It feels like being a king in the evening. Rode the bike to work in the morning. 13km one way, takes 50 mins when stopping by the daycare and dropping of the little princess. She truly enjoys the ride from home, and screams the names of pretty much everything she sees, the trees, the guy who walks his dog, the indoor swimming arena and the ducks in the pond that we rush by. I guess those ducks got a heart attack this morning. Well, tomorrow they’re used to the sirene in the backseat on my bike.
Then in the evening planned to run at half past 4, right off from the desk at work, to catch the last glimpse of light outside. But the bank called and wanted to discuss the house loan (yes, we’re in the market right now), so quater past five it was and pitch dark it was. 16,5 km at a heart rate below 155 bpm. Not easy to stick to a rather slow pace. But I want to get more differentiatoin into my runs. The slow ones should be really slow, even below a heart rate of 150 or 145 at some point. And the fast runs, intervals, hill sessions etc, really should be pushed above 185bpm (=”Quäl dich Du Sau!”-style)
Rode the bike home afterwards and this one guy passed me on his racing bike, of course I had to chase him. Well, he had a light attached to his bike, I didn’t. So at least I was safer. Two crazy guys racing at a speed of 36-40km/h from Helsinki Lehtisaari up to Munkkiniemi, a 2,5km stretch. One with a child seat attached to his bike. Must have been an interesting sight. The other guy was stronger, he got away in the end. Damn, of course, he didn’t have the child seat attached … 
Tags: bike'n run
… I just can’t let it be. Every time the word Rotterdam appears in front of my eyes, this tune of the Beatiful South kicks in, here with slightly modified lyrics. But neither did I want to compare people with pickles nor describe blonde and beautiful people in masses (as their lyrics do), but rather compare five marathon events on how well they support a good marathon run. Added Paris in to the mix as well. Paris is in 2010 on April 11, same day with Rotterdam. 
Prepared a little table with stats of the last 5 years for that. The upper third shows the amount of finishers in each year and event. London and Paris are by far the big ones, Hamburg is the “half size” one and Rotterdam and Vienna the smallest ones. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: hamburg marathon, London Marathon, rotterdam marathon, Vienna Marathon
It’s been 4 weeks now since the Berlin Marathon, since I tore the leg/hip muscle the second time (the first time it was during an interval session 10 days earlier). In those four weeks I stayed completely away from running or other sports. Didn’t even feel like doing much, although fall set in a coloured all trees beautifully yellow and red. Thought to apply the Sepia effect on all blog post pictures to get the blog a bit more of a stylish appearence, but then the bright fall colours would not be seen, so I stayed away from applying the effect on todays picture.
I also stayed away from all medicine during the recovery. The week of painkillers and what not to get the leg/hip muscle to hold through the marathon made the body numb for all pain. Now during recovery it’s more important to get the right signals. Btw a quite opinionated but good blog post by Zaba on pain killers, vaccine and flu medication and running.
Did a 13,5km run on Saturday, not even too slow, about 4:27min/km. It felt ok during the run, but afterwards it hurt. Not only the injured muscle but the thighs in general, the four weeks of rest were apparently a bit long. And I guess that I got quickly some good kilograms back. Yesterday - as compensation to the run - 1km of swimming at the indoor swimming arena and playing with the little princess in the kids pool. And today a good 1:40h session at the gym. Cycling and 3 rounds of a 10 exercise strength circuit. Will try to add running on the treadmill this week, for 10 - 15mins only in the beginning and increase it from there.
Tags: recovery
It’s time to set a goal for the overtime of this project. As previously estimated we look at a spring marathon with a decent flat course and a good starter field. Since training over the winter sucks, especially in the Nordic, the final marathon should be as late as possible. May/June would be great. However, the European road race calendar doesn’t show much in that time frame that would meet the just mentioned requirements. The Stockholm Marathon is a nice run if after sightseeing while running the marathon. But this one bridge Västerbron, which is built twice into the run, is quite a killer. Almost 1km steady uphill, was it 35-40m or so elevated. Then 800m downhill. Not exactly optimal. In April there are a couple of good ones, Hamburg, London, Rotterdam and Vienna. My best guess right now is to short list those that are time wise the latest ones the calendar. That would be Vienna, on April 18, and London and Hamburg on April 25. The trouble with London is that it’s fully booked. No starter spots left, even the “good for age entries” - if you’ve done a marathon race between 2:45 and 3:00h as a male 18 to 40 years old - have expired on August 21, roughly 4 months after the previous year’s run!
