pianysteen

During 2018 I stood on the start line in 18 races, 2 races I did not finish, 2 races were road races to get a PR (15km and half marathon), and in 10 races I managed to finish top 3, so based on statistics, 2018 has been a pretty good year.   
Finding my motivation In the beginning of the year, my running was great, I started the year with a PR on 15km and shortly after it was time for my first OCR race of the season. It's no secret that I finished off 2017 with no OCR motivation, therefore, I went on a road trip to Germany, to see if I could find it, and I did! But I also found a joy for the longer OCR races, which turned in to a general joy for long trail races as well. My race calendar started being filled with trail races since that was what motivated me, this is also where I managed 8 of my 10 top 3 finishes.

The year was off to a good start, and I had some awesome running experiences; including Røsnæs trail (where I found the love of running on rolling rocks and where I got my…

Last weekend it was time to get back to OCR after my fractured wrist this summer. As many know I have struggled with my OCR motivation for almost a year now, the Danish races are too short and the terrain is too flat for my liking. Therefore, it was time to try a new race, which combined obstacles, awesome running experience and distance, I decided on Spartan Race Beast in Barcelona. This race would be in the mountains, just outside of Barcelona, the distance would be 20km+ and more than 25 obstacles, it sounded like a race that had it all.

My lead up to the race hadn't been good, as I had struggled with my right quad and hip flexor, so trail and intervals had been off limits for two months. Nonetheless, I was looking forward to the race, though I was worried since I hadn't really been working much on my upper body strength since I got the cast off.

A few days before the race, I sat down and wrote my goals for Spartan:

Keep your own paceDon't worry about placementBelieve i…

Xterra Trail Run 21k was a race I have been looking forward to since April when I signed up. This was going to be the most awesome running experience I have ever had, and I was SO excited. Unfortunately, I started having major issues with my hip flexor at my last trail race in early August, which stopped me from running trail and intervals for more than a month now. Had it been any other race, I wouldn't have been on the startline, but I really wanted to run this this one. I decided to do the race, but started thinking of it as a slow trail run and not race, though that was a lot easier before the race than during the race 😁

As for any other OCR or trail race this year, I wrote down my goals pre-race:

Run slowEnjoy the raceListen to your bodyIf the pain is too much, stop after one roundThe race
My plan was not to stand up front when we were starting, but in the race briefing before the start they told us that if you wanted to run for the podium you would have to be in the first s…

So this is my first post about a none OCR race - who knows it might be the first of many 😀
I have been struggling with injuries lately, besides a broken wrist; my hip flexor has caused a lot of problems, which means intervals and trail has been off limit for about 3-4 weeks. Before that I had been back running for approximately 2 weeks, as I took 2 weeks off training after the OCR European Championship in June, right when I was about to start running again I got sick, so had another week off before I got back to training. 
Søren Hansen, a fellow Goldbear Runner, had organised a race for charity, Run Down Cancer, where you could choose to run 5k or 10k. My logic is that if you do 10km you can get away with running slower compared to a 5km, which means I of course chose the 10km 😂
On Tuesday I did a progressive 10km at DHL relay, I am really happy with my time (10,3km in 44.19 min), since it is a very  twisting route and I haven't done any pace training for 2 months. I started pl…

So last weekend it was time for the OCR European Championship in Esbjerg. I had my doubts if I wanted to participate, I knew the course was going to be insane, therefore, it took me a long time to sign up for the race. In the end I realised I had to run, back in December I promised myself that I would run the European Championship and then decide whether I want to contiune with OCR or not.

I knew it was going to be difficult to finish the race with my wristband (all obstacles completed), therefore, I decided to focus on certain obstacles instead. My goals going into this race were:

Focus on my own race and keep a slow paceObstacle goals: Stairway (wide transition), Low Rig-High Rig, Pipeline, Flying Monkey, Hammer Nunchucks in DominatorFocus on the positive thingsBelieve in myself and my training Overall, I just wanted a race I could be proud of! 😊 This was the first time I actually decided not to push my running, I had to save my strength for the obstacles.
The race We were too many …

My favourite Nordic Race in 2017 was the one in Hasle Bakker, therefore, I was exited about this race. Unlike the other Nordic Race events this one is more trail running, which is something I really enjoy (surprise surprise😄).
The day before the race, I went to check out the course, and it looked good. On the first 3 kilometers there were lots of trail, so it was looking like it was going to be fun.

