World of O News
Silje Ekroll Jahren had a bad winter with a lot of sickness, but surprised herself with a silver medal at the Junior World Champs Sprint in Gothenburg this year. Below Ekroll Jahren is presented for the nomination “The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″ through an interview made by World of O and Ultimate Orienteering.
About: Two of the major sources for international orienteering news on the Internet – World of O and Ultimate Orienteering – are organizing a poll to name “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ and “The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″. The winner in each category is decided in a vote amongst all the readers of World of O and Ultimate Orienteering after all nominees have been presented. Starting November 12th we present all nominees on a day-by-day basis. The poll is sponsored by Trimtex. Voting will be possible after all nominees have been presented from the voting page. See also all nominees in the initial press release.
Interview with Silje Ekroll Jahren
Give a short presentation of yourself.
I’m Silje Ekroll Jahren, born in 1988 in Nordkisa (east of Oslo airport Gardermoen). I have always been running orienteering, and also cross country skiing. Until 2008 have i been competing on high level in both sports, but now i have decided to do a little less cross country and more orienteering. I am now studying physics in Gothenburg.
What was the highlight of the 2008 season for you?
The international highlight was the silver medal in JWOC sprint, on national level i got gold and silver in the norwegian championships, and second in the overall national cup.
Now i have decided to do a little less cross country and more orienteering
What is your thought about being nominated for the orienteering achievement of 2008?
It is very nice to be nominated among so many good runners, and specially after a very bad winter with a lot of sickness. I never thought this season would give me any JWOC medals, and now i am even nominated for the ultimate junior orienteer of 2008.
What are your main goals for the future?
My main goals is to be as good as possible, and hopefully that is enough to fight for senior medals. Taking a gold medal is definitively a dream. Next year my main goal is Nordic championship.
Where is your favourite place to orienteer – where you would advice our readers to travel?
I really like to orienteer in Norway and Nordic forests. Here the terrains are very different from place to place and the orienteering training gets very varied. Personally i like the forest in Løten, but also the terrain around where i come from is very nice.
Can you describe your thoughest training week in 2008 (day-by-day)? Did that have any specific impact for your great achievements in 2008?
This year i have had no though weeks. The year has been characterized of sickness, because i have had problems with sinusitis. Because of that I have trained less then before, and i have been focusing on training after how much my body could take, and i tried to train so i would be in best shape as possible at JWOC. I think that my focus on JWOC had specific impact for my results, because i really wanted this medal.
My thoughest week this year looked like this:
- Mon: 1h 30min slow running on map (orienteering training)
- Tue: 1h slow running on map (orienteering training)
- Wed: 1h 30min slow running
- Thurs: 20min warming up then 40min intervall where i ran 2+4+6+6+4+2min with breaks that is half the time of the last fast period. That means 2min fast then 1min break, 4min fast 2min break …
- Fri: 1h slow training and some strength training.
- Sat: 1h 35min slow running
- Sun: 1. Competition in Switzerland middle distance. 2. 1h slow running in the evening
This gave me 10h10min that week. This was week 24, and I ran a lot on low intensity. This was because I still needed to train basis training to train me up after the bad winter. JWOC was in week 27 so week 25 and 26 i trained less and harder.
The year has been characterized of sickness, because i have had problems with sinusitis
Are you a professional orienteer? How many percent is your work/study that you do besides orienteering compared to a full position – and how many hours do you train each year?
I was studying 75% school year 2007/2008, now i am studying 100%, but my studies are easier so i think it will be almost the same. I will call my self a professional orienteer, because i am serious, I really like running orienteering, and my year, and almost all i do is, planed after the training and orienteering season. The lasts years i have been training around 400 hours each year. This year the plan was around 450 hours, but because of all the sickness i trained only 300 hours.
In your training: Do you put priority on running in the forest or on the road/track? What is your PB in 3000m/5000m?
I train a little bit of everything, but i basically run intervals on roads or smaller tracks in the forest, while i try to run all the long and slow trainings on softer ground to save the legs. I like to put some running tests in my training to control if my training is correct, these tests are around 20 minutes long and uphill. The last years i have not been running so much track and field as I wanted to, but that is something i will do more in the next seasons. My PB in 3000m is 4 years old, and is 10:42. I have been running more 1500m, here my PB is 4:45.
