Marte and Christian

World Cup Sprint at Auburn Ski Club

2012-02-01T22:36:00.000+01:00

Today the World Cup Sprint at Auburn Ski Club on the Donner Pass was held. It was a very hard sprint on 2200m asl on only skating-tracks. The new snow falling over night made it even harder. I had a race without mistakes and even if it felt bad physically, I think it was not too bad. My 10th place is my first ever top 10 result in the World Cup, after 16 years.
Congratulations to Carmen for her 4th place, the best ever swiss result in a World Cup race.

on the way to the last control (Photo: Carmen Strub)

at the finish-line (Photo: Carmen Strub)

1. World Cup: longdistance in Tahoe Donner

2012-01-31T03:01:00.000+01:00

The first World Cup race this season is over. I ended on 15th place on the longdistance race at Tahoe Donner. I had a very bad start and lost some time on the first to controls. With a bad routechoice on the first loop I was quite long behind. The second loop I skied totally alone and out on the last loop I was around 20th place. The long last loop I skied quite well and catched some places. Over all I am not satisfied with my race but the shape has improved a lot the last two weeks. I am optimistic for the coming races and specially for the European Championships in Ukraina in the end of february.
Results here

In the afternoon we had a relaxing classsic training at Royal Gorge, with some nice views.

ski-o training in Kirkwood

2012-01-26T19:03:00.000+01:00

Yesterday we had some ski-o intervalls here in Kirkwood. Based on the GPS-tracking of the tracks, Hälge draw a map. We had 6 loops of 6-7min. Each of us skied 4-5 of the loops. Thanks to Hälge for the organisation.

warming up for the intervalls

two of the loops

We will stay in Kirkwood until tomorrow. Then we will move to the Tahoe region and prepair for the first World Cup competition on monday.

Today Marte skied the 10k skate at the Norwegian Championships in Voss. She ended on 27th place in the race won by Astrid Jacobsen. On Sunday she will ski the last leg in the relay for Strindheim IL. You can follow the Norwegian Championships here.

first days in Kirkwood

2012-01-24T21:43:00.000+01:00

Now we have spent the first three days in Kirkwood. The first day it was really little snow and only one km of skitracks with some stones, a lot of grass and water some places. Yesterday it was snowing heavily. We got about 40cm of snow. Today finally the conditions were good. Some degrees below zero, blue sky and enough snow. Now, in the middle of the day it is really warm, the snow on the trees is melting. We just hope that not too much snow is melting the coming days.
We are staying in Kirkwood until friday. Then we move the the Tahoe region. The worldcup starts with the long distance on monday 30.januar.

Here some impressions from todays training:

Much has happend

2012-01-22T00:26:00.000+01:00

Much has happend since our last update.

Christmas we spent at Christians parents place in Switzerland. It was nice to finally meet all the family again. After to days in Dottikon we travelled to Silvaplana in the Engadin valley (with a stop in Davos on the way up and down) for some days of skiing. The conditions in Davos were perfect. A lot of snow and blue sky. In Engadin there was quite little snow. But we had some nice trainings around Pontresina. The training in high altitude was a good preparation for the worldcup in the USA for Christian. Beside the training we enjoied the good food in the grison-region and of course the company of Christians partents.

Marte skiing in Davos

in the Roseg-valley, Pontresina

waiting for the train in Bever

At New Years Eve Martes Parents and Sigrid visited us in Trondheim. We had an nice Tapas dinner after some skiing earlier the same day. It's always nice to have visitors at our new home.

Sigrid and Christian skiing "Vårløypa"

The first weekend in January the competitons in Konnerud were cancelled due to lack of snow. We decided to travel to Östersund instead and compete in J-H-cup. It was a very good competiton. Thanks to Torgny for the organisation. We had both quite good races. The shape seems to get better.

The week after the norwegian champinships were held at Budor. It started with a very demanding (both physical and o-technical) long distance mass-start on Friday. Marte won with quite big margin. Christian started well bot lost a lot of time on the second half.

The middle distance on Saturday was much the same. Another gold for Marte and another bad day for Christian.
On Sunday the relay was held. We skiied as last year with Christian on the first, Marte on the second and Lars Moholdt on the last leg. Christian lost some time on the first leg, but we were still in contact with the other teams fighting for the medals. Marte skied well until the last control, which she forgot to punch. So we were disqualified after coming in as the second team.

All in all it was a good weekend for Marte, a bad for Christian, but it was good training for the rest of the season.

Results and some maps can be found on ski-o.com

Christian on the last meters in the middle distance

Marte starting her relay-leg

Now Marte is prepearing for the Norwegian championships in xc-skiing in Voss next weekend and Christian is on the way to the worldcup in Lake Tahoe.

Season-opening

2011-12-23T09:05:00.000+01:00

Last weekend the season finally started. We took part in the races in Evertsberg in Sweden. Evertsberg is past by the Vasaloppet after about 45 km.
On saturday we skied a sprint in the open areas around Evertsberg. It was quite challenging and a lot of misstakes were made. Marte reached the second place while Christian was a bit longer down on the resultlist.
The middle-distance on sunday was mostly in the forest and on marshes with very little snow. We both lost quite much time to the winners. There is still a big job to do.

Christian discussing routechoices with Christian Spörry

On monday an tuesday we started to do our job by joining the Mora skigymnas at their trainingscamp at Idre Fjäll. We skied a line-orienteering, gladiatorslingor and a middle-distance testrace. It was great to train that much ski-o and I think, we took a step forward. Thanks to Ekan and Ola for the perfect organisation.

Christian at the test-race

Finallly!

2011-12-03T18:51:00.004+01:00

This year we have been waiting and waiting and waiting. Praying for snow week after week. We do enjoy both rollerskiing, biking and running, and the preparations for the ski-o season has been going well, but there is nothing like snow and skiing. But it seams like winter is comming late to Trondheim this year, and as winter is not comming to us, we come to winter. The last two weekends we have travelled to find snow. Last weekend Beitosdølen with the Norwegian ski-o team, this weekend Dombås together with Sindre Haverstad and Audhild Rognstad. Finally snow! It feels great to ski again and we have had some really good sessions. First ski-o goal, after cancellations and little snow till now, is Swedish ski-o tour in two weeks. Hope to see you there!

MTBO WOC relay gold for the swiss women

2011-08-27T09:44:00.005+02:00

After a good start of the MTBO WOC Christian was selected in the first team. A strong team, good enough to fight for a medal. Unfortunatley they got a bad start and never really got into the medal fight. Because of hugh forking differences it was an exciting relay, and nothing was clear until the last small loop of the last leg. In the end the Swiss men finished seventh. Denmark won in front Czech Republic and Finland.

The swiss womens team, with Maja Rothweiler, Ursina Jäggi and Christine Schaffner did a great relay, leading from start to finish. Congratulations!

Swiss team, Maja, Ursina and Christine

To day we will end the championship with a sprint in the village Sossano.

New 10th place at MTBO WOC

2011-08-25T15:42:00.004+02:00

Another hot day in Italy and another 10th place for us. Today in the womens category. Despite lack of map reading flow, I did a good race and finished 10th. I am happy with the result, but most of all that I was much closer to the podium today. I found it hard to read the map on the small tracks and ofte had to stop to read it. As I also did a few smaller misstakes I did not have a good feeling during the race, and although I could push pretty hard during the race, I was somehow surprised by my good result.
Christian also felt lack of map reading flow to day. He also did a few misstakes during the race, over seeing tracks and doing misstakes in some of the intersections. All in all this costed him to much time and he finished 19th. Hopefully we can both take another step forward on the sprint distance.

Tomorrow relay is on the program. The swiss team selection for the first team will be done this afternoon. Christians results the last days might give him a place in the first team, but he will also be happy to bike in the 2nd team. As only norwegian I will have an extra rest day before the sprint.

Middle distance results will be published here: results
Maps from both races can be found here: maps.

10th place at MTBO WOC

2011-08-24T16:53:00.004+02:00

In 36C and baking sunshine Christian finished as number 10 at the long distance at the MTBO world championships in the hills of the Vicenza region. Best ever WOC result for him, a small mistake in the end of the race costed him the 7th place, but after all he is happy with his performance. The competition was steep, hot and long with challenging route choices. Christian biked alone the whole race but feels he could push the whole way and did a good orienteering technical race. Samuli Saarela won (2:00:12) in front of Erik S Knudsen (2:04:47) and Ruslan Gritzan (2:06:27), Beat Okele was the best swiss as number 4.

Christian punching the last control.

I also biked the long distance, but had some more problems than Christian and finished on a 20th place. I lost time on both route choices and unsecure map reading. Hopefully I will be able to improve a lot for the middle and sprint distance. My best Bike-o result is a 9th place at the European championships in Denmark, would be great with another top 10 result. Rikke Kornvig won the long distance in the incredible strong time 1:47:59. (Im am indeed impressed!), Ingrid Stengaard was number 2 (+ 6 min) and Laura Scaravonati was number 3 (+10min).

Results: BIKEO WOC LONG

Today rest day is on the program. We did a short (1 h) easy bike ride, a short sightseeing the the city of Vicenzia and have had some ice cream at a gelateria, sure great in the heat! We will bike middle distance thursday, relay friday and sprint distance saturday. We are both looking forward to the rest of the championships

Short update

2011-08-19T13:12:00.000+02:00

Here a short update over the things that happend the last few weeks:

Three weeks ago we finally moved to our new home. Nice to finally have our own place. We are enjoying the trainings in Bymarka, which starts right outside our house. A real trainingsparadise in summer and winter time.

To weeks ago we were in western Norway hiking up to Slogen (1564m) together with my parents and Sigrid (Martes sister). A steep top with a great view over the mountains and fjords in Sunnmøre. To bad I deleted all the pictures from my computer. Maybe we will update with som pictures later.
After 7 hours hiking we stayed at the famous Union Øye hotel. The hotel was built in 1891 and all the rooms are original and unique. We got a really tasteful four-course dinner.

Tomorrow we will travel to Italy for the World Championships in MTB-O, which are held in the region of Vicenza. You can follow us here.

MTB-O world cup in Rättvik

2011-07-05T08:19:00.000+02:00

Better late than never, here a short rapport from the MTB-O world cup in Rättvik (Sweden) June 18.-20.

The first ever international MTB-O competition in Sweden started with a middle distance in Leksand. And I was the first to start. So the goal was to finish first too. I had a quite good race in the wet and muddy conditions, with some bad route choices. After about 30% of the race, the Finn starting behind me nearly nearly catched me. But on the whole second loop I could hold him behind me and finished first as planned. I ended on a 21th position.

(photo: Sven Åke Nordenmark)

On Sunday a long distance with mass start and butterfly forking was planned with start at 9:30. Due to problems with the maps the start was postponed first to 10:00, then to 10:30 and 11:00 before they decided to start at 15:00. This meant to go home, eat lunch and warm up again.

When we finally started I had problems with the 1:20000-map. So I decided just to follow the others to the first control. On the way to the second control I managed to get in touch with the map and was part of the leading group of about 20 men. Short after the second control I had a puncture. When I wanted to inflate the new tub with the air gun I realized that I had forgotten to pack a cartridge after the last flight. What a beginners-mistake. So I decided just to walk back and forget this race when Sindre Haverstad passed with his brand new Biltema-pump which I could borrow. After many minutes, stiff in the arms and with far too little air in the tire I could continue. I had to ride carefully over all roots and stones and in all turns not to tear the tire of the rim. So I kept on in a speed which made it a good map reading training and ended nearly last. At least I learnd something that day.

disappointed after the long distance

(Photo: Sven Åke Nordenmark)

The world cup round ended with a mixed relay on Monday. Rolf Wermelinger biked well on the first leg and handed over to me as nr. 5. I stared a bit too stressed which resulted in an over 2min-mistake at the first control. Got even more stressed by that and was really unfocussed the first part of the race. After another 1min-mistake to the 4th control and losing my second map right after the 4th (had to jump out of the path, let 3 riders pass, go back and pick up the map and then continue) I just had to forget about the first part and start to concentrate. The rest of the race was quite good. Ursina Jäggi biked the last leg and we ended on 17th place.

