Monster sprint!

It all began some weeks ago when I was making the detailed training plan for the month of May. As usual I started to fill in the trainings in the schedule. Some longer runs, some faster, some sprint and some forest orienteering. It’s important to have some training sessions in the program that pushes the physical and mental borders, and it’s important to make it relevant. The result of the planning... A long distance sprint with the length of 20km if you follow the line the birds fly between the controls. The challenge was on!

Today was, as always in Bergen, sunny and almost 20 degrees. The 12(!) maps were printed, the compass strapped properly and the body and soul were eager to start the challenge. Kristin drove me to the start in Lønborg, which is north of the city centre. I was going to run through the whole city of Bergen, with some bigger and smaller loops, and then finishing at my parents’ house in Landås, south of the city centre. And what a fantastic training I got! I kept the focus, did precise route choices and executed them well. Kristin was supporting me with water at several controls, and everything felt smooth! I am not going to bore you with a detailed résumé of the 143 controls of the course, but I can tell you it was quite a good feeling when running the last uphill towards the finish. In total my route was 28,2 km, and I climbed 855 meters during the 2hours and 25 minutes I used to finish the 20km course. This was definitely the longest sprint I have been running, but it was totally worth it! Nothing is like some really heavy spices in the training! Now it’s a sprint weekend coming up with the strong Varegg team! Go hard, or go home!