Before heading to Aarhus for the race I had decided on the following goals for the race:

Focus on my own racePush my pace from the beginningHave faith in my trainingIf I make mistakes or loose my wristband, let it go!The race
As soon as the Elite men were sent off, we were called to the start box. We had 5 minutes until our start, though waiting in the start box felt more like an hour😠 I hate standing in there before a race, it makes me so nervous, I just want to start!
The race starts, and it is utterly madness; everyone is just pushing each other to get to the first obstacle first. We …

NB! This race was the week before Nordic Race Strandparken, which might explain a lot of my thoughts leading up to that race.

So my little secret of the season is that I signed up for the Action Run Tour 2018. This means that I will do four races; Gothenburg, Malmoe, Västerås, and Stockholm. The first race was on May 12th in Gothenburg, I was really looking forward to the first race, as there was no pressure and no one really knew I was there, which was a huge relief for me.

Going into the race, my goal was top 3, that got changed to top 5 when I saw the startlist and the names of some of the best Swedish female OCR athletes.

This was the first shorter OCR race I've had this season, so I decided to change my warm up plan, as it often takes me about 5-7km to get warm. For Action Run that's only 8km I would need a proper warm up, otherwise I wouldn't be warm before the race was more or less over. I considered that before going into the race, and it was part of my game plan:
…

Nordic Race is only 5km, so it's not a distance I prefer. I definitely prefer the 15-20km races, with the short races, there are no room for mistakes, as they are so fast, intense and short!

Those I have spoken to the weeks up to Nordic Race knows that I actually was pretty determined not to race. Bad planning and an OCR confidence that wasn't too good resulted in me signing up for a 15+ trail race the day after Nordic Race, which I was WAY more excited about. My plan was to go all out on the trail race, therefore, I wasn't planning on running Nordic Race.

The week leading up to race day, I started thinking about wanting more OCR training where I combine running and obstacles, because I feel like that has been a struggle for me at my last race. I was having my doubt whether I wanted to race, the only decision I could make was to make the final decision on the morning of race day.

I had a good night sleep and woke up on the morning, thinking "I want to do this". …

So my second OCR race in 2018 was Strong Viking OCR Series in Ghent, Belgium, this Sunday. After two weekends with intense trail races, I was worried about how my body would feel during this race. I had really enjoyed my trail races the last few weekends, perhaps because they resulted in a 1st and 2nd place, but going back to OCR worried me. I know I can push myself a lot when doing a trail race, but I struggle with pushing myself in the same way during OCR as i can't find the balance of when to push myself and when to save strength for obstacles.

Before my last Strong Viking and for my two trail races this year, I have made a plan for My Goals for the races. What do I want to achieve? What is my 4 step plan? And what challenges do I face? I made this plan a few days before the race.

My plan was:
Follow my plan and be positiveKeep my pace and have faith in my trainingShake off mistakes and focus on what's aheadBelieve in myself and my abilities and not give up on an obstacle I…

So my first OCR race in 2018 was 19km Strong Viking OCR Series this Saturday. Back in December when I signed up for the race I decided that this was sort of my "all or nothing race", meaning that either it would be one of my last OCR races or I would continue racing, depending on my experience at the race. To be honest I hated all the races I did post my fractured hand, so basically the last 6 months of 2017.

Going into this race I didn't know who was racing, I had no idea what obstacles I was facing, because they all had random names I didn't understand. The race was called "Mud Edition" which is kind of ironic since I sort of declared war on muddy races after Nordic Race MX. But for some reason I was really calm, compared to how I normally get. The fact that I didn't know any of the other racers were such a relief, I didn't have to worry about how I would place compared to them or if I "ought to" beat them.

Two days before the race I de…