Run, Koper, run

Form slowly picking up. 4 24 Jan - 30 Jan This week's totals: 4x, 5:59, 56km [9:29] 1:13 1:35 1:14 1:56 11.2 km 14.4 km 11.5 km 18.7 km ER 10km [TM] ER [SW] ER 10km [TM] RT 18km [134] [137] [140] [140] 5:49 min/km   5:42 min/km 5:52 min/km body pump kettle body pump power yoga Finally the form is slowly picking up. Both the easy runs and the running trip at sub-6:00min/km pace (though not by much). The [SW] annotation for the Wednesday run means I was training with the running group at my local gym, SportsWorld - I don't give average pace for those runs as we often run at a varied pace. Unfortunately this week, for the first time this year, I missed a training (CROS) :(. I truly hope this will remain an exception and will not become a norm...

Third week and finally starting a proper routine -- incorporating strides, cross training (CROS) and a running trip (RT) into the training. 3 17 Jan - 23 Jan This week's totals: 5x, 6:41, 60km [10:13] 1:15 1:15 1:16 1:39 1:15 11.1 km 11.0 km 11.8 km 14.7 km 11.0 km ER 10km [TM] ER 10km [TM] ER 9km + 10x100m/100m RT 14km CROS 60' [TM] [144]   [139] [139] [158] 5:56 min/km 6:00 min/km 6:03 min/km 6:23 min/km #6 kettle kettle body pump power yoga squash RT , running trip , essentially an easy run (ER) but over a longer distance, possibly with a short break in the middle (though I rarely do that). 10x100m/100m indicates strides done after the training. In this case 10 repetitions of: 100m fast run (3:45-4:15min/km) and 100m recovery jogging. CROS training: ideally that should be a run over a hilly terrain with varied speed, keeping most of the training in the easy zones of ER, but occasionally attacking the hills or speeding up on the dec...

This week increasing number of sessions from 3 to 4. But still all of them easy runs at a slow pace; mostly on a treadmill. 2 10 Jan - 16 Jan This week's totals: 4x, 4:58, 44km [6:58] 1:14 1:15 1:14 1:14 11.0 km 11.0 km 11.0 km 11.2 km ER 10km ER 10km [TM] ER 10km [TM] ER 10km [TM] [140] [150] [141] [155] 6:11 min/km 6:00 min/km 6:00 min/km 5:52 min/km body pump body pump

Ok, having plan is one thing, but actually putting it into works, is quite another. I know how hard it is to keep a regular training routine. There are so many bloody distractions; so many things that make it difficult to stick to the plan.So I decided to post my weekly summaries on this blog, hopefully to help keep me motivated. Below is the first week of 2011: 1 3 Jan - 9 Jan This week's totals: 3x, 3:45, 33km [8:30] 1:15 1:15 1:14 11.0 km 11.0 km 10.7km ER 10km [TM] ER 10km [TM] ER 10km [150?] [149] [145] 6:00 min/km 6:00 min/km 6:31 min/km power yoga body pump modern dance body pump Ok, so a little walk-through of what is what. The first row is a header with the week number, dates and the summary of the week: number of running sessions, total running time & weekly mileage and finally, in the square brackets, total weekly sporting time (not only running). Then the columns correspond to the days of the week and the rows hold respective...

After a somewhat disappointing performance in Warsaw, I immediately started thinking about my next marathon. And my previous ones, too. Something seems to be seriously wrong. I run my first marathon in 2003 in 3:23:53 . Till today I run 7 marathon in total, but all their results are roughly scattered around my debut time. I got my personal best in Rome, in 2005, with 3:15:17 , mere 8 minutes faster than my first marathon ever. Now, given the fact that I knew very little about running in 2003 and that my "training" back then hardly deserved such a label and that I believe now those two things have changed quite a bit... well, it seems that something is seriously wrong. My bet is on regularity. I was always trying to train 5-6 times per week, but trying was one thing and practice was another. It's so damn easy to miss a training! Being tired, unexpected obligations, trips, holidays, sickness... you name it! Therefore my resolution for the new running season was to be regula...