Results can be found here.

Mark Stodgell made a great headcam footage of the relay.
Take a watch: http://www.stodgell.co.uk/?p=2893

5:18:33

2011-06-15T21:21:00.004+02:00

The time I used for IRONMAN 70.3 in Switzerland, 70.3 miles in total, 1.9 km swimming, 91.1 km road bike, 21.1 km running. I never did an half ironman before, I did not know what was waiting for me or what to expect. However, I still had a few goals for the day: To swim in 40 minutes, to be in the best 1/4 of my age group, in the best 1/3 of the total starters and last, but not least, to beat triathlete and friend Vibeke, in the half marathon.

Me out running the half marathon (Photo: Mathias Hohl)

It all started an early morning in Zurichsee by Zurich in Switzerland. It started with a swim that turned out be more or less a 1.9 km cat fight. 370 women fighting to be the first to the shore. Swimming is definitively my weakest part of a triathlon, and with all the "kicking and slapping" I was not able to swim in the middle of the bunch and had to maneuver out of the field to swim on my own. 47 min for 1.8 km, was not quit the 40 minutes I was hopping for, but as it turned out to be more of a fight than a swim it was ok. When I came ashore, as 86 of 100 in my age group, and eventually got my wet-suit of I started to climb the result list. An amazing bike course, along the see and up in the hills, all the time with a great view at the Alps. I did much better than I expected, I pushed hard all the way, but amazingly my legs felt good and I biked much faster that I expected. After 2h45min I could put on my running shoes. Allthough my legs felt like two timber logs, I kept a good rhythm and kept on climbing the result list. 1h40min on a half ironman might not be that impressive, but I soon understood that after 1.9 km swim and 91.1 km bike it was more about surviving than make a new record. I crossed the finish line after 5h18min33sek as numer 19. More than pleased by my result, and happy that I was still able to walk...

And did I reach my goals? Well, I did not swim in 40 minutes (but I did not expect such a fight), but I did get in the top 1/4 (actually (1/5))in my age group, almost in to 1/5 th of the total(2500!) and I beated my friend Vibeke in the half ironman.... with 30 sek...

Results and more information about the competitions can be found here: IRONMAN 70.3 Switzerland.
Vibeke finished 9th. I am very impressed! Visit Vibekes triathlon blog: here.

Vibeke and me relaxing at Christians parents place in Dottikon (Photo: Mathias Hohl)

Thanks to my parents in law, Magdalena and Mathias, we had perfect support before and after the race and a great fan club cheering for us and a private photographer.

Will I do it again?

Yes, I think so. It was great fun!

Now what?

2011-05-21T16:27:00.009+02:00

Last season was my last season focusing 100% on my ski-orienteering career. The last years I have been working 50% as a research assistant at the university, something that has given me freedom to focus fully on ski-orienteering. The last three years I have performed in the very top internationally. I was two times european champion and also got an individual silver and bronze medal. The world championships however has really not been my thing, I god sick both in Japan and this year in Sweden, and the dream of an individual gold medal at the world champs broke twice. Two times bronze medal and a relay gold is however good world championships results. My main overall goal was to become the best in the world, ranked second in the world last season and first this year, I somehow feel I reached my goal also without the gold medal (IOF World ranking ).

Me at the mass start in Ski WOC 2011, on my way to bronze a medal

So now what?

In beginning of May I started in my new job as a consultant in Rambøll, a 100% job that force me to change my training. I can no longer train as much as I have been doing the last years (720-740 h a year), so I will have to train less hours and focus even more on quality. I will be outside the national team adjusting my training to my job situation. I plan to compete a lot more in foot orienteering this summer, going for the nationals, and will also do a few triathlons and some MTB-O competitions, this really motivates me for summer training. With less training I might not be able to perform at a high level all winter and I think I will try to peak my physical shape for the European champs in Ukraine next winter to defend my european champion title there. Right now training is going really well, I am motivated, and looking forward to all upcoming competitions.

Upcoming events:

May 28th, National sprint-o championships, Arendal

June 5th, Half Iroman, Rapperswil Switzerland.

June 11th-13th, Norwegian cup orienteering, Hamar

June 18th, Venla relay, Finland

Before I start summer training I usually have a period of spring skiing and ski touring, also this year I had some really great experiences :

Kari Bråtveit and me on the way to Dronningkrona

Dronningkrona, we where not alone

Me skiing "Dronningkrona"

Marianne M Larsen and me spring skiing in Bymarka Trondheim

Our house

This summer we will move to our new house at Ugla, Byåsen, in Trondheim. Living even closer to the skiing tracks and nice single trail area we are really looking forward to move.

Summary of the World Championships in Tänndalen

2011-04-11T11:09:00.000+02:00

The World Championships started with the sprint Tuesday 22.mars. The conditions were quite special with a lot of wind and sunshine, then heavy snowfall some minutes before my start then sunshine again. I had a good start and was on 9th position halfway. Then I had some bad route choices and dropped down to 19th place. I was not quite satisfied with just 22 sec up to 11th place and too many mistakes. Great start for the Swiss team with Remo on 8th, Ladina on 9th and Carmen on 9th.

The day after the medium distance took place. Now the conditions were at least the same for everybody with snowstorm from the first start to the last finish. I had a controlled race without any big mistakes but it didn’t felt really good. But that was the recipe to achieve good results that day. I ended on 12th place (same time as Hans Jørgen Kvåle and Even Toomas). This is my best individual result at World Championships ever. Nevertheless I am not totally satisfied. It was just 24 sec up to the 8th place. I lost 24 sec several times that day, but I guess nearly everybody could say that after the race.

on the way to the finish in the snowy medium distance

The third race I a row was the mixed sprint-relay. I skied together with Carmen Strub. I started well and was leading on my forking on the two first controls. Then I had a bad route choice where I lost 20 sec. I can still not understand it, when I watch the map now. After this I had a crash with another skier and got stucked in the river. All this things stressed me that much that I forgot to read the map properly and made a big mistake to the second last control of over 20 sec. After this terrible leg I changed over as number 14 over one minute behind the leader. With a good leg I would have been up there. Carmen skied well on her first leg and changed over as number 6. I had a good second leg with the second best time just beaten by Peter Arnesson by some seconds. At this time we were on 5th place fighting for a diploma with Czech Republic and Kazakhstan. On the last legs these to teams were stronger and we ended on 7th place. A little bit disappointed about the result, but it was big fun to ski this race. And it was nice to have six people helping you (one holding the jacket one the pants, one the drinking belt, one running to the waxing facilities with my skies, one waxing my skies on keeping control). I could get used to that. Thanks to the whole team for the help.

start of the sprint-relay

on my first leg after a lot of mistakes

After two rest days the relay was last competition of the World Championships. I skied the second leg for the Swiss team. I started on 6th position, 1:30 behind 5th place. So I knew that I had to ski my own race and try to take in as much time on Czech Republic as possible. I started well and controlled and after about a third of the distance I could see Jakub Skoda in front of me. Right after the bridge out of the stadium I could pass him and I felt that I was quite much stronger. I skied well until the last four controls in the downhill back to the stadium were I was too careful and lost some time. Thanks to a shorter forking I could change over to Gion with a gap of 1:40 down to Czech Republic. Gion had a good race and we finished on 5th position just 20 seconds ahead of Czech Republic. The top 4 nations were too strong that day.

All in all it was a satisfying week for me, but it could have been even better.

Bronze!

2011-03-26T21:29:00.005+01:00

To win the long distance mass start was my big goal at this Ski-WOC, but to day I really feel like I won the bronze medal (Picture: Ski WOC 2011). I have had some problems with a sore throat and a stuffed nose since the middle distance and this morning I did not even know if I was able to ski at all. I decided to warm up like normal, start the competition, and if I could ski with the lead the first controls I would try to do the whole competition. I got a good start, it felt a bit harder to breath than normal, but I was skiing with the lead to the first control. After the first control I was skiing alone most of the competition, I was number 7 at the map change, and when I saw that the second round seamed to be shorter I understood that I could fight for a medal. I did few mistakes and finished as number 3, a bronze medal that feels like a victory.

Results and gps tracking can be found here: Ski WOC 2011

An other snowy day in Tänndalen

2011-03-23T14:55:00.004+01:00

Although I got to practice ski-o in heavy snowfall at the sprint yesterday, I did not handle the snowy conditions to day very well (Picture above taken from our hotel room). It was snowing a lot and the visibility of the tracks were not good , the snowfall also made it difficult to read the map. I had trouble to read the map in the beginning and felt that I totally lacked flow in the map reading, however, except a turn towards the fourth control, as I did not see the tracks at all up there, I skied OK. Then it happened; towards the sixth control I could no longer see the broad tracks and totally lost control in the downhill, a major mistake that costed me to much time. I had no idea were I was until I saw a cabin and later a road. See tracking here: GPS Tracking. After this mistake I did not ski very well, no big mistakes but small mistakes and map reading stops I could not afford to get a top result. What I did not know was that nearly all the girls did the same mistake towards the third control and that if I just skied well the rest of the race, top three would still be in reach. I finished fifth, Polina Malchikova won, Alena Trapeznikova was second and my room mate Stine O Kirkevik won the bronze medal and saved the day.

(Wing OK well represented at the Ski-WOC; Lars Moholdt, Emily Wall, Chris Forn, Marte Reenaas, Christian Hohl. Helen Palmer will come to compete in the relay)

Christian was number 13, a good result under difficult conditions. He did not have a good feeling when racing, no major mistakes as he knows of, but is not sure if he had some bigger time losses in his race. "Probably no body had a great feeling to day".

GPS for part I and II of both the women and the mens middle distance and the sprint can be found here; GPS tracking WSOC.

To morrow mixed sprint relay is on the program, a new discipline and open competition. Many nations have good teams and I think it will be a tight fight for the medals. Christian will ski for Switzerland together with Carmen Strub. I will not ski to morrow, to recover for the long distance and the relay. Stine Kirkevik and Hans-Jørgen Kvåle will ski in the Norwegian team.

"Caught in a blizzard"

2011-03-22T16:31:00.002+01:00

A 10-15 min blizzard strongly influenced my first competition here in Tänndalen (Photo: Ivar Haugen). I skied well in the beginning, a bit controlled to get into a good map reading rhythm, on the third control however, I failed to punch and had to return to the control to punch again, I lost time on this but was still in the race. As I skied from the sixth control wind and heavy snow fall made map reading and vision of the tracks difficult. I struggled to read the map and had to ski less aggressive. Specially in the last short loop the vision was a problem and I even skied out of the track a few times. Although I am not to happy with a 7th place, I did a good race and got an OK start of the championships. 36 seconds is not to much with a miss punch and blizzard. Hopefully the weather will be equal for all competitors the rest of the WOC and I am really looking forward to the rest of the competitions. Junior(!) Tove Alexanderson won in front of Helen Söderlund and Liisa Anttila. My team mates Barbro Kvåle and Stine Kirkevik finished 5th and 6th.

