The Berlin Marathon didn’t work out. The hip muscle didn’t last. Already at 4km I could feel it. At 8km it was difficult to keep the pace. At 11km I could feel that something broke or jumped out of it’s place. At half marathon km times were down to 4:30min. I stopped the show at km 23.
Today I can hardly walk.
Quite a disappointment, somehow this can’t be the end of this project.
Tags: Berlin
We arrived in Berlin yesterday night with the whole kit and caboodle and mother-in-law. Checked in at the hotel in a central and for the marathon great location. But that’s pretty much all there is good to say about the hotel. Whatever, we’re not here for hotel experiences but to challenge the clock and of course the 39.999 other runners on a 42.195km course in the streets of Berlin. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: berlin-marathon, princess
Encouragement, that’s what’s needed in the last couple of days before the event. Thanks for all your comments and hints lately. Got also some hints from a pro on pre-race preparation. Martin Beckmann sent some hints how he does it. In short, within the last two weeks before the marathon it’s not about running anymore, it’s about resting and keeping a low level of activity, no matter what you do, as long as you do something.
also Grundsätzlich kann man immer alternativ trainieren. I
Ich persönlich mache 14 Tage vor dem Marathon meinen letzten längeren Lauf, wenn du also nur noch 10 Tage bis zum Marathon hast, sollte das Training abgeschlossen sein, und man trainiert nur noch für den Kopf und nicht für die Form. Ich würde versuchen, der Entzündung ruhe zu geben.
Bewege dich, ob leichtes Joggen oder Alternativ ist egal.
Thanks after all the hassle in the last 8 days, this was good encouragement.
Tags: berlin-marathon, encouragment
By the way, yesterday’s massage did its trick, the hip muscle is not hurting anymore and feels almost as normal again. This time it’s not a muscle but our little princess that could stop the running daddy on its quest to the sub-2:40h marathon 
. The day care called in the morning that the little princess is not in good condition, i.e. she started throwing up. Apparently a virus or bacteria that made her stomach first a dead end street and later in the day a through traffic road. Things coming out at the bottom in one rush pretty much in the shape they went in at the top. Only little was actually digested. The “funny” part of this was that it did bother her parents more than herself. The little princess threw up and was then happy sunshine right afterwards.
How to prevent this now to get hold of the queen and daddy? If it catches the runner while on his diet, there’s not much use of the carbo loading in the last three days before the run. So, no kissing the little one, ok. Washing hands every now and then, also check. But avoiding contact - with a 2-year old - not really possible. Hope - that’s always good…
Tags: berlin-marathon, stomach flu
The legs and the trouble making hip muscle got their final touch today. No, it’s not about shaving this time, that was three days ago. It’s rather about a decent sports massage. It’s 4,5 days to the start in Berlin, so I learned, that a muscle relaxing massage is what’s needed. The alternative would have been a forming/shaping massage that goes deeper into the muscle tissue. But the latter might not be digested in a couple of days. Still, the “relaxing” massage was partly everything else but relaxing. Especially the hip muscle got its special treatment. I was wiggling around as if tortured. A real good massage is a funny thing, you know it’s gonna hurt, but it hurts in a good way. Or is that masochism?
And afterwards you’re thirsty and totally tired. I guess that’s the sign of a good massage. I’ve been to a couple of places here in Helsinki and yes they differ in both quality and price. The low-end is the sports massage school (Urheiluhierontaopisto) in Helsinki-Pasila. The prices are unbeatable, EUR 23 for an hour. But once you’ve been to a professional sports masseur, you recognize the difference. At the school it’s perhaps more stroking the surface, which is fine if you’re after that. The sports masseur on the other hand is drilling deeper into the muscles. The latter costs depending on where you go between EUR 35 and EUR 39. Not to bad in an international comparison as far as I’ve understood. It’s quarter to ten, I’m going to bed. zzzzzzz……………..
Tags: berlin-marathon, massage
You guys think I’ll end up around 2:40h or perhaps slightly above when interpreting the votes given so far. This would be an improvement of 9 to 10 minutes over the run in Rotterdam half a year ago, not bad! By now I agree that it won’t be a sub-2:30h in Berlin. The training and races this year were unfortunately not on that level, yet. I guess, the human body can go through a development only at a certain pace. Training even more doesn’t linearly lead to a faster progression. And since one isn’t 25 anymore… I sound like an old fart.
I assume the high percentage at above 2:49h was a misunderstanding of the questoin. Readers might have clicked at the time they intend to run themselves.
With 6 days to go it’s time again for the Saltin diet, starting today. Two and a half days - rest of Sun, Mon, Tue - a carb starved diet, then one switching day, eat a little of all, and finally 3 days of carb loading, the fun part. Training needs to go hand in hand with the diet. An emptying run on the first day, i.e. a long run, 25km or so. However with the muscle inflammation on the left side of my hip running is off the training plan right now.
Substitutes for running are in the first place none. When preparing for a running race, you better train by running. Co-ordination and having the right muscles trained in the right way is essential, especially on long distance where a lot comes down to efficiency in the running style. Fortunately, the last 10 weeks (or almost 400 days if you like) have done large parts of that.
Next in line are most probably biking and swimming. Where I prefer swimming over biking right now, because of the co-ordination part. Don’t want to get this repetitive round movement with constant load into the nerv system and then at the starting line in Berlin on Sunday morning the body is all tuned to cycling and not running. Swimming was mentioned as part of the training program anyways, so there can’t be much wrong with it. I opted for the latter today. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: berlin-marathon, long run, Saltin diet
Of course you need a support crowd when going to a race. They cheer when you run by in the beginning of the marathon and are still looking fresh and all full of anticipation. They cheer when it starts to become tough and you shape up just for them when passing by. And they cheer when you could all but cry or are in a delirium between km 33 and 40. Further they help when things get busy at the start, looking after the clothes, calming you down. And they prep you up after finishing, the Coke I got from the queen in Rotterdam after throwing up was the turning point upwards again. In brief, the support crowd is totally essential. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: berlin-marathon, support crowd
A bit of an analysis. Some time ago I had a look into Finland’s 2009 top 20 marathon results so far. Top 10 was up to 2:37h, top 20 up to 2:45h. It felt quite good to aim for something that gets one name into that list. Even dreamt of perhaps making it into the upper half. Definitely, this would make a good blog entry, story among friends, relatives, colleagues at work. Of course, absolute results tell more about the marathon level in Finland than my own stellar:ness, but who cares, who knows? Should it go onto the CV as well… ?
The strain of thought pretty much was this: The majority of marathons with faster Finnish runners are done: all spring races, World championships in Berlin, senior world championships in Lahti, Helsinki and Stockholm marathons. The Berlin marathon would attract some good but not many (in grey above). So the current top 20 list shouldn’t move around too much anymore. Ha! Far wrong! Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: berlin-marathon, ranking, top finishers
