stats of the week: run 38 km, Zwift cycled 24 km, gym 3 h
Another proper training week, again with some intervals to stay used to a higher pace. I have to accept the fact that my former PB marathon pace is now a pace that I can't keep for just 5 K. The stopwatch shows the impact of aging without elusion.
I look forward now to running my last race within age group M65, a local 10 K New Year's Eve race. Next week I will be the youngest runner in my new age group.
stats of the week: run 23 km, cycled 91 km, hiked 15 km
stats of the previous week: run 30 km, gym 3 h
At our local 10K christmas city run I confirmed my current performance by finishing after 51:37 min. Still happy with that as I felt better with the pace than the week before.
A 6-day-trip to Majorca offered the chance to do some final bike rides of the year. Easy and short, but still enjoyable. And finally I found time to climb Mt Galatzo, the Majorca "Matterhorn", at the height of a bit more than 1,000 m.
stats of the week: run 38 km, zwift cycled 36 km, gym 2 h
I am still happy with my training and performance. I finished the local 9.6K race by an average speed of 5:07 min/K what is the best since January 2020, nearly 3 years. Next Sunday our local Christmas 10K race will take place, an event not to be missed. So I have my third race within 3 weeks what might be a bit over the limit. I have to be cautious while training not to overdraw my capabilities. Luckily there is a 3-week-rest until New Year's Eve race.
Unexpectedly I was lucky to end up 2nd in my age group, only second time within 12 experiences here.
stats of the week: run 31 km, Zwift cycled 14 km, gym 1 h
stats of the previous week: run 19 km, Zwift cycled 26 km, gym 1 h
I had to overcome a mild cold so my mileage suffered a bit. I developed the habit to run daily before breakfast on the treadmill for 2 km what adds some miles to the week's total. Although not yet fully recovered I could confirm my last 5 K performance and finished the 5K race at Bertlich after 24:55 min. Just 20 secs slower on a slightly more difficult course and with strong headwind in parts.
After I failed to be lucky at the Abbott lottery for Tokyo Marathon 2023 I was even happier to hear that Interair asked me to guide the group to Japan and that I will have the chance to run and complete my Majors series. Now I just have to stay fit and snap this unique chance.
The 5K start:
stats of the week: run 24 km, walked 17 km, gym 1 h
stats of the previous week: run 19 km, walked 61 km
My 5K race was a success. Surprisingly I was able to keep a sub 5min/K pace and finish after 24:34 min. Age graded this is 18:28! The interval training earned out obviously quickly. I hope to confirm this performance in some future races.
My New York weekend was strenuous but exciting. I is still impressive how Big Apple celebrates its marathon. And I enjoyed the happy faces of our group's runners. Alas, it made me slightly sad not to be able to run myself. But I walked even more than marathon distance.
stats of the week: run 36 km, zwift cycled 31 km, hiked 12 km, gym 2 h
Did another interval session (6x500m sub 2:30) with hope to get faster for the local 5K race on Halloween evening. First target is sub 26 min what should be possible. I hope for sub 25:30 but what do seconds matter? I will be glad just to be part of the event.
I look forward now to returning to New York City on Wednesday. Regrettably I didn't get the chance to run the marathon but I am happy to be back travelling and feeling lively.
Abbott published that they will do a drawing of 100 starts at the Tokyo marathon 2023. Chances are about 1:40. I will try to get my opportunity to finally complete my major series. I have finished 39 major marathons but an official finish of Tokyo Marathon is still missing.
stats of the week: run 28 km, gym 2 h, hiked 51 km
A step forward: I was able to increase my interval pace to 4:50 min/km but just for 2 intervals of 1 km each. This feels to be my current limit. I would not be able to keep this for 5 km but I should now be capable of sub 26 min. We'll see next Monday. Alas, I will be cautious and not cross my limits. Better take some seconds and survive.
