Sprint training in Evora

The last four days I have spent with parts of the Norwegian National Team on a Sprint Orienteering Training Camp in Evora in Portugal. Evora is a great place for sprint orienteering, and in the area there are several small cities similar to Chambry in France where the WOC Final will be held in August.

We have so far been running 4 sprint sessions with different formats in competition speed, 2 sprints in moderate speed and 2 easier sessions in forest with moments like control picking, corridor and contours. After the trainings we have been relaxing in the pool, jacuzzi and sauna on the hotel. Tomorrow morning we will have a last session in Evora city before we are flying home.

Australia

After Tour de Ski China my one month long January trip continued to Australia, where I stayed for two weeks. During this time I visited Melbourne, Falls Creek, Canberra, Ulladulla and Huskisson on the coast, the Blue Mountains and finally Sydney.

During the trip I was able to see many nice places and exciting animals like koalas, penguins, kangaroos and wallabies. I am thankful to my Australian friends that were helpful with good advices and accommodation.

It was really nice to change the cold Scandinavian winter with summer and perfect conditions for running training. In Sydney I was also able to participate in a local sprint orienteering race. I had a great time in the small part of Australia I visited, and hope I will be able to come back soon to discover more of the huge country.

Tour de Ski China

In January I was on my longest trip so far in my life, both in time and distance. It started with one week in China, continued with two weeks in Australia, and ended with one and a half week in New Zealand. I will now write a few words and present pictures from China, and will hopefully have time to continue with Australia and New Zealand later.

Just after Christmas I travelled to Beijing to compete in Tour de Ski China in cross country skiing. You can read more about why I travelled to such a competition in the first news I made for my new blog.

The program for Tour de Ski China 2010 – 2011:
Stage 1, 28th December – Mass start, 5.4 km free technique, Xiwuqi in Inner Mongolia
Stage 2, 29th December – Sprint, 1.3 km free technique Xiwuqi in Inner Mongolia
Stage 3, 30th December – Sprint, 1.2 km free technique, The Bird Nest in Beijing
Stage 4, 2nd January – Vasaloppet China, 50 km classic, Changchun

I looked at the trip as a new challenges and great experiences, since I hadn’t done any special preparation for the cross country skiing season. The races went as I could expect, and I came around number 30 in all of the four competitions. Results

Xiwuqi in Inner Mongolia was a totally new place for me, really cold and not the most exciting place I have been, but the races was good. The sprint in Beijing was held in the Olympic Stadium the Bird Nest, which was a great venue for such a race. Tour de Ski China was ended with the 50 km long Vasaloppet China in Changchung.

The week in China was great, with several tough competitions and a lot of fun. I meet many new people from different countries and came to some new places in different parts of the huge country.

Moving to Lidingö

I have decided that I at the end of the winter will move to Lidingö in Stockholm and join the club IFK Lidingö.

I have been living in Trondheim for my whole life, and think it will be good for me to live another place for some time. The spring 2009 I finished my studies on NTNU as a Master in Computer technology, and the following year I focused on WOC that was held on home ground last summer. Now I would like to have some changes in my life, both in general and as a orienteering runner.

IFK Lidingö has a great fundament for elite orienteering, with a strong organization and a good group of runners. It’s a very positive atmosphere in the club, and I feel very welcome. There are also several other Norwegians in the club. Almost all the runners are living very close to each other, which I think is important to get good quality on your daily training.

The club have a good team of competent trainers that can help me to become better. To develop as a runner I will cooperate with Anders Gärderud. Anders if former Olympic champion on 3000 m hurdles, and was coach for the Norwegian National team 2003 – 2004. I think that can help me to reach my main goal for the next season, which is to succeed in the WOC Sprint in Chambery in France.

I have never been running the big relays for an absolute top team, and to run 10mila and Jukola for Lidingö is a great challenge for me. I will do my best so that we can follow up the success from Smålandskavlen, where Lidingö won the men’s class.

I will also start working for the club in the office for Lidingöloppet, the World’s biggest cross country running competition, with more than 40.000 participants. The job is flexible and I will work maximum 50 %. That will give me the opportunity to focus on my training and competitions, at the same time as I will get a balance in my life with other interesting things to fill my time with, and of course an income for living.

To move to Stockholm was not an easy decision to take. I have been living in Trondheim my whole life, and I had several other good options for places I could have liked to move to. But now when the decision is made I feel very satisfied, and am really looking forward to move to Lidingö.

I would like to thank Wing OK for the support I have got the 14 last years. It was when I joined Wing 15 years old I got good club mates on my own age and learned how to train seriously. But I will not leave to club totally, since I will still run the Norwegian championship for Wing, and also train with the club when I’m in Trondheim.

Ready for Tour de Ski China

Yesterday I arrived to Beijing for competing in Tour de Ski China, which consists of four cross country skiing races the coming week. Today the travel continued to Xiwuqi in Inner Mongolia, where the first competition will be held as a 5 km long mass start this evening. Tomorrow it will be a sprint race in the same place. The two last races is a sprint in the Olympic Stadium the Bird Nest in Beijing on Thursday, before Tour de Ski China ends with the 50 km long Vasaloppet China in Changchun on Sunday.

Tour de Ski China 2010 – 2011:
Stage 1, 28th December – Mass start, 5.4 km free technique, Xiwuqi in Inner Mongolia
Stage 2, 29th December – Sprint, 1.3 km free technique Xiwuqi in Inner Mongolia
Stage 3, 30th December – Sprint, 1.2 km free technique, The Bird Nest in Beijing
Stage 4, 2nd January – Vasaloppet China, 50 km classic, Changchun

Tour de Ski China is organized by Nordic Ways, the same company that have organized the Park World Tour races in China. When I was running PWT in Beijing in October I talked to the boss of Nordic Ways at the banquet and said that it could have been fun to ski the Vasaloppet in China once. He applied with inviting me for the whole Tour de Ski this year. (Probably because I have a good relationship to them after running most PWT races the ten last years and also because I have some good result from ski orienteering, with relay medals and individual top 6 results from both World and European champs.) But that is some years ago, and I am not focusing on cross country skiing this winter, so I was not sure what I should answer. Anyway I am training quite much on skies in Trondheim in the winter, and looked at competing in Tour de Ski China as a once in a lifetime opportunity. So I’m now in China together with a lot of new people, looking forward to some new challenges and great experiences.

Øystein ser frem mot en ny type utfordringer, Orientering.no

New blog

I just realised that I’m no longer able to access my old homepage, probably because I finished my studies on NTNU last summer, and they have now closed my account there, and I have therefore made this blog I can use until I have time to make a new homepage.

• News from 2002 - 2010
• Maps from 1999 - 2010
• Pictures from 1998 - 2008