In the mens race the weather was at least more stable. Christian did a good race in the start and was 10th, 37 sec behind the lead at the first intermediate control, unfortunately he did a mistake after this and ended as number 19. Olli Markus Taivanen won in front of Staffan Tunis and Peter Arneson.

GPS tracking from the sprint distance can be found here: women, men.

To morrow we will ski middle distance. You can follow the competitions live under "live results": here. First start is at 10.00.

Finally: World championships in Tänndalen

2011-03-19T14:45:00.004+01:00

In three days we will ski the first distance in SWOC in Tänndalen. As I got sick at the world championships in Japan two years ago, and did not have the chance to compete 100% there, SWOC in Tänndalen has been my main goal the last two years, and finally the championship is here. (Picture: Ski-o.com. The Norwegain relay teams in Ånn last year, both teams finished top three)

Both Christian and me have prepared well and we are really looking forward to the challenges waiting for us in Tänndalen. My goal is to perform well in the races and have fun, hopefully this will be good enough for a gold medal in one of the distances, which is my big goal this year.

Program at the ski-orienteering world championships:

Sunday Mar 20^th - Arrival
Monday Mar 21^st - Model event
Tuesday Mar 22^nd - Sprint
Wednesday Mar 23^th - Middle distance
Thursday Mar 24^th - Sprint relay
Friday Mar 25^th - Rest day
Saturday Mar 26^th - Long distance
Sunday Mar 27^th - Relay

You can follow Christian, me and the rest of the competitors directly via GPS-tracking during the world championship competitions at the official web page of SWOC Tänndalen.

Ski-O WOC, last preparations

2011-03-14T18:03:00.006+01:00

In one week the ski-o world championships starts in Tänndalen (Ski WOC 2011). This weekend Christian and I did the final ski-o technical preparations in Kvikne, about 120 km south of Trondheim. We trained in a track system in a mountain slope in Kvikne with the rest of the Norwegian team, super relevant training in front of Tänndalen. Really good training, sunny weather and beautiful mountain surroundings made the weekend perfect.

Harald Svergja organized the training camp

Harald Svergja, ski-o world champion (relay) in 1994, organized the training camp. He had prepared a very nice track system and good training sessions for us. See maps from the training camp race, part I and II, underneath. Results from the training competition can be found here.

Stine and I had many tight fights this weekend

Beside the training competition saturday morning we did line orienteering, 7*3-5 min ski-o intervals and 3*7 min downhill ski-o. Both the training competition and the other sessions went well for both of us, we feel well prepared and are really looking forward to Tänndalen now.

The last preparations will be done home in Trondheim before we travel to Tänndalen next weekend.

Training competition, part I

Training competition, part II

Gold and silver at the Norwegian championships

2011-02-21T09:48:00.003+01:00

This weekend we skied the norwegian championships in Stokke south-west of Oslo. As I caught a cold after the Ski EOC at Lillehammer, I was not sure if I could take part in the national championships before friday. I did a short classic training thursday evening and a skating session friday, as I felt much better friday I decided to compete. (Photo: Ivar Gilså, photo taken at the middle distance)

Saturday we skied the middle distance. It was tough physically, I felt tired, but I did a good orienteering technical race and finished second, 12 seconds behind Stine Kirkevik. Junior Barbro Kvåle finished third. Christian skied ok and finished as number 6. Results: Women, Men

Sunday, I felt better, I skied faster and did a good orienteering technical race. I won 30 sek ahead of Stine Kirkeivk. Christian did not ski 100% at the long distance, as he did not feel 100%, and used the long distance to find the orienteering technical flow. Results

A perfect end of the week: Relay Bronze

2011-02-08T17:58:00.004+01:00

Together with the rest of the norwegian women relay team, Stine Olsen Kirkevik and Marianne Melbye Larsen, I ended the european championship with a bronze medal. Our goal was to fight for a medal, but during the relay it did not seam very likely. Marianne skied the first leg, she did good in the start and was about a minute behind the lead about half way. But towards the end of her leg she got trouble, and lost almost 5 minutes to Russia I in the lead. Stine skied amazing on the second leg, with the best leg time she skied us up from a 9th to a 6th position and changed over 3.50 behind Russia I. However 3.50 is a lot to catch, and a medal seamed like an impossible task, but as I skied out on the last leg I heard the speaker say that both Russia and Finland was doing mistakes in the lead: there was still hope! I did an ok start and cathced Finland II towards the 3rd control, at the public control I could see Finland I, and Liisa Anttila, in front. I was fighting for a forth place. Four controls later we were together, Liisa did a right rout choice to the 3rd last control, whilst I decided to go left to avoid the extra climb. This was a smart move and I punched the next control in front of Liisa. What I did not know was that Russia II did a major mistake in the end and was behind us, we got the bronze! (Photo: Stein Arne Nygård)

GPS tracking from the last leg: here.

Christian finished 7th with the Swiss team. He did an ok race on the second leg. Switzerland won a bronze medal in the relay at the World championships in Moscow in 2007. Hopefully they will do well in Sweden in march and fight for a medal.

European Champion

2011-02-05T16:02:00.001+01:00

Today Marte became European Champion in the middle distanse race. She was leading all the way from the start to the finish. It was a great day to win a championship on homeground.

after first two days of the European Championship

2011-02-04T17:16:00.000+01:00

The European Championships startet rather bad for both of us. At the long distance on wednesday Marte had to many mistakes and ended on 4th place. Her goal was to win a medal.

Marte during the long distance

Christian had a bad day physically. He felt heavy during the race, but could not go to the limit. With several mistakes he ended on a disapointing 26th place.

Today the spint was held in a very small area with a thight track-network and a map-change halfway. Marte had to mayor masitakes and ended again outside the medals on ashared 4th place together with Hannele Tonna.
Christian had problems with the map from the beginning. He was allways a step too late. That resultet in several mistakes and ended on 24th position.

Christian (long distance)

Now we hope for better competitions tomorrow (middle distance, massstart) and on sunday (relay).
You can follow the results here.

4th at the Norwegian championship xc skiing

2011-01-31T10:42:00.002+01:00

This weekend, as a last preparation for the ski EOC I skied two competitions in the Norwegian championships in cross country skiing, sprint and relay. In the relay my team, Strindheim IL with Sigrid Aas, Silvana Bucher and me, finished 4th. Heming won the relay in front of Varden and Henning. We were hoping to fight for a medal, but got distanced with 50 sek on the first leg, so it was a tough fight to try get back to the lead. Sigrid had a tough day in the track and changed over at a 16 th place, I skied us up to a fifth place on the second leg and Silvana climed to the fourth place on the third leg. I changed over at the same time at Kristin Størmer Steira and it was good to have her back on the first 2 km where we picked almost 10 teams. It was also nice too feel the tempo of one of the worlds best xc-skiiers, and I decided to ski hard from the start and to use her back as long as possible. I feel strong at the moment, but had to give her some meters in the last climbs. Skiing alone it was tough to keep the same speed and I lost half a minute in the end of my leg. Silvana did a good race and lost only 30 sek to Astrid U Jakobsen that skied the fastest time of the day.

The sprint friday was ok, and I finished as number 19th, but I had much higher goals, to get to the semi finals and try to improve my 8th place from the last championships. However, as I did no cross-country specific training for sprint this year, I think it was ok after all. I did an ok prolog and skied on the 15th best time. In the 1/4 final I had a real bad start and came out as number 5 from the start, the front three got a gap, I passed number four and skied strong in the end, but it was not good enough and I ended as number 4 in my heat.

To day I will travel to Sjusjøen and Ski EOC. I am really looking forward to good competitions there.

Norwegian relay champions for Wing OK and Ski-EOC selection

2011-01-18T19:24:00.009+01:00

This weekend we skied WOC/EOC selection races and the Norwegian relay championships. Christian skied really well saturday and finished on a third place 1 min behind winner our club mate Lars Hol Moholdt. After some trouble in the beginning of the season it seams like he is finally back in business. I did a few mistakes in the beginning of my race, but finished strong and took a second place 30 seconds behind winner Stine Olsen Kirekvik. See results: here. I skied the same track as H17-20, find map with gps tracking for the junior men: here:

Top three women:

1. Stine Olsen Kirkevik, 35:53

2. Marte Reenaas, 36:27

3. Hannele Tonna, 37:39

Top three men:

1. Lars Hol Moholdt, 40:30

2. Hans-Jørgen Kvåle, 40:39

3. Christian Hohl, 41:49

3. Øyvind Watterdal, 41:49

Sunday we won the Norwegian Ski-O Relay Championships (Photo: Ivar Gilså). As the third man in the relay team, Øystein Kvaal Østerbø is in Australia at the moment, I had to step in in the mens team also this year. With both Lars and Christian in great shape at the moment, and with a really good race on the short second leg for me, we managed to win also this year. Lillomarka was second, Asker third.

The organizers did a good job and had set interesting courses for us, see map from the relay below. (Map from www.opn.no)

Christian (Picture: Ivar Gilså)

Marte (Photo: Ivar Gilså)

This week both the swiss and norwegian teams for Ski EOC and Ski JWOC were selected and we will both participate in the championship.

Norwegian selections Ski-EOC: here.

Norwegian selections Ski JWOC: here.

Swiss selections Ski-EOC: here.

Map relay

Maps Ski-o tour

2011-01-09T18:12:00.002+01:00

Middle distance, W21E

Long distance, W21E

Second win in Ski-o tour

2011-01-09T18:01:00.002+01:00

To day I won the long distance in the ski-o tour, a physically tough, but orienteering technical good race. I still feel a bit muscular tired, but managed to push my self to the limit also to day and am really satisfied with my race. And it feels good to get the confirmation that I am on a good way to ski EOC and ski WOC. Kajsa Richardsson was second and Polina third.

Kajsa and me

Christian did an ok race to day and unlike yesterday he finished with two poles, He did not feel so strong physically to day but did a good orienteering technical race. With a clean race he is though surprised to lose so much time to the winner Staffan Tunis. However Staffan did an incredible strong race to day, and the distance up to the second and third place is not so scaring. Hopefully he can close the gap as he gets in shape for the ski EOC and ski WOC.

Wilder Kaiser, nice surroundings!

To morrow we will ski a sprint distance. The results can be found here: Ski-o tour

Marianne and Ove in our double-double bed.

Victory in Ski-o tour

2011-01-08T17:57:00.007+01:00

I started the Ski-o tour the best possible way with a win at the first stage, a middle distance in St. Johann in Tirol. I lost some time on a cut to the fifth control, but the rest of the race was good. However, it was a really tough race for me. I am in the end of a hard training period and feel tired now, so I really had to work with my self mentally during the race. Josefin Egnstrøm and Kajsa Richardson, was second and third. (Pictures: Ivar Gilså)

Our club mate Lars Moholdt won the mens race, so a double Wing OK victory to day. Unfortunately Christian broke his pole on the eight control, but lost only six minutes with one pole. He had an ok race before the pole broke. Hopefully he will be able to finish his race with two poles tomorrow.

In +5 degrees and sunshine, we really enjoy the austrian alps and look forward to stage 2 and 3 of Ski-o tour here in St. Johann.

