I found my new love

I have been writing about my training from different perspectives, complained about the boredom with the long runs, joyed the success of strength and flexibility training etc. However one thing I paid very little attention are my tempo runs. I first introduced them to my training plan when I started following the training program for the half marathon in Hannover. And it was not a big success, I was really suffering every time I had one in front of me and I was far of the speed I was expected to do them.

The program I am following recommends to do those runs relatively high speed, in my case the speed completely out of my comfort zone. And it is one thing to go for an interval which takes 6-8 minutes than to run 13k on a speed which really does not feel comfortable. But with the time, I also saw the benefit of them, every time the tempo run got easier and easier and finally I was able to keep the recommended speed, even go comfortably under it. Today it is my favourite run of the week and I am actually looking forward to Thursday mornings, when I can after few minutes warm up build some speed and just go.

So what did I learn? One very basic thing every athlete knows and which I also knew but just ignored. Training is all about getting out of your comfort zone. If you want to increase speed, you need to run faster. Sounds kind of obvious, but when you are there in practice and it just does not feel good, it is easy to excuse and tell yourself you are "going too fast". But it is not just running faster, it is more about increasing the speed in such a way you even after 10k feel like you can keep going for another while. That you can still build another couple of kilometres and you still feel ok. And that is such a great feeling, when you feel you run fast but you can still keep going. All those kilometres you conquer in such a short time, or a clearly shorter than you used to. And I am sure those trainings are not only fun and satisfying but will certainly pay back during the marathon.

This weeks trainings scenery was in Gothenburg and it felt like home to run along the lake in the sunrise.

Strength and flexibility

Another week training behind and one week less to go to the marathon. Last week I was not on the top of my mind, every part of me was tired and aching and I had a sort of half way training boredom. Few days with just get over with it and keep training -attitude has helped and I am motivated and inspired to keep training. Surely it helps my foot is not hurting and thanks to the physio, I have no problems with walking anymore.

When I started training for the marathon and knew my weekly running kilometers increase significantly, I promised myself to do regular strength training as well as stretch properly. I know I am prone to running injuries, whenever I previously have run more, I tend to get injured (especially on chinsplins). And I know how important strength training and stretching is to avoid that, though neither of those is my strength and something I like to do.

I am still not a big fan of strength training; I keep doing it as I know it is good for me and helps me to stay healthy with running. I have always been stiff as an iron bar, but during the last ten weeks I am surprised by my flexibility. I am still far away to qualify the Olympics in gymnastics but I have reached a mobility in my body I did not know to be possible. Thanks to Tony Horton and P90X Yoga and Dynamics I discovered completely different side of me with more core strength and flexibility and most importantly, I realised I actually enjoy doing the trainings. And most importantly, I feel my running is more focused and stabile, my body feels lighter and happier :)

 Family training session for stronger core.

Pain and all that comes with it

I passed the half point of my marathon training, this week was the ninth week out of my 16 week training plan. So far I have run 382 km and I have spent about 35 hours on the road since I started this project. I still enjoy the most of my intervals and tempo runs, but surely there are mornings when I would prefer to just stay in bed and sleep another hour before going to the office. The biggest challenge I have with the long runs, knowing myself it was anticipated that those will be the hardest part of the project and I am still not complaining about it. I know I just have to get my head over it and I will get there.

But what I was not prepared of was the pain I have for whole Sunday after spending three hours on the road. Or the pain I have in my feet after the long runs for couple of days (until the next long run is scheduled) or the pain of walking the stairs down in the mornings. Or the pain of falling toe nails and the fact that wearing sandals does not feel like a natural choice when the temperature outside is over 30 °C. Still so far I consider myself lucky as I have no issues with blisters or any kind of chafe, falling toe nails came from my own thoughtlessness and will slowly heal, and I found a physiotherapist who seems to be good (I only met him once so far). The cause for the pain in my feet (especially the right one) seems to come from a nerve which is pressed by a tight muscle and with his miraculous hands it seems to get much better. I am so glad that probably for the first time in my life I realised to look for help before it was too late and it seems I can continue training as planned as I have no pain during the running and as I have at least one rest day between runs, I normally have no issues with the recovery. 

So once the cure for the pain after the runs is there, I only have Sunday afternoons to suffer and hopefully those get also a bit easier when the heat is less.I have another 7 weeks to go with the training and if I keep myself together for the next five long runs (as I trust I do), I am going to be very fine for the marathon :)