Del 1 – Intro
My passion for running started with a desire to complete a marathon back in 2005. So just setting a "check" for having done it. The goal was simple and realistic: run all the way, not have to walk. So I signed up Oslo Marathon.
Back then I ran 20-30 km/week, but increased to 50 km/week in the last 5 weeks before the race. Thought then that now I'm fine prepared! I wasn't! But the funny thing was that I got to experience what everyone says about marathons: That race starts at 30-32 km! I passed 30 km in a good drive and thought that "in 35 km I can turn up the speed properly". Thoroughly mistaken. Two kilometers later, the legs were logs and the approx. The 7,500 running steps that remained was like a bad nightmare. But: I ran all the way, so the goal was reached! The time was 3h21m. I would never do this do again! It was for sure!
Well, it certainly wasn't that certain. The next day, I thought "How fast can I run if I prepare a lot better". So I quickly signed up for the Oslo Marathon again for 2006. I thought the preparations for the next year were much better, but it didn't add up. Long trips and enough km were not on the plan, so I mean to remember persa ... with 30 seconds ... Oh well … Didn't know much about marathon preparation back then, that was the only thing that was certain.
The following year it was the Nordmarka Forest Marathon - in boiling heat and an extremely long and very young last 20 km... Not run that page.
Tested the year after my first half marathon, and I thought it was much more fun, because then I had a long more accurate idea of what the end time was going to be. The time was probably 1:35ish. I also liked that the speed was higher and that training was more characterized by fast intervals than very demanding kilometers. Later it was also 10 km and 5km on the list - a lot of track tests alone first, then also running. The training kept getting better, and big milestones were achieved achieved: sub 1:30 in 1/2m, and sub40 in 10k, about 6-7 years ago. After all, I had just turned 40 and thought that sooner than this it will probably never go! Thoroughly mistaken. There have been more and more races per year, and there are now passed a total of 100 races and peaks in 2022 with around 20 competitions (2 skis and an Iron Man 70.3 included). PR is reaching 1:20:26 in the half marathon, and 36:58 in the 10k. This is the great thing about running, and at longer distances: Mon can improve a lot even though age is telling! I'm sure there are a lot of really good runners out there who have passed both 50, 60 and 70 years old! So no reason not to set yourself some slightly hairy goals!
So this year the desire to try a marathon came again. I've heard 100+ episodes of "I det lange løp", have read up and gave me a lot more experience in marathon training, so I signed up for the Valencia Marathon on December 4. The target is probably somewhat tight, but 2:48:48 would have been rough to take - that's 4:00/km. But must run just as much for part of the experience - so it will be success and joy anyway! I'll have the fitness and motor to make it, but if The legs are completely in, yes that is the big uncertainty! But I ran a good amount of km all summer (70-80 km/week), with running training every day, and last month increased the distance to about 100 km. Now the plan is to lie on approx. 110 km going forward.
I will run a few more competitions before Valencia: Hytteplanmila, Rekordløpet (1-2x) and Jessheim Winter Marathon. But these will be good quality sessions in the training plan until Valencia.
No – now I'm going out for today's 60 min calm session.
We are running!