This is the question we hear most - “how’s it going with your running project?” “Fine, I guess”, the short and general reply back, when there’s no time to further explain. In essence it’s just that. But with a bit more time on this Saturday evening, let me elaborate briefly.
The Rotterdam test marathon is the focus right now. Not really thinking about the real thing in Berlin in September, yet. Couldn’t get my head around such a long time, 7 months, anyway. Looking at the initial target progress curve, the outcome of the race should be at least 2:41:20, i.e. a 3:50min/km speed. But since we’re with the progress so far below the blue curve, we should aim to do better than that. In the longer interval runs, the 5-10km runs, the goal is to stay below 3:45min/km. The original Runner’s World training program says that those are to be done in the intended marathon pace. And the training has been encouraging, those long interval runs always were somewhere between 3:43 and 3:37min/km. Hence, there’s a good chance that we stay below 2:40h in Rotterdam.
But all interval runs are currently done indoors on a 400m track, best grip, no wind. How does that translate to the streets? On the other hand, training shoes are used and we’re still wearing more fabric than in the race. This could equal out. A real point of worry is the weight. We brought it down to about 75kg, but now we seem to be stuck. No change in it for weeks. A week of soup and salad seems to push it down one kilogram temporarily. It has to go down to 71, preferably 70kg. And there’re only 6 weeks left (the last week isn’t for big adjustments in that department anymore). The other area that is neglected is sleep. With just below 6 hours on average, there most probably are adverse effects on running performance, just can’t point out how those are playing out.
The environment is good, if this project would fail, there’d be nothing to blame at that end. A strict routine has been established so that it works out with the family. Running has to fit in right after work and the goal is to be home at 7 - 7:15pm, showered or not (preferably showered). Although, there’s always a hot sauna waiting in the changing rooms at work, the time budget never allows it to have a relaxing moment after these basic or long runs in the freezing darkness (currently minus 5 - 8 degrees Celsius). That’s life, you can’t have it all. But we’re doing fine, I guess.
Again it says in the cooking instructions that this would take 10 minutes. And again I’m puzzeled how they clock this time. Working on the rocket leaves alone took me 10 mins. Or then we’re just bloody beginners, that holds true anyway. This time this is less a sauce more some kind of paste that you mix with pasta, the instructions recommend Penne or Fusilli (those butterfly looking ones), we had Linguine, our favorite ones.
Ingredients (for 4 people, 125kcal/portion)
- 50g rocket salad
- 1 clove of garlic
- 50g parmesan shavings
- 100g ricotta cheese
- 1ts olive oil
- salt
- a dash of chili powder
How to prepare
First, pick the rocket leaves, wash and dry those. Then chop them into as small as possible and put them in a bowl (a great hint from the queen: put the leaves into a tea cup and use a pair of kitchen scissors to cut them, they’ll get very small very quickly!). Press the clove of garlic to it.
Secondly, add the parmesan shavings and ricotta cheese. Mix it well through. Adjust the taste with olive oil, salt and chili powder.
Finally put the freshly cooked pasta into a pre-heated serving bowl, mix it with the rocket cheese paste and voilà!
Today’s training: 27km long slow (well in 4:42min/km)
With the ISPO (= internationale Sportartikelmesse München, international sport goods exhibition in Munich) coming to a close earlier this week a brief round up is at the order. Brief indeed, because it was the ISPO winter, not much running gear there. The biggest headlines generators apart from the shoe and the no-photo-taking-policy company we featured earlier, are technology accessories. Although companies like Polar and Suunto have been around for quite a while and are well established in the heart rate monitoring and workout data business, competition seems to just constantly grow. Timex constantly growing the diversity of products in their portfolio and Garmin enhancing the penetration depth into training companions. Even the Bluetooth SIG (= Standardization Interest Group) now involved with some technology marketing around low power BT.
