Caroline Berkeley Grofdal, 31, was forced to postpone training camp at altitude for three weeks after contracting COVID-19 in March, but on Saturday she was still the first – and only – Norwegian female athlete on the starting line in the Diamond League this world cup and championship season. European.
– It feels so early. This is always the case with the first race. But it was planned before I left, she says and talks about the three-week training camp at 2,000 meters above sea level in Flagstaff, Arizona.
With an ‘Early Race’ and ‘Race One’ she aims to reach the 5,000m at the Diamond League in Birmingham on Saturday.
Returning from Arizona on May 17, Carolyn Berkeley Groffdale had only four days to overcome the nine-hour time difference and associated flight delays before she rivaled world leaders Francine Nyonsaba of Burundi (personal record 14.25,34) and Fantou. Worko of Ethiopia (14.26, 80) – On a field of 23 runners. Caroline Berkeley Groffdales He set a personal distance record with 14.43.26 in Brussels on September 3 last year.
I qualified for 1500, 5000 and 10000 in the restroom in July and the European Commission in Munich in August. You will “only” run 5,000 in the restroom, and in the EU you will “probably” run the second longest and longest distance.
– It would be a little difficult to do that in both tournaments, she says.
It was also when she tested positive for coronavirus a few days after she finished third at the New York City Half Marathon with a strong personal record, 1.08.07.
– I had a negative test the day before, but I’m pretty sure I had it in my body when I ran – and ran well, she points out.
Then she caught a “very severe” cold. Then she went up and down a little, before starting to run again. Then she became “very breathless”.
– The body wasn’t feeling well, she explains.
The departure to the usual Flagstaff was postponed for one week, another week, and another week. She says that, given the long delay, she is happy to have ice in her stomach, and adds that it is “nice to eat.”
– I’m far from having to fine-tune the shape of the track in May. But I can run really fast in winter training, and I’m back to where I was before the race in New York and got the corona, says Carolyn Berkeley Groffdale.
She says she expressed her desire to run the 1500m in the Diamond League competition in Rome on June 9, a week before then – two days after turning 32 – she will run her favorite 5000m at Bislet. Then back to Flagstaff and final preparations for Restroom 15-24. July.
note! Jacob and Philip Ingbergsen will make their debut of the season in the Diamond League in Eugene on May 28 (English mile/1,609 metres). Karsten Warholm will likely make his Diamond League debut in 2022 in Bislet on June 16.
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