Week 27 - Good trainingweek and more knowledge about my next year

Not so much to say about this weeks training, besides that it has almost gone according to the plan as a hard week of training  (18 hours training, 15 hours running, and 158 km running). I'm pretty satisfied with that, and I can now take an easier week of training with good conscience.

Maybe more interesting, I have had some interesting meetings in the beginning of this week, and I now know more about what I will do the coming year(s), besides running. More about that later...

I also had a meeting with the national team coach, Torbjørn, and we have decided that it will be the WOC-longdistance which will be my second priority next year, after the WOC-Sprints. I'm looking forward to this combination and I hope that my preparations will go well, so I can be able to improve my 8th (2013) and 9th (2012) place from the WOC-longdistance. I think the terrain for the longdistance in Estonia will suit me well, like it did in Switzerland and Finland, and I'm very motivated to give the WOC-longdistance another shot next year.

Merry Christmas to all of you.

Week 28 - Back in normal training

The last week consisted of more than 18 hours of training and 14½ hours of running (154 km), and it feels good to be back in normal winter-basic-training again, even though my shape is not as good as it was before my sickness.

I periodize my training during most of the winter in a 3-week cycle, with 2 weeks with a high total trainingload (high volume of low-intensity training and 3-5 sessions of high-intensity sessions) and 1 week week with lower total trainingload (lower volume of low-intensity training, but still 2-5 high-intensity sessions). The low-intensity training is mostly done as long running-sessions (1½-2½ hours) on different surface (road, paths and terrain), but also some shorter recovery running-sessions. The high-intensity training is mostly done as longer interval-sessions, with high, but not maximum effort, and some orienteering-sessions in competition speed (high or maximum intensity, depending on the duration of the session). Besides that, I do some strength-training, both heavy resistance-training for the legs and corestability-training, to be stronger, more efficient and not least prevent me from overuse-injuries from the high running-load I have.

Last week is a good example of a week with a high total trainingload. During the winter the total trainingload will not be much higher than it was last week (which was also quite high). This week will also be a week with a high training-load, before an easier week between Christmas and New Years, where there will be no organized training. From the 2. January the EC-training will start up again, and so will a new period of high trainingload.  

The shape is not very good right now, but this is not important, because I don't have to be in good shape now. Of course it is hard mentally to be beaten by the others on most trainings, but I know that this is how it usually works for me. I just have to accept the fact that I'm in bad shape, but if I'm patient and keep focusing on my own training plans, the situation will be quite different when the Spring and Summer comes...

Week 29 - Sickness and constant adjustments in trainingplans

A classic example of a training week, that didn't go as planned, due to problems with sickness.

Sickness is often a difficult obstacle for your training, because it's not easy to find out when it's ok to start training again and when it's not. Especially when coughing, I always have problems finding the right balance, because in my experience you can keep coughing for weeks, without actually being sick. The coughing will more or less continue not affected if you train or not. However, Ane has been coughing for almost a month after Smålandskavlen, without training, so I have been nervous that this would take some time for me as well.

  

This week I felt in my body that it was ok to start training easy again on Tuesday, but I found out on Wedensday that it was too early, and had to adjust the plans again. It was ok to have some short easy trainings though, to keep my legs functioning, and I could focus more on strengthtraining, which didn't affected my lungs. I have had problems sleeping during the week, which have disturbed my normal balance and making me tired. In the end of the week my coughing, sleeping and feeling was better and I was able to start training more normal again. 

The week wasn't a disaster and the break from normal training wasn't too long. The week was supposed to be easier after a tough build-up in training in November, and maybe it was good to get a little more rest before the tough training-weeks to come.

The positive things was that I could focus more on my strengthtraining during the week, and that the soreness I had in my calves/akilles dissapeared.       

Week 30 - tough week of training

Here comes the first weekly blog about my training towards WOC 2017. 30 weeks to go...