The results will be published here: Ski-o Tour

From 10 cm snow at Venabu to heavy snowfall in Högbo

2010-12-20T13:33:00.008+01:00

Last weekend we skied among grass and branches on the marshes at Venabu, this weekend it seamed like it would never stop snowing in Høgbo. A challenge for the organizers at both places. (Picture: Sindre Haverstad and Christian racing in the deep snow after todays training)

The races in Høgbo were good for both of us. We both decided to ski less hard at the mass start saturday morning and prioritize the WRE races saturday evening and sunday. Christian did good orienteering technical races and is slowly closing the gap to the best. I did two good, stable races. In the sprint I missed a crossing and lost some time, but els I am really satisfied with my race. Sunday I did my first orienteering technical 100% race this winter, no map reading mistakes. I finished 2nd, behind Josefin Engstrøm, saturday and won the race sunday. Results, maps and gps tracking can be found here: Swedish Ski-O tour.

A small mystery: Christians gps was already collected when Christian wanted to pick it up sunday, and it was used during the competition.. After analyzing the start list and gps tracking, we have identified a suspect..

Christian training in Høgbo

We will stay in Høgbo to train today and tuesday with parts of the norwegian and swiss ski-o team. It is still snowing heavily, but the organizers are doing a great job and we had really good conditions at the corridor orienteering training this morning. This afternoon we will do a line orienteering session with head lamps and tomorrow morning a sprint training competition.

Venabu

The races last weekend was characterized by very little snow and strong wind and the organizers did a great job organizing the event. Because of the wind, the little snow in the terrain ended up in the scooter track and made it very difficult to spot the tracks, this resulted in a lot of short cuts and we often just skied straight at the controls. Christian did a bad race saturday with several misstakes and an OK race sunday. I skied well saturday, but a major mistake on the fifth control sunday made me unfocused the rest of this race and resulted in bad rout choices and bad map reading flow. Results and gps tracking from Venabu can be found here: Venabu Open.

Christian skiing at Venabu

We travelled to Venabu with our club Wing, and had a really cosy weekend at my aunts cabin. And ski-o world: better watch out for New zealand and Great Britain at the Ski WOC!

Helen Palmer, new British ski-o star and team mate from Wing OK, ready to start

Good season opening

2010-12-10T09:52:00.004+01:00

With a 1st and 2nd place in Ensi Lumin rastit I had a good season opening and best results in Finland ever. However, even if the results are good, my races were not optimal. One big mistake each day is just not good enough (3 min on the long and 1,5 min on the middle!). I also still lack some of the map reading flow, but I skied well and for this time of the year I am satisfied with my performances. (Photo: Ivar Gilså)

Christian finished as number 17 and 20, he recently had some stomach trouble, and thought his races was OK under these circumstances.

Results saturday:

W21

H21

Results sunday:

W21

M21

Find GPS tracking for both days here.

This weekend we will ski the national opening at Venabu, Venabu open. It is little snow in the terrain, but we know that the organizeres will do a good job and look forward to good competitions.

Finally; first ski-o training in Trondheim

2010-11-27T18:53:00.005+01:00

25 cm snow and a cross-country playground for kids, it was time for the first ski-o training in Bymarka in Trondheim. We did 4 longer intervals (6 min) and two super sprints (3 min). After only rollerski-o and ski-o imitation exercises the last 6 months it felt really great to be back in the ski-o tracks.

The last week has been really cold, -15 degrees, high humidity and wind feels incredible cold. The cold has however made the tracks firm, so it was perfect for a first ski-orienteering training. In the upper part of Bymarka there is a kids ski-playing area with several tracks. 15 minutes skiing in the area trying to remember the tracks, a really old map, drawing it all at the computer and we had a good ski-o training.

Next weekend it is time for Ensi Lumin Rastit in Ylläs Finland, before the national opening at Venabu 11th and 12th of december. We are really motivated to start the season now and really look forward to some days in Ylläs for competitions and ski-o training. Christian will join the swiss team that will stay there for almost two weeks, whilst I will go with the Norwegian elite team. Ensi Lumin Rastit always offers really good ski-o track systems, and it will be an important part of our season start.

Early winter and good skiing conditions in Trondheim

2010-11-15T15:38:00.003+01:00

For more than a week now we have enjoyed good skiing conditions in Trondheim. As it was snowing heavily in Trondheim when we travelled to Bruksvallarna with the Norwegian ski-o team last sunday, Christian decided to stay at home the whole week, so that he could combine working and training. And he did indeed do the right thing. Returning from Bruksvallarna thursday I found much better training conditions at home and have already absorbed several ski-sessions in Bymarka.

Marte, skiing at Saustad

Our experience so far:

Saupstad: Saupstad is perfect for skating, a solid layer of snow and no stones, good training skies can be used.

Upper part of Bymarka: Storsvingen, Heriksåsen, Elgsethytta: Good for classic skiing, some branches in the track, but nearly no stones. Training skies.

Lower part of Bymarka: Told to be ok, but you may expect some more stones.

Official xc-skiing reports for Trondheim can be found at Skiklubben.no.

Ski-orienteerer of the year at the Norwegian "O-galla"

2010-11-09T19:50:00.007+01:00

Saturday I was awarded ski-orienteerer of the year at the Norwegian "orienteering-galla" in Oslo. I got the award for my european champion title, WC total and three WC victories. Barbro Kvaale and Lars Moholdt was also nominated for this price, they both performed grat last season and I really feel honored to receive this price. (Photo: Bjørn Bjugan)

Now I am starting the last preparations for this season with training camp in Bruksvallarna with the Norwegian ski-o team. I am indeed motivated for the main goals this year, EC at Lillehammer and WC in Funäsdalen. My and the ski-o teams season preparations before christmas:

7.-14. Nov: Training camp, Bruksvallarna, Norwegian ski-o team

25.-29. Nov: Training camp, Skei, Norwegian ski-o team

2.-7. Des: Training camp, Ylläs, Norwegian ski-o team

11.-12. Des: Competition, ski-o, Venabu (www.venabuopen.no)

17.-21. Des: Competition/trainingcamp, Idre, Norwegian ski-o team.

Rollerski-O weekend in Trondheim

2010-10-31T14:04:00.005+01:00

Last week Christian was skiing in Bymarka in Trondheim, this weekend the snow is gone, the skies are put away again and the rollerskis are again our main training tool. It has been pretty warm (10 C) this week, the ice on the road has melted and most of the wet leaves are washed out of the road by the rain, so it is perfect conditions for rollerski-o again.

Ski conditions in Bymarka, last week

This weekend we have had two rollerski-O sessions for the ski-orienteerers in Trondheim. Saturday a middle distanse (35 min) and sunday rollerski-o intervals (5*5-6 min).

Christian, rolleski-O

Rollerski-O intervals

Middle distance rollerski-O

Øyvind Watterdal, rollerski-O

Let it snow, let i snow, let it snow...

2010-10-20T09:13:00.003+02:00

October 20th and finally the winter is back in our backyard, at least for a few hours. Hopefully we will be able to ski in the upper parts of Bymarka in a few days, but the weather changes fast in Trondheim, so we have no guaranties. For now, I will just enjoy the snow falling outside our window.

In Ramsau with the Norwegian Ski-O team

2010-10-05T18:00:00.007+02:00

Eat-train-eat-sleep-eat-train-eat-sleep, this is the rhythm of the Norwegian ski-o team at the moment. We are half way through the 12 days training-camp in Ramsau and can look back at 25 hours of training in panoramic surroundings. Except for the first day with fog on the glacier, we have had great weather. The snow conditions at the glacier is good and we have had warm nice weather for the afternoon training.

Dachstein glacier

We start the day with a ski session at the glacier and in the afternoon we train in the valley. It is a nice region for rollerskiing, running and climbing. One of this afternoons I went climbing with Sindre (Anna Klettersteig). It was my fourth time in such a klettersteig, and the first one this challenging. 300 m vertical climb, level A to D, 1h45min with adrenaline pumping through my body. A kind of scary, but amazing experience.

Sindre at the start of the Anna klettersteig

Myself after 150 of 300 meters

Sindre and me, sunset on the top of the climb.

After a resting day, with a trip to Schladming and massage, we are now back in training rythm, ready for more skiing at the glacier, rollerski intervals and some long running.

Read more in Tiias (our Finish guest) Ramsau article on www.ski-o.com.

MTB-O World Cup Teolo, Taly

2010-10-01T13:22:00.000+02:00

From 18. to 20. September I was taking part in the World Cup in mountainbike-orienteering in Teolo. Teolo ist situated about 50 km west of Venezia in a hilly region with a lot of wineyards.

The World Cup started with a sprint in Vo. It was raining the whole day and the conditions were quite difficult with a lot of mud. I had some problems on the first controls. The rest of my race was quite ok. I am satisfied with a 17.position but not with my race. A lot of the best athletes had big problems that day and were long behind. Results of all the races can be found here.
The middle distance was held partly in the same terrain. Again I had problems in the beginning and lost quite a lot of time to the 2.control. The rest of the race was OK and I ended on a 26.position.

middle distance

This years World cup ended with a mixed relay. I was riding the second leg for Switzerland 2. I was tired after the to first races and lost quite much time without any big mistake. The relay was held in a steeper terrain with a less dens network of tracks and more routechoices.

relay

waiting for changeover in relay

finish area middle distance and relay

Before flight home again I had half a day to visit Venice, a beautiful and fascinating city, that I would like to visit again. After my return I went directly to a triningscamp with the norwegain ski-o team in Horten.

Trainingcamp in beautiful Funäsdalen

2010-08-21T18:34:00.010+02:00

This week I spent in Ramundberget close to Funäsdalen in Sweden togehter with my nordic club Strindheim IL. An annually august Strindheim IL trainingcamp in the Swedish mountains. Together with the rollerskitrack this high mountain plateau is perfect for training. The focus is long trainings and the region invites for really nice runs in the mountains. We had several training in the rollerskitrack, and the paths around Ramundberget and visited the mountains Midtåkläppen and Ånnfjället.

Midtåkläppen (Ingrid and Olga)

Olga Novikova (ski-orienteerer, KAZ) also visited our training camp. Olga and I had a lot of close races in the world cup last winter, and finished as number 2 and 3 in the total. It is nice and motivating to meet in summer for common training. In addition to a training partner we also got a russian teacher, the students might not have been the best but we were at least very motivated. Most important words/sentences we learned:

spokoinoi nochi = good night

balshaia mama = big mama

Running in the valley (Ingrid and Håkon)

Run to Ånnfjället (Ingrid, Kjersti and me)

Biking (Kjersti and Olga)

Jr/Sr Strindheim IL nordic skiing 2010

Posing for the photographer (Olga), (Me and Ingrid)

Our program:

Tuesday:

Afternoon: Rollerski classic 1.30 h

Wednesday:

Morning: Long run 2.40h

Afternoon: Rollerski skating 2.00h

Thursday:

Morning: Long intervalls, I3, 10-15-20-10 min, + speed training 2.00h

Afternoon: Long run + core, 2.00 h

Friday:

Morning: Long training bike/run combined, 4.40h

Total: 15 h

MTB-O Trondheim, maps and results

2010-08-15T10:42:00.009+02:00

Sindre Haverstad and Marte won the MTB-O training competition in Trondheim friday, the second of two ski-o training sessions during WOC. The course had longer route choices and a few small more orienteering technically areas. A good training and great fun.

