December 25, 2010
The year is about to end. For me it was not a good year in terms of running. I will have a short look back soon and will recap the last year with all its downs and its few highs.
Currently I am at home in Zwickau, enjoying a peaceful Christmas time with my family. Unfortunately there is “a little bit” too much snow and running is next to impossible. Otherwise it’s nice to have a white Christmas and to calm down physically and mentally. As the running conditions are so poor, I will return to Halle probably on Monday.
I wish everyone a merry little Christmas holiday.
November 15, 2010
I’m back to business. Last week I ran 105km. The feeling is getting better every day now and the movement feels more and more like running (the weeks before it felt like jogging).
This week is the last week with reduced. Starting from next monday I hope to get into a scheduled training. Right now I know that the first fast sessions will be tough but that is exactly what I want. The motivation is there and also the first plans for training camps are made.
I also rented a flat, which means I will finally have a more regular life in general.
November 7, 2010
There was a long silence in my personal blog which was caused by work-related tasks and missing athletic progress. Now I’m back running/jogging again and the posts should get more regular.
From next week onwards I will start logging my specific mileage. During last week I had some days with more than 10kilometers of jogging already so I’m excited how much kilometers the foot can take this week. The recovery is doing ok, but there is still a minor swelling after training at my left ankle.
October 16, 2010
Yesterday I was on track to try running. I managed to run – better: jog – 6x100m. In the curves I was walking because the load would have been too big. The jogging was not totally pain-free but after 3 weeks that is not a big surprise. The left foot is still very weak and the muscles have to be build up step-by-step. I’m starting from the very beginning and I have experience in coming back after injuries. I can still remember when I had my first stress fracture some 6 years ago. At that time I started my training with Nordic Walking and felt even worse than today on the track. Absolute beginner…
October 14, 2010
It’s been three weeks that I didn’t run a step. In a couple of days I should make the first trials again and test if there is some pain while running. The last three weeks were marked by several hours on the bike and in the gym. I got my 2-3 hours of sports but still it’s a different thing if you are able to run or not. One thing to do, to stay positive is to remind oneself about better times.
Fortunately the semester started and it’s a busy time working-wise.
September 25, 2010
My running season came to an abrupt end last Thursday.
The day started well: After I drove from my old home town Zwickau to my new home Halle I went to my new work-place at the university and immediately after that I could sign the work contract.
However, it would have been too nice if that day would have been completed by a good training. In the evening there was a meeting of a local running group (“Lauftreff” in German) in one of the great running areas in Halle. Conditions were very nice, but the uneven ground in the forest broke my neck. After around 25 minutes two mountainbikers tried to pass us on a small single trail. As the second biker passed me, he almost went down and I was distracted for fractions of a second. This was enough to twist my ankle badly. The time my foot hit the ground it seemed like my foot made a 180-degree turn and I could instantly feel that this was not one of the minor sprains but something more serious. I hardly made it back to the car and a running mate had to drive me to hospital.
After an X-Ray and a medical inspection I found myself in a cast and on crutches … argh. The left ankle took a lot of damage: capsule and ligaments are injured and it might even be that the syndesmosis is not as it should be.
Anyway. The marathon plans for this year are canceled, even if the doctors gave me some hope in saying that the cast might come off next week and can be replaced by an orthosis. After six weeks it should be possible to return to “normal” training. In exactly six weeks I was supposed to run my marathon in Frankfurt.
That’s the life of a marathon runner: Training the whole year for this one day you run the marathon (or maybe two, three days).
August 22, 2010
An intense week has come to an end. On Tuesday/Wednesday I was in Halle for a job interview and for some training with coach Waldemar Cierpinski and Falk. On Thursday I had a great night at the Newcomer Night in Zwickau with an Emil Bulls concert.
The training this week was not as good as expected. Especially Friday and Saturday were really bad. The medium-pace 15K on Friday was already tougher than usual and on Saturday I even had to quit the fast run after 5 of planned 10 kilometers. The pace was dropping to slower than 3:25min/km and the legs were heavy plus my neck/back was getting sore. That was pretty disappointing but already the long run (31K in 2:17h) went better.
Let’s hope next weeks sessions will be better … the first competitions are coming up in September …
August 12, 2010
Yesterday I tested my shape in a local competition. In 30 minutes I covered 8.950m on a dirt track. The aim was to run at least 9km, which would be around marathon pace. Now it was 50m below this minimum aim and I’m not happy about that.
Weather conditions were pretty ok (temperatures around 23°C, some sun+clouds but some wind). The legs were tired already after some 2-3 kilometers, so it was getting tougher to hold the 3:20-3:22min/km pace.
The positive thing about the test is, that it was my best result in the 1/2h-run series this year and that I know I can run faster with fresh legs. However, for now it’s still braking down the system, i.e. fresh legs won’t be there.
August 9, 2010
After three “easy” weeks with 170-150-170 kilometers, I’m starting another block with mileage of 190 kilometers / week and more. The “funny” thing is that I feel already smashed after Mondays training. I guess the last three days (Friday: 15km medium, Saturday: 10km fast, Sunday: 30km long run) took it’s toll and I have to get used to the rhythm again. Anyway, it’s a good hurt and I know that right now it’s the time to put in the hard work for a fast autumn marathon.
Overall I’m not too disappointed with the shape, even though I should have been in such a shape already during the spring. On Wednesday there will be a test-competition (1/2-run) and from there I will see it I’m already where I want to be.
June 29, 2010
Thanks to Monika und Johann I got some pics from St. Moritz:
tempo runs in perfect conditions with the guys
together with Monika Müller (successful senior athlete) – the day after the snow came the snowman was still alive
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