"As a new thing this year I will try to post my completed training every week from now on and as a countdown until WOC 2017. This is mostly inspired by the traininglog of Thierry Gueorgiou which I have enjoyed reading during the last year. I like the concept of sharing knowledge and if this can be interesting and maybe inspire other runners or coaches, it's great. On the other hand I also think that even though it will be a bit time-demanding project, it will also inspire me to think more about what I'm actually doing, because I have to tell everyone afterwards. Hopefully this will give me a stronger feeling of obligation towards my training than usual.

I will focus mostly on my physical training as this is my main interest, and because it's easier to analyze and sum up than technical and mental training. However, I will try to write about technical and mental training (and other important stuff in my life) when I think it is important.
I will try to be as honest as possible in my descriptions, also when things go badly (because they will occationally, wheter you like it or not). Fell free to ask questions or comment".          
 

But first at short training summary of my training in November, as functioned as a "build-up" in training again:

Week 34 (31/10-6/11): 11:53 hours of training, 8:12 hours of running (82 km)

Week 33 (7/11-13/11): 13:38 hours of training, 10:39 hours of running (113 km)

Week 32 (14/11-20/11): 14:47 hours of training, 11:03 hours of running (120 km)

Week 31 (21/11-27/11): 15:17 hours of training, 12:47 hours of running (138 km)

Total training in November: 61:20 hours of training, 49:20 hours of running (523 km)

Then about last week (week 30):

It was supposed to be a tough week of training, before an easier week after the national team camp. My main focus during November and December is to build up training- and running volume to a high level, besides building up strength again. I'm putting back some longer runs in my basic training and lowering the speed a little compared to last year. I will try to maintain a significant amount of running on hard surface in my low intensity training (road or treadmill). This will hopefully make me strong enough to be able to keep a high volume in training in the new year, with slowly more focus on increasing the amount of high-intensity training.

Unfortunately I started coughing on thursday morning. I seemed like wasn't too bad and I didn't feel sick beside the coughing, so I kept training. I often get problems with coughing after I get a cold, but my experience is that the coughing is not much affected by the training, and it doesn't really matter if I keep training training or just rest, as long as the training doesn't provoke the lungs too much. On sunday I didn't feel normal though, and was low on energy. I will try to take some extra rest in the beginning of the next week.  

2016 Summary... and (at least) one more year!

2016 was a good year of training, with more running than ever. Even though I got two medals and became World Champion again in the Sprint-Relay, my individual performances during the year haven't been as good as hoped, though. It's always difficult to point out what went wrong and I think it is probably a mix of several things. For some reason I haven't been able to perform at my best in the most important competitions, EOC-sprint and WOC-sprint, something that have been one of my strengths for many years. The technical/mental coordination was a problem, especially in the beginning of the season, but my physical shape hasn't been good enough either. At least not good enough to achieve my goals, to be able to fight for medals.

Training summary 2016:

The season started quite badly with a dislocated shoulder in the end of October, but I was quickly back in normal training. Despite another broken rib in February, which only cost me less than a week of reduced training this time, I haven't been seriously injured during the year, and not much sick either.

2016 has also been the year I have ever been running most, both calculated in hours (520 hours) and distance (5415 km), but I have been doing less alternative training and strength-training than earlier.

I have had focus on more running on hard surface this year, and with less longer slow runs than usually and more running in moderate speed (3:45 - 4:15 min/km) and running exercises to be more efficient on hard surface. The amount of high intensity training, and especially the highest intensity (I5), has been less than the last 5 years, and more than half the amount of I5 as in 2014 when I was maybe in my best shape. It has not been an intented change, and I think this reduction has been due to more focus on the sprint, because the amount of high intensity sessions haven't been less, but the duration of the sessions has.
  

The reduced amount of orienteering in 2015 and 2016 can also be explained by more focus on shorter sprint-sessions, compared to earlier years. 

2017:

I have decided that I will (try to) continue at least one more year on the highest level. The last years I have used the fall to feel how my motivation for training and competing one more year has been, but I haven't really doubted that I wanted to continue. It was the same this fall. Even though I'm still motivated I think it is good to spend some time every year to consider other options. When you then decide to continue , I think the commitment will be even bigger, because it is an active choice and not just something you do because you have always done it. If it will be more years after 2017, I can't promise, but I must say that Sprint-WOC 2020 on home ground sounds like something you don't want to miss...