Garmin seems to do funny things nowadays. Just recently they announced a co-operation with ASUS to enter the smartphone market, where everyone knows that it’s either a HW volume or web service play. And now this. Known as the GPS and Navigation product company, they launched a fitness watch - without GPS. But rather they use the ANT+ system to connect to compatible devices, such as the optional footpod that measures speed and distance of your running workout (the heart rate belt is always bundled). Only at a second glance this move doesn’t seem so stupid after all. The fitness segment is business wise much more lucrative (=larger) than the die hard runner or the “I fight my way through the alps” outdoor freak market. And fitness people cuddle up inside in fitness studios once in a while, there’s no GPS working. Quite consequent Garmin, good for you! Otherwise this is a pretty standard sports watch offering at a decent price (USD 199 with footpod, USD 129 without). See the Garmin web page for more details and a techshout news release.
Our friends over at Engadget might file this under better looking, but to us this brick on your arm goes to the terminator category. The brick being a latest Timex device, the Expedition WS4 watch. It combines an Altimeter, Barometer, Compass and Thermometer in one watch, with the ability to display all four elements at once. The watch has a 50mm rectangular face, comes in five resin strap colours and an elasticated buckled strap version. With it’s quite special visual appearance, it’s rather different to anything currently in the market (which mustn’t be always a good thing). Utility rules. Retail pricing details for the UK were at £150. More details in the blogosphere.
Finally, the Bluetooth SIG wants to conquer other areas of life than mobile phones and PCs and was promoting its Bluetooth Innovation World Cup at the ISPO. A low power technology makes it possible to deploy Bluetooth connections to an array of new gadgets, e.g. shoes, watches, blood glucose meters or if you want your knickers. Go ahead, come up with something crazy, the next economic upswing will come and rip the product out of your hands. Until then you can warm your house with the EUR 5000 prize money for being 1st.
today’s training: 4km warm-up, 2 x 6km in 3:38min/km and 3:43min/km, 4km cool down, 21,5km total
Had it been better to continue forcing myself through the 10k race and come out with a time of 36:30 - 37 mins? I decided not to and dropped out.
The fourth of five 10k races of the Aktia Cup winter series was the first one with real winter road conditions. Snow in the start and finish area, wet streets with some sludge otherwise and a zero degree Celsius moist air. As the weather forecast indicated. With no snow or ice cover on the streets, spikes (shoes) couldn’t be used, and with the race shoes being slippery on wet underground, what was left were the lighter training shoe, the Adidas Response. Of course, the shoe was soaking itself wet starting from the tip during warm up.
However, it would be too easy to blame the conditions alone. The first km in 3:23min, about 5-6 seconds slower than last time, but still 7-8 seconds below the target average of 3:31 min/km. The second km in 3:35min, compared to 3:28min last time. And at 2,5km (there was a sign indicating that point), we were at a pace of 3:40min/km, but breathing heavily. Something wasn’t right, normal training pace required too much effort in the competition. It should be the other way around. I got angry. The search for explanations didn’t help. Was it too little sleep lately (average sank below 6 hours), the increase in training km, now around 100km each week or just the bad weather. No clue. And I didn’t care. But finishing with a 36:30 - 37mins was just not an option today.
Tags: 10k race, dropped out
More ISPO news, thanks to J.K., our flying outpost live on the ISPO Winter exhibition in Munich. Is Cardiosport the company to watch? They seem to have a big secret that they have apparently on display on the ISPO. J.K. our man almost flew off their stand when taking pictures of their heart rate monitor product line. Two of their friendly booth staff were on our man and making it crystal clear that the pictures are to be deleted immediately. J.K.’s friendly inquiry for reasons (Wtf), didn’t result in any insightful answers.
Their product web pages don’t reveal the secret. Indeed, their products can be labelled as hot’n sexy if we still were in the early nineties. One of their flagship products the GT 5 is promoted with the highlighted slogan “with cool carbon fibre looks“. Well, well… Also the latest news section seems to be still stuck in last year as the copyright label reveals at the bottom of the page.
Anyway, we couldn’t understand the behaviour, especially because both Polar and Suunto said “welcome, be our guest, take pictures, this is free advertising”.
Toady’s training: 1-2-2-1-1km interval runs indoors in 3:26 min/km, 18km altogether, see warm-up & cool-down route
Tags: Cardiosport, ISPO
This sucks. A next 10k test race ahead in Hakunila, Vantaa (north of Helsinki) on Saturday and there’s a good chance that it won’t be fun. 
