Hesitating to taper

stats of the week: run 51 km, cycled 124 km, gym 2 h

This week doesn't look like tapering and in fact it isn't. However, I urgently had to do at least one long run. This one on Tuesday with 28 km was too late and too short but all I could afford with Berlin approaching too fast. Now I promise to taper properly until next Sunday.

My theoretical plan is to run 30 km in 3 hours, then somehow get to the finish line. Luckily the route consists of one round, so there is no risk to be lapped. I expect to walk a few final sections.

By the way it will be my 3rd Berlin Marathon, second one being 14 years back in 2005. And my 37th Major marathon while I am still missing the big medal ...

Cross training at wrong time

stats of the week: run 17 km, cycled 316 km, gym 1 h
stats of the previous week: run 53 km, gym 1 h

I know this might not be the classic way to prepare for running a marathon. But it was an urgent wish to test my new bike trailer and learn how it works on longer distances. So we left for a 3-day-trip with light luggage of 11 kg. Together with the trailer the load was around 20 kg. I was happy that I was able to cope with ascents up to 15%. However, after 3 days of tough cycling I felt to be in need of 2 days of recovery and the scheduled long run of 30 km still has to wait. 

The Real Come Back

stats of the week: run 48 km, cycled 39 km, gym 3 h

The Half Marathon at my home town Bochum was a real come back. With an average pace of 5:21 min/km it makes a promising base for future improvements to a forgotten level. I was able to enjoy the race without any serious torment and finished with a smile. Even more, I was lucky to end up 3rd in my age group.

Now I would prefer to work on my pace and run more fast races. However, it happened that I got a number in the Berlin Marathon's lottery. So I have to fit in some last minute long runs to prepare for the classic distance.

Rising heart rate

stats of the week: run 37 km, cycled 57 km, gym 2 h

The mileage is below target due to a minor foot problem. I did some cycling instead so the overall exercise is still sufficient.

On Sunday I took part in a nice 10 K city race at Hamminkeln, a small town in the Rhine area. My goal was to test my half marathon speed. With a finish at 53:47 under very hot conditions and after a 5 K warm up this was successful.

But the main finding was that my heart rate was surprisingly high. At a level of 145 I was able to run fairly relaxed while before the heart repair this level was my utterly limit where I was no longer able to breathe. Can I hope for a better performance at an even higher heart rate?

Anyway, for the half marathon next Sunday I set my target at a pace of 5:30 min/K. We'll see if this is possible including a surviving finish.

Proper week before forced rest

stats of the week: run 42 km, gym 3 h

This week was still on schedule but the new week will end below target due to a minor foot problem. I hope this will be gone after 2 days of rest and I will be able to test my half marathon speed of 5:40 min/k at a 10 K race on Sunday.

Overfulfilled week

stats of the week: run 53 km, gym 2 h

53 km is my highest mileage since April. So it looks like things are going well. There were 10 km more than scheduled but this is due only to an easy local charity run I added. The key for more progress now is to extend the weekly long run in direction of 20 km.

One strange effect of taking anticoagulants is the frequent appearance of hematomas. Most time when I discover a new one I even can't imagine where it resulted from. Sadly I was told to take his drug for the whole of a year.

Slowly increasing

stats of the week: run 42 km, cycled 78 km, gym 1 h


I set up a training schedule leading to the Berlin Marathon. It makes very clear that there is not much time left to build up a sufficient mileage. However, my only target is to finish and get the medal.

So far I am happy that I met my schedule this week what was the highest mileage since the heart issue. I have not yet developed full confidence to my body and have to be cautious while increasing volume and speed.