Run, Koper, run

All in all, the most intense week of 2011, with almost 15h worth of trainings -- niiiice :) 25 20 Jun - 26 Jun This week's totals: 4x, 6:14, 64km [14:44] Next week's plan: 5x, 5:52, 61km 1:16 1:14 0:56 2:46 13.6 km 11 km 9.0 km 28.7 km ST 12x400m/80'' ER 11km [TM] ER 8km [TM] RT 28km 164 hrm 134 hrm 136 hrm 140 hrm 4:01 min/km 5:21 min/km 5:13 min/km 5:30 min/km squash (0:45) gym (1:00) modern dance (1:30) body pump (1:00) modern dance (3:00) gym (1:00) Huh, what a week! Started easy enough on Monday when I decided it's finally time to take a day off. Then some speed work on Tuesday, with 400m intervals and easy runs on treadmill on Wednesday and Friday. But what made this week so intense was not running, but all the other activities. Squash, gym, modern dance, body pump, modern dance workshop (3h!) and gym again. Too much. Actually during Thursday dance class I could feel that I'm completely out of energy. Over-trained. My coach ...

Another fairly intense week, with planned 5 running trainings and a total of 72km. 24 13 Jun - 19 Jun This week's totals: 5x, 6:51, 72km [9:36] Next week's plan: 5x, 6:14, 67km 1:16 1:05 1:14 1:13 2:00 13.3 km 12.3 km 11.0 km 14.0 km 20.5 km ER 11km + 7x100m/100m ST 15x400m/80'' ER 11km [TM] INT 7x1km/4' RT 20km 137 hrm 162 hrm 130 hrm 157 hrm 132 hrm 5:18 min/km 3:58 min/km 5:27 min/km 4:11 min/km 5:36 min/km core (0:15) gym (1:00) core (0:15) gym (1:00) core (0:15) On Monday I finally took a well deserved day off. Then a speed training on Wednesday: 15 times 400m sprints with 80 seconds of rest in-between. Bloody tiring training, I have to say. But I managed to keep a sub-4:00 min/km average pace, which I consider a good sign. On Friday I again did intervals, though this time longer: 7x 1km, with 4 minutes of rest. I did this same training in the previous week, where I had the same average pace but higher heart rate (161, now 157) -...

I like running. I like challenges. I like numbers. So, 3 running challenges for the 3 coming years: Run 10K in <40:00 , Run a marathon in <3:00:00 Run 100K ultra-marathon; time pretty much irrelevant, although doing it in <10:00:00 would certainly be awesome At the moment the first goal seems easiest, I just ran my personal best of 41:05 on 10K, although improving this by one minute will certainly not be easy. As for the marathon breaking the 3 hours barrier is still far beyond my reach ( 3:15:17 is my best at the moment) Finally, I never run anything longer than a marathon, so I cannot even fathom what running 100K involves (though I can easily guess: LOTS of pain). Btw. I also had my goals for 2011, which were: To run at least 2000K during the year (I did it only once in 2004, and barely as I did 2014K that year) and To run two marathons this year (I did it only once in 2007 when I run in Copenhagen on 20/05/2007 and then in Dublin on 29/10/2007). It seem...

Another awesome 10+h of sporting week + a nice 10K final in "Kika run" on Sunday. 23 6 Jun - 12 Jun This week's totals: 5x, 6:02, 61km [11:02] Next week's plan: 5x, 7:21, 73km 1:12 1:27 1:14 1:15 0:51 13.7 km 13.9 km 11.0 km 12.0 km 10.3 km INT 7x1km/4' ER 14km RS 60' ER 12km S! 10km "Kika run" (Spaarnwoude) 161 hrm 126 hrm 152 hrm 141 hrm 174 hrm 4:10 min/km 5:46 min/km #10 5:56 min/km 4:06 min/km squash (0:45) gym (1:00) modern dance (1:30) squash (0:45) gym (1:00) What can I say, another great week with 5 running trainings, 2 visits to the gym, squash x2 and modern dance. Total of 11h. Way to go! :) The final of the week, 10K start with a new personal best, was the cherry on top of the pie :). See the linked post for more info.