The series of 10k races during the late fall and winter of this project was supposed to build up the competitive spirit for the marathon. And by finishing each time a bit faster, it should trigger a positive psychological circle. The limitation to 400 days in this project requires continuous encouragement through visible improvements, especially at this time where we are still far away from a 2:29 marathon level. And now this. It has been cold for weeks in southern Finland, snow has been around as well so that roads are partly covered with it and it’s gradually turning into ice. More snow will come on Friday and the following night to Saturday morning. Therefore road running conditions are terrible. With each step the foot is gliding back or to the sides. Muscles have more to do to stabilize the foot than keeping a good pace.
The choice of running shoes doesn’t seem to help much. The winter running shoes have a better profile, but the sole is still made of rubber and is slippery on ice. Further those shoes are heavy and stiff (=slow). The training/racing Adidas cushion shoe has an even worse profile and the racing shoes we used last time already turn every wet spot on the tarmac into a gliding adventure. It seems that drastic conditions call for drastic measures: my 12 year old pair of middle distance running spikes. Let’s not tell this to my calves …
today’s run: 18.1km easy with accelerations, route & pictures
Latest news reach us from the ISPO winter in Munich. What the heck is this? Did someone glue some liquorice pieces to the bottom of a running shoe? According to the Swiss inventer Mr. Braunschweiler it’s a new running sensation. Whereas normal running shoes have both a restricted capacity to absorb the shock energy when the foot hits the ground and provide only little back when pushing again off the ground, this shoe is supposed to do both much better.
The idea is that those liquorice looking rubber loops that are dispersed all over the soles of the shoe better absorb initial vertical forces when landing, which are the most crucial ones for joints and muscles. Further they also reduce horizontal, so called shearing forces and give more power to the push-off phase. Fancy graphs and more details on their web page.
The shoe is marketed as a healthier option to both hobby and pro runners. Running on tarmac feels like on a softer ground. And regeneration after harder training is accelerated. On the GNL web page, many testimonials talk about having been able to run again and running being more fun. Apparently it’s not really a substitue to your 150g race shoes, i.e. speed improvement is not at the essence.
The shoe comes in both men and women variants, the upper materials are standard mesh, synthetic leather and reflectory material. It’s intended for the normal foot type (no pronation). And both men and women models weigh around 300 grams. On the other hand it makes you 269 CHF (EUR 180) easier, excl. shipping.
Tags: GNL Running System, ISPO, new shoes
What do you think of this logo? Yes sure, we could have come up with this 162 days earlier. Apart form that, we’d appreciate any comments and especially suggestions for improvement.
The idea in the first place is to have a limited edition running shirt printed, long sleeved, dark blue uni colored, made of those synthetic fibers sports gear is nowadays made of.
To all of you who were scouting for the 400days shirt already on next Saturday’s 10k race in Hakunila. I guess, this piece of unique identification won’t happen this quickly. Will take another week. But the weather and road conditions are going to be awful anyway. Right now there’s snow and ice in the middle and the sides of each lane. And the weather report has more snow in store for Friday and Saturday morning. We’re seriously considering to run with spikes. However still, the odds for a next improvement to 35:1x mins are not too good.
Tags: logo, running shirt
This is the MAN, Haile Gebreselassie is pretty much THE living icon in the running world. He improved the marathon world record twice so far. Last year in Berlin, Germany, he was the first man to stay below 2:04 hours. The German Runner’s World online has an article where he shared his 7 recommendations to a successful marathon experience, also when your aim is run a bit above 2:04 hours. See for yourself how you do according to his advice.
- Check your health. Lately too many, mostly older people died in marathon races, due to existing cardio risks they brought with’em to the starting line. I’m not old, got that covered.
- Give it some time. A marathon isn’t a walk in the park, you need to prepare. Plan it at least a year in advance and start preparing for the race 6 months ahead. Prepare your environment - family, work - for it, it needs to support you. Check: 400 days is more than a year. And with this blog really everyone knows, whether he/she wants it or not.
- Set your goal and stick to it. You can only get to what you have prepared for during training. If it is finishing, then stick to a slow schedule in the race right from the beginning. If it’s 4:00, 3:30 or 3:00 hours, then see during training whether it’s realistic. Good that he didn’t say anything about sub-2:30 => check.
