October 21, 2009
As mentioned in the last post I still have some competitions coming up this year. Now I booked the flight back from Finland to Germany and will be back on German ground 6th of November – just in time for the first competition in my home city Zwickau. End of November I will make a road trip to Switzerland, probably with my Australian mate Dan Hornery. The races in Switzerland are with international participation so it’s a good way to see what my performance will be worth in those kind of races. I already placed 20th in a World Marathon Majors Marathon, but the races this year are going to be not more than 12K.
Eriks race plan 2009
31.10. Nordic Cross-Country Championships Qualifier for Finnland (9K in Pajulahti) – added 22.10
08.11. 1. Zwickauer Stadtlauf (10K)
14.11. State Championships Saxony Cross-Country Running (10K)
28.11. Basler Stadtlauf / SUI (10km)
05.12. Weihnachtslauf Gossau / SUI (8,18km)
12.12. Zwickauer Adventslauf (8,5km)
31.12. Silvesterlauf (place to be decided)
October 18, 2009
Last week was the first training week for the new season. It’s just about building up again at this point of time. I still have planned some races for this year and I don’t want to be totally out of shape (more on that in later posts). I also try to run the easy runs a bit faster now than I did before the marathon. After all you need much more speed if you want to run 10K. Right now it works well and I enjoy running a faster pace for most of my runs.
Here is how my week looked like:
Mo: AM: travel, PM: 55min medium-easy
Tu: AM: 50min easy, PM: 60min easy+gym
We: AM: 40min easy, PM: 50min with 10K @ 3:40/km-pace
Th: AM: 50min easy, PM: 40min treadmill @ 4min/km-pace (10min 1%+10min 2%+10min 3%+5min 4%+5min 5%) + gym
Fr: PM: 80min easy with some easy bursts + gym
Sa: AM: 50min easy, PM: 45min easy
Su: 100min long, very easy run
Altogether around 140km. Just what I wanted. Next week 15-20km more and some speed work.
October 14, 2009
Another great autumn day here in Finland. The mornings are pretty cool and frosty but during daytime we had a lot of sun. Together with the colourful leaves it gives a real nice picture. Today I could enjoy this scenery with running mate Miika Takala on a medium-fast run (10K in 36:XX min). Great training and really nice to have some company even for those somewhat faster runs. In Zwickau I would be totally on my own at this kind of pace. Miika just ran a 2:21:34 h to win Silver in the Finnish Marathon Championships after having a disappointing summer. Now the guy is 5 seconds faster than me on the marathon and also his halfmarathon-PB is better. This gives me some extra-motivation and I’m sure this small battle will continue in the next year. At least my 10K-PB (30:04min) is still better! After all 10K is the only thing that is really important 
P.S. Last night I was dreaming in Finnish – asking people for the right way. Maybe I should start writing Finnish. How would you like that? 
October 13, 2009
Only my second day in Finland but I’m already wondering in which language I should think and dream. I’m still a bit in the German mode as I mostly spoke German for the last 2 months. However, I think that this night I might dream in English because most of the time you speak and think in English on such an international Campus. Also the Finnish is getting freshed up and some of my local friends will have to suffer when I’m going to talk in Finnish with them I thought it would be much more difficult to refresh the Finnish but reading the newspapers and hearing the language in normal life made it pretty easy.
In terms of training I’m starting the first weeks of more serious training again after the marathon. Last week I did around 100km and this week I should run around 140km plus some cross-training. I feel prepared for the new training season and the motivation is high!
October 12, 2009
I haven’t been in Finland for quite some months now (3 months or something like that) but now I’m back in Jyväskylä. It’s time for some more studies/exams and starting the new training season. Even if the conditions are pretty cool (just over 0 degrees celsius) I have perfect conditions running-wise here. In Germany we had 20 degrees last week so it will take some time to shift to winter mode but at the same time Sauna is waiting for me after the trainings
On my way north I did some culture in Bremen, where my flight departed. It was great just enjoying to be in such an old and historic city with a nice promenade along the Weser-river after killing myself by playing indoor-football (2 vs. 3) on friday. My back and my legs still hurt today from the short sprints but it was a great interval workout.
October 8, 2009
Two weeks after my marathon I raced in the State Championships over 10K. Of course it’s way too early for a serious race but I did it for my club. Unfortunately I couldn’t medal in the Championships because the guys were just too fresh and after 7-8km my back and legs got tight. If I would have known that before I might not have competed but it was just another experience. I just need my time after a marathon and without a proper build-up it’s not so easy to win a state title against good opponents.
The first kilometers went well and when I threw in my first surge after 4km the race was on. The bigger group of around 8 runners was reduced to me and 3 other guys. The pace was not too hot but when the pace was increased again between 7 and 8km I realised that my muscles were not ready. I could still talk to the guys next to me and the one that passed me at 8,5K but the legs were just not prepared.
Anyway, it was the first time after two weeks, that I ran under 4:30min/km-pace. Now the new training season can start and a 33:38min is not too bad for this rather slow course.
