December 17, 2009
I don’t know if I should be sad about this race, because I could not defend last years title and was beaten in my home town Zwickau for the first time in years. However, it was such a beautiful feeling to cross the finnish line without being in pain, just going for a cool-down without aiching bones, tendons and muscles.
The 8,5km main race got two winners. My mates Dan and Marc could not decide a winner and crossed the line hand in hand. If I would have been in normal-good shape the guys would have given me some work to win the race. The other runers I invited ended up in the first five places of the race.
Of course my athlete Carolin Tuch won the womens category. Even with stomach problems she followed all my orders I gave her during the race – brave effort!! For me it was the right thing to pace the fastest woman, even if the feet were itching after the first of five rounds.
After the race we had a good time, having a nice meal and some good talk.
before the start
start of the 8,5K race
after the first round
later in the race – already lapping people
after 1 round the Australian Christmas Elf (Dan Hornery) was in the lead but the chase pack caught him in the second round. Still only Marc Schulze provided some competition and the two crossed the finish line together.
December 7, 2009
The second (and already final) race of my Switzerland-Austria road trip. After a week with some running training and my first fall on ice that caused some problems on my toes and knee it was time for another evening race.
I finished the race in Gossau in 12th place in 26:37min, which was still enough to earn me some price money – amazing … seems there is too much money in Switzerland. For me the race was another marker, that it’s not a good idea to compete in big races unless I’m really fit. Already at the start I tore my left hamstrings. Together with several other issues, this caused the fact that I could only manage to average 3:15min/km-pace on this flat course. After the race I felt really, really bad. I felt like going to physiotherapy for 2 hours but unfortunately a warm shower was the only thing that relieved the pain a bit.
If I’m going there next time, I should be in better shape and should be able to compete at a higher level. Now it’s time to recover and get totally healthy. After that I will have a proper(!!) build-up.
December 3, 2009
My first race after 3 weeks and pretty much without running preparation. That’s exactly how it felt – it’s incredible how much you actually loose within three weeks. The fitness is not too bad but it’s so difficult to get used to the high pace and that was the main problem. The fact that I came closer to some of my competitors on the uphill parts of the course (there was quite a climb on the 2,2K-loop).
In general the race was great though: Starting time at 20.20, i.e. running through the darkness with all the Christmas lights and decoration. Only on the first round I had some problems and almost went down twice: The first time after 200m when I didn’t realise a bump in the road and the second time when I twisted my ankle on the darkest part of the course.
Full results here.
November 26, 2009
Today I had the first serious run after 2 1/2 weeks of alternative training. During those 17days I ran something like 15km!!
Before going to the race in Basel/SUI tomorrow I wanted to run a test and see how the heel is going to feel. Additionally I got some new insoles and wanted to try them. I can say that the test was successful and the heel was not causing any problems. However, after so many days without running all the muscles and tendons felt stiff and I felt pretty horrible. The pace was ok: after 3,5km at approx.4min/km pace I ran some 3,5km faster pace (3:25…3:20min/km) with another 3,5km cool-down. At the end I even could pull away a couple of seconds from my Australian training mate Dan.
Tomorrow we (Dan&me) are traveling to Basel. The race is on Saturday night and Sunday we will travel to a far relative of mine.
November 24, 2009
Today I got the results of MRI/x-ray that was taken from my right foot last Thursday.
Both X-ray and MRI showed that I have an obvious heel spur on my right foot. Most probably I had the spur already for a longer time but now the plantar tendon got an acute inflammation. Usually such a “Fascilitis plantaris” takes 4-6 weeks to heal. Well, I already did 2 1/2 weeks alternative training but on Saturday I have an important race in Basel. I will also get an insole for my running shoes, so I hope to run without pain. On Thursday I will make a test session with some faster running and I will see if it works – the insoles should be ready until then.
November 23, 2009
The second week of alternative training. The heel doesn’t feel too bad, but still I want to give it some rest. I will have the results of last weeks MRI tomorrow and then I can say where to go from her on.