For a change we walked the Briloner Kammweg at the weekend. It is a hilly long distance path of 49 km, well to cover within 2 days. A nice chance to experience the coloured autumn woods. I have never seen so many mushrooms before.
stats of the week: run 20 km, tm walked 4 km, gym 1 h
Had some problems with my lower back and also got my 4th vaccination so I decided to work only as a pacemaker for C at the local 5K charity run. At least I was able to finish by fast final 600 meters. I still aim for our local Halloween 5 K where I hope to clock sub 26 min.
Looked up the qualification times for the New York City Marathon 2023. I would have to run sub 1h57min for a half marathon what is not completey impossible but the window closes by end of 2022. Unfortunately I cannot take part at the really fast Blumensaat run in Essen. There is no other flat route available nearby just another one at the beginning of November what is too early to build up stamina.
stats of the week: run 11 km, cycled 88 km, hiked 16 km
As it was the first week following my London Marathon I am happy to be able to run again already. Next Saturday I will make pace for Claudia's 5K race which is a rather easy run for me. Surprisingly I could clock a single 1K interval at 4:53 min what lets me hope to get close to 25 min for 5K. I will test it end of the month at the Wittener Abendlauf.
stats of the week: run 58 km, cycled 52 km, hiked 6 km
London Marathon result: 4:39:48 h
My hopes to repeat last year's performance at the London Marathon did not come real. I could stick to my plans up to 32 km but from then on I had to walk more than I hoped. I felt rather powerless during the final 7 km and concentrated on finishing without any health problems. The advantage of a slow finish is that the muscles recover fairly fast. On Wednesday I had no problems to jog for 5K and on Friday I was able to run faster already.
As my hopes for a start in New York had to be abandoned I will now concentrate on some speed training for short races of 5 to 10 K. I look forward to taking part in a few local races until the year's end.
stats of the week: run 52 km, cycled 38 km, hiked 5 km
stats of the previous week: run 40 km, gym 2 h
Well, I know this should have been the time for tapering but I had to put in some more miles to improve for London. In fact I haven't been running that much within 2 weeks since more than 2 years. I really have to concentrate on recovering until next Sunday.
I still hope I will be able to repeat last year's performance of 4:31 h but I am not sure. Anything sub 4:45 h should be regarded as sufficient. Not that I would be happy with such a result but I know it's finishing that counts. The only reliable thing is that it will be my last marathon sub 70 years. Alas, I am still hoping for a start at New York.
stats of the week: run 29 km, cycled 90 km, hiked 11 km
I am still suffering from the border bike tour, not just the muscles are not yet recovered the whole body seems to need more time to get back to the status I had before. My plans are the same as last year. To finish the marathon I will walk for 500 meters after every 5 km of running. Last year this worked well until 30 km, then I had to walk longer stretches but finally I clocked 4:31 h. I would be happy to repeat this.
Luckily the Queen managed a quick end - good for her too - the funeral will take place next Monday and the concern about a cancellation of the marathon is gone.
stats of the week: run 17 km, cycled 38 km, gym 1 h
stats of the previous week: cycled 569 km
stats of the week before: cycled 524 km
The second leg of my German border bike tour was a success. Both C and me were strong enough to finish 11 stages with almost 1,100 km. It was rather hard in the end but we got there.
If interested see German blog: https://deutsche-grenzerfahrung.blogspot.com/
Taking up running was not easy according to expectations. The muscles have to get used to different burdens again. At least I am back to 10 km sub 1 h. Now I soon have to build up runs of more than 20 km. Carefully of course, my thighs and calfs are critical.
Another fear is the health condition of the Queen. If she expires in the week before the Marathon certainly the event will be cancelled.
stats of the week: run 35 km, cycled 174 km, gym 1 h
stats of the previous week: run 35 km, cycled 113 km
50 days to London. I thought about setting up a training schedule and suddenly recognized that there is not much time left to build up long runs. At least I was able to finish a hilly 20K race in 1:54 hours, just 3 minutes behind my time 4 years ago. That makes a good start and gives some hope.
