Final Fluid

Stats of the week: run 32km, gym 2hrs

This is my personal preparation for tomorrow's Halloween Marathon at Dublin.
After a week of missed training it's time to keep to the most promising items.

Keep your fingers crossed. Your support is highly appreciated - in fact it's necessary.


True Saying

stats of the week: run 16km, gym 4 hrs

It's one week to go till Dublin Halloween Marathon and I've lost a whole week of training due to a strained hamstring. I am not really concerned about the missed workouts but getting free of pain in time. Usually a slightly strained muscle should be fit again within 3 or 4 days but this time 6 days are already gone without a full recovery.

One of my repetitive sayings proves true again: It's more difficult to get to the start line than to the finish line.
 

Competing with last year

stats of the week: 52 km, gym 5 hrs

Luckily the knee recovered along the week and I decided to do my long run within a hilly race called Teutolauf which I took part in for the 5th time. Like previous year I got caught by the competition and ran faster than planned. In the end I finished the 29km distance after 2:29:40 hrs - surprisingly 7 minutes faster than last year what is quite a difference.

To improve a last year's time has been an unknown experience for years. Therefore my face matched the day's sunshine. Last weekend someone blamed me for never being happy after a race. This time I was.



Setback by Mail and Knee

stats of the week: run 61km, cycled 70km, gym 1.5h

London Marathon 2012 ballot results have been sent out recent week. Same procedure as every year since 2000. For the 13th time I have been rejected by the international lottery. For Germany there are very few entries available via the ballot. No official figures are published, I guess there are about 20 bibs for us per year. Needless to say that the additional 300 entries via travel agency are already sold out (one is for me).

I was able to do my first long run in preparation for Dublin. 30K on Tuesday went well but I faced a setback yesterday. While properly running our local half marathon I felt a strong meniscus pain during the final 3k and I had to limp to the finish. Now I'm slightly concerned how this problem will develop while more training for Dublin is to be done.

Breathless work

stats of the week: run 54km, gym 2hrs

Despite the work for our Sunday charity run Sterntaler-Lauf I managed to do the scheduled mileage. On most of my runs I felt breathless with some pain around the lungs but it always got better while slowly running longer.

Our charity run was still a success although numbers were down from 900 to 700 applicants compared to last year. Notably the walking boom - a German speciality - seems to settle now. However, we were very happy with a busy day and the visitors' good mood.