Even if the weather was exceptionally good this week (up to 15°C) and I could do some long bike rides my feet are starting to itch a bit – I wanna run again…
Last weeks training:
Mo: 30min easy jogging + 25min core strength/stabilisation (=rest day)
Tu: AM: 70min aqua-jogging, PM: 30min crosstrainer+20min stepper+20min gym+15min stepper
We: 120min cycling
Th: 15min running (=rest day, but waking up at 3.15AM>going to airport, physiotherapy,MRI,…)
Fr: 240min cycling
Sa: 115min cycling
Su: 280min cycling
November 16, 2009
4km!! I ran a huge FOUR kilometers last week. I was really fortunate that the weather was good and warm (up to 12°C), especially towards the end of the week. I used the weather for some extensive bike trips. 340hilly kilometers in 4 days (Thursday-Sunday) with a 100km ride and several vertical meters (been at the Auersberg, 1019m above sea level)
Mo: AM: 50min cycling, PM: 40min swimming+30min aqua-jogging
Tu: AM: 125min cycling, PM: 20min crosstrainer+20min stepper+20min gym+15min stepper
We: AM: 60min cycling, PM: 40min core strength/stabilisation
Th: AM: 60min aqua-jogging, PM: 185min cycling
Fr: 190min cycling
Sa: 185min cycling+20min easy jogging
Su: 240min cycling
Most probably I will have a MRI on Thursday. Until then I will have some company – my Australian mate Dan Hornery will be back in Zwickau today after traveling through Europe the last weeks.
November 12, 2009
The race on Sunday was the last time I ran. The heel is causing quite some trouble, so I decided to do some days of cross-training. Maybe the pain is not too intense yet and if in my younger days I would probably have tried to run through the pain. But I learnt some things over the last 5-10 years of my running career. One thing was, that there is no use to run with pain and kill too much time recovering when it’s already too late. As a consequence, the last days were marked by cycling, core/strength training and training in the water.
Additionally I got some Physiotherapy and my right leg got some colours from Kinesio-Tape:
November 9, 2009
A busy week for me is over. Maybe it was a bit too busy the last weeks – my heel is aiching and I had to replace some running sessions with ergometer cycling.
Mo: AM: 55min easy, PM: 45min progressive run @ treadmill (10min@15+10min@16+10min@17+10min@18km/h+5min@19km/h)
Tu: AM: 55min easy, PM: 80min with some bursts+jumps
We: AM: 60min very easy/jogging, PM: 70min easy + gym
Th: AM: 30min easy, PM: 100min ergometer
Fr: AM: 10min jogging+40min ergometer, travel, PM: 35min easy
Sa: AM: 60min easy, PM: 80min cycling
Su: 10K race – 32:47min
November 8, 2009
Yeah, won my home race. But at the same time: Damn, my right heel is hurting a lot.
Well, most of all I achieved my aim of becoming the first winner of the new City Run in my home city Zwickau. That was one of the main reasons why I came to Germany after studying very hard in Finland. May be it was not the best decision to race but if I wouldn’t have competed I would have blamed myself for not even trying. I mean: Hey, I’m a professional now – or what? It turned out that it was not too difficult to win the race and I didn’t even had to go all out. Falk Cierpinski was announced to race but as his father Waldemar Cierpinski (double olympic champion in the marathon) said, he suffered a stomach flu and couldn’t run. This way I could take it a bit easier and still could win the race in a comfortable manner. Actually I was unchallenged from start to finish.
The time is pedestrian, I know but I didn’t want to push to hard because before the race I didn’t knew if I would be able to finish. My left heel gave me a lot of trouble and now it’s even worse. Might well be, that I have to change my race schedule and have to skip next weeks cross-country championships.
The course of the race was a 3,3 km loop, which had to be ran 3 times for the 10K. A lot of turns, sharp corners and also the underground changed from fast asphalt to cobblestones and sand at one point. All results can be found here.
Tomorrow some cross training and hopefully the heel will recover fast.
start of the 1st city run in Zwickau 2009
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