Plans are set up for the second leg of my German border bike tour starting next Wednesday. Accommodation is already booked for 10 days so I will have to finish all the daily stages. Longest one has 140 km.
stats of the week: run 18 km, cycled 37 km, hiked 7 km
stats of the previous week: run 32 km, hiked 19 km
Our final week in France was too hot to be out for longish cycle tours. Early runs and high level walks were the only options. Finally we decided to escape to Germany one week earlier than planned.
Just 2 months to go to London Marathon. Time to be ready for longer runs. I am up to 15 K now and have entered a 20 K race for next weekend. This is thought to make up for the cancelled Ventoux race but of course I am still disappointed to have missed this extraordinary event. The result list shows that a 80-year-old lady and two M80 men were able to finish the climb so I hope I can catch up on it next year or sometime.
My running schedule will be interrupted for 10 days of cycling. The second part of my German border tour is scheduled to start on August 17th and will lead me from Kiel to Chemnitz.
stats of the week: run 23 km, cycled 54 km, hiked 20 km
The never ending heat wave forces us to shorten our stay in France by one week. What also means that the Ventoux half marathon is cancelled for me. The decision is obviously sensible as the weather forecast shows a temperature of 38°c on raceday, even in the morning it will be close to 30°. Alas, it is still disappointing. I will stick to hill training and look for a nice trail race at home.
At least we were happy to cycle up Mont Ventoux another time, my 12th bike ascent now, this time from Bedoin, what is regarded as the toughest of the three ways up. I agree.
stats of the week: run 26 km, cycled 107 km, hiked 9 km
stats of the previous week: run 13 km, cycled 159 km, hiked 4 km
I introduced hill runs to my training mainly to get prepared for the Mt Ventoux half marathon on 31st July. Unexpectedly this helped me a bit to get around the 10K race I took part at Lançon. The village turned out to be sort of a mountain place. We had to run a 3.3K lap three times, it was partly so steep that I had to walk 4 short stretches. Finally I was happy to clock 54:46 min, but to rank this I have to admit that the first 80-year-old was 2 seconds in front of me and the overall winner finished sub 30 min.
London Marathon reminded me that there are just 12 weeks left to the big day. The elite fields are already annonced. The countdown goes on.
stats of the week: run 27 km, hiked 5 km
Due to the knee problem I refrained from more cycling this week and was really happy to be able to take part in the hilly half marathon at the posh vine village Gigondas. The start fee of 21 Euros included a bottle of really good red vine. It was a tough race where I had to walk about a third of the distance like most of the participants. Many of the 600 meters of ascent were rather steep.
I started gingerly at the end of the pack and happily finished after 2h 25 min with almost 200 of 565 finishers behind me. I felt strong right to the finish line and had a beer at first. Surprisingly my circulatery nearly collapsed half an hour later and I had to lay down and lift my legs. After a coke and some more sugar I quickly recovered and felt okay again. The heat of around 30 degrees celsius might have had an impact. I will have to concentrate on drinking and carbohydrates on hot days.
stats of the week: run 16 km, cycled 107 km, hiked 32 km
A result of the Gran Fondo was that I lost being keen on cycling. Now I want to switch to running as I entered 2 hilly half marathons and should kind of preparing a bit. Unfortunately I injured my left knee cap cartilage when cycling up to Suzette with too much power.
I am not sure if it is still a good idea to take part next Sunday at the Traversée des Dentelles, a tough half marathon with 600 meters of ascent. However, plans were to walk a good part of it anyway. We'll what is possible.
stats of the week: run 16 km, cycled 247 km, hiked 7 km
The day of the Gran Fondo Mont Ventoux was a day as piping hot as last year, perhaps even hotter. The maximum temperature in the valley was 37°c in the afternoon when we turned back to Vaison-la-Romaine.
I had hoped to repeat my last year's performance or even improve it by a few minutes as last year's time was kind of disappointing with cramps close to the finish and very slow final 5 km. But this year turned out to become more disappointing. Early in the race I recognised that my legs felt less strong compared to the training the last 2 weeks. I limited the climbing sections by 150 Watt. That made me slow and finally did not help to stay strong. The final 5 km were as bad as last year, no cramps at least, but an additional break just 1 km from the top, and I was totally breathless after crossing the finish line.
