Time for tapering

Another 12 days to go to Hannover marathon and while I am really excited about it, somewhere back of my mind I have a concern if my back can handle it. I have had great time with training, I have done many exciting runs and the 10k test run in Paderborn Osterlauf went well (well I expected to be a bit faster but well enough anyway). So now it is time to relax and just wait?

Unfortunately since our skiing holidays I have been struggling with my back and have constant pain as soon as sitting, standing or even lying down. The good thing is any kind of movement is good, surprisingly all my runs have been pain free. One could say it is the endorphines, I just think I am meant to keep moving :) Because of the pain I have shortened couple of the long runs this month and skipped few runs completely. I have been working a lot with my core, doing yoga every second day and some additional planks, squats etc. It really helps and I feel since I made the decision to really work on that more regurlarly, the back is doing better and as bonus my mobility has improved.

What's wrong with the back then? I wish I knew. I am back at the physio, he is doing his best to crack the right movement to the lower back and legs again and hopefully that will help. If not, there is this chiropractician lady living just behind the corner and what I hear she is comparable to god. Nobody knows if she is retired (Just to note, I am living in a small village and your know everything via grapewine so not necessary all the facts are available) but if the physio does not help, I am desperate enough to just ring her doorbell and beg her to treat me.

So 12 days to go to #runnover and how do I feel? I am sure I will be able to run the half marathon. I give up for any time goals as it depends on the condition of my back on that day. It will surely hurt especially on the last kilometers as I skipped some of the long runs but a bit of pain is part of game I guess. Therefore all in all, I am sure it will be great experience and I just have to not stay relaxed!

Keep on running

It has been a while since I last time shared my training with you. Apologies for that, it has been all about keeping going, make sure the everyday life runs smoothly and even with little motivation to force myself to go out for a run. As despite of all, there is no run I had regretted afterwards. But I sure had if had not done them.

While ago I really lost my motivation to train. I was extremely busy, there were many things going on both work and private and I was tired all the time. I could have slept days long and every morning a colleague was asking how I was doing, my answer was "I am tired." I still today do not know where it came from but I am really glad I feel normal again. And most importantly, I do not need to force me out for a run (or training) but I actually long for it if not regular. 

Last weeks I have been following my training plan for Hannover half marathon, the same overall program every week: Intervals in the beginning of the week, tempo on run on the mid-week and the long run during the weekend. I have actually made long runs a bit longer than recommended by the program I am following. I have still not decided if I will run Berlin marathon this year, I got my place, I paid my participation fee but I am still indecisive if I want to have all those long runs during the summer. Should I? At the moment the long runs do feel good, however I have not done longer than 19km so far. And actually it is more about the time I end up spending on the road that I am concerned, I still need to work, I want to spend time with my family and see my friends. And I wonder if it is possible to have it all. 

It is another 42 days to go to Hannover, training is going well and I feel great. In a one week time I have break from running and focus on skiing, I am sure my legs appreciate the change as much as my mind loves the mountains and full day outdoor activities. So keep on running my friends and of course, follow #runnover in all social media.

Yesterday I run in one of my favourite routes in Solling forest, what a beautiful day and a beautiful run. Just love it.

7 reasons why I love interval training

I used to hate interval training but as I know they are good for my running and will improve my performance, I have introduced them as a regular part of my training program.

This is my list of the reasons why I love interval training. I discussed today with a colleague how mind is a beautiful thing, this is all about it.

1. It is great to see your average pace to go down to numbers you could only dream about. It doesn't matter it is only for 400/800/1000 meters.
2. When in hurry, you make the same effort in a shorter time.
3. It is easier to motivate yourself to run just 4 times 800 meters rather than 10k. You can always motivate yourself for just 800m more.
4. Interval training makes you faster, no doubt about that.
5. It is fun and great change to the routine. There are endless opportunities to build you interval workout and you find the one which suits you best.
6. It is mentally refreshing and gives your mind another focus.
7. You feel great afterwards and are proud of yourself.

Training plan for half marathon

This week I have been working on my training plan for the half marathon in Hannover. I keep following the same principles I used for the marathon training: 1) maximise the benefit with minimum effort, 2) run three quality runs a week and not more, and 3) focus on core and flexibility.

The first point should be obvious but as I have to be realistic with the time I have available for the training, I better make sure what I do will have the most benefit. I still want to run the half marathon fast, I mean my fast with goal time around 1:47. With this plan (including runs, cross-, core- and flexibility training) I train 4 to 5 hours a week, but each training has its very focused purpose.