MTB-O Estenstadmarka (Men)

Maren Haverstad

Sondre Rud Bråten

Simon Seger

Sindre Haverstad

Results:

Men:

1. Sindre Haverstad 50:33

2. Simon Seger 54:56

3. Dag Lofthus 58:59

4. Øyvind Watterdal 1:04:00

5. Lars Hol Moholdt 1:04:17

Women:

1. Marte Reenaas, 40:24

2. Anna Ulvensøen, 1:01:55

3. Maren Haverstad, 1:02:45

4. Marta Ulvensøen, 1:05:20

Martina Bertschi, -

Hollie Orr, -

Tiia Tallilla,-

Rollerski-o Trondheim maps and results

2010-08-12T22:42:00.010+02:00

During WOC in Trondheim we are organizing two ski-orienteering training sessions, rollerski-o and MTB-O. Anna Ulvensøen and Christian won the first competition, rollerski-orienteering.

Map 1 (The Women skied 1-6-2-7... then like the men)

Map 2

Sondre

Øyvind Lund

Finish

Junior national team ski-orienteering: Eskil, Dag, Sondre, Anna, Marta, Synne and Maren (missing Barbro, Jørgen and Johannes)

Results rollerski-orienteering:

Men

1. Christian Hohl 31:18

2. Lars H Moholdt 31:40

3. Eivind Tonna 32:52

4. Øyvind Lund 33:24

5. Martin Hammarberg 34:01

6. Øyvind Watterdal 34:02

7. Ove Sætra 35:07

8. Dag Lofthus 36:51

9. Eirik K Hovind 37:35

10. Eskil Kinneberg 42:55

11. Eirik Rustad 43:02

12. Sjur Nafstad 43:44

13. Sondre R Bråten 44:38

Women

1. Anna Ulvensøen 31:48

2. Maren Haverstad 34:01

3. Marta Ulvensøen 35:13

4. Synne Baklid 38:47

5. Marianne M Larsen 40:43

Rollerski-O and MTB-O during WOC in Trondheim

2010-08-03T12:18:00.000+02:00

During WOC in Trondheim we will organise Rollerski-o and MTB-O training competitions.

Thursday August 12th: Rollerski-O (Valentinlyst-Tyholt). We meet at Marte og Christian's in the basement in Brøseteveien 174, at 09.30. (Helmet is madatory)

Friday August 13th: MTB-O (Lohove-Estenstadmarka). We meet at the parking at Lohove at 16.00. (Helmet is madatory)

If you want to join, please send an e-mail to: mreenaas ("att") broadpark.no, or sms to +4792263853

No EMIT or SI.

Summer training in Switzerland

2010-07-16T14:46:00.002+02:00

The last 14 days we spent in Switzerland. We have enjoyed hundreds of kilometers on the roadbike, running, rollerskiing and swimming in amazing surroundings both in the mountains and in the low lands. It has been sunny and warm the whole period and after a cold spring and summer in Trondheim , we finally found real summer.

Christian, Havard and Vibeke

We have been biking both in Schwarzwald (D), did a three pass tour in the Swiss Alps (Furka, Nufenen, Gotthard), biked over Ibergeregg and in the local hilly area. Vibeke Nörstebö (Triathlon athlete) and Håvard Bergsdal visited us for a week and joined us on a lot of nice tours.
As Vibeke is a triathlete she finished some of the biking trips with a short run and also did some swimming sessions, and as I plan to start in the Norwegian championships in Triathlon (olympic distance) this was a nice chance for me to start practicing.

Running/hiking in Appenzell, Vibeke and Marte at "Hoher Kasten"

Havard, Christian and Marte, something to drink in the heat

View from Hohen Kasten

Summer skiing at Sognefjellet

2010-06-27T19:12:00.010+02:00

We just returned to Trondheim after the traditional Sognefjellet training camp with the Norwegian ski-o team. The weather was varying from blue sky and sunshine to fog and rain, but despite that the snow was melting by the hour the skiing conditions were good and we enjoyed the tracks and the panoramic view.

We went skiing every morning when the tracks were hard and in the afternoon we ran and roller-skied. The main focus on this training camp was endurance training and skiing technique.

As I had trouble with a shoulder inflammation after the season, and only have had three roller-ski sessions this summer, I was anxious about skiing again. Luckily I felt no pain in the shoulder and I trained after the plan. My patience this spring staying away from skiing and roller-skiing seams to have paid off.

Hans-Jørgen Kvaale, map training at Sognefjellet.

This is how a typical training camp looks like for us (I had to adjust some, as it was enough with one ski session a day for my shoulder):

Wednesday:

1. Run 1.30 h, + core 0.45

Thursday:

1. Skiing, 2.00 h

2. Rollerskiing (Chr/Team)/Bike(Marte) 2.00

Friday:

1. Skiing, interval training 5*10 min, I3, 1.30 h

2. Long run, 3.00 h

Saturday:

1. Skiing with double poling, 2.00 h

2. Test race rollerski (Chr/Team)/ running intervals 5*5 I4 (Marte), 1.30h

Sunday:

1. Skiing, 3.00 h

(Total 17.15 h)

Lars Moholdt

Sindre Haverstad and Lars Moholdt on a long run

Christian roller-skiing in Bøverdalen

Venla 2010, a huge disappointment

2010-06-22T11:33:00.004+02:00

After last years victory on the first leg, I was really looking forward to this years relay. I knew the terrain would be more challenging, but as long as I focused on the map I should be OK. I started OK to the first and second control, but on the way to the third I lost the direction totally, I had to run back to the second control, and this time followed the compass. I guess I lost 2-3 min on this mistake and I knew that with a good finish I could still do a good leg. I ran well for a while and was closing the gap to the lead from 3 to 2 minutes, however on the way to the 10th control I spoiled it all. Again I did not use the compass good enough and after searching the 10th control for a while I found my self on the wrong ridge.. In the finish I was 8 minutes behind at 157th place.

Luckily my team mates did better and 700 meters before the finish line we were number 13. Helen had one mistake, but ran safe the rest of the course and changed over as 77, Sara ran safe and steady at her leg and changed over as number 20, Elise kept on picking teams nearly all her leg and was number 13 a few controls from the finish. 700 meters before the finish line Elise hurt her foot, lost control for a while, did a 7 minutes mistake and was passed by 21 teams. In the end we were number 34, in a way an amazing result considering our mistakes.. Next year we will be back chasing the podium again!

See Venla maps and GPS tracking here: Venla GPS tracking.

Where is the summer?

2010-06-18T09:43:00.001+02:00

Until now this year we have had three days with more then 20 degrees C. The rest of the time it was between 10 and 15 degrees, often around 12 and rain.

And this is the forecast for the coming to days from yr.no:

Not very motivating for long trainings on the bike or the rollerskis. We hope the weather will become better soon, so that we can enjoy the rest of the summer.

On Saturday, Marte is running the Venla-relay in Finland. She is running the first leg for WING OK. You can follow her and the whole team here. The start will be at 14:00 finnish time (13:00 CET)

Lets hope for better weather in Finland and a performance like last year, when Marte had the fastest time on the first leg.

Challenging WC MTB-O in Gdansk

2010-06-07T20:37:00.007+02:00

Last weekend we took part in the MTB-O WC in Gdansk, Poland. With only a few mountain-bike sessions this spring and even less map sessions we were not as well prepared as we wished to be, but still excited to race in Gdansk. Perfect training for ski-orienteering and great fun. However, although MTB-O maps might look similar to ski-o maps, the route choices are quit different due to the high speed difference on the different track qualities. The fact that we were allowed to bike all over the terrain made the route choices even more difficult.

To get some more experience before the WC races we took part in a national competition before the WC, a sprint distance at the coast (map below). Flat, lots of controls and high speed.

Polish cup, sprint distance

We did quit a lot of mistakes, specially the first days, but improved during the weekend and did at least end in the middle of the result lists in the WC races, with 15th (of 41) for Marte and 25th (of 63)for Christain as best result. Results can be found here: Results MTB-O Gdansk.

WC middle distance

WC long distance

An other day in heaven (on telemark skis)

2010-05-19T15:47:00.003+02:00

Last weekend Christian thought he had to put away the telemark skis for the season, luckily he was wrong. So this weekend we went to the Swedish border, to ski Søndre Midtåklumpen, this time together with my parents. A warm and sunny day and good snow conditions for this time of the year. We could ski from the car and only had to take the skis of once. Back in Trondheim the same afternoon we went to the city to have a few beers at an outdoor restaurant. The best of two worlds in one day.

Christian and Søndre Midtåklumpen.

Mom and Dad

Summer is slowly taking over.

First ski-o of the season

2010-05-13T11:54:00.005+02:00

Yesterday we used the still good snow-conditions in Bymarka for the first ski-o of the new season. Lars Moholdt and Sindre Haverstad organized the training and we were eight person taking part.

It was quite challenging to read the map with the fast skiing-conditions. As a special aspect of the map-reading we had to consider where their is snow and where not.

On the homepage of Sindre you can see the whole map

Bård Smestad took some pictures

Last days with winter-activities

2010-05-10T14:30:00.003+02:00

This weekend I had probably the last days with winter activities for this season.

On Saturday I was on Storsnasen in Sweden again with Håvard. It was his first time on telemark-skis and he managed it very well. Despite of the bad weatherforecast we had sun nearly all the way up and down.

Håvard on the way up to Storsnasen

On Sunday a had an early morning skating in Bymarka. The snow is getting less but the conditions were really good. The last few years we have never been skiing in middle of may.

View over Bymarka and Trondheim

View from Bosbergheia

start of the new trainings-season

2010-05-06T13:37:00.000+02:00

Like always the new trainings-season started 1.mai. But the weather was not like always. The first four days of mai it was snowing every day. So I had some skiing trainings in conditions like in the middle of winter.

Bymarka 1.mai

Now the good weather has come and today I had a beautiful skating-training. Because of the crust it is possible to go nearly everywhere. I hope for some mor days with such great skiing-conditions.

View over Vintervatnet today

After a month with little training, a trip to Berlin and a not planned trip to Amsterdam, it is tough to start training again. The shape ist rather bad and it will take some weeks before the good feeling will come back.
The coming weeks my main focus will be on cycling and long endurance trainings.

Season sum up

2010-05-01T18:11:00.006+02:00

Looking back at the 2009/2010 season, it was an amazing season. I had a slow start, lost my head and did stupid mistakes in ski-orienteering and had some mediocre performances in cross-country skiing. In the end of January all changed, in the middle of the Norwegian cross-country championships I finally skied fast again, my map reading improved and I started chasing the world cup total.

Together win Lars I won the first mixed world cup sprint relay

Nationally I won both individual Norwegian champion titles, the mens-relay and the Norwegian cup. Internationally, I ended as number two in the world cup total, something that seamed very unlikely after the first world cup round. The world cup started Russia and I did not get the start I was hoping for. I lost my head on the first race, mass start middle distance, and I did not manage to get the good feeling in this world cup round. I finished as number 18, 8 and 5. In Bulgaria and Romania I started the race for the world cup total, the terrain was perfect for me and I finished at the podium in all the races, and won two of them. My first world cup victory and individual European champion title. Unfortunately I was disqualified from the victory in the sprint distance at the European championship, I had a miss punching, my own mistake but a costly mistake. The fourth and last world cup round was held in Sweden, my physical shape was good and I knew I could win the total with good races and some luck. I did good races and finished two times as number two and won the last ultra long distance. And the total? Tomilova won, four points in front of me, Olga Novikova was third. I am however satisfied with my season, and really motivated to fight for a world championship title in Funäsdalen in Sweden next winter.

In Ånn Norway finally had a full womens team in the relay, together with Barbro Kvåle and Marie Asprusten I took a second place. Russia won, Sweden was third.

