3 weeks in Sierra Nevada

Last winter I followed a bit different training program than the previous years. Since I'm not in the Norwegian National Teams training group I have had the opportunity to plan my training exactly as I want and believe in. I have not been on so many training camps, but when I have been away I have tried to stay at the same place for a longer time. I have not been running too much orienteering, but had main focus in becoming a faster runner. A main goal has been to have continuity in my training, without to many disturbing elements.

In January I spent 3 weeks in Swiss mountains and in February 10 days in Alicante with my club IFK Lidingö. In connection with the Easter I had my second high altitude training camp, and from the end of March to the middle of April I spent almost 3 weeks in Sierra Nevada in Spain.

Originally I was thinking about going to Flagstaff in USA or Dullstroom or Eldoret/Iten in Africa, but ended up with Sierra Nevada since it was a much shorter travel, and still seemed to be a place for good training conditions. In short terms I can say that it was fantastic environments for training, and that the first two weeks was really good, while the last week was partly destroyed by stomach problems and fever.

I stayed in Sierra Nevada ski resort 2200 masl the whole period. The day I arrived it was snowing, but the following days the temperature increased to be around 15 degrees in daytime. The first week I did only easy training, and the last two weeks I had planed to have a high intensive training every third day.

For most of my training I traveled down to altitude between 1200 and 1800 masl. There it was mostly great weather, and possible to run in short pants and without shirt. I did several long easy runs in the mountains, where I was out for 3 – 4 hours.

The website Trek Sierra Nevada was useful for finding nice places to run, and I was running all of the 10 closest hikes in the area between Sierra Nevada and Granada. Sometimes I made a combination of several hikes, or made an extra loop.

The first two weeks my training went really well and here are the highlights I have mentioned on Twitter @Kvaal_Osterbo:

• Alpine skiing the first day with great weather
• Mountain run from Monachil 
• Mountain run from Güejar Sierra 
• Running exercises, speed and intervalls in Granada
• Long run from Granada to Bears de Granada
• Run/hike to the top of Pico Veleta 3398 masl.
• 7 x 1000 m and mountain run from Sierra Nevada
• Sprint-o and gorge walk in Monachil 
• Sprint-o and track intervalls in Guadix
• Pico Veleta on randonee skies and sprint-o in Granada
• 3 different hikes as a final long mountain run

The first week I stayed alone. That was fine because I had a lot of work to do, and was mainly sitting in front of my computer when I was not out training. The two last weeks I got company from a Norwegian friend and my family.

The third week was unfortunately partly ruined because I got some serious stomach problems. In that period I traveled down to Nerja at the coast, to recover faster than in high altitude. I had to stay in bed (or at the bathroom) for some days, with fever in the beginning.

Pictures from Sierra Nevada

It took some weeks before I felt recovered from the stomach problems, and I think the sickness also influenced in my results during the Norwegian World Cup selection races in the end of April, where I finished 3rd in Sprint and 16th in Long.

But the last weeks my shape has felt better and better, and I have got some pretty good results, even if my orienteering have not always been the best. In 10mila I ran in the IFK Lidingö team finising in 4th place, and in a Swedish League WRE Sprint in Dalarna I finished with the 2nd best time, but was disqualified because I punched a wrong control. Last week I was 3rd in Stockholm City Cup, 2nd in Centrum Team Sprint together with Niklas Serrander and did a pretty good 5 km street race finishing 2nd in the time 15.33 (in a too hilly course to set a top time).

Now I am looking forward the Norwegian Sprint Champs in Tønsberg the coming weekend, and hopefully World Cup in Norway and Sweden next week.

PS: The last year my main focus has been on training, work and social life, and I have not prioritized updating this blog so frequently. For weekly updates you can follow me on Twitter @Kvaal_Osterbo and Instagram @okvaal.

4th in 10mila with IFK Lidingö

My club IFK Lidingö had great result in all the 5 major relays last season, finishing 2nd in 10mila, Jukola and Swedish Champs, and winning 25manna and Smålandskavlen. The winter training have gone well for the whole team, and we had quite big expectations for 10mila this year.

The Lidingö boys did a great job during the night, and sent me out on the 7th leg in the leading group together with 4 other teams.

I followed my plan and ran secure night orienteering in the beginning of the leg. Had company with Frol and SNO, but from the forking in the east part of the course I was alone (in 3rd position).

It started to be lighter when I headed back, and I tried to increase the speed. But on the long leg to the 15th control I lost more than 1 minute going too much to the right in the middle part of the leg. Tried to be accurate with the direction on the shorter legs in the green in the end, but missed the 18th control with almost 3 minutes. I was then passed by IFK Göteborg, Kalevan Rasti and Halden, and changed over as 6th team.