Three run a week it is and not more. I have now followed the plan from Furman institute few times and I truly believe in it. Especially knowing that I am prone to injuries, I therefore avoid running two days in row (with a few exceptions as you can see in the plan) and prefer to give more focus on the supporting training. I also feel I am better recovered from my previous run and therefore can make best out of the run ahead, which surely has the effect on the quality of the training and allows to keep the relatively high pace (I do my long runs @5:20min/km, tempos @4:55min/km and intervals between 4:15 and 4:33 min/km (depending on the distance)). I know the pace is too hard for me in the beginning and I need to get used to it, however after couple of weeks I should be ok to follow it.

I met an orthopaedic doctor this week due to the continuing back pain and his first comment was that there is no return after one turns forty. Even it was meant as a joke, it was not so encouraging. I realised the importance of core strength and flexibility training while training for the marathon and it is an essential part of my training which I keep doing. I do regularly 1-2 core training (yoga or pilates types of training depending on my mood), proper stretching after each run combined with blackroll massage and at least once a week longer stretch training (up to one hour). Additionally I cross-train once a week (either rowing ergometer or hopefully soon cycling) if my other schedules allow it.

I planned twice a 10k race during the ten week plan. I realise it might be a bit too much, so the first one in end of February is with a question mark. It is a trail race in Bad Salzuflen with high ascent/decent and I aim to do it more as a tempo run rather than a race. But I think it would be fun so that's why I planned it in and depending on how the training goes and my body feels, I decide later on if I attend or not. The second race is a street race in Paderborn just two weeks before the half in Hannover. I wonder if it is too close to the half race but on the other hand it can be a good pace check for the half marathon.

The Furman half marathon plan is actually for 10 weeks but as we are going for a week skiing in between, I decided to start a week earlier and just add one week in between for skiing. Not the ideal but I do not plan to run during the week on the mountains so I have to make best out of it.

So this is it for the next 11 weeks, the moment the training plan is ready it gets easy. Then is just a matter of following it!

New year new challenges

It has been a while I have been writing about my training. Partly because I planned the blog to be a temporary diary of my marathon project, partly cause there was not much to write about. I reduced training quite a lot after the marathon and focused on other things in my life. I did not stop running, only reduced the hours spend on the road. Until half November when I first got a flu, then I hardly recovered from that and I hurt my back.

Finally somewhere between Christmas chocolate and New Years champagne I felt healthy again and started my training. Next goal is set to Hannover, where I plan to run the half marathon. I am also proud to be the ambassador for the marathon, you will hear more about this event in the coming blogs. 

After long long time I yesterday went for a run in the Solling forest. I was just cruising around, doing some hills, some stairs, diving through my favourite routes.. It was really fun and I remembered why I love to run in our area, it is just so beautiful out there in all times of the year. I will certainly spend more time in the coming months.

I am still collecting topic ideas for my blog. If you have wishes you would like to read me writing about, let me know. 

So how it is to run 42 km?

It is almost a week now that I finished my first marathon. I was well prepared, had hardly any problems during the training and was mentally really ready to go. The last few short runs my legs felt tired and heavy, but I assumed it was due to all the training and it should be fine by Sunday morning. I was very confident on Friday morning when we sat on the train to Berlin and was much looking forward to the weekend.

It is absolutely great idea (not) to combine your marathon weekend with a sightseeing tour in a new city. It is exactly the kind of rest your legs are not looking for and after full day walking around Berlin as well as visiting the event expo, my legs were ready to crash on Saturday night. It was too late to regret or change anything, so I just decided to have a nice pasta meal, do some stretching and go to bed. After all, the alarm was set 5:40 next morning, on time to have a breakfast at the hotel and head to the start. I arrived to the entrance area around 7:30, to put my stuff to the storage and to get ready to start. One would think 1,5 hours before start is a lot of time, well it isn't if you end up queuing 30 min to the toilets. Clearly I did the beginners mistake of not reading the instruction leaflet properly, as if I had done that, I would have known there are also toilets at the start area and most likely to be less crowded. Around 8:30 I headed to the start area, just on time to see a warm up aerobics going on in my starting block. Well I skipped that part, for two reasons: I really do not like aerobics and I did my short warm up on the way to the start and decided to do some quick stretches while waiting to get started.