Amazing spring skiing and a very long travel

2010-04-26T13:23:00.001+02:00

After two weeks in warm central Europe, one of them as we got stuck in Amsterdam because of the vulcan activity at Island, we are finally back in Trondheim, eager to ski again. A seven hour travel from Zürich to Trondheim, became 7 days of traveling through Europe. The first four days we stayed in Amsterdam, but as the Vulcan did not seem to calm down, we decided to travel back home by train. Three days later we were finally at home, tired, but happy. Now we are enjoying spring activities in the Trondheim region. It is still good snow condition, so a combination of adapting to summer activities, whilst still be able to enjoy skiing. An amazing period of the year. This weekend, Christian, me and my sister Sigrid, went to ski Telemark just across the Swedish boarder. We skied the mountain Storsnasen, amazing weather and amazing skiing.

View from Storsnasen. Both Åre and the WC-terrain in Ånn can be seen from the top.

Christian and me happy at the top of Storsnasen.

Christian, me and Sigrid ready to rock the mountain side

Christian pumping powder in the slope from Storsnasen.

Norwegian summer in Switzerland

2010-04-09T17:46:00.004+02:00

After a hard competition season we are enjoying easy trainings and warmer climate in Switzerland. With 17 C and sunshine, it feels just like summer for a Norwegian, and we have had our first trainings in t-shirt and shorts. To day short I3 pyramide intervalls, yesterday a map training. We did a few running/orienteering sessions in Trondheim during easter, and allthough it still feels hard, we are slowly adapting to running agan. We try to do some short running sessions in the winter season, but it sure feels hard to do the first running intervals after a long skiing season. May 1st I will run Tiomila with my team, a big motivation for spring training.
Beside easy trainings we have visited Zürich, a really charming city we always try to visit when we are in Switzerland. This weekend we will go to Berlin as tourists, doing something completely different than training and competitions. It is sure nice to relax after a long season.

Good season finish

2010-03-26T20:08:00.005+01:00

To day I finished the season with the Norwegian championships in sprint relay. I skied with my Strindheim IL team mate Kjersti Bø. Kjersti is a strong sprinter, and as sprint is also my strength in cross-country skiing we had a strong team and the dream was a medal. Six teams, us included, skied very strong in the semifinals and we soon understood that it would be a real fight for the podium in the final. We did a good competition and finished fifth in a very strong start field, so we were satisfied after all. Njård won the relay in front of Heming IL and Oppdal IL. A good finish of the season, now I will have my off-season, relax for some days and only train easy for some weeks. Our club mates Thomas and Petter Northug won the mens relay. My first challenge in the summer season will be TIO-mila with Wing OK May 1st.

Results from the finals: NM results sprint relay finals.

Maps WC Ånn

2010-03-20T15:40:00.003+01:00

All the maps from the Ski-orienteering WC final in Ånn can now be found at the official web page: Maps Ånn.

Victory in ultra long distance and 4 points from WC total

2010-03-18T14:49:00.003+01:00

I finished the season just like I was dreaming about, by winning the ultra long distance in the WC-final. It was a tough distance and as I skied alone most of the way I really had to focus on the orienteering. I just had a few minor mistakes and managed to keep the pace up alone. At the last map change before the short last round I turned around and saw nobody. I then knew that if I could just take the last controls without any mistakes I would probably win. Junior world champion Barbro Kvåle made the day even better and surprised us all with a third place, an amazing result. (Picture: ski-o.com)

Results: WC ultra long women.

The last competition was also a race for the world cup total, a race I missed with only 4 points. Only four points from victory feels a bit disappointing, but as Tomilova won the first two races in Sweden I did not only have to win, but needed Tomilova to be no better than fifth to win the total. Tomilova finished fourth and earns the world cup total. After the not to good WC season start in Russia, this season has been an adventure and I am more than happy with a second place in the overall WC. (Photo: Oskar Forsgren)

Christian did not ski the ultra long distance, but got valuable experiences the first three races for the world championship in Sweden next year. Christians season is over now, I will end mine after the Norwegian championships sprint relay (Cross country) the 26th of March.

New second place

2010-03-16T15:55:00.001+01:00

A new second place in Ånn, to day together with my team mates Barbro Kvåle and Marie Asprusten in the relay. Both Marie and Barbro did a perfect job on the two first legs, with only minor mistakes, and I skied out on the third leg as number three, 1.20 behind Russia. I passed Kazakhstan to the first control and after half of my leg I could see Russia , with Natalya Tomilova, in front of me. In the end I took some not optimal route choices and I did not manage to close the gap to Russia. At the finish line we were 20 sec behind. Sweden had some problems in the beginning of the relay but finished third. Our team are really happy with our result and as our men team won the mens relay it was a great Norwegian day. The Norwegian men all skied outstanding and won in front of Russia and Sweden.

Sprint map Ånn

2010-03-14T19:08:00.002+01:00

2X2 in Sweden

2010-03-14T18:56:00.007+01:00

So far inn Ånn: Two times on the podium, both times second and both times just behind Natalya Tomilova. Amazing results and, except one 20 sec mistake on the sprint distance, I am really satisfied with my performances. On the middle distance I lost 40 sec on the first loop because of a route choice mistake, the rest of this race was really good and I skied in 25 of the lost seconds. Tomilova skies fantastic these days, and I cannot afford any mistakes if I want to beat her in the ultra long distance Wednesday.

Christian has skied OK races, but feels that his physics is still holding him back. After several 4^th and 5^th places this season, our club mate Lars Moholdt finally made it to the podium and finished as number three to day. He definitively deserved this and hopefully he can climb a place or two on the ultra long distance.

Film report from the sprint distance can be found here: Video Ånn

Results can be found here: Results Ånn

WC Final in Ånn

2010-03-11T10:44:00.005+01:00

To day we leave for the World Cup final in Ånn, to morrow we will do the last preparations with ski-testing and model event, and saturday we will have the first competition. I have had a good training period since the last WC-round, and feel well prepared for the last competitions. I will still focus on good individual races, but the WC-total would be a great extra bonus. Christian will also ski this WC-round. He has been training really hard to come back after his back injury, and we are really happy that he can take part internationally again. The competitions will give us valuable experiences for the World Championships in Sweden next year.

Program:

Friday Mar 12th Model event

Saturday Mar 13th Sprint
Sunday Mar 14th Middle distance
Monday Mar 15th Rest
Tuesday Mar 16th Relay
Wednesday Mar 17th Ultra Long distance

Official web-page: WC Ånn

Ski-orienteering in Bymarka Trondheim

2010-03-07T14:25:00.010+01:00

As a last preparation for the World cup final in Ånn, Christian and I skied a ski-o training competition in Bymarka in Trondheim. The 5,7 km long course was set around the cross-country tracks in the upper part of Bymarka. Dog sledge activity in the area led to additional narrow tracks, and a good mix between broad and narrow tracks in the course. It was a good training, and the course offered multiple route choice problems (see map below, for bigger map see ski-o.com). We were both satisfied with the training and look forward to the first competition in less than a week in Ånn.

Preparing for Ånn

2010-02-28T17:09:00.010+01:00

The stomach recovered fast after Romania and I am in the middle of a two week intensive training period before the last world cup round in Ånn. It is perfect skiing condition and nice weather in Trondheim right now, something that makes it easy to train a lot. The body responds good to the training and to day I finished the week with a small local cross-country competition, 5 km skating, Klæburennet. Allthough I felt that I have been training a lot this week, the competition went pretty well, I won the small women senior class 30 sec in front of Guro Strøm Solli. Most important however, it was great training. (Picture from Klæburennet by Øystein Kvaal Østerbø)

I have been studying some old Ånn maps this week and am really starting to look forward to the competitions. After a bad world cup start in Russia, I forgot about the world cup total and have been focusing on good individual races. This tactic seams to have worked and after two good WC rounds, in Bulgaria and Romania, I now have a chance to win the total. World cup standing: here. An extra motivation in front of the WC final. I do expect difficult races in Sweden, and as at least 4-5 women still have the chance to win the world cup, so I expect tough competition both in each individual race and for the WC total.

Link to the competitions in Ånn: Ånn WC.

Tough end of the EOC in Romania

2010-02-16T11:57:00.003+01:00

The end of the EOC in Romania got tough for me. After a really good sprintcompetition, I first was announced to, and thought, I won the sprint distance, however two minutes later I was disqualified. I had punshed the wrong 10th control. How could this happen? I was really dissapointed in my self, however, with the weather condition and difficult track visibility I just had to accept that such things might happen. From this day, I will however always check the codes in future sprint-races. (Foto: www.sportfoto.ro)
If this was not tough enough, the day got worse. I felt a little strange already in the morning. My stomack did not feel 100% well, but I did the sprint race without any trouble. After the race I felt worse and a few hours later I was finding my self with the head down the toilet ring... I got worse in the evening and was sent to the local hospital. After some hours rest and 1 liter intravenouse at the hospital I felt better and could go home. To day, three days later I can eat and my stomack is starting to feel better. However, I think I will rest for some days now, to give my body time to fully recover.

Maps from Romania

2010-02-12T18:07:00.002+01:00

Here are the maps from the first two competitions in the European championships; middle distance and the last loop of the long distance.

Gold medal in tough long distance

2010-02-11T17:09:00.010+01:00

To day I won my first individual European championship title. It was a very tough long distance, mass start with lot of climb. The wind made the tracks difficult to see sometimes, especially challenging skiing in front. Like the middle distance the course was a mix between long cross-country transportation routes and challenging orienteering technically areas. I skied a lot together with Tatiana Vlasova and we kept a good pace. When we got to the 6^th last control we met the 4 women skiing in front of the other forking variant and from this control it was a rat race! I skied away from the control as number two, slowly closing the gap to Liisa Anttila in the lead, the last four controls we skied togheter, it

was challenging because of all the snow in the tracks and due to a better choice approaching the last control, or luck that it was less deep snow where I skied, I punched as number one at the last control and kept the lead into the finish. Liisa Anttila finished second, Tatiana Vlasova finished third. My club mate, Lars Hol Moholdt skied a good race to day, and was the best of the Norwegian men, as number 4. Sindre Jansson Haverstad finished as number 19 and Ove Sætra as number 26. Hans- Jørgen Kvaale broke his skied and did not finish, whilst Evind Tonna and Øyvind Watterdal chose to rest to day and come back strongly on the sprint distance.

The middle distace was also a good race and I am happy for the bronze medal. It was physically very hard with long up-hills, something that should fit me very well. However, I did a mistake to the first control, when I turned left one track to early approaching the first control, and lost control and time finding the control. The rest of the competition I did no mistakes and I won the bronze medal. 30 sec behind winner Tatiana Vlasova and 15 sec behind number two Liisa Anttila. Doing the stupid mistake to the first control really made extra motivated to win to days long distance. The middle distance was no big success for our men, the best Norwegian was Lars Hol Moholdt with a 8th place.

To morrow we will have a rest day, and after two hard races I really look forward to relax here in Miercurea Ciuc. And after an easy day I will hopefully be fit for the sprint distance saturday.

As trainer for the Norwegian juniors the last year I am also really proud of their performances in the junior world championships. Yesterday, on the midle distance, we had four girls on the podium! Barbro Kvaale won, Marie Asprusten got the silver medal, Maren Haverstad was number four and Anna Ulvensøen was number six. In the mens class, Rasmus Korvald Skaare came second and Vetle Ruud Bråten number three. To day on the long mass start Barbro Kvaale won the gold medal again, Marie Asprusten won the bronze medal, whilst Eskil Kinnberg was number four in the mens class.