In the same process I have also considered which distances I'm motivated to go for in 2017. Since I have performed top8 WOC-results in all distances and top5 World Cup-results in all distances, the choice is not so obvious. The last 2-3 years I have focused on the Sprint and Sprint-Relay, because I like the concept of the sprint-distance and also saw some improvement potential here. I must say that after the WOC-sprint this year, I was pretty sure that I didn't want to run WOC-sprint again, but this has changed  to some extent during the last months and I have decided with the national coach that my first priority will be the WOC-Sprint and the WOC-Sprint Relay again in 2017. But we have also decided that I will prepare for the forest-disciplines as second priority, as this also motivates me to train even harder in my general basic training during the winter and spring, which consist of lots of forest-training. If I will run the WOC-Middle-distance, WOC-long-distance or WOC-relay (or not be good enough to qualify for the team) will be decided at test-races in Estonia in the middle of May and World Cup round in Finland in the end of May.

As a new thing this year I will try to post my completed training every week from now on and as a countdown until WOC 2017. This is mostly inspired by the traininglog of Thierry Gueorgiou which I have enjoyed reading during the last year. I like the concept of sharing knowledge and if this can be interesting and maybe inspire other runners or coaches, it's great. On the other hand I also think that even though it will be a bit time-demanding project, it will also inspire me to think more about what I'm actually doing, because I have to tell everyone afterwards. Hopefully this will give me a stronger feeling of obligation towards my training than usual.
I will focus mostly on my physical training as this is my main interest, and because it's easier to analyze and sum up than technical and mental training. However, I will try to write about technical and mental training (and other important stuff in my life) when I think it is important.
I will try to be as honest as possible in my descriptions, also when things go badly (because they will occationally, wheter you like it or not). Fell free to ask questions or comment.            
    

Last countdown

Now it's only 5 days until WOC 2016 will start with the sprint in Strömstad. It will be my 10th WOC in 10  years and I am very excited but also nervous to see if I will be able to perform my best.

It has been a long period of hard training since Jukola. After EOC I had to realize that my sprint-routines somehow wasn't good enough. I planned a pretty intense 4-weeks period of a lot of sprint-training leading up to the national teams 3 weeks WOC-training camp in Sweden/Norway. Simply just to repeat, repeat and repeat my sprint-routines again and again. In 4 weeks I completed 20 sprint-courses on more or less WOC-relevant maps, with 15 of them in competition speed (the majority without markings). Many of the courses have been prepared by my teammates in Århus, which have been great and given me a lot of high-quality sessions. It has been tough work and also a challenge to keep focusing on the right things on all sessions, but I have increased my technical and tactical level during this period.

One week Ane and I toured around the part of Denmark where I grew up (Fyn), and enjoyed some of the many good sprint-towns (Svendborg, Rudkøbing, Assens, Glamsbjerg, Odense). The clubs on Fyn have done a great job during the last years organizing Fynsk Sprint-Cup and maping most of the towns, which has given me excellent training opportunities.

The last week before our training camp Ane I went to Norway, to visit a part of Norway we have never visited before (Sør-Vest Norge). We went to Kristiansand where I did 2 sprint-sessions. Different sprint-areas than Denmark, hilly and with forest parts, which gave different challenges when deciding routechoices. From Kristiansand we drove to Lysefjorden and went on a run to see Kjeragbolten. Unfortunately the weather was classic Norwegian summer(wet and windy), and we couldn't see much...
The we went to Stavanger, to have some "easy" days. I had contacted Stavanger OK before going, to find out if there was any sprint-maps there. I was surprised to find out that a lot of sprint-maps excisted around Stavanger, and I got a lot of help from the club getting the best and most relevant maps. Big thanks! I did 4 sprint-sessions in Stavanger, and we enjoyed the city a lot (the weather was also good). Norwegian Sprint-Champs will be organized in Stavanger in 2018, and I think the runners can look forward to some very good competitions there.
Then we went to Preikestolen and tried to run (walk) together with thousands of others, and then further north to Odda and Hardangerfjorden. We wanted to run the 10km and back to Trolltunga on the edge of Hardangervidda, but the weather was too bad. Instead we saw the Buer Glacier and the beautiful waterfalls in Husedalen, before going to Göteborg to join the others at the WOC-training camp.

