Proud old and sweet new year

stats of 2012: run 1,692km / cycled 3,956km /gym 62 visits

The New Year's Eve run is already history but I'm still proud of my result. Unexpectedly I was able to average a 4:31min/K pace and finished 1:07:39 h what is once more one minute faster than in 1985, a mere 27 years ago when I did the very same race for the first time. Even more, I missed my age graded 15K personal best by just 5 seconds! Counting this I regret again that I mistook the first archway with the finish line and lost a few seconds by stopping too early.

It looks being time to recover but this sweet meal is deserved by cycling 470K on the enchanting island of Lanzarote - a week long first sort of training camp in 2013. Now back in rainy Germany I plan to concentrate on running again.

Bon Appetit!

stats of the week: run 50km, cycled 45km, gym 3hrs

 

 

Merry Christmas to all vegetarians of the world!

and to all others too!

Young girl beats old man

stats of the week: run 29km, gym 3hrs

The 3rd race in 3 weeks - that's the first excuse for not having run 10K sub 45 mins what was my declared target. Also conditions were not really perfect - heavy rain and strong winds on a cold Friday evening. But the main reason was that I started too fast!

Shortly after setting off I noticed a trio of club runners who paced a little girl looking very young. Later I learnt she is already 13. I got so excited looking at her easy and perfect running style that I followed the temptation to keep their pace and the first 2km were great fun.

Soon I had to admit that she was too fast for me and after 3km I lost the group. After 5km I was so exhausted that I could hardly imagine to finish this race. On the second half I was overtaken by at least 20 runners. All hope was gone and my only thought was to reach the finish line.

The little girl finished 3 mins ahead of me, my time was 45:49, still not too bad as the average of 4:35 min/K is just the same as two weeks before. Alas - there is little hope now that I'll be able to run the New Year's Eve race of 15K in a 4:30 pace.

Old runner - old rule

stats of the week: run 40km, gym 4hrs
stats of the week before: run 34km, gym 4hrs

 

Two very different personal race experiences on two consecutive weekends.
First a flat 9.6k lap with perfect conditions where I struggled from start to finish and averaged a 4:35min/K pace by outmost effort.

 

This was followed by 9.1K race on a very cold and wet day on streets and pavements covered by snow slush. Once again an old rule proved to be true: Performance is best when you don't expect yourself to deliver a good result. Without pushing too much I was able to run a 4:26min/k pace.



Sweaty times on the treadmill

stats of the week: run 56km, gym 2hrs

Back to a sufficient mileage I included treadmill intervals to my schedule - as I do in December usually. Looking at the time table below, my speed might seem to be too low. I've been doing this for more than a decade and I learnt that my heartrate is 10 beats higher on the treadmill compared to outside workouts. Experience says that this sort of speed will get me fit for New Year's Eve Race and I always was able to run at a 4:30 min/km pace for 15K. But I doubt I can do it again as I got older by one year again.

from km	to km	kmh	min/km	time
0,0	0,2	3,5	17:09	03:26
0,2	0,6	8,5	07:04	06:15
0,6	1,0	9,0	06:40	08:55
1,0	1,5	9,5	06:19	12:05
1,5	2,0	10,0	06:00	15:05
2,0	2,5	12,0	05:00	17:35
2,5	3,0	12,5	04:48	19:59
3,0	3,5	8,5	07:04	23:30
3,5	4,0	12,0	05:00	26:00
4,0	4,5	12,7	04:43	28:22
4,5	5,0	8,5	07:04	31:54
5,0	5,5	12,0	05:00	34:24
5,5	6,0	13,0	04:37	36:42
6,0	7,0	7,0	08:34	45:17
7,0	7,5	12,0	05:00	47:47
7,5	8,0	12,7	04:43	50:08
8,0	8,5	8,5	07:04	53:40
8,5	9,0	12,0	05:00	56:10
9,0	9,5	13,0	04:37	58:29
9,5	10,0	8,5	07:04	1:02:00
10,0	10,5	12,0	05:00	1:04:30
10,5	11,0	12,7	04:43	1:06:52
11,0	12,0	8,5	07:04	1:13:56

Back home for boost

stats of the week: run 41km, gym 3h

The marathon that has never taken place:

Now I am back to home town roads to do some cautious intervals and get prepared for weekly December races. Did my first treadmill workout with alternating fast kilometers and slow half kilometers in between. It was a promising start but still has to be boosted next week.

Sunshine before travelling home

stats of the week: run 38km

After a weekend at Washington D.C. - guiding around a really nice and well organised Marine Corps Marathon - and a turbulent week in New York City I have arrived at my very last U.S. stop in Miami Beach. Some days of warm sunshine will let me recover from the hustle and bustle in Big Apple culminating in the disappointment of a cancelled marathon.

Sunday's flashmob run at Central Park was sort of a compensation for the real race, crowds were in a great mood and a good number did even run a full marathon by four laps of the Park. I settled for 3 laps to get back to regular training soon.