It’s been a while but I’m back on track again. After a
mentally tough season and a decision to leave my orienteering career behind I
have finally climbed up from the pit, found my lost motivation and set up plans
for the next season. It’s still a question mark how much orienteering I am
going to do and what races I’m going to run but, instead, it has cleared up
what goals I have outside orienteering. Early in the spring I am planning to
run a marathon and after that I’m focusing on having fun on trails and
mountains. I’m just thrilled to have all these new goals and races coming up
and can’t wait to get into training. It’s a bit weird to have just a handful of
races waiting in the summer instead of normal 30-40 events but I like the idea
of getting to the start line feeling confident and fresh.
I started my winter training some weeks ago but have focused
mainly on strength and conditioning and kept running still at minimum. Now that
I for once have plenty of time for a proper build-up I don’t want to rush into it
but instead try to build up my weekly mileage gradually. To play safe and to get
some extra strength to my legs I just kicked off my base training with a ski
camp in Grönklitt. I’ve done lots of cycling and swimming while injured but I
still think that cross-country skiing is the best possible alternative training
form for runners. It is brilliant full-body strength training, you work
reasonably hard all the time (and especially hard in the climbs), and it’s easy
to get your heart rate up (in contrast to cycling and swimming). In other words
you can train harder and more without getting injured.
Grönklitt is a ski resort just four hours from Stockholm. I
have been there a couple of times in late January but never this early and I
was quite skeptical about snow conditions. But they had promised me snow and I
believed them. However, during the drive there there my suspicion just grew the
nearer I got. Finally I came to Orsa, a village just 10km away from the resort,
and there was still no sign of snow. Then I really started to get worried. 5km
later and some hundred meters higher up came the first white flecks, and then, just
a few kilometers later came winter. Suddenly, there it was, a beautiful snow
blanket and some 30km of perfects ski tracks. What else can you wish for? So I
had a great long weekend there filled with easy hours in the morning and harder
tempo sessions and fartleks in the evening. I finished each workout in
exhaustion but with a big grin on my face. It was so much fun and I really
enjoyed it despite the fact that every muscle in my body was aching afterwards.
What a wonderful feeling!
Now I’m looking forward to getting back to running, stronger
than ever!