The training-camp consisted of 2 weeks in Göteborg and then 1 week in Strömstad. It was a long camp with ups and downs, but mostly ups and a lot of good trainings. I could see that my sprint-abilities was at a high level after my intense bout of sprint-sessions, and generally I did very well on the sprint-competition-trainings we had, winning most of them. I was hoping that I could have some fresh legs during the camp, but I was struggling physically on most sessions and didn't have a good feeling. Only very few sessions I felt strong, but I was still happy to see that I was still able to perform well technically. The camp consisted of 4-5 sessions/week of high-max intensity, some easy and moderate training, and some strength- and speed/jump training. Besides the sprint-trainings I also did some middle/relay-competition-trainings, and I was glad to see that I could perform very well without having focused much here this year. Especially the last tough middle-distance in Munkedal together with the Norwegian Team I did a good job. I was 3 minutes behind Olav on a 40min-course, but he was in his own league and I was not far behind Carl, Eskil and Magne in their home-terrain.

All in all the 7 weeks of WOC-preparation have consisted of:

98 hours training:
- 85 hours running (828 km)
    -36 high-intensity sessions
- 12 hours strengthtraining
- 1 hour biking

Coming back home and starting the 2 weeks of tapering I have been struggling to recover fully and get a good feeling. It has been difficult to find the right balance between high-intensity sessions and recovery to get the balance right. Still I have done some good physical tests this week. On tuesday I did 15:03 on a 5000m, which is close to the 15:01 I have done earlier (2012). I was hoping to go below the 15 minutes, but intervals the day before and still trying to recover from the training-camp meant that I didn't have the extra push on the last 1-2 km. I can't expect to run faster on this kind of race, when I only run a track race 0-1 times a year and when my training is not more focused on track-sessions. I'm not trained for track races, but highly trained for Sprint-O. I know that many of my competitors on the sprint are faster on a 5000m than me, and it will be interesting to see how the WOC-sprint will end...
On thursday I did a treadmill-test to see how my physiological data looks like now. Even though I could still feel the training-camp and 5000m in my legs, I did a good test. My heart rate and blood lactate levels were lower on all speeds than last year and I could run 30sec longer on the last speed, compared with last year before WOC.

Overall I feel well prepared for WOC again this year, and I think that I am even stronger on all levels this year. I will run the individual sprint on saturday, the sprint-relay on sunday and the relay in the end of the WOC-week. In the sprint-relay we are reigning champions, but this year Emma is not running. Still, everyone in our team are in good shape and well prepared, and especially Maja is maybe even stronger than last year. Our goal is a medal, but we can win the gold again if everything goes our way. In the individual sprint I hope that I can be able to fight for medals again...

The last couple of days I have taken it quite easy to recover after the tests last week. Later today I will do a full speed sprint-session and then some short intervals tomorrow before we will travel to Sweden on Wedensday.

Let the games begin!





  

Life goes on...

When I wrote my last blog about my “Rollercoaster-EOC”, I was writing about my own performances in the sprint-races and didn’t know that the rollercoaster would take a VERY deep fall in the end of EOC.

A hidden camera was discovered in one of the athletes’ rooms and we got the information, that it was put there by one of our team-leaders and that he had been sent home, after the middle distance final. It was some of the most surreal hours in my life driving back to the hotel, in the evening with the team, during the more or less sleepless night with my thoughts and before and during the relay the day after. Luckily we had our sportspsychologist with us, and he guided all of the team through some sessions with a lot of questions, thoughts and emotions. We were encouraged to be as open and honest about our feelings and thought as possible, and even though it was tough and emotional to express and especially to listens to the others’ feelings, I’m happy that we did it. We have really stood together all the way and helped each other, both coaches and runners, which have made the process of moving on a lot easier.

