Running

Work (currently) in Progress 🏃 First long run in my current marathon schedule, a 3+ hour run.

See my Strava activity.

This morning I fell during a forest 🏃 Something I “luck” 😣 into more often than I’d like. So what does one do? Well, it’s silly to try and resist gravity, unless you’re able to jump over the moon. No, you give in, rolling over the ground, making a mess of yourself. No blood, yay!

This morning I had a resting heart rate of 42 beats per minute, the lowest measured in my life so far. I know running buddies who (claim to) have a HRrest as low as 34 bpm. Yay for supercompensation, the superior form of adaptation in sports physiology 🏃🩺

Preparing for a 10 km race this afternoon, 15.00 hours local time (CEST). With faster shoes and 3 kg weight loss I should be able to beat the 50:02 I ran six weeks ago, though it’s 5℃ warmer today 🏃‍♂️

Wish me luck, please, TIA!

Tried the new HOKA ONE ONE Carbon X 3 running shoe🏃‍♂️ ‘Twas an instabuy.

Aaand, I got a discount on an already low price. It’s not the Nike Alphafly super shoe, but more affordable and still awesome for a slowpoke like me.

On my long run this morning I saw the heather in bloom 🏃‍♂️🌸

I’ll be running in summer heat this afternoon, around 31℃ (88℉), so—aside from water—having a route for a 10 miles long easy pace run would be handy, especially if it’s uploaded to my Garmin watch 🏃‍♂️

It seems that running 🏃 in the heat improves running performance, even in colder weather, provided the runner is able to deal with performing in high temperatures. Since 30+℃ (86+ ℉) temperatures are expected coming Saturday, it makes sense to train under those conditions, right?

Yesterday I ran 🏃 21 km as a workout, alternating between marathon pace and 20 percent slower than MP. I expected to be extremely tired the day after, but I am not. Today’s a rest day, though I feel I could run. It’s a good feeling 😊 Rest is important, though, crucial even.

Yesterday I did my first training run of 18 km, on unfamiliar terrain. I expected to be super tired when I woke up this morning, but I felt great, and my resting heart rate was not elevated. Unlike previous times, my first week of marathon training went extremely well 🏃

I think where I went wrong every time in my marathon preparation is by training too hard. One shouldn’t be exhausted after a few weeks. Every session should be doable, tough at times, never too tough. Around races longer than 15 km should be ten days of easy going, and so on 🏃

Yesterday evening I did my first marathon training session, a 16 km aerobic pace run. Since I ran alone, I could pick my own route, so I made it a pretty route. I wasn’t fully recovered from the 12 km race 3 days earlier, so it felt harder than it should’ve 🏃

I ran a partial (4 of 12 km) trail (see Strava) in 23℃ (73 F) in 1 hour and 3½ minutes. It felt good and could mean a 4:09 hours marathon result in optimal conditions. I have still 5 months and a lot of training to go to possibly beat my marathon PR from 2004 (3:45 hours) 🏃

Sooo, I ran 21.1 km in 2:35 hours on saturday, and 21.1 km in 2:07 hours on sunday. I guess that’s 42.2 km in 4:42 hours. Fun fact, the 2nd half marathon was a race, and I ran the last 5.1 km 15 s/km faster than 2 hours half marathon pace😅 End-of-the-year marathon, here I come! 🏃

Yesterday I jogged a half marathon in 2 hours 35 minutes, and today I’ll be leasurely racing the same distance in around 2 hours 14 minutes. Together that would be a marathon in slightly more than 4¾ hours. Within 6 months that should become a marathon in less than 4 hours 🏃‍♂️

After a total break following my previous marathon (spent a week in bed due to over-exhaustion), I’m giving it another go, end of the year (November 27). This time around my training schedule will be the upper limit, not the bare minimum. I clearly need a PT to restrain me 🏃‍♂️

I made a rough training schedule, mostly to get me safely to a next level of fitness. The two long runs in the weekends are very gentle (almost walking), but I realize I’ll need to balance it with more distance during the week. That will be a training objective in August 🏃‍♂️

Clawing my way back to marathon fitness with base training. I understand that low intensity running is how it should be done, including walking. Hopefully next time my fitness won’t take a nose dive after a marathon race 🏃

I’ve looked into the Maffetone method for base training (running), since my slow 20 km run two weeks ago felt so hard. It takes a really long time (like many months) to adjust your body, and slow running (8 min/km or 13 mpm in my case) means either low mileage or many hours 🏃

The day before yesterday I fell while running and yesterday I strained my hamstring (again, after I did two weeks ago). I feel bruised and strained like an apple that fell from a tree. Yay for foam rollers and pain medicine 🏃