on your mark

July 30, 2009

Less than 20 hours until the most important race of the track season. The 10.000m of the Finnish Championships will start at 18.20 (Finnish time). I studied the participants list and found that I have one of the slowest times this year. Well, of course I hope to improve my season best of 31:54 but still I might battle for the title “worst 10K runner”. Yeah, believe it or not, there is something like that! I think it’s a bit unfair to have such a competition, because you have to run a qualification time to enter the race (this year it was 32:00) No, seriously, it’s a good motivation to run a good race and give your best until the end.

23 runners are on the participants list. Let’s see how many show up, usually there are some no-shows because some of the runners entered more races (e.g. 5.000m or 3.000m steeple) and decide only short before in which race they will run. Here is the complete list:

Most of the guys I know from previous races, such as this years Finnish Halfmarathon Championships and I have beaten some of them but we will see who is in a good shape on race day. The excitement is there (indeed!!), even if I’m not too satisfied with my shape.

After the race I will stay one more night in Espoo and then will return to Germany. I’m flying to Berlin on Saturday and watch the Vattenfall City-Night before I return to my home town Zwickau.

7 days to Finnish Championships and the shape could be better – much better

July 24, 2009

Just as last week a track workout was scheduled for Friday. I also did a steady state run with team mate Marko Partanen on Tuesday, where we ran something around 34:30min for 10K. We went out a bit too fast in this exercise (3:22/21/22 for the first 3 K) and instead of getting faster we slowed down towards the end – still a good exercise for the marathon. As Marko is going for the World Masters Athletics Championships (28.7-8.8.2009) he should have the opportunity to win a medal in the marathon of the 40-years age category if he stays injury-free.

I recovered well from this exercise and was prepared for today’s 2.000m-repeats. The first 3 runs went as expected with times of 6:20/6:40 and 6:20 even if the 3rd one could have been a bit faster but I felt pretty exhausted already. The 4th-run was 6:39min, so what was meant to be marathon-pace but was really tough already. After this run I decided to double my recovery period but in the last (the 5th) run I still could only hold on for 1K in 3:10-pace. I felt like all-out and had to lay down for a while to recover.

In conclusion this exercise showed me, that I’m not where I wanted to be. It’s only one week to Finnish Championships/Kalevan Kisat but I feel like I did some better workouts some three weeks ago. Seems the flu took it’s toll and I have to adjust my aims for the race next week. Maybe 31:30 would be a good and realistic time to aim for.

Slow progress

July 18, 2009

After I was hit by a summer-flu end of last week I’m now back to normal training. What a pity that I lost so many days in this important period of the preparation for the Finnish Championships / Kalevan Kisat, where I will race at the 10.000m on July 31st. Some track workout are missing and it seems that I will need a good day and perfect conditions to go close to (or under) 31minutes. In fact I had my first track session on friday, that was 10 days after my last tough workout way too much. On friday I did 800m repeats but I could feel that I was not on the top of my game as I had to quit after 5 repetitions that all were in the area of 2:26min. Even if running 72-74 seconds per lap did not feel too difficult I was getting tired earlier as plan and decided that I don’t want to destroy the shape again and get sick again. There were still some problems with my breathing and sucking the air is not a good thing if you want to stay relaxed.

Anyway, the mileage is now back to normal again and this week I can log about 160-170km after two weeks of really low mileage. Today the legs were also better than the days before – considering the fast session yesterday that’s a good sign and I’m a bit more confident again.

story of the picture: After the race in Strömstad I had the honour of driving the caravan of Australian mate Dan Hornery. After a nice and long night I was the only one who was sober so I made my debut in driving behind a wheel on the right side of the car (yes right, the mate had a british car). It took some time to get used to shift gears with the left hand but it worked

Riding on a bumpy road

July 12, 2009

After having a rather good June in terms of training and racing, July turned out to be much more of a challenge. All on top of it, a fine summer flu hit me mid-week and this friday I had to take a full break because my head was about to explode. Somehow it seems I caught a virus between Germany, Norway, Sweden and Finland that only fully developed after the track workout on Tuesday. Even if my last flu occured more than half a year ago, it seems that once I get a flu, it’s a tough one. On friday and saturday I was sleeping something like 14 hours and still felt like crap!

As you always have to find something positive in the misery, I hope that the down-time also solved some of my issues with my left hamstring and my left foot. After all the most important race of the track season (Finnish Championships Kalevan Kisat 10.000m) is less than 3 weeks away and now there is definitely no time for injuries/diseases anymore.

Back in the Finnish forests

July 7, 2009

After having a bad race last weekend in Sweden and running on low mileage the following days, I had my first speed workout in Finland.

1.000m repetitions with running mates Juha Puttonen and Miika Takala were on the plan and they went surprisingly well. The first three reps we ran together (3:00/3:01/2:54) and they felt really easy. I have to think several years back to remember the last time when I ran a sub-3minute kilometer. On the 4th rep the boys went out hard and I couldn’t follow. I ended up with a 2:57 which is still blistering pace for me. On the last round of this run I could feel the lactate floating through my body and also lost a bit of concentration. The 5th run I had to run alone because the boys were done.Even if the 3:06 was the slowest one, it was probably the most important one because I had to recover from the previous runs and ran a controlled pace. In a 10K there will also be moments when the legs are tired and then it’s good to know that a 3:06 is almost always possible.

