After almost 1 month without any faster running I was having a first test last weekend. During the last weeks I had a lot of trouble with my hip/pelvis/lower back and I could only run low intensity.
The race was ok because the problems did not get worse during or after the race and I was pain-free.
A lot of time went by since the last post. Also several things changed in my life once again.
Most of all my career at the University came to an end since my 1-year contract was not extended. The “nicest” thing of course was, that I was informed about it 2 days before the end of my contract (after coming back from the St.Moritz training camp).
The congress of the German Society of Sport Science last Friday was most probably the last time I was active for the Department and especially the working group I was working in. There is still one international publication to come and after that I will make an academic break.
During a weekend training camp in the Harz region I competed in a hilly 10km race together with my training mates Falk and Martin. Since I don’t like to run hills it was a tough day for me but at least another stimulus and the strength will hopefully help me.
Unfortunately I missed the podium because there was a pretty good ski racer who made some cross training and obviously had no problems with the hills.
The next day we ran a 30+K training run and got kind of lost in the forests. We came back to our place after around 3hours of running and even drank some water from a rivulet. You can imagine that it took some time to recover from this weekend….
After all a race victory again. After a long day (some 5h of driving, visiting the ASICS-headquarters and being at the ASICS-greeting) the race started in the evening at 21.00. In optimal weather conditions I ran a controlled race, supported some of my ASICS-frontrunner colleagues and finally went on to win the race after about 7km with a short acceleration.
It was a great event, which was organised for the ASICS-frontrunner. I can say that I’m really happy to be a frontrunner. Not only the support with training equipment (shoes and clothing) but also the community is very supportive.
Right now I ran 3 marathons in my life. So far, all of them went really well and with times between 2:21h and 2:25h I always showed a good performance. This marathon history now has a first black spot. In my 4th try at the marathon distance I didn’t reach the finish. After 28km I dropped out.
With the worst preparation ever for a marathon, the signs were not good and I didn’t expect an astonishing performance or a fast race. However, I thought I could go sub 2:30h and win the German University Championships that were part of the marathon. On a warm day (approx. 22°C at the start) I never found my rhythm and got the first problems already after 15km when my back got tight. The misery continued as my left achilles tendon was aching only couple of kilometers later. Furthermore the legs got more and more heavy and the muscles were getting more and more tense with every step. I reached halfmarathon at around 1:15:30h and at this point I thought I could still make it to the finish with a reduction of pace. The plan didn’t work and at 27k I was stretching my hamstrings because they were about to start cramping. With 15km to go and being in heavy pain, I decided to drop. I don’t know if I would have made it to the finish line. But even if I would have, the time would have been incredible bad and – more importantly – I would have destroyed the next couple of weeks.
Of course the disappointment is there but marathon takes its toll.
The second race of that weekend. After the track 10.000 the day before, it was the 21,1K. The weekend was supposed to be a marathon-specific training and afterwards I can say: It was. The halfmarathon went better than expected and especially the first 15 kilometers felt really easy. Despite the fact that the kilometers were only 10-12 seconds slower than the day before, the pace felt very comfortable.
The first race of a tough weekend. As planned I was not running all out. Conditions were pretty warm but it should not be the problem to beat the heat for half an hour. I thought the time would be better but the legs didn’t have the required freshness and thére was no kick or change of speed.
A test run for training purposes. Just to get some fast kilometers and build some confidence by not running above my own capabilities. This way I could control my stride and ran a fast kilometer. I even ran away from the group I was following for most of the race.
After a short easter break at the baltic sea I’m back to business as usual. The four days of holidays were good in terms of spending some quality time with my family. Running was not so well because I took some knee pain with me into the holidays and was able to run only once per day. So I missed on complete block of training but enjoyed some sunny morning walks on the beach.
After returning to Halle the knee was getting better and today I already did 1K repeats on track aöready. Nothing special since I ran around 3:15mins eight times … Typical marathon training.
The race is already a couple of days old but I’n not wiser now than I was immediately after the race. I ran faster and ranked higher than in last year’s halfmarathon championships but that was not the aim. The aim was to run sub-70 and I missed it. The first 10k were ok and I ran araound 33:05min. Until 15k I was still feeling ok, but then the back was tightening up and the legs were getting heavier with every km. Still I passed a couple of runners (and some passed me).
The starting time of 11.30 was unusual and the fact that quite a lot of runners dropped out indicate that the conditions were not ideal.
Now I know where I am and what I have to do in the next couple of months.