A new year in training

I made a draft of my training goals for this year just before the New Year. The primary goal for this year is to increase the amount of exercise and to run below 20 minutes at 5 km before the end of the year. Two simple goals. Should be no hassle eh? Well only time will tell.

The previous year
I think that I did something right the last year. I will try to sum it up here.

• I started this blog. They say if you want to achieve your goals you should tell everybody about them to keep the pressure up.
• I logged everything I did. Every km, time used etc. I even bought a gps watch to measure my running and cycling distance. It had really bugged me before that I did not know how long I had run or cycled.
• I attended 10+ running events. It makes it all more fun. (I am sure someone will disagree with me here.)
• Tried to reflect every month or so about what I had achieved. The log were handy here.

This year
My 5 km best time last year were 21 minutes and 40 seconds. So to go below 20 minutes then the amount of training need to be increased, and I also need to train a bit smarter. Cycling back and forth from work will not cut it. That mean more interval training, longer training sessions etc. My main exercises will be spinning and running. Below I have made a rough list of the amount of training during the year I will do.

Spinning : 150 minutes (week) : 130 hours (year)
Running : 15 km (week) : 900 km (year)
Cycling : 50 km (week): 2600 km (year)
Strength : about 2 times each week

5 km : below 20 minutes
10 km : below 44 minutes
Events
* 12+ running events
* 1 cycling event

Well that´s it. I cross my fingers that I will avoid injuries etc. Wish me luck.

One more thing. I came over this article at Wired titled The perfect human. It´s about the infamous Dean Karnazes that ran 50 marathons in 50 days. Yay!

Breaking the ice! New personal best 5km!

Last day I attended the regular local run vinterkarusellen (winter carousel) that is scheduled every 3 weeks during the winter. My long term goal is to run the 5km below 20 minutes. The best time I have run the 5km before is 22.08 and that were about 5 months ago, so I had a big hope to break the 22 minute barrier before going into a new year with new goals to be set.

The weather yesterday were really nasty early in the day, with heavy rain and zero degrees, not a good combination for a run. But luckily it stopped raining just before leaving for the event. The race is just 15 minutes bike ride away, so I use the bike as way to get there and the same time get warmed up before the run. I strapped on my biking helmet and set off. I arrived at the racing stadium, I got off the bike, found a pole to fasten the bike to, and headed for the stadium to do a 10 min warm up.

At the stadium I did some muscle stretching, and started running slowly around the track, when I noticed something were not right, hmm what could it be? Oh damn!!! I still have the damn bike helmet on!! Oh my god, I must look like a complete moron or something running with the helmet. I laughed at my self, took off my helmet and went back to my bike to put it there. I notice a bit of snickering among people. Anything to bring a smile on peoples face I thought.

Yay!, not a good start I thought. Well better get my act together and make this a good run. It can only go uphill from here on.
The run started a bit later, I did not get a good position in the crowd, being right in the middle. The roads are quite narrow in on the race course, so it’s important not to get to far back in the crowd. When running it were a bit problematic to get by people, running sometimes off track on the grass, darting back and fort to get by people. I felt good and strong in body, I held a steady tempo all the time, advancing and running by people. The last km I even had strength to quicken the pace a bit. I were happy to see the finishing line in the distance, and set inn the last of my strength for a spurt. When crossing the line I looked at my wrist watch and noticed with surprise that I had beaten my best time with nearly 30 seconds. 21.40 minutes were the time I got! I felt great joy and cheered at my self for my accomplishment. I promised my self to buy a cake the next day and celibrate with family, for entering into a new time zone and a good closure for the year in running.

I wish you all a happy new running year!

The results (Me at 83 place)
An article from the event in Kondis.no

Off road running – Loddefjordløpet 10 of September

I discovered just days before that there were a running event in a place called Loddefjord close to were I lived as a kid. So I had to attend offcourse. I did not know squat about it, and were a bit surprised that 60% of the track were off road in the forest, and mostly up and downhill. It were a nice day, a bit sunny and quite warm, not many attended, but that were most likely because of short notice of the event. At the bright side I won an umbrella afterward that were picked on my running number, but I think at least 60% of the ones attending won something…
Article of the event on kondis.no

Me running and on the brink of throwing in the towel

I have also created a list of goals at 43 things that I someday want to achieve. I think it it’s great way to set focus on what you want to do. Check it out at http://www.43things.com/person/mortenbrudvik

Running on velvet – 5km, Personal best time! Knarvikmila 2006

I competed today at the 5km, in in one the biggest running events in Norway called Knarvikmila, that had a record high of 6000 people that competed this year. The race started with a countdown “3, 2, 1, BANG!” and at the same moment the gun went of it started to rain badly. But I felt very good, no injuries etc. It were like running on velvet. But the running course were a bit strange as it were going up and down hills all the time. I really tough I would get a bad time because of it, but when arriving at the stadium and crossing the finishing line I were surprised that I had got a new personal best time of 22 min and 8 sec. An improvement of 39 seconds since my last 5km run! Yahooo!!

5km results
Article from www.kondis.no

New personal best time 5km running!

I did a personal best on the 5km summer carrousel running event 26 of june, were I ran on the time 23 minutes and 14 seconds! Wooho! It is nice to see that the constitution is improving.

I have also started to cycle to work every day. It’s about 40 km total distance, 5 days in a week and hopefully it will make some difference. I actually think it’s quite nice way to start the day, I feel very energetic when I arrive at work. The first day I used 50 minutes to work, now I am down to 38 minutes. I really want a new bicycle, my old 10 year off road bike i use now is singing on it’s last strings. I am thinking of buying a racer the next year, if I can continue with my cycling to work every day. Imagine that carrot in front you cycling.

Summer carrousel 12 of june – Running event

The summer carrousel is a yearly running event that is taking place on Fana stadium in Bergen. It was the first of 5 events that will be held every two weeks during the summer.
It were a sunny day and the humid heat were nearly unbearable. You could either choose 5km or 10km distance, and I had choosen to run the 5 km. Just a couple of minutes after the start my mouth were completly dry, I wished I had taken som water with me. In the middle of the distance I were beginning to get exhausted because of the unberable heat, it felt like running inside an owen. At the end of the run I were getting dizzy and I just wanted to stop and walk the last distance. By willpower only I were barly able to place one foot in front of the other. When approching the finishing line I were not even able to step on the gas and increase my speed. I staggered over the finishing line like some mindless zombie and the time I got were 25:01 minutes. Not very good. Sight! Next time I will do better!
http://kondis.no/Bergen/index.php?aid=52326&k=bergen%2Fbergen&mid=

Askøy bridge run – Running event (3 of june)

One week ago I were running at a local running event. The weather were quite bad that day, with strong cold wind. (You might see it on my hair standing straight up on the pict

ure below. ) The running distance were 5.5 km and we ran two times across the bridge you see in the picture below. It were a really cold experience, and I have now gotten a cold. Cough!

http://kondis.no/Bergen/index.php?aid=52034&k=bergen%2Fbergen&mid=

Åsaneløpet – Running event

Last sunday I were running the 5 km distance in the yearly running event called Åsaneløpet. I managed to do a personal best of 23 minutes and 40 seconds.
I plan to attend about 10 running events this summer. Hopefully my constitution will be improving during the next months.

http://kondis.no/default/index.php?aid=51582&k=sjef%2Fforsiden&mid=