Filip and Mårten did great races on the following legs and brought us up in the lead before the last leg, but Fredrik didn't have a good day technical (even if it seemed like he had the highest running speed), and we finished in 4th position. It felt bittersweet since we were so close to the victory, even if most of the team did really well. IFK Göteborg won in front of Halden and Kalevan Rasti after a strong sprint finish by Eskil Kinneberg.

Lidingö's women's teams did also great, and finished 6th, 21th and 39th. We have already started to look forward to Jukola, that will be held in Finland in just one month.

Results, GPS tracking and video broadcast from 10mila.

IFK Lidingö's homepage has a report from each leg for both the women's and men's teams.

Lidingö camp in Guardamar

In the middle of February i spent 10 days in the Alicante area in Spain on training camp with my club IFK Lidingö. We stayed in Guardamar, where JWOC middle distance was arranged in 2002.

A camp like this is often almost only orienteering trainings with map. But I wanted to have a good training period with different types of training, and skipped some of the orienteering trainings to do running on hard surface, running exercises and some longer trainings.

Fredrik Johansson and I arrived on Wednesday 11th Feb, two days before most of the other Lidingö runners.

Thursday we ran the Long and Middle course from the World Cup held North West of Murcia in April 2014.

Friday I joned Fredrik for a 90 min progressive run. We started running 4.00 min/km, and increased the speed every 10 min. I finished with 3.20, while Fredrik ran a bit longer and faster. In the afternoon I did the first of many training on the Guardamar maps along the coast.

Saturday the club camp started, and we did two shorter orienteering trainings (plus running exercises).

Sunday we had three orienteering sessions; a normal course, a relay simulation and a night orienteering training.

Monday I took a day off from running, and did a 5 h bike ride with Niels-Peter Foppen. We biked over a mountain to Hondon, where we ate lunch. Both the nature and weather was great.

Tuesday I did running exercises lead by Anders Gärderud plus a tricky sprint training in Alicante.

Wednesday most of the Lidingö runners did a long run i the mountains. I did also a night orienteering training.


Thursday we had a tough day, with a prologue plus a night orienteering chasing start. I won the prologue, and was running alone  most of the chasing start. But I blow it in the end, and was passed by almost all the others to the last control. Many Lidingö runners are training good and running well at the moment.

Friday I again did running exercises with Gärderud plus a sprint training. This time at the university in Elx, where full speed the whole way was required. Nick Simonin, Mårten Boström and I all finished within 1 second.

Saturday I ended the camp with a long orienteering course plus some road running. (Most of the others stayed one day longer then me.)

In totalt I would say it was a great training camp, with a lot of good trainings together with almost 20 other Lidingö runners. Thanks to the club and our trainer Thomas Furuheim who organized everything!

Pictured from Guardamar

Maps in my DOMA

Lidingö's GPS tracking

3 weeks in Swiss altitude

In January I spent 3 weeks in the Swiss mountains. The first and third week I stayed in Pontresina in the Engadin valley, and the second week in Lenzerheide, where the European Ski-o Champs was arranged. The main focus for the trip was to get a lot of easy training (mostly on cross country skies) on high altitude, but I did also some sessions with fast running on lower altitude. It was 3 great weeks with a lot of good training in really nice environments!

The first week i spent in Pontresina, 5 km from St. Moritz in the Engadin valley. I stayed together with the Norwegian Ski-o Team, that had a pre camp before the European Ski-o Champs the following week. The first week on high altitude I did only easy training. The first days it was not much snow, and we skied on artificial snow. But it was good for the running. In the weekend it came a lot of new snow, and the last day in Pontresina it was nice ski conditions.

The second week I moved with the Ski-o Team to Lenzerheide, where the European Ski-o Champs was arranged. I was there mainly for doing my own training, but since the Norwegian coach got sick, and had to stay home in Norway, I helped the team as a leader, joining team leaders meetings and being at start and arena during the races. It was quite busy days, but I was still able to train pretty well.

I was also competing in the Long distance with mass start, since Norway had a free starting spot. The race went OK, and I finished 29th, 5 min behind the winner Erik Rost. On the first loop I had the short forking, and was in front of many of the best, but when I had the long forking on the last loop I was pretty alone. Results, video, GPS, maps and pictures from all races.