We also decided to give the relay a try even though no one had slept much and orienteering seemed so indifferent the next morning. I wanted to give up many times in the quarantine before the race, and my warm-up consisted of 3 minutes jogging... But actually it was really nice to get the map and just do one of the things I love the most, finding my way in the forest. It was not before I made a big mistake in the middle of my race, I realized that I had not been thinking on the terrible incident for 15-20 minutes. The last part of the race was not that funny, because I started to feel sorry for myself, but it was nice to see that orienteering and training could be an important part of the way back to a “normal” state of mind. The fact that the Danish Teams completed the relay under the worst thinkable conditions also underlines that it takes a lot to break the spirit of the Danish Team. I’m proud of the way all of us handled this incident the last days in Czech Republic and I hope that this still ongoing process somehow will make the team stronger in the future.

It has been some tough weeks back in Denmark with a lot of conversations and phonecalls with family and friends, and meetings with other involved who weren’t at EOC. I have tried to be a part of as much as possible of it, even though it has been tough to see peoples reactions when they get the facts. I have also tried to keep on training and living my life as “normal” even though some trainings have been terrible... However, it has generally been better and better during the last weeks, and I have also been finding some motivation to focus on WOC. Life goes on, and so does mine. My feeling is that most of the others are slowly moving on as well. In Pan Århus we have been discussing wheter or not it would be a good idea to go to Jukola, and there have been no pressure from either coaches or teammates. In the end most of the men and some of the women in Pan Århus decided to go. We will travel to Finland tonight and I’m looking forward to some nice orienteering in great surroundings. Even though we have a strong mens team, our focus with Jukola is not on performing, but more about finding the joy and motivation for orienteering again. However, our focus might change slightly when the sun sets on Saturday and thousands of runners turn on their headlight on the starting line. Let's see…   

Rollercoaster-EOC

It has been up's and down's in the first part of EOC in Czech Republic for me. Two huge mistakes (one in the sprint-relay and one in the sprint-qualification) have more or less ruined the sprint-races. Still I won a silver medal in the sprint-realy due to impressive performances from my teammates (and due to mistakes from the other teams...).

Sprint-relay

I was sent out on the 2.leg in 3rd position, 30sec behind after a great performance from Cecilie, who has managed to be a very good replacement for Emma. I executed the tricky leg to first control very well and was suddenly in contact with leading Switzerland and Russia again. I was feeling good and stayed in contact with the lead for almost all the race. But in the museum-park in the end of the course I didn't see control 21 on the map and was navigating from 20-22, choosing the left routechoice. That meant I was running 5m beside control 21 and seeing the teams in front of me punching it and turning around for the right routechoice to 22. I thought to myself that it was a bit weird, and when I came to the road I doublechecked my map and realized that I had forgotten control 21. I almost couldn't believe what I have done and it felt like someone had put a knife in my stomach, and all power just disappeared. The mistake "only" costed 38 sec, but in the finish I was almost one minute behind the leaders, and most likely out of the battle for medals. Søren and Maja did really good preformances though, and when the leading teams missed in the beginning of last leg, suddenly we were back in the game for gold. In the end Maja made exactly the same mistake as me and was about to skip the same control, but somehow realized the mistake (like me) and turned back. The gold went to Russia, but we have to very satisfied with the silver-medal which was more than we expected before the relay. And with the 2 mistakes we did, maybe it was fair that we didn't win.

Sprint-qualification

I had a good start, leading my qualification heat more than halfway through the course. I didn't see a passage under the bridge at the museum, loosing 5 and 12 seconds to best time on two controls, and took a bad routechoice to control 16, but still good enough to make the final safely. But to the third last control (the easiest leg) I lost the concentration in a few seconds and ran to the wrong building, loosing 35 seconds before I realized my mistake and went back. Again I had to run the last couple of controls with the worst feeling, knowing that this might not be good enough for the final. And it wasn't...

Sprint-final

I was totally devastated because I had really been looking forward to this sprint-final, which would suited me well. I decided to run the b-final anyway, and I did a decent performance with one 10sec mistake and 2-3 bad routechoices, but good enough to win with 33sec.

Relay (and Middle?)