The atmosphere was awesome: the sky was clear blue, air was fresh, 40 000 people were ready to start running, chatting around with fellow runners and listening the welcoming ceremony on 60 languages. As I had no previous marathon time, I was placed on the very last starting block. I could see the starting line was somewhere ahead, but could get close to it only 30 minutes after the first group was gone. The start was done in three parts to split the people a bit on the route. This really made the running of the first 30km more convenient, as the route stayed relatively free to go ahead.

So finally around 9:30 my group could start. We were joking the winner would probably finish soon and if we should congratulate him before we start. By the time it was ready to start due to all that waiting and excitement, I was hoping to find a toilet so I decided to have a short break after first water supply point (which I did)... I managed to get on quite front row of my starting block and easily found a free route to run and could settle to my own speed. The first 10k were a bit faster, then I decided to slow down a bit as I realised I might be going too fast. I had a small bottle of water with me which was enough until 20k, I cannot drink too much while running and I decided to have my own bottle to control I won't drink too much and to ease passing the first drinking points. The next 20k I was focusing on running steady and slowing down the speed a bit, after hearing all kind of horror stories how the last 10k of marathon can be, I was over careful. The whole marathon was like a huge party. The streets were full of people supporting the runners, there was music, dancing, singing the whole way through. You almost forget you have a marathon to run :) 

After 30k I decided to go a bit faster. Or I wanted to. But it was not as easy done as said... Now it was time to realise what it means to start in the last block. And see what "the marathon starts after 30k" statement means in practise. Literally when I passed the 30k line, the biggest challenge was to pass all the runners who crashed. And they were not a few. So the last 10k I wanted to increase the speed but ended up speeding, then stopping and going around people, then speed up again until the next person was in front of me. And it is not easy to pass those people who are suffering and only thinking how to make it to the finishing line, forgetting they are not alone on the route. I'm sure I lost 5-10 sec / km by trying to pass people. I am glad I felt still really strong and focused and had no pain, as it is really hard to do that sideways dancing when you actually want to run! 

Once I got to the 40k landmark, the party just got more intense. One couldn't run anymore, you had to fly to the finish line. The atmosphere was so intense, the crowd supporting was really high, so were the runners. The feeling when you go under the Brandenburger Tor and see the finish line in a few hundred meters ahead, I cannot describe it. My legs were tired, but good tired. I finished the marathon in 3 hours 56 minutes and 47 seconds. Crossing the finish line was amazing experience and I felt so great afterwards. All the work I did for the preparation, all the kilometers I spent on the road wondering why I was doing this, was all worth it. 

So will I run the marathon again? I don't know. Before the race I was sure I won't, all the training is too much time consuming and I couldn't justify the hours I spent on the road for long runs (which I also found really boring). Now I know why people keep running marathons, the feeling afterwards is addicting. So never say never but too little time has gone to say for sure yes. I am really glad I have this experience and I am really glad I hve been able to share it with you.

I know many of you have been reading this blog. I was glad to see so many of you involved with my running, all the support and encouragement I got from you on the way. I really appreciate it and it made this marathon project worth it for me.

It was a memorable day in Berlin :)

27. September is getting closer

The date for the marathon is getting closer; I have another two weeks to go before the start.

The last couple of weeks have been high in kilometres and relatively high in intensity. I feel my legs being tired, as is my whole body. I am glad the coming days is focusing on tapering and the intensity and time spend on the road is much easier. 

Despite being really tired, I feel good. The training has gone well and it feels easy to run, even the long distances. Thanks to the core and flexibility training I have trained free of major injuries and I have learned to appreciate the balance and stability via the core. When I was rowing, it took it for granted that the core has to be strong, part of it comes automatically when on the boat or rowing machine, but it is not the same when running. You really need to take care of that and systematically add it into the training program, only then you will feel the difference.

So I have another two weeks to go before the marathon. When I started this project, I feared for two things. Firstly, I was not sure my head could handle the long runs. Well, it has not been easy but I made them all. I had my last 25k today and the rest of the runs are easy compared to that. Secondly I was not sure my legs could handle it. Not from the physical exercise point of view but regarding injuries. I have a history of shin splints and all that comes with it and I was not sure how my legs would react for serious increase in training kilometres. Even I had some challenges on the way luckily nothing so serious that it had caused any break in training. So all in all at the moment I feel pretty confident that I can do the marathon, surely I am aware that it is a long distance and anything can happen, but overall I believe I will be fine!