It was nice to be a part of the Ski-o Team again, and be able to help them, after competing on international level most of the seasons from 2003 - 2009. (I have relay medals and individual top 6 positions from 3 World or European Ski-o Champs.) The week was ended in the best possible way when Norway won the mens relay (like last year), and we got also medals to Øyvind Watterdal in the Sprint and Audhild Bakken Rognstad / Hans Jørgen Kvåle in the Sprint relay.

The third and last week in Switzerland I went back to Pontresina, where I stayed together with a friend from Trondheim. The skiing conditions was now excellent with almost 200 km of tracks.

The last one and a half week I traveled down to lower altitude every third day for running faster sessions. I did sprint-o and track intervals in Chur, longer intervalls in Tirano and track intervalls in Chiavenna. At all these places it was totally snow free, and in Tirano as warm as 10°C.

I did also the two longest skiing sessions of my life during the last week in Pontresina. The first more then 5 hours (80 km) up the valley to Maloja, and the last 7 hours (100 km) down the valley to Zernez.

I was also able to taste the local dishes fondue and raclette, and the last weekend I meet my parents. Before I took the flight home I did a sprint-o in the historical city of Milano.

In total I got 3 great weeks in the Swiss mountains, with a lot of good training. Both the Engadin valley and Lenzerheide are really nice places, especially when you love skiing, and that was also the reason I was choosing to go the the Alps on this time of the year, in stead of for example Kenya or South- Africa.

Pictures from Pontresina

Pictures from ESOC in Lenzerheide

Yesterday I tested my shape running 3000 m indoor during the Norwegian Champs in Steinkjer. I had aimed to run below my personal best that is 8.29, but was not feeling too fresh, and had to struggle the whole race, without having the best feeling. In the beginning it was a fight for the positions, and the runners in the front started really fast. I was leading the second group from 600 to 2400 m, but was passed by some fast guys in the end, and finished 10th, on the time 8.44. Results and video from the race

The result was not as good as I had hoped. But I have not been running too much during the 3 weeks in the Swiss Alps, even if the speed on the shorter intervalls has been pretty good. And I probably need more practice on keeping a stable high speed to perform better. But it's still a long time until the orienteering season starts, and I think I have made a good base of training so far this winter.

The coming week the World Ski-o Champs will be arranged on Budor in Norway. I would have liked to be there and watch may friends, but I will focus on training for the orienteering season, and will instead follow them live on internet.

Swedish Champion in Ultra Long distance

Last weekend I participated in the Swedish Championship in Ultra Long distance. It was held in Skogstibble west of Uppsala, and it was a 24 km long course with Mass start. It was held at the same weekend as the World Cup Final in Switzerland, so some of the best Swedes where unfortunately not running. I had originally hoped to run the WC, and especially the Sprint final, but because of the economical situation Norway was only sending 3 men and 3 women, and I was not good enough this year. But SM Ultra was a nice replacement for the WC, and a totally different sort of challenge.

I had expected it to be several forked loops, like in Blodslitet. But from the control codes it seemed to be no forking until the butterfly. Most runners was together on a long line until we had past the road half way to the 3rd control. Between the road and the 3rd control the runners started to spred out, and I got stuck in a lot of fallen trees and was suddenly alone. Got a bit stressed, but continued following the compass in the right direction, and saw the open area to the right before the control. When I was entering the control circle I met the leading runners, and understood I was approx 30 seconds behind them. (A lot of runners missed several minutes on this control, and was already then out of the match for the victory.)

To the 4th control I managed to catch the leading group (who ran too much to the right, and missed the path through the green), and I punched the butterfly control first. Had the same forking as Karl Walheim and Joakim Svensk on all loops. We lost some time to the 5th and 8th control, and when we entered the butterfly control the last time we meet the leading guys who had just left the butterfly, and at the control we also meet some other guys. At the 14th control we where together again, and we where now a group of 8 runners who stayed together most of the rest of the race.

To the 16th control we split up, and together with some others I came to much to the left and punched the control 20 - 30 sec after the first runners. But we got contact on the following leg, and where together at the map change.

The 8 runner group stay together the whole second loop, that was pretty short. We did a small mistake to the 22nd control. The speed was OK, but not very high. This loop had nice runability, compared to most of the other terrain, where it was stony and partly very dense vegetation.

On the last longer loop I understood that it would not be any more forking, and I was a bit disappointed how they managed to make a 24 km long course with 3 loops, without having more forking then a butterfly on the first loop. The speed increased a bit, and I was mainly in the last half of the group. Was not struggling, but didn't feel for running faster either, and the leading guys did a good job, except a mistake to the 30th control.

To the 36th control the others was insecure, and I got the control first. Was leading the group on the following leg, but got stuck in a really stony area, lost the direction, got insecure, and some other took over the lead again.

