'm satisfied with that. In the time to come I'll continue with one session a week and increase to gear 12 if average heart rate stabilizes in zone 2.


Technicals:
-Distance: 11,8 km
-Time:  30m 00s
-Warmup: 5 m ( 20-25 km/h)
-Recovery: 5 m(20 km/h)
-Working time: 20 m
-Average speed: 23,6 km/h
-Working speed: 25 km/h
-Cadence, average: 90
-Gear: 11
-Elevation gained: 0 m
-Calories:  268 kcal
-Average heart rate(max): 150(156)