Hope rising

stats of the week: run 38 km, cycled 198 km, hiked 6 h
stats of the previous week: run 18 km, cycled 114 km

The first of our two holiday weeks in Bavaria was intense. Luckily I was able to stick to the running schedule, apart from some biking and hiking.

Climbing Germany's highest mountain, the Zugspitze at 2,986 m.

Most cyclists in the area ride a mountain bike, but it is still fine for race biking.

False start into London training

stats of the week: run 5 km, cycled 118 km
stats of the previous week: run 33 km, cycled 71 km

I didn't expect the London Marathon to call us for a virtual race at Oct 4th. No question it is compulsary for me to start - and finish! Immediately I set up a new training schedule - only to cause a serious calf muscle problem at the first longish jog. With only 7 weeks to go now I have to start from scratch.

Luckily the London Marathon gives time from midnight to midnight to complete the distance. I reckon I will need up to 5 hours including long stretches of walking. However, the virtual race is counted as the 40th London Marathon, so I have to do it.

This is my adjusted schedule, admittedly not a classic and proper marathon training. The key is to do enough to get to the finish, and little enough to get to the start.

 

Cycling Streak

stats of the week: run 5 km, cycled 329 km
stats of the previous week: cycled 407 km

stats of the week before: run 5 km, cycled 271 km

During the Provence holiday I managed a streak of 15 days of cycling, counting 943 km and 13,300 meters of ascent. I don't know a more perfect area for road cycling than the beautiful landscape around Mont Ventoux. You have such a big choice of mountain passes that you don't have to repeat any route during a fortnight of cycling. I look forward to being back hopefully already in October.

However, I hoped to improve my performance by this amount of daily training. Okay, I lost two kilos of weight in spite of a lot of very good food and wine. But having turned back home I feel more exhausted than improved. Maybe it will take some more days to get the benefit.