included, on the site of the Norwegian Olympic Committee (see link below).
During the Olympics, my direct links to athletics news will still operate, and serve you so that you can follow the Olympic athletics closely. The message board and chat will also be open, and I will try to stop by here as a regular member once in a while. Enough of that..
Today I will do my first real track session down here since I arrived. On the island, we only have a 170 meter track, so we have to travel 25 minutes by boat to the mainland and the Runaway Bay track. I feel okay at the moment, but that session will be my first real indication on where I am really at. My regular endurance work has gone well, but the track work is what tells you exactly what kind of shape you are in, and how your body has responded to the last couple of weeks of travel and training.
Tomorrow, my closest consultant Per Halle will come down here as well. That will be nice, because he has a good eye to details, something that is important in this tapering period. Everything has to be right in order to peak right at the competition.
The next weeks now before the competition, I will use to keep my muscles nice and fresh (with the help of Johnny Høgseth), and at the same time control my training so that I get the extra energy to perform well. I adjust my muscles two times a day now, just to make things perfect. From what kind of tension they have, I adjust sessions in both length, intensity and number. It has worked great before and I hope the close work will pay off once again.
Then I will travel down to Sydney the evening of the 25th. We will go from the Brisbane airport, 25 minutes away from Runaway Bay. Then, at the Sydney airport, we will have a press conference for the Norwegian press. After that we go on to the athletes village. I have prepared myself mentally for all the new things down there. I have to be prepared for a totally new situation, with extra stress and trouble with such things as transportation. In all of this, I need to stay calm, relaxed and focus on the racing. The good thing is that I will be done with all my track sessions and hard work before I leave for Sydney. In that way I can really just take things easy and get my head ready for racing. I will share room with the Norwegian steeplechaser Jim Svenøy (7th in Atlanta, 8.12). I also shared room with him at the World Championship last year, so that will be fine.
Well, I will be back on this page in a little over two weeks time. Until then, wish me good luck for the Olympic racing 🙂