Originally I was only supposed to run the sprints and the relay at EOC, but after the sprint-failure, the coaches agreed to let me run the middle-distance as well. It means that I will be at the starting-line for the middle qualification tomorrow. I have been having some problems with my stomach since the sprint though, but it looks like it will be good enough to run tomorrow. The legs are feeling good and I'm motivated to show what I'm made of. After the qualification we will decide if it's realistic to make a good result in the final, or if I should save the energy for the relay.      

Different challenges

The training has been working well most of the year. Very well, actually. Only a few short breaks from training since November. 4-5 days of little training due to sickness in January and 2-3 days of alternative training in February and March due to a painful rib and a twisted ankle. That's what to expect when you train hard.

My physical shape has improved during the spring according to the plan, and the last couple of weeks I have felt strong when running, both on the sprint and in the forest. But the first important sprint-competitions of the season (Danish Champs in Sprint and World Cup in Poland) haven't been giving good results for me. Way too many wrong routechoices and bad execution of the legs. It's been difficult for me to find the right balance in running fast and orienteering well. Simply too much focus on running fast. I can see on the splits from these competitions, that my speed is very good since I'm often amongst the fastest on the legs I execute well. But 45sec mistakes is not good enough to be where I want to be on the resultlist, as it has been so far this year.

On the Sprintrelay in Wroclaw I managed to change my focus more to the navigation-part, and did a decent performance in full control together with the rest of the front-group on the 2.leg. We finished in 3rd place, which was a good result for us with a new line-up.

And it seems like that I have now re-found my previous level on sprint. Even though I haven't competed since the World Cup, I have done well on the sprint-trainings in our EOC-camp in Czech Republic last week, beating the other Danes on most tranings, and generally doing good sprint-orientering. The training camp was a really tough one, with a lot of high-intensity training, as it was the last week with a big trainingload before 2 weeks of tapering before EOC. Actually I did 9 high-intensity trainings (competition-speed or higher) in the 8 days (including the 3 WC-races), besides some easy o-training. Maybe one of my toughest weeks of training ever.

When I look at my completed training the last 6 months and know how my shape normally develops in April and May it looks very promising towards EOC in only one week and WOC in August. I didn't get the best test in the World Cup, but luckily it's easier to adjust the technical shape than the physical shape in a short-term perspective.

And tomorrow I will travel to Falun and hopefully get some more self-confidence before EOC in 10mila. The date of 10mila is a actually a disaster this year because it is so close to EOC, and I guess that several of the best won't go because of that. But it is not often I have run 10mila in very good shape and well recovered as it is the case this year.
Because of EOC I have, however, taken some precautions this year, which is also why I will run an early leg (3rd), because I find it difficult to sleep before the race, but not after... The trip to Sweden will also be quite short this time. Travelling tomorrow, a short night training, a short easy training in Saturday, and then 10mila, before going back and sleep, and home on Sunday.
Our team (Pan Århus) is maybe not as strong as last year, because of some injuries and drop-outs, but we will begin the relay quite hard including Søren Bobach on "långa natten". Hopefully we can influence and dominate the relay from the beginning and far in the relay.  

Danish Spring 2016 - (2nd - DNF - DNS)

This weekend we had the first important competitions in Denmark - Danish Spring. Sprint on friday, middle-distance yesterday and long-distance today. 

The training has been working well the last weeks since we came back from Portugal. I did some competitions with Pan Århus in South Sweden two weeks ago, and got two 3rd places from the night mass start and the shortdistance, with quite tired legs. 10 days ago I also finished my masterstudies totally with the presentation and exam of my master-thesis. I got good feedback on the project and got the highest grade, which was a nice end of many years of studies. If you want to read my project, you can email me and I will send a copy to you.