The weather is also very supportive here in Finland now. 15-20°C are just perfect for running. Now I know again why I chose Finland

Off to Germany

June 3, 2009

Today the last session in Finland – tomorrow morning I’ll travel to Germany, where I’ll have a 10.000m race on Friday and will make a hiking trip in the alps afterwards.

Todays session was the first fast workout since last weeks 3.000m race and should prepapre me for the upcoming race. It was a rather short program of one 1000m repeat (3:08min) followed by one 2000m (6:07min) with the emphasis on the 2000m. After getting a very good recovery in the last days with decreased mileage I could feel that the legs were a bit more fresh. Nevertheless, I’m not in PB-shape or somewhere close to 31min-pace. So the expectations for friday are low and since it is the district championship the main thing will be to get a medal for my German home club SV Vorwärts Zwickau.

In terms of academics I finished my thesis, which is now under review. Finally. I still have to write two more book exams but this should not be a big deal

Now back to packing my bags for my travel and looking forward to meet a lot of people in Germany that I miss.

Track Tuesday

May 19, 2009

Today was the second track session for me this season. After 10×200 (average around 33secs, 100m jog rec.) last wednesday, todays program consisted of 8x400m with 200m jog recovery. The times were between 70 and 72seconds, with only the last two reps being sub 70. For most of the readers this might sound pedestrian (and in fact it is) but in the first track session I found it quite difficult to adjust to the right pace. You don’t want to go “all out” in the first repetition but on the other hand you should feel the exhaustion towards the end of the workout. All in all the times were pretty much as expected but I hope to see some progression in a couple of weeks. That is either running faster or running more and/or longer repeats. The leg turnover feels ok, so the main thing is to get the metabolism getting used to some lactate and oxygen debt – oh I really hate this but it has to be done The – “Pain is temporary but pride is forever” – attitude helps and after the work-out the feeling of relief outweighs the suffering!!

Somehow I should get used to 3minutes pace if I want to run the 10.000m under 31 minutes this summer. My first 10.000m track will be the state district championships in my German home district of Saxony (Sachsen) on June 4th.

I’m still thinking about last weekends Finnish Cross Country Championships (SM-maasto) and after reviewing the results I am pretty sure that I would have placed somewhere between 8th and 15th. That is pretty much where all the guys came in, who I beat in the Halfmarathon Championships. So I will have to prove somnething in the Finnish 10.000m track Championships (called “Kalevan Kisat”) end of July.

In the close future I am planning to compete in some smaller competitions and use them as tempo runs and tests of fitness.

Cooper test

May 7, 2009

Yesterday I participated in a Cooper test that was organised by the Student Union of the University of Jyväskylä (JYY). I took it as just another “fun event” to get some new motivation and to regain some energy. The result of 3.820m was pretty good but who cares? The main thing to get the most of fun out of it after not running to much for the last ten days.

This week I only ran once a day so far and if there was a second exercise, it consisted of some substitute training such as sports games, gym or like today: swimming. I can feel a lot of non-running related muscles now and actually it’s a nice feeling

The new training period is going to start next week and then it’ll be mostly about running again, so I enjoy the “freedom” of doing some other exercise those days. I’m also planning the summer/autumn activities now and there are some challenging things to come if everything runs as I want.

I also handed in the first final version of my thesis to my supervising professor. Only the abstract is still missing but otherwise I’m about 95% finished with my Masters thesis. I still have to read some 2.000 pages and write some book exams about it but I’m sure I will graduate this summer – or at least I will complete all the requirements.

April showers bring forth May flowers

May 2, 2009

After having a real bad April (in terms of running) I’m now in the middle of a recovery period and I am happy to take some time off. At this point I only go out for a run when I really feel like it and if the weather would not be that perfect I would probably go much less. But since the temperatures are almost in the twenties and the sun is shining bright I want to enjoy this weather – who knows, for how long it’s going to stay, I mean: It’s Finland Nevertheless I bought some goggles today because I might go to the swimming pool every now and then in the close future.

So this week was all easy and doing mostly alternative training like aqua-jogging, cycling and weight training. It’s a nice feeling not to log so many miles and on my run today my legs felt fresh like they didn’t for a long time. Also it’s a nice opportunity to meet some friends and have some company during training. This week I did like 70% of my training with some company, whereas I’m usually doing 90% of mileage alone.

May will hopefully bring some academic progress for me, since I’m shifting the focus a bit away from running. My Master thesis is almost ready and after that I only have to take a couple of book exams (have to read about 2000 pages for that).

On the night to 1st of May I also satisfied my hunger for “ethanol” if you know what I mean After being absent for 6 or 7 months it should be enough to bring me over the next half year or so Anyway, 1st of May (or “Vappu” in Finnish) is quite a big celebration and party date and the last years I didn’t really want to celebrate it because I was still in the middle of the season.

April pictures

April 22, 2009

This time some (late) pictures from my home visit during Easter time. In Germany I was blessed with a lot of sunshine and temperatures over 20°C.

My nephew and me making some fun. I got more colour than him during those couple of days

Yes, it was really sunny. And with my sore back I could enjoy the warmth a lot. Maybe too much – Of course I would have liked to compete and performed better in the German Championships

Also some easy training was done – with shorts and top:)