European Champion

2010-02-11T14:22:00.002+01:00

Today Marte won the long disdanse mass-start at the European Championships in Romania. It was again a hard race. Short before the finish there were still six girls fighting for the medals. But in the end Marte was strongest. (pictures from ski-o.com)

Results women:
1. 3 Marte Reenaas NOR 1:29:12
2. 4 Liisa Anttila FIN 1:29:19
3. 11 Tatiana Vlasova RUS 1:29:28
4. 8 Anastasia Kravchenko RUS 1:29:58
5. 21 Helene Soederlund SWE 1:30:31
6. 1 Natalya Tomilova RUS 1:30:40
7. 28 Helena Randakova CZE 1:32:13
8. 10 Kajsa Rickardsson SWE 1:34:02

Congratulations to the swiss men-team for the great results.
Results men:
1. 106 Staffan Tunis FIN 1:52:37
2. 101 Eduard Khrennikov RUS 1:54:33
3. 103 Andrey Grigoryev RUS 1:54:45
4. 107 Lars Moholdt NOR 1:55:16
5. 121 Christian Spoerry SUI 1:55:54
6. 126 Janne Hakkinen FIN 1:55:55
7. 102 Andrey Lamov RUS 1:56:35
8. 104 Peter Arnesson SWE 1:56:44
12. 120 Gion Schnyder SUI 1:59:02
21. 132 Andrin Kappenberger SUI 2:05:42

EM bronce medal

2010-02-10T13:35:00.002+01:00

Today Marte won the bronce medal at the European Championships.

innofficial results:

1. 32 Vlasova Tatiana RUS 39:28

2. 38 Anttila Liisa FIN 39:37
3. 40 Reenaas Marte NOR 40:03
4. 35 Kravchenko Anastasia RUS 40:19
5. 39 Trapeznikova Alena RUS 41:16
6. 37 Engstroem Josefine SWE 41:42

It was avert hard race in a hilly terrain. Marte had a misstake to the først control but was satisfied with the race.

skiing in Bymarka

2010-02-10T11:11:00.002+01:00

Yesterday I was skiing in Bymarka with the guys from MISA (http://misa.no/). Really nice conditions with powdersnow, the sun going down and good tracks.
Here som impressions:

Christian: skal vi gå før vi blir kald?

Marte at the European Championships

Right now you can follow Marte on the middle distanse at the European Championchips in Romania here

Ski-o training in Trondheim

2010-02-07T15:30:00.000+01:00

Yesterday a skied a ski-o training in Trondheim. Thanks to Trollelg for the organisation. As you can see from the maps below, it doesn't need much work to organise a good training or a small competition.

Limerick greetings in Bulgaia

2010-02-06T14:36:00.004+01:00

I got a few really good limericks over the greetings function at the world cup web-page the last days. Although I have an idea about who this talented poet(s) might be, for now, they/he/she publishes under the alias "Nordøstigården". I think the limericks are worth sharing (in norwegian):

The first one I got after the sprint where I was number 2, 5 sec behind:

Ei snuppe som oftes er blid,

Fikk orientering og ski til å gli,

Fem sekunder totalt,

Det er slett ikke galt,

Hun kan si "det driter jeg i".

The second came after the long distance, where I won:

En schpaa liten ting ifra Wing,

er blond og forstår ingenting.

Men med kapasitet i sine lunger,

blir konkurrentene unger,

Men uten kart går hun bare i ring.

Victory for Wing OK in World Cup mix sprint-relay

2010-02-06T14:12:00.006+01:00

To day was a great Norwegian day in Bulgaria, with two teams at the podium. Lars and I won the first mix sprint relay in the ski-orienteering world cup ever. As we both represent Wing OK, it is a victory both for Norway and Wing OK. (The picture is taken at the world champs in Rusutsu, Japan, where we learned origami..)

Both Lars and me did good races to day and are obviously happy to win, although we expected harder competition from some of the russian teams we think we did a good performance.

Our second team, Norway II with Hans-Jørgen and Barbro Kvåle, finished as number three, an impressive result for the young team. Øyvind Watterdal and Maren Haverstad also did a good race and finished 13th.

To morrow we will travel by buss to Mircurea Ciuc in Romania and the european championships and junior world championships, where we will meet the rest of the Norwegian senior and junior team. It will probably be a long day in the buss, 530 km in snowy weather and various street quality takes a while.

Three times top three

2010-02-05T13:41:00.003+01:00

For the third time this world cup round, I finished in top three, to day with a third place. My race was OK. I did a few bad route choices and lost time, but my major mistake was orienteering to the 7th control, the highest in the terrain, on the way to number 11. I lost 1 minute on this mistake and probably also the victory. Alena Trapeznikova won, 2 sec in front of Natalya Tomilova and 32 sec in front of me.

Results can be found here: results.

All in all the individual competitions here in Bulgaria have been a really positive experience for me. After a bad start in Russia it feels good to do some good international races. It has been tough races, with steep up-hills and challenging down-hills as well as some demanding route choices. We have experienced a few skiing accidents among the skiers the last days, and I have to admit that I had this in the back of my head in some of the down-hills to day. Liisa Anttila crashed bad in one of the down-hills to day and I hope she will recover fast.

To morrow we will ski mixed sprint relay. I will ski with Lars Moholdt and we are motivated to do a good relay.

World cup victory!

2010-02-03T14:33:00.007+01:00

To day I skied into my first world cup victory. It was a hard long distance, but I felt strong to day and fought all the way. I am satisfied both physical and o-technically, and think I did a really good competition. To cross the finish line as first woman was a fantastic feeling. Liisa Anttila came second, Natalia Tomilova third.

Lars Moholdt did a good race again, and followed up his 4th place from yesterday, with a fifth place to day, as the best Norwegian in the mens class.

See map from my last round in the article underneath.

Results can be found here: results.

Maps from Bulgaria

2010-02-03T14:00:00.000+01:00

First worldcup victory

2010-02-03T13:01:00.000+01:00

Today Marte won her first worldcup race. A long distance mass-start in Gabrovo, Bulgaria.

More informations later.

Finally!

2010-02-02T14:09:00.006+01:00

Finally I did a really good race also in the world cup this winter. In to days Sprint competition I finished as number two, 6 sec behind Natalia Tomilova.

I did a good race, only one mistake towards the first control where I stopped at the mens control 60 away from my own, I lost speed and valuable seconds. All in all, I am however very satisfied with my race. (Picture taken by Sindre Haverstad at the last WC round in Bulgaria)

Results can be found here: results.

The maps will be published here: maps

World cup in Bulgaria

2010-01-31T13:08:00.008+01:00

We arrived Uzana late yesterday evening after a 15 hours travel, via Prague and Bucharest. The hotel is situated in the middle of the competition area and we can train in a model event terrain, 15 minutes drive from here.

The competition terrain is pretty hilly, with steep slopes, partly open areas as well as mixed forest (See old map from the area underneath). It is plus degrees and foggy at the moment, but the weather forecast predicts colder weather the coming days.

Program:

2.feb: Sprint

3.feb: Long distance, mass start

4.feb: Rest day

5. feb: Middle distance

6. feb: Mixed-sprint relay

You can follow the competitions at the official web page here: WC Uzan a.

XC skiing: 7th place in the Norwegian championships relay

2010-01-25T20:07:00.004+01:00

I got a good finish on the XC Norwegian championship relay (3*5 km), with a seventh place, 2 min behind winning team Heming. I skied the last leg, and skied from the 13th to the 7th position on the 6th best time, 40 sec behind the best time of Astrid Urenholt Jacobsen. Kjersti Bø skied the first leg, Magnhild Roe the second.
Results can be fond here: results NM Stokke.

Selected for World cup in Bulgaria and Romania

2010-01-25T20:00:00.003+01:00

After the Norwegian championships I got selected for both the world cup round in Bulgaria and Romania. I am really motivated for these competitions, after a disappointing start of the world cup season. After a hard competition period the last 14 days, I will train easy this week. (Picture from the Norwegian championships taken by Ivar Gilså)

Selections Bulgaria:

Women:
Marte Reenaas, Wing OK
Maren Haverstad, Lierbygda OL (middle distance and relay)
Barbro Kvåle, Hadeland OL (middle distance and relay)

Men:
Hans Jørgen Kvåle, Hadeland OL
Lars Moholdt, Wing OK
Eivind Tonna, Lillomarka OL
Øyvind Watterdal, Tønsberg og omegn

Selections Romania:

Women:
Marte Reenaas, Wing

Men:
Sindre Haverstad, Lierbygda
Hans Jørgen Kvåle, Hadeland
Lars Moholdt, Wing
Ove Sætra, Asker
Eivind Tonna, Lillomarka
Øyvind Watterdal, Tønsberg

One weekend, two championships

2010-01-23T16:44:00.004+01:00

This weekend I am skiing both the national championships in cross-country skiing and part two in ski-orienteering. So far, two bad and one good race. This is the end of a hard competition period and I feel a bit tired, specially in the cross-country races. I had no ambitions in the cross-country championships this year, as I only skied one 10 km this season (in November) and that the sprint was held in classic style. However finishing as number 28 on 10 km skating, loosing 4 minutes to the winner Marit Bjørgen and more than 3 minutes to the podium, was still a bit disappointing. With a good race I should have been able to ski 1.30-2.00 min faster. I entered the classic sprint for the fun of it, but my kick wax did not give me the proper grip up the steep hill, I lost too much time and I did not qualify for the finals.

Norwegian championships cross-country skiing: Results.

Saturday I travelled to Asker to ski the middle distance norwegian ski-o championships. I skied a good o-technically race and won the competition in front of Stine Kirkevik and Barbro Kvaale. Christian skied his first competition this year, his back and a tough cold has kept him from competing so far this winter. He skied a pretty good race and finished as number 14, an ok results right now.

Norwegian championships middle distance: Women, Men.

To morrow I will ski the cross-country relay, the third leg for Strindheim IL.

Challenging long distance and World Cup best 2010

2010-01-18T16:52:00.004+01:00

To days long distance was maybe the most challenging o-technical long distance I have ever skied. 1:12500 map and a very dense network of tracks made both the route choices and map reading it self very challenging. I had high hopes before the start, but as soon as I saw the course I realised that to days race would be a very challenging race for me. Maybe my respect was to high, anyway I skied too slow the first round, focusing on the map being to passive. After this my race improved round by round, I did some bad route choices and two 30 sec mistakes in the end of the second round. Natalia Tomilova skied an amasing race, and won nearly six min in front of number 2. I did my best result so far this World Cup season, finishing as number 5, but 7 min behind Tomilova.

All in all, the first world cup round has been disappointing. I had much higher hopes than what I could perform here in St.Petersburg and really hope to improve my performances the next world cup rounds. I am really looking forward to the next rounds. (Picture: Sindre Haverstad)

Results: Long distance

Disappointing World Cup start

2010-01-16T16:38:00.007+01:00

The first world cup round has so far been a big disappointment. The middle distance mass start was a disaster, I did a mistake already to the first control, had problems to pass skiers to advance in the field, got really stressed and later did a major mistake on the second round (3-4 min!). It is embarrassing to ski like this in the world cup and I just want to forget the whole race. Winner was Natalia Tomilova from Russia. Results: Middle distance.

The sprint to day (Saturday) was much better, I had to start early due to my bad result Friday, but skied pretty well, to slow in the beginning then faster, with no other mistakes than passing a crossing in to high speed, so that I had to turn (I guess 15 sec). I finished as number 8th, 29 sec behind winner Olga Novikova and 15 sec behind the podium. Although my hopes were higher for these individual competitions I am really happy to be back orienteering technically.