This week has been a bit easier on the trainingload, to be ready for Danish Spring, and the 2 week training camp in Slovenia with the Danish National Team.
On friday it was a fast sprint in Helsingør. The race went ok, it's was not difficult, but still you had to be very concentrated all the way as the margins were very small. I did 2 bad routechoices though, losing 10 seconds in total, and ended up in 2nd spot, 5 seconds behind Søren Bobach.
Yesterday we ran a middle-distance in Gribskov, which was affected by a lot of fallen/cut trees and that the marshes had turned into lakes... I made a big mistake (1min+) on the first control, running just beside it, thinking that it wasn't my control. After that it went better technically and the speed was very good. But at the 11th control I twisted my left ankle. It was taped though, but since I had been out swimming 1-2 times, the tape wasn't strong enough. Still it wasn't that bad, but I wasn't able to keep racing and had to turn back.
Today I jumped on the bike instead of doing the long-distance, not to risk anything with the ankle or other injuries. I could probably have been running, but since I'm sitting in the airport, waiting to go to Slovenia for 2 weeks, it was wiser to save some energy for the camp.
It will be a camp consisting of a lot of high-intensity orienteering (mostly sprint for me), to get ready for the important competitions coming up in 1-2 months.


  

Oops! ... I did it again (broken rib vol.2)

Unlike last year, the broken rib have a good explanation this time, as I ran directly into a tree during the first training on our 2 weeks training camp in Portugal... A broken rib sounds like a quite serious injury, but actually we didn't realize that it was broken until Wedensday this week, 2 weeks later, when I had it scanned.

The day after the hit I was sore in the area around my left chest, but I didn't feel anything when I was running, and actually I completed the planned training the first week of the camp, but the pain got more intense and was narrowed down to one area of one of the ribs. We had our physio with us, and she wasn't worried about the injury, as a hit on the ribs can be quite painful. But on a high-speed training in the beginning of the second week I realized that the pain was suddenly serious and that I couldn't run and breathe normally anymore. We decided to give it a couple of rest-days, to see if it got better. I was only walking some orienteering for 3 days while it was quite painful, but then suddenly it felt better, and I tried to run again. I was careful and on the first trainings, but I wasn't feeling much pain, and the running didn't make it worse. During the last 2 days of the camp I was traninig more or less normal, and this week has also consisted of quite much training back in Århus, and the pain are almost gone now.

Still I had it scanned on wedensday to see if it was possible to see anything, and we were all quite surprised to see a clear "crack" in my rib on the ultrasounds-scan. Nevertheless, I'm still advised to train as much as I can without pain, since it has been so much better the last week. So I'm carrying on with the last part of the winter-training, knowing that I have a broken rib in my left side and a weak right shoulder. I just have to stay on my feet...

The shape is not bad, as it sometimes has been in February, and I'm looking forward to the beginning of the season, which will start next week with Pan-Våren in Sweden, Danish Champs 10k in two weeks, and Danish Spring in three weeks, before a two week training camp in Slovenia.    

Abstract from my master thesis

Several orienteers have asked if they could read my master thesis, after I announced that it was handed in some days ago. Since the assignment haven't been evaluated yet, I don't want to publish all of it, before I get some feedback from the supervisors. Not that it is secret, but it's nice to know if something is wrong before I publish it. Until then, you can read the abstract, which will give the main conclusions from the study.   

... and now, focus is 100% back on training.

On monday I finally handed in my master thesis in Sports Science, 7½ years after i started my education in Oslo. After some tough weeks of work it's nice to get focus back on training and especially recovery again.

Even though I have been busy with my master thesis the last couple of months, the training has been flowing quite good since I started running again in the beginning of November after I dislocated my shoulder. It has been 10 weeks of good basic training with a least 100km running/week and 8 weeks between 120-155 km/week. It has been more running on hard surface compared with earlier years, trying to get faster toward the sprint. The intensity-distribution has been quite similar as usual, with very little training on the highest intensity, focusing more on threshold training and long easy runs.
The last 2 weeks have not been optimal though, since I got sick two weeks ago. Last week I was in Sjusjøen, Norway, with a good combination of cross-country skiing an master-thesis work, but not much running though.

It has been really nice finally to hand in my master thesis, because even though I have been able to train well, I have been quite stressed the last 3-4 weeks. Now it's 100% focus on training and recovery the next 6 months, to be at my best at EOC and WOC. It starts on monday, with a 2 week training camp in Mira, Portugal, with the Danish National Team. I'm looking forward to a great season...