12/06/2011 10 km (Kika run) Spaarnwoude, Netherlands 41:05 4:06 min/km 174 hrm Before I ran Kika in Spaarnwoude back in 2008 ( 43:44 ) and this year, one week before the race, decided to do it again. On Monday I did some fast intervals 7x1km with 4' breaks in between. I averaged 4:10 in them -- not too bad; if I managed to keep such speed on the race day I'd end up with 41:40 ; just 18 seconds shy of my current personal best ( 41:22 ). But actually I thought it was more realistic to try to aim for a time around 42:00 and that was my plan for the race. The last preparations were really not going well. On Saturday, the day before the race, I went to play squash with a friend. Afterwards I was planning to go to the gym for a training, but I was dead tired after the squash and the gym was simply not an option. Actually I felt something I didn't feel for a very long time, but recognized immediately: clear signs of over-training. I was in fact so tired ...

More than 10h of sports, 4 running and 3 weight trainings... in short: a perfect week :) 22 30 May - 5 Jun This week's totals: 4x, 5:49, 58km [10:19] Next week's plan: 5x, 5:38, 60km 1:15 1:14 1:14 2:05 11.0 km 12.2 km 13.0 km 22.0 km RS 60' [TM] ER 12km SR 12km [TM] RT 21km 151 hrm 140 hrm 152 hrm 145 hrm #10 5:39 min/km 5:00 min/km 5:27 min/km gym (1:00) modern dance (1:30) body pump (1:00) gym (1:00) A mighty good week. 4 running sessions and a total of 60km does not sound too great, but add to that 3 weight training sessions and dancing, adding up to more than 10 hours of training, and you end up with a pretty much a perfect week :) Below are some photos from my Saturday running trip. As running trips go, I'd usually do them fairly slowly. Not time time. I started at a rather decent pace and made it all the way to the castle of Muiden (see photo below). There I made a stop during which I learned that my better half made a reservation...

Highlight of the week: 12km start in Rock&Run 21 23 May - 29 May This week's totals: 4x, 5:22, 59km [6:52] 1:31 1:42 1:11 0:57 16.5 km 16.7 km 13.3 km 12.0 km ER 16km CROS 16km ER 12km S! 12km, Rock&Run (Amsterdam) 138 hrm 142 hrm 139 hrm 172 hrm 5:20 min/km 4:23 min/km modern dance (1:30) A relatively calm week. 16km easy run on Monday (still in Warsaw), then a 16km varied speed training on Wednesday (unfortunately I couldn't join the SportsWorld group, so done on my own). Then mostly recovery before the 12K on Sunday, so only an easy 12km run on Friday and then... Rock&run! . Next week I hope to do 5 trainings and hopefully some more kilometers and then the week after to start on 10K. I hope to do 2-3 such starts before the marathon and hopefully to break my PB in one of them. We'll see...

29/05/2011 12 km (Rock&Run) Amsterdam, Netherlands 52:42 4:23 min/km 172 hrm Ok, so I decided to run 12km in Rock&Run in Amsterdam. I didn't prepare for this particular run, but since SportsWorld (the gym I'm at) was taking part I decided to tag along. Since I was still more in the recovery period after the marathon than in a real serious training, I didn't really know what to expect from this event. But I thought a time of 52:00 , would be nice. The course was 2 loops of 6 kilometers. People were divided into 10 starting groups and we had the luck (or rather, a privilege) to be in the first one, which was a great thing. But there were so many people that by the time I started the second loop, some people were only starting, so I had some elbowing to do, but all in all it was not too bad. Long story short: I'm very happy with my performance. I started a tad too fast, but quickly corrected the pace, which I basically managed to keep th...