Good pace for half the distance

stats of the week: run 24 km, cycled 44 km, gym 1.5 h
stats of the previous week: run 43 km

My half marathon pace was faster than expected with a happy finish after 1:59:28 h. To crown this I gained my first "Oscar" cup as the winner of my age group at my 44th participation at this event. Alas, I was the only one in my group! However I was happy with my performance. 

After a tapering week I added a longish run of 26 km what worked well but put me down with more muscle problems. So now it's really time for tapering and calme down for the remaining 9 days till race day.

Not just running at Tokyo

stats of the week: run 46 km
stats of the previous week: run 26 km, gym 1.5 h

After some minor ham string problems I was able to increase the mileage and was happy to complete the training half marathon at a pace of 6:04 min/K. Next Sunday another half marathon test will take place where I hope to increase my pace to 6:00 or slightly lower. This will happen with 3 weeks to Tokyo.

Tokyo does not make running easy for us. We have to download a special app and report daily our body temperature and physical fitness. Before the race we have to perform an antigen test and to report its result with the app and show the app before getting to the start line. Compared to all this the running will be easy.  

6 weeks to increase distance

stats of the week: run 44 km, zwift cycled 50 km, gym 3 h

6 weeks to Tokyo and I increased my long run to just 19 km what is not too bad. My target is to complete 3 more long runs of more than 20 km. That should do. I want to avoid the risk to get injured. Better be slow and finish than fail to get to the start line. 

I finished another 10K race, this time it was flat and ended with a sufficient time of 51:42 min. But from now on I will concentrate on distance and not on speed. Next test will be a half marathon at training pace at Feb 12.

Born again

stats of the week: run 27 km, zwift cycled 44 km, gym 1.5 h
stats of the previous week: run 41 km, zwift cycled 33 km, gym 3 h

The new year's eve race turned out to be a hilly cross country run with lots of steep ups and downs and mud in places. So I had to get around with a rather disappointing time of almost 55 minutes for 10 K, not a day to remember.

The new year started extremely unpleasant as I had to face a cancer suspicion for 3 days until the further examination could luckily exclude any risk. I felt like born again after I already thought about the end of running and living for a while. Now it is urgent time to increase distances to get prepared for Tokyo. The dream goes on.

Photo: Running 16 K around Lake Phoenix at Dortmund, longest run since more than 2 months 

Don' t compare to former pace

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. 

Majorca Matterhorn done

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. 

Still happy

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.