My thoughts about Long Runs

It has been a while I have updated my training blog and shared how it is going with my marathon training. I continued the training as planned; I have done my three runs per week, cross-trained, played some tennis in between and not forgotten to stretch. But somehow the coming home from holidays and return to the office, reworking the daily routine again has taken more effort than I expected and I have felt really tired the last couple of weeks. So tired that I just did not have the energy to update my blog.

I have lengthened my long runs now up to 27 km and when I really was suffering after 17k in my first long runs, I can now comfortably do the whole training as planned. I am surprised how easy it feels physically and by now I am convinced that anything after 30k at the marathon is mental. I am convinced on that as I realise it on my own training, when I leave the house mentally strong (compared to the days when I felt lazy/tired/not motivated), I finish the training also as planned if not faster or easier. I realise it during the runs when I remind myself to stay strong instead of feeling sorry for myself, I do stay strong and feel comfortable to continue. 

Still I have not concluded if I in general like the long runs. I don't hate them, which is good. I don't love them either which is not surprising. I surely tolerate them to the level I feel comfortable leaving the house with the running belt full of liquids and energy gels. There are moments when I really enjoy the tiredness in the muscles after 20k and I am proud my legs are still carrying me on, but on the other side I am sometimes so bored to go for another 15k or just can't find one good reason why I should spend whole Sunday morning on the road. So meanwhile I figure out what to think of those long runs, I am really glad and proud of the charity funding which keeps me going on those moments of doubt and that I have so many dear people around me supporting my project!

Let the (serious) training begin!

I am ready, I can go for it! The last few weeks I have prepared myself mentally and physically to follow my marathon training plan. I do three runs a week plus some cross-training, my weekly kilometres are around 40k, I feel comfortable with the variation of intervals, tempo, long runs and trails and I am disciplined to do my stretches. Sounds easy, right?

I have been training in my comfort zone and luckily not been travelling too much lately. But the last week was different and a two day travel, leaving home at 4 am and returning next day at midnight, demonstrated me how easily my training balance can be disturbed. I went for morning run in beautiful Vannes and enjoyed the change of scenery, kept my runs constant three but it took me one full day to recover and ended up skipping the cross-training the day after. It is a good reminder for me that I need to plan my trainings properly if something breaks the daily routine, but I am glad I got that reminder now and not one of those days when I have a hard training ahead.

By building my training routine during the last few weeks I have learned my weaknesses. And I got a reminder that I hate strength training. This hit me really hard as I know it is really important with the kilometers I plan to run to stay healthy, but I just hate it. I have never ever liked strength training and for that reason I have always avoided it. And now I volunteerly plan to torture myself with that horror weekly. Therefore to force myself a bit, every time I skip the strength part of my weekly training, I donate additional 15€ for my charity project.

So the plan is ready, tomorrow morning I start my day with the first training of my official training plan. I have about 650 km ahead during 16 weeks, feels like a lots of fun & pain. May the force be with me.

The joy of business travelling is to see the sunrise in new cities, this time in Vannes in France.

Reality check

I must say after my great runs last weeks, I was hoping if not expecting the success to continue. Well I can tell you there are no two weeks alike and after the sunshine comes the rain, or whatever. There was no rain though, but serious reality check to remind me that this project is not going to be easy.

Sunday morning I headed for the long run, looking forward to see how it goes this time. Instead of going flat along Weser, I decided to head up to the hills instead. Whether it was the additional altitude but after 23 km and 2h10min, I could conclude my body is made to run 18-19 km and anything beyond that hurts. Not just a little bit but seriously to make me consider to stop. And considering that it is just about the half way of the marathon, it feels a bit scary. I know the point of long runs is to get your body used to the purpose, still if the Sunday's experience is going to repeat the next 18 weeks, I will have a challenge to motivate myself to head out of the door.

At the positive side, my morning run routine is going well and I begin to enjoy the early morning runs with fresh air hearing only birds singing (and neighbours rooster) and slowly waking up my muscles. I'm certainly not fast that time of the day, but it feels good. I need to get the tempo a bit higher, but I'm sure it comes. I included also some hill training this week and despite that it is hard, I like it. 

So all in all, it wasn't that bad training week. I only need to find a way to lenghten my runs beyond 20k and it will be just fun.