It points all to either the Vienna Marathon or Hamburg Marathon. Any experiences?
Tags: hamburg marathon, London Marathon, project, rotterdam marathon, Stockholm Marathon, Vienna Marathon
These have been and will be the most expensive running shoes in my life. 120 EUR, that’s around 240 Deutsch Marks or just above 700 FIM, utterly crazy to spend so much on a pair of running shoes! It’s insane. Back in the 90’s a decent pair of runnning shoes was 100 - 130 DM. I still remember me as a young bloke sneaking to the current top models, a latest Asics, Adidas or Nike and they were around 180 DM, a sinful price range. Of course they looked flashy and all but we knew back then that the best shoe isn’t the most expensive. For a runner with a normal stride or who needed a bit of support on the inner side of the foot, the midrange models were sufficient. We did our longer runs in a 3:45min/km pace without problems and it was the pace that counted, not the looks. The good old times. Has really changed so much with running shoes that justifies this mark-up? Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: new shoes
Tomorrow starts overtime. Tomorrow, not today - still one evening to enjoy, lie around, read a book, play with the princess etc. Asch - in reality I’m looking forward to it, back to the action, back to blood sweat and tears - so I tell myself. Need to pour me some more tea and get me another cookie now…
Got the green light from the royal mgmt, aka the queen and the little princess to go into overtime until next spring. The improvement proposals regarding family integration were warmly welcomed. A first step to implementation is ahead when planning the training for the rest of the fall and winter.
After this 3 and half week break after the Berlin Marathon (attempt), the next 2 weeks will still contain no running, but swimming, circuit training in the gym and strength @ home. Got me those nice 4kg dumb-bells for a 5er on the Finnish equivalent to Ebay. You get all kinds of things for pretty low prices. The good thing is the buyer market is much smaller and some articles don’t find a buyer crowd at all. Got a ceiling fan in mint condition for 10 EuroCents as well. Wanted to give the seller a 100% markup when picking it up, but he just refused to take any money. Good business here in Finland!
The green wheel is a killer! Got that from the queen as a birthday present a couple of weeks back. You’re supposed to go on your knees. Align your thighs, back and upper torso straight along one axis. Keep your arms straight and grab the wheel at the bar on both sides. Now roll the wheel forward as far as you can and pull it back again. Beginners are supposed to do one series with 7 pepetitions, intermediates 2 x 10 reps and practiced can do 3 x 12 reps. I could do 4-5 reps, once, then the upper stomach muscles hurt. The fall’s gonna be fun.
Overtime it is. 400 days weren’t enough. Or perhaps too much. If there had been a longer rest period between the spring competitions and before the fall preparations, perhaps the muscle would not have suffered the injury? But “if” and “perhaps” don’t really help, do they?
So, how much overtime should there be? Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: project
It’s 400days today. But wait a minute, the Berlin Marathon was last week already, hence at 393 days. Did I have too much wine when setting up this project? Or did I just mix up when counting the weeks/days? Not at all, counting is still ok with me, whether it’s kilometers, minutes or days and weeks. It was the Berlin Marathon organization that changed the date after this 400days project was set up in July/August last year. I guess/ I hope not really to tease me, but to get out of the way of the national elections that take place this Sunday.
Tags: project
The results from the orthopeadic came in, he called this morning. Don’t click open this blog post if you’re offended by a bit of bare skin.
Tags: hip injury
The disappointment still sits deep, it’s an empty feeling when things turn out this way. It was long way during preparations, 4300km when quantifying it. The anticipation before the big event and a good result. A lot of time and yes also money was invested and there’s not much that’s there to take away. And yes, as a friend put it “being pissed off is a feeling just as valid as being truly happy.” And although it’s a bit difficult just right now, you’re right by saying that it’s best to raise the head again and try to look ahead. But apart from this, the Berlin Marathon has a lot of good stories to tell as well! Stefano did a personal best, again! So did Kari and by a slightly wider margin! The little one showed some serious talent for track and field and the whole event was surprisingly well organized.
Tags: berlin-marathon
