It's been long time since I wrote something here, since I have been busy with training and studying and nothing spectacular have happened during the winter.
My body really needed some rest after the longest season ever, and I was in really bad shape when I started training again in the beginning of November.
November and December were very busy months, because I had to sign in a pilotproject on my Masterthesis on 2nd of January. It was hard work, but I managed to train ok in that period with 57 and 61 hours of training, and good quality in most of it.
It was nice to hand in my project and be able to focus more on training and recovery in January. The training went well (72 hours) and I was able to run a lot, and also did a lot of orienteering (20 hours) here in Denmark, in good conditions (no snow). In the end of January I got some problems with my on calf though, and had to be very careful not to damage the muscle. I was supposed to run European Cross-Country Club Champs in Albufeira, Portugal in the beginning of February, but I had to be wise and watch instead, even though my calf quickly was feeling better. Luckily I was able to have a good and tough trainingcamp afterwards in Portugal with the National Team, and also my shape was finally getting better.
Last weekend I ran Thy Trail ½-Marathon, a race in the sanddunes along the northwestern coastline in Denmark. Last year I ran and won the hole marathon but struggled with my muscles for many weeks afterwards, so this year, I decided only to run the half. It was a tough race, because it was very wet in the area putting a lot of the trails under water, but my body was feeling good. I wasn't able to win though, since a 17-year old Maroccan boy, living in a child-center in the area, was able to follow me all the way and beat me in the finish. Pretty big talent, and apparently it was his first trail-race...
Anyway, it was good training, and my body hasn't been feeling to bad after the race, except some sore muscles.
I haven't been running any orienteering-races this winter, so I'm pretty excited about going to Turkey tomorrow, to run the first World Cup round 2014. Middle-distance (qualification and final) and a sprint-relay is on the program. Since I am focusing a lot on the middle-distance this year, and have been working good both physically, technically and mentally, the races on friday and saturday will be good tests, to see what my level is right now. In the sprint-relay on sunday, I have not been choosen to be in Denmarks 1st team, since I haven't been focusing much on sprint so far this year. I can't remember last time I was not selected for the best relay-team, but it's good to see that both Rasmus Thrane and Søren Bobach are back in good shape.
Until EOC in the middle of April, I will only focus on the Middle-distance, since the Sprint-final will be held the evening before the middle-final, and that's why I'm not running the sprint. But After EOC, I will also focus on the sprint, and try to get a spot in the Danish WOC sprint and sprint-relay-team.
