Started a new micro blog today, because the domain name was available. Something went wrong with the domain name registration and now I’m waiting for help to fix it. After that, I want privacy protection added. Yeah, I’m demanding 😁

Preparing for a marathon on one’s own is quite demanding, especially planning the test races, and modifying the training schedule. I can now really appreciate having support from others more experienced than me, and why some runners pay for that if they can afford it🏃

I wonder how to change my domain name. I have this .blog domain, which is kinda expensive for a hobby blog. However, most visitors are not subscribed, AFAIK. They either search or (partially) remember the URL. I’ll lose all of those in a change. I guess rebuilding from scratch?

I joined a sponsor run, promising to run 250 km between today and a month from now. There’s collecting money as well, plus wearing a t-shirt I don’t yet have. We’ll see how that goes. Anyway, after a long warmup, I did a tough LT training for my VO2max. Yeah, tough! 🏃

Reading 200 pages of a book in two weeks is kinda depressing, especially because I was very interested in the subject. It’s how slow I read at my fastest, less than 15 pages a day. I’m not a book reader by any stretch of the imagination, nor a consumer of other media either 😖

Finished reading: Het Geheim van Hardlopen by G. Vroemen, J.C. van Dijk, J.G.W. van Megen 📚🇳🇱

I’m happy I chose the safe route by limiting my running to solo runs at a slow pace. Of those who just kept training with others (despite it was not allowed at the time) a few (still) suffer from long-covid. I escaped that fate, though I don’t envy those runners who got it. 💉

Early bird has the worm, I suppose. At a leisurely pace of 7:15 min/km (11:40 min/mi) I did a recovery run through the nearby township of Zuidgeest. It was lovely to run in 15℃ (59℉) on half asphalt, half dirt road. After 68 minutes I was back home, refreshed and alert. 🏃

Sitting at a breakfast table with coffee and cocoa calculating what a calorie restricted diet would result into after 16 weeks. 13 weeks would be enough to reach my target weight. There’s reason behind this madness. I need this weight to prevent hitting the wall in a marathon race.

Last run for this week, 21 km (almost a half marathon distance), slow and easy in 2 h 20 min. I wanted a steady pace, no muscle soreness, nor tiredness afterwards. I got two of those three; still tired afterwards. It’s 16 weeks to go before M-day 🏃

I went from 33 to 31 percent body fat in one week by limiting my diet to one healthy warm meal per day, lots of low-caloric fluids and 31 km of running. I need to go to 18 % to prevent hitting the wall in a marathon race, having to walk the last 10 km of the 42 km distance. 🏃

I didn’t have to go for a run to see something of beauty 🦋 Still, the run was nice too, in the Golden Hour, no less 🏃

Turns out that my lean body mass (everything except fat) is 57 kg, while fit male individuals have 18 - 24 % body fat, runners 10 % less than that. I’m shedding weight by the week now, just by running regularly and thinking about the marathon later this year. 🏃

New resistance band day. It makes weight-free strength exercises somewhat more challenging. Start light, though. I’m not yet a black belt workout person, just a casual one. So there’s that, too: room to grow (muscle strength).

My morning route has been extended by 30 minutes by 🏃 strength and mobility exercises. Like coach Kyle Kranz says:

Every day should be hip-day.

That’s the body part, in case you wondered.

I can see from the graph that body weight and resting heart rate have a relationship. As I lost weight (93 - 85 kg = 8 kg), my resting HR dropped (60 - 48 bpm = 12 bpm) in just 3 months. To me, this is encouraging, as a sign of increased fitness. I’m still overweight, though. 🩺

I’m temporarily back on Strava, just because I’m preparing for a marathon later this year. After that, it’s probably lights out again for me (read: disconnect Garmin Connect from Strava). I did prune who I follow, though, to keep me sane. 🏃

Second week running in a group of about 20 athletes of varied levels. This time I was the fastest, and much faster as well. Felt great. My regular group has some who are much faster than me. I’ll be joining them in September. 🏃

Currently reading: Het Geheim van Hardlopen by G. Vroemen, J.C. van Dijk, J.G.W. van Megen 📚🇳🇱

I totally underestimated my running speed in this LT training session. I thought 10 km was enough, yet needed almost 12 km. I ran almost 14 km at 6:13 min/km (10 min/mi). I need to reconsider my 15 km race pace. 🏃