Run, Koper, run

20/11/2011 15km Nijmegen, The Netherlands 1:05:59 4:24 min/km 174 hrm 2561/25964 (9.9%) Morning. Getting up. Quick breakfast. Running for the bus... Routine: almost every race begins like that. Today though I did manage to get some sleep, which recently is not part of the routine ;). And the bus, together with Sportsworld and AV'23 people, got us for the race to Nijmegen and its Seven hills run. I was not quite aware of how huge this race is, but the city was full with runners -- hardly a surprise given that in the end there were almost 26.000 finishers! After last week I knew that trying to follow Michal is not an option. And as I said earlier -- McMillan recommended 1:06 but I was hoping to push it for something closer to 1:04. But in fact with that many people around I hardly had time to look at my watch and was just running at a pace that felt comfortable. Actually, not quite comfortable as very quickly the hills started and I have to say getting over th...

Two weeks, two starts... 45 7 Oct - 13 Nov This week's totals: 5x, 7:55, 76km [7:55] 1:47 2:17 1:42 1:13 0:53 18.1 km 18.4 km 16.9 km 11.9 km 10.0 km jog 16km Ex. + INT 7x1km/2' [AV'23] ER 17km ER 17km S! 10km (Olympische Stadionloop, Amsterdam) 128 hrm 177 hrm 136 hrm 136 hrm 177 hrm 5:49 min/km 4:03 min/km 5:39 min/km 5:39 min/km 4:15 min/km A rather good week. First an easy run on Monday. Then on Tuesday I joined Jan's athletic club AV'23 on the track. It's around 2K away from my home and I was stupid enough to get there... running; if only I knew what was waiting for me there... Warm-up, some drills, but then the main course: intervals. We did 7x1K/2'. And Jan told me to join the group of guys who were breezing every kilometer under 4:00. Substantially. I kinda managed to keep up with them on the first interval, but then decided that this is just too much. Still I was trying not to lag too much behind and in the end averaged around 4:00 min...

13/11/2011 10km Amsterdam, The Netherlands 42:25 4:15 min/km 177 hrm 38/349 (10.9%) Why is it that my pre-race preparations always suck? Today I didn't get much sleep as my needy cat around 7:00 decided that I've slept enough (no, I really did not). So my initial happiness at the fact that the race is at noon so I'll be able to get amble sleep before, didn't quite work in practice. Oh well. Then meeting Thyra, Michal & Gerben and off to the Olympic Stadium . At least from then on everything was going smoothly, we were plenty in advance, I registered on-site, warm-up and off we go! Oh and the weather was really perfect for a race! At the beginning I was trying to follow Michal & Julek but their tempo was just insane for me, even though I didn't quite know it as my watch was not properly calibrated and I didn't do a very good job at spotting kilometer marks at the beginning. I was trying not to loose them but around the 3rd kilomet...

Good start of a week, then spoiled by a cold :S 44 31 Oct - 6 Nov This week's totals: 3x, 4:15, 44km [5:15] 1:27 ① 1:07 ② 1:40 14.7 km ① 11.8 km ② 17.6 km ER 14km ① INT 12x400m/2' ② ER 17km 135 hrm ① 165 hrm ② 136 hrm ① 4:01 min/km ② 5:39 min/km gym (1:00) The week started great. Easy training on Monday, but on Wednesday things got more interesting as I did intervals in the afternoon and then the usual running with Sportsworld in the evening. That added up to a total of almost 30K that day and I have to say that by the end of it I really had enough. I was hoping to continue in this great form but then I got a cold... I was even thinking of ignoring it and continuing the training but in the end decided to take it easy. So no more runs that week. Gladly, by Sunday I pretty much recovered so next week I hope to start the training for good; yet again.

After three weeks of lazing around, finally coming back to regular training! :) 41 10 Oct - 16 Oct This week's totals: 1x, 1:27, 15km [1:27] 1:27 15.5 km ER 15km 42 17 Oct - 23 Oct This week's totals: 0x, 0:00, 0km [1:00] body pump (1:00) 43 24 Sep - 30 Oct This week's totals: 4x, 6:43, 70km [7:43] 1:25 1:31 1:26 2:19 15.8 km 16.8 km 14.5 km 23.0 km ER 15km ER 16km ER 14km RT 23km 139 hrm gym (1:00) What can I say, before I noticed the 1 week of doing nothing after the marathon turned into 3 weeks. And I have to say it felt good not to do anything. Did I feel the urge to go running? No, not really. On the contrary :). Ok, I have to admit that the fact that I lost my sensors (for speed & heart-rate) could have something to do with that -- I'm a total sucker for stats and without them running just lost one of its (big!) charms ;). But now situations seems to be getting back under control: I found both sensors (still missing battery in one, ...