However, the result list doesn't look too bad. 36% of all finishers behind me. And 46% of my age group what sounds okay as my age is the oldest in the group of 60 to 69.
Photos: from smiling to the painful end
stats of the week: run 15 km, cycled 255 km, hiked 16 km
stats of the previous week: run 12 km, cycled 86 km
According to plans I focus on cycling now to prepare for the Gran Fondo Mont Ventoux on 12th June. I notice some improvement when climbing the beautiful mountain passes in our area at the Drôme Provencal. But Ventoux will still make a tough challenge and the current heat will not help.
I have also entered a hilly half marathon trail run at the nearby Dentelles. This will be more walking than running as I fail to prepare sufficiently for this event.
stats of the week: run 45 km, cycled 70 km
The half marathon was a surprising success. Without any problems I was able to keep the pace until the finish although my longest run before was 16 km. I reckon it was good to have two rest days before the race. I clocked 1 h 58 min and was very happy about this result. I guess I could even have run 1 or 2 minutes faster but it was best to finish in a proper posture and smiling. This days makes me feeling like a runner again and I feel fun to get back to more running.
Alas, the next event will be cycling up Mont Ventoux and I have to focus on cycling for the next couple of weeks.
stats of the week: run 20 km, cycled 215 km, hiked 10 km
Spending the 3rd week in the Ventoux area I tried to combine frequent cycling with increasing running what turned out to be difficult. However I managed to increase my longest running distance to 14 km. So I know the half marathon next Sunday will hurt but I am confident that I will be able to finish.
stats of the week: run 31 km, cycled 84 km, walked 20 km
stats of the previous week: run 5 km, cycled 224 km, walked 8 km
Participating at the new Gran Fondo Provence Occitane I chose the short route of just 75 km, but I still got the chance to cross my limits. Mont Bouquet is a rather short climb of 5 km, but starts with 11% ascent, culminates half way at 16% and finishes at 11% again.
The photo gives a wrong impression. At the steep middle part of the ascent I also had to dismount my bike to avoid falling down due to exhaustion.
Luckily the finish was relaxed again.
stats of the week: run 29 km, cycled 100 km
Participating at a local cycling event (RTF Waltrop) I fell at very low speed without being injured severely but surprisingly my bike crashed. Luckily I found an expert to repair it within a few days so the bike got ready for our visit to France and the Gran Fondo Occitane on 1st of May. This offers 2 routes of 120 and 75 km. I chose the short option as I don't feel ready for the long one and more than 2,000 m of climbing. The short version contains just 1,100 m but a short steep hill (Mont Bouquet) with an ascent of 16%.
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stats of the week: run 28 km, cycled 131 km, walked 10 km
stats of the previous week: run 12 km, cycled 15 km, zwift cycled 30 km, gym 1 h
My running performance is still very low. On the 10K lap around the Mindelsee I had to walk several times in between and was not able to keep running. It's now 5 weeks to the Vivawest Run where I aim to finish the half marathon distance. I am not convinced I will make it. Some work remains to do. I will only start if I am sure to be able to finish.
We spent a week at the west end of Lake Bodensee. Little time was left for cycling but enough to see how beautiful the landscape is and - even more important - that the streets and cycle paths are in perfect condition. A rare experience for somebody living in the Ruhr area.
stats of the week: cycled 587 km
stats of the recent week: cycled 509 km
This was the first part of my German border cycling tour. I hoped to complete the whole lap by 3 stages. Alas, I cut the first part down to 11 days of cycling due to cold and now rainy weather. It will now probably take 4 stages to complete the circle.
The full report is just in German at https://deutsche-grenzerfahrung.blogspot.com/
stats of the week: run 20 km, cycled 96 km, hill walked 25 km
This was the first time within 9 visits to Lanzarote that there was rain. And it was a lot. So we abstained from cycling as there were strong winds, too. A good experience is that the island's streets are getting improved.
Luckily hill walking was possible and a welcome change.
