finally it’s christmas! the annual festivity of family, food, goodies, presents, alcohol in individual amounts and lying around almost half dead with stuffed bellies.
that’s the time of the hobby, amateur and wanna-be-pro runners (sorry for all you real pros, the following does not totally apply to you). the hob, amat, and w-b-p runner eat without second thoughts. they make use of the emptier streets. they enjoy running while there’s daylight outside. and finding a present that makes them happy is as easy as putting a fish back into water or throwing the dog a bone. to all you troubled runners wifes out there: instead of the black boss business socks or a tie, make it a pair of loeffler or ergee running socks or headband with ear patches, and your present plays in a totally different league, with a 90% probability it’ll be a home run. ok christmas is gone for this year, write it down for the next and apply the trick to birthdays, namedays, farther’s days, race days, sundays… you name it!
the queen got it right. a pair of winter running socks to alternate with the only pair of running socks currently in daily use and in constant need for a wash. a pair of summer running socks that are so thin and sleek, that they could perhabs even get race status (i.e. become part of the holy ritual of race preparation, where everything has to be perfect).
also a second present, the free skating part so to speak, makes the runner happy. through constant training the blood pressure seems to be lower and the outer extremities turn cold quite easily, e.g. at the pc @ work. or is it the downturn that let’s the employer put a hand on the thermostat? anyway, don’t care no more with these good looking wrist warmers.
one of those days. you’re in a new place, totally motivated for some really good running sessions to show the local folks what a running-pro you are. there’s a hill that’s never too steep and of course that’s the place to demonstrate your skills. and yes, the two minutes up-hill efforts that are some what under control on home turf have to be translated into - of course 2 minutes up-hill runs on the never-too-steep-hill. in a kind of serene way i proposed 8 x 2min runs.
yeah, of course, as it used to turn out…
the very first run showed that 2 mins are so far away from what our hero could do as santa claus is from coming at easter. runs had to cut down to approximately 1:15min. after 4 runs we needed a longer rest period and after 6 runs we had enough.
the next day the buttocks hurt, i.e. it was a really good training session!
Tags: too steep, uphill training
it’s equally wet in southern germany as it is in southern finland. but that didn’t prevent micke-midlife to go out and challenge the younger generation on a 23km run. well, actually both were rather tired. the young guy from a crisp training session the day before - 6 min runs in 3:30min/km - our hero from eating christmas goodies all the time. therefore the pace was moderate and the stomach mixed up.
from this eternal conflict between generations, to the best time to run a marathon. when’s the best time to do it? or the other way around, at what age does one run his/her best marathon finishing time, at the age of 25, 30 or 35?
all individual deviations left aside, looking at the top 115 finishing times of the berlin marathon in the years 2006, 2007 and 2008.
the age classifications mh/wh ranging from 20-29, m30/w30 from 30-34, m35/w35 from 35-39 and so on. the table reveals that the age classes from 20 to 34 are the most competitive ones. assuming a smooth distribution curve with a heavy “front load”, we can say the age group between 27 and 33 are the majority at the top. or in other words with 35 years our hero is beyond it’s peak…
the only remedy: the world record holder haile gebreselassie ran his 2h 03min 59sec personal best at the age of 35! if he can do a world record, micke-midlife can … eh whatever, get me a christmas cookie.
Tags: berlin-marathon, best age, long run, southern germany, top finishers, younger generation
every time daddy goes out it takes ages for him to get ready. layer clothing that’s of course well understood, but then all those accessories and gadgets. need to study his gear more in detail.
dad’s got cool things!
Tags: daddy specials, little mannequin, little one
on the 19km fartlek run (no, it’s nothing nasty as you might think, fartlek is a swedish word used in international running lingo for “playing with speed”) today, there was enough time to reflect on saturdays’s 10k test race.
km1 was way too fast - again, 3:17mins. there’s no way to hold your horses at the start. adrenalin is high, testosteron even higher, not to talk about all the other substances… he he, no drugs needed here, not good enough yet for the additional pills. this time joined my pal juhana, who’s perfect in the lingering-in-front-of-the-starting-line-until-2-mins-before-start game.
km 2+3+4 were ok, but too much with a pulled handbrake. the first group of runners were too fast and quickly a gap emerged.
km 5 included the uphill/downhill section. the first two runners, leading with a huge margin to the rest came towards me at about the 4,5km mark, they led at this stage already by one km! their finishing times were below 31mins, max respect!
km 6, definitely the worst one, there’s always one devastating moment in a race, this one was it. the first woman passed by. you wouldn’t believe it, two heads shorter, the stride frequency twice as high and most probably 20kg less to carry around. this gazelle like thing just overtook. without mercy these things. this called for immediate fight back.
km 7, still bravely fighting back and breathing fiercly in her neck, well from 5m behind.
km 8, still breathing fiercly in her neck, from 50m behind…
km 9, whatever
km 10, finally the finish! 36:04 … 05 … 06 … 07 … step away, get me a clear view on the clock! … 36:14.
ok, well better next time.