In the afternoon sprint relay was on the program, I skied with Marianne Mellby Larsen. We finished as fifth team, 1 min 20 sec behind the winning team, Sweden I. We each skied three legs of approximately 7 minutes. Both of us did pretty well and I think this was an optimal result for our team, so we are happy about the result. Sprint relay is new in the world cup this year, and as I see it a success. It was great fun, high speed and action all the way. Results: Sprint relay.

I will try to keep the good feeling and flow from to days race and prepare well for the long distance. It is embarrassing to open the world cup like this, and I really hope to do a much better race monday.

First world cup round in St.Petersburg

2010-01-12T13:57:00.003+01:00

15th-18th of january the first WC round in Ski-orienteering will be housted in St. Petersburg. It is always some extra excitement connected to the first round, internationally we meet for the first time this year and the competitions will show the strengths of the different skiers. I am really lookning forward to the competitions beliving in my training this summer and hoping for good results. The russians are, however, always strong in Russia and togheter with some other women they will give me a really tough fight. The official web page for the competitions can be found here: WC Russia.

"Golden girl in the mens relay"

2010-01-12T13:47:00.000+01:00

A girl in the mens relay is rare, and especially when she wins a gold medal. My team got some extra publicity because of this, read Aftenpostens story: "Her er gulljenta i herrestafetten".

Two times Norwegian champion!

2010-01-10T20:00:00.004+01:00

This weekend I won two gold medals in the Norwegian championship, long distance and mens relay (!).

The long distance saturday was challenging and hard, and I won 2.39 in front of Tove Alexandersson( SWE junior (impressive!)) and Stine Kirkevik. Stine Kirkevik won the silver medal and Marianne Andersen the bronze medal (Picture by Reidun Hallan). Marianne keeps on impressing me in ski-orienteering! See map and my route choices here: Route gadget (choose D21) and results here: Results NM. Great course, terrain and tracks and beautiful winter weather, -8C and sunshine.

Sunday was a totally new, challenging experience for me, as I skied in the mens relay. It was very challenging to ski with the men, they ski faster and tougher and I had to ski at my limit all the way. A tough, but great experience. Øystein Kvaal Østerbø did a good job on the first leg and came in as number two 44 second behind Hans Jørgen Kvaale, Hadeland, and 3 seconds in front of Rasmus Korvald Skaare, Lillomarka. I was soon together with Jonas Juveli, Lillomarka, and we passed Hadeland OL towards the second control. I had a great advantage of skiing behind him controlling the orienteering, specially in the downhills it is much easier following behind. Most of the course we had the same controls, but I had to give him 30 sek in the long hard uphill towards the end. I changed over to Lars Moholt as number two, 30 sek behind Lillomarka. Lars skied a good leg and came to the finish line as number one! Results can be found here: Results NM Relay Men.

"Kongepokal"

2010-01-09T17:30:00.000+01:00

Today Marte won the norwegian longdistance-championships in Trysil and won the "kongepokal" (kings cup).

Se results here

A rapport with more information will come later.

Winter adventure in Lier

2010-01-03T17:31:00.008+01:00

This weekend I skied Norwegian cup middle distance and a regional sprint relay in Lier. Lots of fresh powder snow, cold weather and sunshine made the weekend a winter adventure. It was physically very hard with soft tracks and steep hills (see map of part 1 of the middle distance underneath). I did two very good o-technically races and feel much stronger than at Lygna. I won the middle distance saturday in front of Stine Kirkevik and foot orienteerer Marianne Andersen(!). Read Mariannes report from the competition at her webpage (in Norwegian): marianne-andersen.com. Sunday I skied with Ingvild Gjessing and we won the sprint relay in front of Konnerud IL.
Results from the NC competition can be found here: Lierbygda O L.
And really good photos from the competitions, taken by Ivar Gilså, can be found here (Ivar has also taken the picure abow): Photos Ivar Gilså

Classic tracks, what is ideal?

2009-12-30T17:58:00.008+01:00

What is really the ideal distance between the skis in classic tracks? In Norway we have been skiing with 21 cm between the center of our skis for many years, not really thinking about why the distance is 21 cm and if we should change it. However, other people have been thinking about this, and this christmas they have tested 17 cm at Sjusjøen. See also article at langrenn.com. Christian and I went to test the tracks. Our personal test results are as follows (competetive skiing):

Normal tracks (21 cm, lower picture): Good for fast skiing; diagonal skiing, "double kick poling" and down hills.
Narrow tracks (17 cm, upper picture): Good for very steep uphills (more running, than diagonal) and double poling.

We also tested the tracks skiing very slowly. In general we think the narrow tracks are better for slow skiers, i.e. people skiing at low pace and frequency, while the broad tracks most of the time are better for competetive skiers. The best solution will probabley be to change between the two, depending on the terrain formation. I.e. For slow skiers: broad in the downhills and narrow for the rest. Competetive skiers: narrow were flat and in the very steep uphills, broad for the rest.

" I'm dreaming of a white christmas..."

2009-12-30T17:41:00.008+01:00

..and my dream came true. The Lillehammer region has again offered perfect skiing conditions this christmas. Since we arrived at Lillehammer 26th of december we have enjoyed lots of snow, good tracks and sunshine. A perfect way to end 2009.

First victory

2009-12-28T21:44:00.002+01:00

Sunday we both skied the Norwegian cup races at Lygna. With heavy snowfall and almost a meter of fresh powder snow the day before the competitions, the organisers had a tough job organising the competition. The mass start was changed to individual start, a middle distance of two loops. My race was ok, but as I do not feel to fit at the moment and did some misstakes I was suprised, but pleased, to win the W21 class. I won in front of the two Swedes, Kajsa Richardsson and Elin Vedin. Christian has recovered pretty well after his back injury, but still need some more training to be back in shape. He did an ok race and finished as number 12, our Wing club mate Lars Moholdt won the M21 class. Results can be found here: Results NC Lygna Maps from the competitions an a resport at Ski-o.com.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-24T06:00:00.000+01:00

We want to wish all of you a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Ski-o, snow and wind at Venabygdsfjellet

2009-12-21T15:34:00.010+01:00

Last weekend the first Norwegian cup and WC selection races were held at Venbygdsfjellet. Unfortunatley we missed this competitions, but as the weather forcast reported no snow after the competitions we decided to train there this weekend.

However, the weather in the mountains made it challenging. Despite only a small snowfall the days after the competitions, the wind some places filled the tracks with snow. In the forest the tracks were easy to find and ski, but in the open areas it was sometimes hard to find the tracks, and we had to ski in the terrain were we thougt the tracks might have been. Despite the conditions we had a good ski-o intervall training, 6 forked ski-o intervalls of 7-10 min. See map below.

Heavy snowfall saturday night, made the tracks impossible to find and sunday we decided to skip the map and went for a classic training. It is a beautyfull area for skiing.

Shitty weather?: Indoor training

2009-12-17T08:38:00.006+01:00

Sometimes when it is wet, icy and cold outside, indoor training might be the best alternative. To save time, we have two alternatives at home, a cycle trainer and an Ercolina upper body power machine, i.e. "a ski ergometer". And when really shitty weather, we use these alternatives for training.

We spend some hours at these machines every year, and the challenge is to make it as funny as training without moving forward can be. Mostly we therefore watch movies while training, action and sport movies as well as easy animation films can be recommended for such training.

With a cycle mill or "ski ergometer" and some maps you can even have a good o technical training. Intervals with map-reading on the cycle trainer/mill can be recommended, both for orientereers, ski-orienteerers and bike-orienteerers. Always look for opportunities, and alternative ways to train.

A few recommended films for indoor training:

Rocky, Triple X, GI Jane and The incredibles.

Selected for the world cup in St.Petersburg

2009-12-15T09:09:00.012+01:00

The Norwegian team for St. Petersburg is selected, 6 men and 2 women are selected for the competitions 13th-18th of january. The competitions will be held in the Leningrad region, St. Petersburg, we will ski a middle distance, sprint, sprint relay and long distance. The junior world championship was organized in the same region in 2003, see map below. Web page for the competitions: http://www.o-worldcup.spb.ru/

The Norwegian team:

Men:

Hans Jørgen Kvåle, Hadeland OL

Lars Moholdt, Wing OK

Ove Sætra Asker SK

Eivind Tonna, Lillomarka OL

Eirik Watterdal, Tønsberg og omegn

Øyvind Watterdal, Tønsberg og omegn

Women:

Marianne Melbye Larsen

Marte Reenaas

Now I can start focusing on the world cup. I am still not training like normal after the virus infection, but I feel better and hope I will be 100% recovered very soon.

Read more at the Norwegian orienteering federation.

Not always as planned; recovering in Trondheim

2009-12-12T14:42:00.010+01:00

This weekend snow and ski-o at Venabu is exchanged with a sofa, rain and ice in Trondheim. My cold was worse that I thought, and as I did not feel 100% recovered and had pain in my legs yesterday, I decided to stay in Trondheim to recover this weekend. So although my bag and skis were prepared to leave, I had to skip Venabu Open and instead visited my doctor and physiotherapist. I took some tests at my doctor, I have probably had a virus infection, and need more time to recover. I have to train at low intensity till I am 100% recovered. Fortunately my physiotherapist (Osteopath) did his "magic" and "healed" my legs, with fresh legs I also feel better. I went for a test run this morning, it does not feel great, but OK. Unfortunately Christian is joining me at home with a sore throat this weekend. Just now our goal is to recover, then we have to make a new plan to get in shape for the important competitions in January, the World Cup in Russia and Norwegian championships in both cross-country skiing and ski-o.

National season opening in Norway

2009-12-10T20:12:00.003+01:00

Finally, this weekend the first competitions in the Norwegian cup, Venabu Open, will be held at Venabygdsfjellet. Saturday we will ski two sprint competitions, sunday a middle distance mass start. The competitions at Venabygdsfjellet have always been challenging, with both long route choices and areas with very high density of tracks. The map is the M21 middle distance course from the competitions at Venabygdsfjellet last year. The terrain is typical Norwegian mountain terrain, with big open marches and low birch wood. Unfortunately my preparations have not been the best. After returning from Finland I caught a cold once again. That was really not what I needed right now, but I feel better and will most likely ski all the competitions this weekend. We are both looking forward to a great ski-o weekend at Venabygdsfjellet.

Results will be published at the OTO web page.

More about the competitions can be found at Ski-o.com (in norwegian).

Maps Sjusjøen

2009-12-05T09:54:00.002+01:00

Here are the maps from the competition at Sjusjøen last Saturday with my route choices:

Winter is back! Need for motivation?

2009-12-02T12:41:00.000+01:00

Do you need extra motivation in front of the winter season? Or just can not wait to get out there? This film gives me the goose bumps. Enjoy!

Route choices Ensi Lumin rastit long distance

2009-12-02T11:51:00.000+01:00

The long distance in Ensi Lumin rastit was challenging. To see my route choices click the map. I skied the B round first, then A and C, as most of the other girls skiing the same combination as me did a little mistake towards the first control, I skied the whole race alone. My first round (B), was good, I feel I took good route choices and skied well. On the second round I did a mistake on the long cut to the first control, as I did not know exactly where I was when I came out of the forest. This stressed me and I had problems most of the A round, I did a passive route choice to control 2 and lost map contact, and ca. 45 sec, just 100 meters away from the 5th control ( the one most north). The route choice from 5 to 6, skating track, was to long and I lost time. On the C round I skied well, and I feel I did the right choices.