Stoltzekleiven strikes back

Stoltzekleiven just won't let me write about anything else these days... last Thursday I had a new record!

In last week's blog post I wrote about the motivating conversation I had with Mats while we were marking the course and carrying equipment up to the finish of the Fløyenkarusellen race. (The above picture shows us just before we started our task.) What I did not write then was that Mats offered to push me to a new record the following Thursday, just as Bjarne did about a month ago. You might remember that my record from January was 14:40, and Mats suggested that we could try 14:30. I must admit that I did not think it would be possible to break the record so soon, especially since I had not been able to train the way I wanted to recently. However, I was really grateful and very happy to accept the offer, just to see how far I could push it. I would be very happy just to repeat the 14:40, even with 14:50.

On Thursday, Mats and I met 45 minutes before the regular Melkesyre training up Stoltzekleiven. Our plan was to do the record attempt first, come down, and join the rest of Melkesyre on the regular walk up. So we started. This time I started a little bit harder than the last record, and I was a bit worried all the way that I had started out too hard. Mats talked to me all the time and tapped my shoulder every now and then. I must remind you that his PR is 08:43, and nowadays he can easily do 10 minutes, so he was practically dancing around me. Sometimes behind, sometimes in the front, and most of the time on the side as long as there was space for it. He was most of the time telling me that we were doing good with respect to a new record if I just kept up the good work. He also had a few instructions, like I should not lift my feet too much up from the ground, just high enough to barely not stumble on the rocks. During the second half of the course, he was telling me that the pain is only in the head so I should just keep going and not slow down. I was a bit worried at this point that perhaps I was slowing down (I did not utter a word during the whole thing, and definitely I did not have the breath to ask any questions, so I had no more information than what Mats was telling me). My worries were strengthened towards the end when he said "if you are now able to speed up a bit then we will definitely manage the record". I thought we were perhaps close to a record but on the wrong side of it, and would not be able to reach it if I was not able to go faster. I think this actually made me push a little bit more towards the end. I actually ran the parts right before and right after the wooden stairs, which I had never done before. The finish time was 14:23!! WOW, I was really not expecting such an improvement. Better than what Mats aimed for, and so much better than what I had dared to hope for even in my wildest imagination. The best part is that Mats claimed, just like Bjarne did a month ago, that I still have so much room for improving my time easily.

It is so incredibly kind of Bjarne and Mats to offer me such coaching. I have been thinking why and how it actually works. I think the clue is that these guys really know how to motivate. They talk to me all the time, and I think this is the most important part. You don't get a chance to concentrate on the pain when you have this person talking to you in a super motivating, encouraging and positive way all the way. Hearing that you are doing great, and that you should keep pushing and not give up or slow down, makes it almost impossible to slow down. I am just so grateful to these guys; I call them my Stoltzen angels.

And on Thursday we did, as planned, walk down and we did walk up again with the others after the record on Thursday. Well, to put it more correctly, I did walk up at the very back and several minutes behind the others, whereas Mats ran up with light legs in about 11 minutes. What for me was a new PR turned out to be merely a warm up for him :-)

 Someday I will get there, too!