Cross training further South

stats of the week: run 25km, cycled 208km

We escaped from the bad weather in the Dolomites and made our way to warmer areas North of Lake Garda. Altitude is here at 70m above sea level compared to 1500m at Corvara. That guarantees some more degrees and allows cycling while wearing shorts.

Even more Lake Garda offers some entertainment on perfectly designed Via Ferrata.

I believe it's a key point to do different kinds of sport to stay fit and free of injuries.
In between I did a bit of hill running to prove my performance before running the Swiss Alpine Marathon. I decided to stick to 42K instead for 78K due to my lack of long distances. Another advantage is that the K42 start is at 11.30am while you have to get up at night for the K78. Easy decision for a late bird like me.

Marathon on wheels

stats of the week: run 16km, cycled 290 km

My 6th appearance at the Maratona dles Dolomites was my slowest of the 4 long distance options I finished. But I finished - after 8:24 h in a fairly good shape. The photo shows me near the top of Gardena Pass which is the final one at Sella Ronda and 4th of 7 passes on the 138km race. Altitude meters count up to 4,300 after organisers introduced another obstacle: the wall of the cat with an ascent of 19% that I pushed up my bike in protest. To add this wall is no good idea I think. It's just a show point to entertain spectators who have fun to watch exhausted cyclists after a whole day going up and down the mountains. However, I enjoyed the day and was happy to be part of the event.

Scramble fun in Snowdonia

stats of the week: run 10km, cycled 131km, gym 6h
stats of the week before: run 16km, cycled 124km

Wales offered another week of glorious weather and we could do all the planned tours. Cycling around Llyn Peninsula included some 20% obstacles while the lap around the Snowdon massif turned out to be easy.

Scrambling was the most of fun. Tryfan North Ridge was a first pleasure and the photo shows me on the top of Lliwedd, final summit of the Snowdon horseshoe, after Crib Goch, Crib y Ddysgl and Snowdon itself which all can be seen in the background. It was my 6th ascent of Snowdon (1085m), highest mountain of Wales, and I still dream of taking part in the Snowdon hill race some day.

Unfortunately I strained a muscle on this mountain tour what effected the following week of training. The year's calendar shows 2000 cycled kilometers so far and I am curious about next weekend's start at the Maratona dles Dolomites. I'd love to complete the long lap of 138km and 4,000 altitude meters but I am not sure if it will be within my capabilities.

3 hours of fun

stats of the week: run 59km, cycled 146km
stats of the week before: run run 36km, cycled 130km, gym 2h

The Man versus Horse turned out to be much tougher than I remembered. I did it once 12 years ago. The distance had be extended from 22m to 24m. And the bog was in top condition this time. May be there were even more ups and downs included. Anyway, 2002 I finished after 3:27h, this time it took me 4:28! It was great pleasure for the first 3 hours but the final 3rd of the route was a torture.

However, after a first disappointment by my performance I learned that I finshed 4th of 17 men 60+ what did actually please me. Even more, I beat 10 horses!

Northern Beauty

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

I spent the weekend watching one of my most favourite marathons - Stockholm. Luckily I was able to do three nice training runs along the town's waterside.

Stockholm is not an easy marathon with a high bridge to cross twice and a good number of ups and downs that sum up to 400m of altitude difference. There is a friendly and enthusiastic crowd, one of the world's most beautiful cities, perfect organisation and the atmospheric finish at the old Olympic stadion of 1912.

The Photo shows the female winner, Isabellah Andersson of Sweden, obviously of African origin. She refused to take the offered green crown before the finish line and saved some more seconds.

Tired with locational pain

stats of the week: cycled 300km, gym 2h

Recovering from the marathon load, it was a week of slow cycling though hilly. By now I get the impression that the marathon caused tiredness reached me late by a week. Tendons and muscles do hurt now and prevent me from starting into decent training again. Meanwhile I experienced the very first spill with my race bike and strained my thumb painfully. At least the legs are okay ...

Not too disappointing

stats of the week: run 61km, cycled 40km, gym 3h

My disappointing time of 4:00:20 placed me 8th of 36 runners in my age group at the local Ruhr Marathon. Sounds still too good to be really disappointed. There were two motivating aspects: First 30K went fairly easy and relaxed, still on 3:49-course. For the final 2K I was able to jog again constantly and to finish strong with a 200m spurt.

When metabolism changed to fat consume at about 33K I got so exhausted that I had to walk several times until 40K. Obviously I had taken too little carbos during the race. Adding to this, race day was the first hot day after a coolish period. But I have to admit that the main reason was my lack of long training runs.