Preparing WOC

After running good at final stage of Nordic tour and O-festivalen relay, I decided not to take part to the sprint test races in France (5 days after Nordic tour final) because I was too tired of travelling and sprint was not my main goal at WOC. So, I decided to stay at home to rest first, to be with my family a little bit more (7 days home since 9th of may...) instead of travelling to Saint Etienne area to challenge the young guys for sprint places at WOC.

This ended up at I was not picked to Sprint WOC. I was ready for this but still a little bit desappointed. That means 3 young french we run only sprint at WOC. I have been selected to the middle distance and I am reserve to relay. Philippe, François and Thierry will run long, middle and relay. Anyway, I am still very motivated to run the relay and will be ready for it with necessary. In some way, I am happy not to run Sprint, then I can focus better on middle and relay. A place at WOC middle distance start is really nice to have. Some of my friends didn't made it. I got the distance I wanted most (except relay of course).

After having recovered from Nordic tour, I have started my last training bloc to WOC. This was made by Pascal Vieser, as he was planning my training this winter too. My last bloc is mainly built around Sørlandsgaloppen and Nordvestgaloppen (Fjord-O). At those 2 multidays races, it was very good possibilities to test myself on 35-55min runs. At Sørlandsgaloppen, I ran good the 2 first days and very good on last days. The chasing start was good to add a little presure. My team mates were there to help me to feel the pressure. Thanks to Eirik to have run the 3 races.
I was a little bit surprise by the quite little amount of runners. The competition standard was very good: maps/courses were really nice, arena were good and the lovely summer weather from south Norway was there 2 of the 3 days.

At Nordvestgaloppen, I had decide to run the 2 first days on short class and the 2 last on normal class, in order to fit better my WOC distances. It worked out very good. I was maybe not so high challenge to run short class even if it was the same course as the women Elits. I had a good speed and the races were nice and challenging. The last 2 days were a bit of a test for my speed. I am feeling very good in the marshy terrain. The speed was good and the technic was OK. I did some mistakes, you can check the GPS tracking here. I need to improv a little bit until the next 3 days in order to reach my goal. It is the first time that I am feeling so good in front of a WOC. In time! It is the last one for me!

we have been driving along the west coast of Norway to enjoy the beauty of our new country the last 2 days. On the way, I ran a short course of the Vestlandsmesterskap near Førde which is organised on the 21 and 22th of august this year. It was a very nice course and map. I recommend it very much.

Now, we are spending 5 days in Hovden where I can train hard on marshy ground and adjust the technic too one courses made by Pascal too. Then I will be back in Kongsberg for the last 2 weeks were the last trainings will be done. I have a nice test races which I will run the last week end, made by Pascal and put out by the Kongsberg juniors. Thanks to them!