To the 38th control I thought is was the right time to get a better position before the finish, and I passed some of the others on the open area. The rest of the course had not so stony ground, and I felt OK physical. To the 39th control I took over the lead, but Joakim Svensk passed me just before the control and I thought 2nd position was good enough before the sprint. To the 2nd last control Joakim ran to much to the right, I got the control first, and already then I felt pretty sure to win the race. To the last control I just followed the compass to the field, and I didn't need to sprint in the run in, and could win 4 seconds in front of Martin Regborn. Results and splits

Cool to win my Swedish Champion titel, even if I was just following other runners big parts of the race. But in a mass start doing the right moves on the right times is a big part of the game, and I succeeded this time. That my club mate Anna Bachman won the women's race made it a perfect day for IFK Lidingö!

2nd in Jukola with IFK Lidingö!

Last weekend I participated in the world biggest orienteering relay Jukola in Finland. My club IFK Lidingö have had a great spring season, with a 2nd place in 10mila and many runners performing well individual. But the last years we have had problems performing as expected in Jukola, and often lost too much time on the longer night legs in the beginning.

This year we knew we had a competitive team, but had still respect for the tough terrain in Kuopio, and expected it to be much individual orienteering and several teams that would do better then in 10mila. It was not easy to pick the team, because all 10 in the first team in 10mila did great races, and also several guys in the second team. The selected runners for the 6 last legs was the same as in 10mila, and we decided to have one of our best runners Filip Dahlgren on the 3rd leg, to be sure to have a good position before the day legs where it is difficult to catch up time.

Jo Forseth Indgaard who ran the 1st leg was the only who were not in the 1st team in 10mila due to injury problems in the winter and early spring, but he was now back on his normal level. Jo gave us a great start of the relay finishing 2nd after running alone most of the leg. He was 1 min behind Carl Kaas and 1 min before the following teams.

Anders Carlsson followed up in an impressing way. He was alone in the lead already on the first control, and was keeping the distance to several strong runners hunting him. But he unfortunately did a 3 min mistake on the second last control, and changed over 2 min behind the leading group.

Filip Dahlgren lost a bit in the beginning, partly due to long forking, but then he showed how good runner he is and caught up the leading runners. But also he did some smaller mistakes in the end, and changed over 1 min behind the lead.

Erik Ivarsson Sandbeg did as has he did in 10mila; brought us up in the lead and also had the fastest leg time. Impressive! Cool that it was 3 teams from the Stockholm area (Lidingö, Södertälje and Järla) that was in the lead during the night.

I started on the 5th leg a few seconds in front of Järla, but never saw their runner. I though it was more teams close behind, and when I was running I didn’t know that it was more then 2 min down to the next teams. I did a stable and secure leg, without any big mistakes, and could stay alone in the lead the whole leg. I did not run the perfect route on all legs, and also hesitated a few places, but each time I relocated and adjusted my direction very quickly, and avoided loosing much time. It was the fist time I was running absolutely in the lead in Jukola, and it was a nice feeling to run alone and know that as long as I don’t do mistake I will stay in the lead.

Mårten Boströn did also a stable race, and stayed in the lead the whole leg, even if Södertälje was just a few seconds behind to the changeover.

Fredrik Johansson was starting on the last leg together with Jonas Leandersson, and 3 minutes in front of Kalevan Rasti. Fredrik did a good race, but Thierry Gueorgiou did a fantastic leg, and caught up Fredrik and Jonas after half the leg. Fredrik was the only one who was able to follow Thierry, but he never managed to pass him, and finished in 2nd position, 11 seconds behind.

If we should have beaten Kalevan I guess Fredrik would have needed a few more minutes gap. Fredrik was 2nd on the leg, and the 3rd runner was 6 min slower than Thierry. This time Kalevan was in my opinion not winning because they was the most stable team, but because they had the combination of a good enough team and the best last leg runner.

Just after the finish it felt as in 10mila a bit irritating finishing 2nd, when we were so close to the victory, and had been alone in the lead half of the relay. But all runners in our team did really well, and it’s the best result ever for Lidingö in Jukola! To be so close to the victory also makes us very motivated to train even better for the big relays coming up:-)

Also the men’s 2nd team did very well, and was top 20 after 6 legs. And the girls team finished 9th and 15th in Venla. That shows that Lidingö has many runners on a high level in both genders, and that is one of the main reasons we have such a great club atmosphere.

Results and GPS tracking
TV broadcast of the whole Venla and Jukola (part 1, part 2, part 3)
KopterCam video of the start