- Build up your endurance. Short and fast training won’t cut it. Even for a 4 hour target time, an average distance of about 8km/day is required. The idea with the relaxed but long run is to build up oxygen intake. The more oxygen is provided to the muscles, the higher the endurance. The long runs are my favorite ones… grrrrrmpfgh”!#¤%& 8-0
- Don’t forget to relax in between. Effective training with me is a mixture of tough sessions and relaxing runs, plus days of no training at all. And so it should be with you, too. After a full speed session always follows easy training. Keep one day off per week - do what I say, don’t do what I do (see Haile’s training below) but for us mortal ones, hell yes, procrastination keeps us alive!
- Need for speed. My marathon speed is above 20km/h, that’s faster than my normal training speed, hence it needs to be trained beforehand. First over shorter distances, then over longer ones. If you intend to run 3:30 hours or faster, you need to practice your marathon speed over 10 to 20km every week. we get better at it every week, check.
- Don’t forget your muscles. Although good runners have striking similarities with a stick or an asparagus, they go to the gym more often than one would believe. Light weights but many repetitions toughen the muscles. Do jumps, pushups and ab crunches. this is where the body pump part comes in, check.
Here’s Haile’s training week during his preparation for a marathon, not necessarily good for you.
Monday: 2 - 3 hours relaxed running, stretching afterwards
Tuesday: morning, 90 min easy run with stretching; afternoon, 60 min easy run
Wednesday: morning, 25 - 35km running on tarmac; afternoon 60 min easy run
Thursday: morning, 40min warm-up incl. stretching, interval runs 100 - 200m sprints; afternoon 60min easy run
Friday: morning, up-hill intervals 15 - 20 x 400m, jog back down hill; afternoon, 60 min easy run
Saturday: morning, on the track 8 x 2000m, stretching; afternoon 60 min easy run
Sunday: morning, 60 mins easy run
A quick calculation with the assumption that his easy afternoon run is about 13-14km, this would result in a weekly distance north of 210km… Have fun, man!
Good running, requires good food. Fast running, requires… eh yes, fast food. Not so much in the sense of hamburgers from the golden M, but rather a good pasta dish that can be prepared quickly. Time is at the essence (as we all know). Spending hours in the kitchen is not the first thing that comes to your mind when a quality dinner is supposed to fit in between getting the little princess to bed and the evening movie (which comes of course from a DVR, so there’s no starting time per se. However running 100km a week sets a defininte hard stop with the eyes shutting themselves at around midnight).
Pasta is the optimal basis in both ways, it’s high carb food and is prepared itself in about 5 mins. The secret to success is in the sauce and the selected wine that goes with it. Today, we opt for a vitamin C rich lemon balm sauce with salmon, which goes well together with an Italian light red wine, e.g. a Valpolicella
Sauce Ingredients (for 4 portions, approx. 330kcal/portion):
- 300g salmon filet, without the skin
- 250ml fish stock
- 150g crème fraiche
- 2-3 tablespoons of sauce thickener
- 1 knife point of lemon peel, 1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice
- ½ bunch of leman balm
- salt, pepper, pinch of sugar
How to prepare:
First, make sure the salmon filet is clean, then cut it in stripes or cubes.
Secondly, mix the fish stock with the crème fraiche in a pot and let it boil up. Add the sauce thickener and let it cook for another 2 minutes until the sauce becomes a bit viscid
Thirdly, add the salmon stripes carefully, reduce the heat and let it continue for 3 mins. Adjust the taste with salt, pepper, sugar, lemon peel and lemon juice.
Fourthly, clean and cut the lemon balm into small pieces and add it.
Finally it’s the pasta that’s still missing, boil up water, add some salt and olive oil to it. Tagliatelle or Linguine go well with this sauce, Spaghetti work as well. Fresh pasta is of course the preferred option.
The original recipe says that it takes 10 minutes to prepare, but that’s, well bollocks. Never made it under half an hour, However, one is for sure, this dish is worth it. The light red wine fits well to the slight cremy sauce and helps very well to relax the legs. Most importantly enjoy in good company!
Tags: dinner, lemon, lemon balm, pasta, salmon