results of the race:
1 Uhlig, Oliver 1977 SC DHfK Leipzig 33:05
2 Flegel, Christian 1987 TSV Dresden 33:08
3 Friedrich, Uwe 1972 Chemnitzer PSV 33:18
4 Kämpf, Michael 1976 SG Adelsberg 33:32
5 Haß, Erik 1982 SV Vorwärts Zwickau 33:38
6 Rodewald, Peter 1983 LSV Lok Arnstadt 33:46
7 Herold, Tim 1986 LAC Erdgas Chemnitz 34:27
8 Heisch, Philipp 1984 LAC Erdgas Chemnitz 34:40
9 Thomae, Enrico 1984 LG Vogtland 34:50
10 Harzbecker, Ralf 1957 Sportclub Hoyerswerda 35:10
after the race with my club mates from SV Vorwärts Zwickau
October 3, 2009
Almost two weeks after the marathon and it’s time for some analysis. Because of the fact that it was the second time I ran in Berlin, I can compare the two performance and the splits:
|
2009 |
2008 |
| 5K |
|
16:44 |
|
16:31 |
| 10K |
0:33:16 |
16:32 |
00:32:52 |
16:21 |
| 15K |
00:49:36 |
16:20 |
00:49:32 |
16:40 |
| 20K |
01:06:14 |
16:38 |
01:06:12 |
16:40 |
| 25K |
01:23:07 |
16:53 |
01:23:00 |
16:48 |
| 30K |
01:39:55 |
16:48 |
01:39:36 |
16:36 |
| 35K |
01:56:51 |
16:56 |
01:56:12 |
16:36 |
| 40K |
02:14:04 |
17:13 |
02:13:56 |
17:44 |
|
02:21:39 |
07:35 |
02:22:16 |
08:20 |
|
|
|
|
|
Analyzing the splits I can say that this year the pace was more steady from the very beginning to the very end of the race. In fact this year I never ran a kilometer over 3:30min, whereas last year I was falling down to 4min/km-pace at the end.
short decription of the race:
km 0-21
On the first part of the marathon the most important thing is to be patient. You should feel comfortable with the pace because this is the easiest part of the race. The first 4-5km were a bit slow with 3:22-23min and the consequence was, that the pace increased the following kilometers because there was a bigger group aiming for sub-2:20h. At halfway I was right on pace (69:52min) and exactly replicated last years halfmarathon time.
very early in the race (around km 4)
km 21-35
During this part of the race the training kicks in: If the training was sub-optimal you will probably slow down drastically already here. For me those kilometers were ok, but I also had to make a lot of pace myself. Last year I was feeling a bit more fresh at halfway and from km 25-33 I followed the group of Irina Mikitenko. This year the kilometer-splits were a bit slower but I was still in control. The heat was getting more and more of a factor and that’s the main reason why I couldn’t maintain 3:19min/km-pace.
km 35-42,125
That’s the part, were the outcome of the marathon is decided. Last year I ran well until 38km and suffered really bad until the finish. Even though this years split time for 40km was slower than last years I improved last years finishing time by more than half a minute. Also this year I was hurting a lot and the last kilometers seemed endless. Still I ran a steady pace, i.e. never under 3:30min/km. Compared to last year that was the main improvement, even if the conditions were warmer than last year. Also the top guys suffered from the heat: from 40km to the finish i.e. 2,195km) Haile was only one second faster than me!
This year I also noticed the last meters of the race. Last year I had some black-outs at the end and didn’t even remember how I passed the Brandenburg gate. Also the crowd on the last 200meters was amazing. The tribune was full of spectators and the noise level was amazing. When the speaker announced that I am the second German the crowds went even more mad! Puuuh, that was really incredible.
Immediately after the race I was quite disappointed that I ran over 2:20h, but I know that running sub-2:20 is only a matter of time.
post-race with my Dad and Dan- I’m not really looking happy
post-race with my support team during the marathon (Dad, Mum, Me, Ulla, Bernd)
Once again I want to thank everyone, who supported me and motivated me along my way to the Berlin Marathon 2009. I know it was not always an easy time with me!
September 21, 2009
… was the time of my 3rd marathon. I’m glad I had a night between the race and this post, because yesterday I was really disappointed that I didn’t run under 2:20h. However, most of the runners ran under their normal possibilities, so the heat was definitely a factor – a factor that I could not influence. Otherwise, everything was perfect organised: Elite athlete hotel, transportation to the start, bottles, etc.
Even if I was 20th place overall, 2nd German and set a new PB, I will most likely need another week or so find the positive aspects of this race. When you are training for (pretty much) one year and you don’t achieve the time you were aiming for on the most important day of the year, it’s difficult to be positive right away. However my fans, friends and supporters already gave me a good feedback and I want to thank everyone for the wishes, congratulations and encouragement!!!
September 18, 2009
Only hours left until the Berlin marathon 2009. For me it’s the most important race of the year, even more so after a disappointing season so far.
Tomorrow, Saturday I will go from my home base Zwickau to Berlin, have a short run on the course and afterwards it will be time to check inn to the athletes hotel. I’m looking forward to meeting a lot of friends and also the big names Haile Gebrselassie and Duncan Kibet will most likely stay in the same hotel (at least it was like that last year). There should be a bunch of guys that are in my range, i.e. aiming for sub-2:20. Let’s hope we can form a group and work together for the early stages of the race.
Most of all I want to enjoy the race. I know I did a lot of hard work and if I take it easy and stay relaxed I should be able to transfer the hard work I’ve done to the streets of Berlin. In Kenya people usually say “Hakuna matata” for that.
If you want to watch the race, there are different ways to do that as you can find from here.
BTW: Erik Haß is wearing bib no. 118
September 17, 2009
Only three days left. The nervousness is rising.
Yesterday I had the last fast session before the marathon in Berlin. 5x2000m on the track in 6:20min with 600m jog recovery. It went really fluid and I was in control all the time. Running with my Australian mate Dan Hornery, who is visiting Zwickau and preparing for Warsaw marathon also gave me the opportunity to practise some race situations and having some company for training (especially the fast ones) is usually never a bad idea.
Today the legs were already pretty good again but still I could feel the muscles a little bit. Otherwise the tendons a nd bones are in shape and nothing hurts. Now I just need to get my stomach to get calm (had some issues with that this week) and I’m ready for sub-2:20. Now I enjoy having free afternoons because I do my training in the morning and get a lot of sleep during night and daytime.
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