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.