Rykmentin www-sivujen toimitus lähestyi hallitsevaa pitkän matkan maailmanmestaria muutamalla kysymyksellä. Seuraavassa Mätthun kuulumisia.
How is your training now?
For this season I haven’t changed that much in my basic training. Biggest
change is that I train about 10% more every month and I tested some very
tough intensive weeks with six fast training sessions. There are also other
things I test during winter. If it helps I will integrate it to my plan. In
that way I can always improve: try new things out and see if it suits me.
Have you had problems or is everything going well?
Everything was very fine until I went to Teneriffa for good running
conditions. The weather was great but I got an infection in my knee due to a
cactus (no joke!) on the first day and was not able to run for one week. In
the second week I could run up to 50 minutes without pain.
But now, it’s fine again. I was running for 90 minutes today with no
problems at all.
What are your main goals for season 2008?
My main goal is, of course, World Championships in Czech Republic. It’s hard
to name detailed goals for places already now. But if everything goes fine
in training I want to fight for a medal. I haven’t decided yet what
disciplines I want to go for. Surely I will run the Long distance.
Other individual goals are European Championships and World Cup. On the club
level my goals are Tiomila and Jukola. Especially in Jukola I want to run
better than last year!
What was the main reasons why you were so good last season?
Beside the progress in running, which was the fundament, I had built up very
strong self-confidence which is strongly connected with your mental and
technical abilities. This was possible because of good results and specific
mental training to improve technical skills.
How do you see RR:s strength in Jukola and 10-mila 2008?
As I see it, we are still hungry and motivated to work on our skills. Last
year showed that we can be in the top. So I am very optimistic for this year
too. I am sure that I can perform better than in Jukola 2007.