Tags: 10k race, race reflections
aktia cup, hakunila, drizzling rain and a couple of degrees celcius above zero. not the weather you’d dream of for a 10k race, but pretty darn good for the 10k winter running series in hakunila, vantaa, just north of helsinki. about 260 runners found their way out there, as harri the race director mentioned afterwards. and definitely not the worst. with winning times of around 35mins on the womens side and 30 mins for the men, it’s a pretty decent field of participants.
micke-midlife proved in his third test that the direction is still showing the right way.
the only way is up, baby!
sorry couldn’t resist to quote this song title of the band “yes” from the end of th eighties. with 36:14 it’s a new personal best in this project. but only a mere 26 seconds improvement over the last test. stay tuned for an analysis of the run and what it means progress wise.
juhana’s blog report on the race (in finnish)
reflections on the third test race
Tags: 10k race, aktia cup, personal best
there’s a saying in finnish, “the longer the distance, the more stupid the lad”. most probably the surroundings here don’t see our hero micke-midlife as very smart. 1020km, to be precise, in the first 100 days - the above graph leaves out the sunday run on Aug 24 and the monday run in week 15. that’s on average 10.2km per day.
the graph above shows very well the initial enthusiasm, an easy week to recover, and then 4 weeks of preparation for the first 10k test race. the last 4 weeks were after the daylight saving switch and with nasty rainy conditions, a tough call for a “sun-shine-runner”. the second test race in week 13 benefitted still from the earlier training in weeks 6 through 10 and from a reduced amount of km in the following weeks.
other development over these weeks: weight has gone down by 6 kg. running speed during training has improved for the interval runs. whereas in the beginning 4×1000m in 3:40min were a challenge, it’s now the 8×1000m in around 3:30min. otherwise not much difference, longer runs are done at average speeds between 4:10 and 5:15min/km. One clear change has been the heart rate. whereas it went up to rate like 193bpm on those several fierce one-hour runs in the early summer, it won’t go beyond 180bpm during a 10k race now. that’s a clear difference. does it have to do with too little sleep? that’s definitely the single biggest challenge in this project.
looking forward, the 65 - 75km weeks are not sustainable. hence last week’s (week 15) total was slightly upped and this week looks good too.
day 106: first time beyond the 100km mark, 100.8km to be precise. yes, admittedly there were a couple of last laps around the block on sunday to get the whole week to a three-figure distance, but not many were needed, though. that’s where long distance starts for real
the weather wasn’t really a friend this time. on monday it was raining and partly snowing on the 21.5k run. on thursday i wanted to be smarter and planned the route in that way that it would pass by work and the starting point of the run many times. in case, it would rain, there would be sufficient reason to cut the training session short. someone saw through that plot, everytime the path went away from work rain came down, everytime i had my way back, it would stop. these weather gods can be real little bastards sometimes.
on friday then the meeting with the gods of back pain. they came sneaking from behind these sneaky little bastards. and had me wrestled down in no time. i was walking around like a stick and every wrong move was torture. no running on friday, but rather the double pain killer dose and double run on saturday. tried the high intensity training thing on the afternoon run. however after the third sprint a suspicious feeling in the muscle of the thighs lower side made me be careful. the gods of the pulled muscles tried to come along as well, luckily i was able to convince them not to.
next week takes it again down a notch, around 85 - 90km. the third 10k test race is coming up on saturday. long distance and interval runs in the beginning of the week and then nice and relaxed for the rest. hope to be on better terms again with all kinds of gods.
Tags: gods, long distance
an article in the german weekly “der spiegel”, actually its internet edition spiegel online, on high intensity training made me wonder, whether something of this training method could be transformed and applied to running, especially longer distance running as well?
the principle of high intensity training is simple. when lifting weights in the fitness studio, and trying to impress the local beauties with your year long office desk optimized body curves, instead of training with numerous repetitions of average weights, you put on max weigths and do only few but very intensive exercises. Scientific studies have shown that the result in muscle growth is equal or better with less time spent on training.
so, how would this translate to running? not that i’m looking for some balloons on the upper arms, although the chicken brest could use some more 3D profiling.
the weight lifting example translates to running into a series of max speed sprints. training method descriptions found on the web suggest 15 - 30 seconds full out running and then 90 seconds of easy pace in-between the efforts. the examples found mostly target short distance runners or ball game training such as football. however also long distance running depends on max strength and there’s more to it. high intensity training accelerates the body’s production of the human growth hormone (HGH) and improves oxygen delivery by the heart and uptake by the muscles. runner’s world describes as high intensity training fartlek running, interval runs and 15 - 20min long near 10k race speed efforts. those are covered in the training program already. i now might want to try and build in these full-out run repetitions into the weekly 10 - 12k runs, just to see what happens.
let’s leave everything behind that moves on the sidewalks, walkers, runners, bikes, mopeds … need to be aware not to scare the granny to death when swooshing by, she might fall off the bridge.
Tags: bursts, high intensity training, HIT, sprints
