Over the hill

A.M. Recovery run with 6 x 100m strides. Both heels sore and swollen from yesterday. Total 16.6k in 1:27:12, av pace 5:15/k, 8:27/mi.

Late evening jog in the woods but still over 30C/86F. Total 9.3k in 48:54. same pace as this morning.

A.M. Up and down hill run, the trail back was fun, downed trees and branch hopping.  I took 4 mini-bottles of water in my bum bag giving me 0.5 litre but I was still thirsty and fantasising about fruit juice mixed with sparkling water. Total 23k in 1:54:59, av pace 5-/k, 8:03/mi.

A.M. A game of fives. I had felt really weary yesterday, hills can be pretty sneaky - you think it was an easy workout but they come and jump on your back afterwards. It was also the hottest recorded day so far this year across the whole of Germany. I whimped out of an evening jog with Johanne and asked her to go for a walk with me instead (I blush even to write that). This morning I was still feeling some fatigue. Workout was 5 x 5k alternate easy/hard. Splits for each 5k were: 24:15, 19:58, 25:01, 20:04, 24:38. I was disappointed with the 4th split, I really wanted to be under the 20 min mark. I clawed back some time on the last k but not enough. Total 25k in 1:53:56, av pace 4:33/k, 7:20/mi.

Hooray for the froggies. They are sending over some Unwetter across the border this evening - rain, hail and more importantly a drop in the temp by 5-7 degrees. Jolly decent of them!

A.M. Recovery day with 2 short split runs. Deliciously cool this morning. 12.1k in 1:02:48, nice and slow in the woods. Av pace 5:11/k, 8:21/mi.

P.M. Late evening run, drove out to run in open farmland. 10.3k in 49:59. Feeling more frisky so easy pace, av 4:51/k, 7:49/mi.

A.M. Hilly trail run, I felt good after sleeping in until 8am. Slow start then progressively faster with 8 x 100m strides and hill bounding. Total 17.4k in 1:20:12, av pace 4:37/k, 7:25/mi.

A.M. Steady easy pace run in the Bottwartal, total 20,5k in 1:40:57. av pace 4:55/k, 7:56/mi.

A.M. Long run, steady and at easy pace. 8 x round a lakeside plus a wee bit at the end to round it off. Total 35k in 2:48:46. av pace 4:49/k, 7:46/mi.

A.M. Recovery run w/6 x 100m strides to finish. Very slow the first 10k, then suddenly the discomfort vanished and the rest of the run was at easy pace. Total 19k in 1:41:45, av pace 5:21/k, 8:37/mi.

Even: Short easy run in the cool rain which was enjoyable. Total 8,8k in 44:03, av pace 5:00/k, 8:03/mi.  

A.M. Hill run - brisk and aggressive. Total 16,3k in 1:15:22, av pace 4:37/k, 7:26/mi.

Evening - Slow pace evening jog in the woods, tired. Total 9,2k in 48:19, av pace 5:15/k, 8:27/mi.

A.M. Easy pace hilly trail run, I felt pretty tired to start but after 8k I checked the pace and I was surprised as it was decent, finished with 8 x 100m and 5 x 200m. Total 20,7k in 1:37:44, av pace 4:43/k, 7:36/mi.   

A.M. Still tired, not through running but 3 consecutive nights of poor sleep. Kept the trail run short and easy and a focus on technique. 'Hot bricks' running - short stride, light & rapid turnover. Total 12,1k in 59:29, av pace 4:55/k, 7:55/mi.

Evening - crashed out for an hour, then went out for a short  run, bit groggy at first. 10k in 50:19, av pace 5:02/k, 8:06/mi.

A.M. Easy pace hill run with 6 x 100m downhill strides, av pace 4:47/k, 7:41/mi.

P.M. Easy pace hilly trail run, for a change a rainy, cool and muddy underfoot day. The rest of the population can whinge about the weather but I love it. Total 17,4k in 1:22:13, av pace 4:44/k, 7:36/mi.

Help please - what is the English translation for Zeitrennen? I think it is 'race against the clock', it is a race where the time is predefined and you race to complete as much distance as possible within that time.

A.M. Had a rethink over the weekend and changed my long run route to a valley run in a different direction. This avoids the hills homewood bound that I keep struggling on and allows me to inject some M.P. running at the end. The drawback is that I will use a cycleway that is all tarmac and I will have to go through some towns and industrial areas. Outwards is gradual downhill with a tailwind, return leg gradual uphill with a headwind. Kept the pace strictly steady and easy for the first 25k so I could have a decent finish.

Start 25k easy pace in 2:02:37, av pace 4:54/k, 7:54/k then time to let the sow out of the stall, 10k M.P. in 42:09, av pace 4:13/k, 6:47/mi. cooldown 1,2k at 5-/k. Total 36,2k in 2:50:50.

A.M. Clear blue sky and sunny but wonderful and fresh in the woods. I felt surprisingly good this morning and eager to go out running again. Nice hilly trail run, my feet thanked me for the soft track today. Very slow start and steadily faster, but all within recovery range. Total 18,3k in 1:34:07, av pace 5:09/k, 8:17/mi.

Evening - very warm, slow-easy pace recovery run with 8 x 100m strides. Total 12,2k in 1:00:11, av pace 4:56/k, 7:56/mi.

A.M. Warmup 5,5k in 28:42. av pace 5:13/k, 8,24/mi. Then as I had a flat stretch and I couldn't be letting Tom have all the tempo fun on his own today I did the 'Cooper Test', 12 min run, result - 3.21k. Finished with my intended workout, a hard effort hill run. 5k splits,  25:27 (up), 22:09 (wavy), 20:41 (2nd hill and down). Cooldown to finish, 2k in 10:10.

Total 25,7k in 1:59:11, av pace 4:38/k, 7:28/mi.

Evening. Paced Johanne for a short run in the woods. Legs sore and tired. 6,2k in 35:42, av pace 5:45/k, 9:16/mi.

A.M. Cool and rainy for a slow recovery run in the woods. Felt flat this morning and couldn't pick it up at all. Startled 3 Wildschweine (wildboar) who crashed their way off through the undergrowth. They are mini bulldozers. Slight strain in my upper right thigh from yesterday. Total 12,1k in 1:05:27. av pace 5:25/k, 8:42/mi.

P.M. Some gentle stretching and the I walked 20 mins to warm up before starting a slow run. Left out the planned strides. Total 10k in 49:51.

A.M. Cool and rainy again. 5 laps around the Breitenauer See (lake), each lap is 4,3k. Splits: 21:03, 20:31, 19:56, 20:29, 20:15. all in easy pace range. 6 x 100m strides on the last lap. Right thigh was fine during the run but sore and slightly painful as soon as I stopped. Total 21,5k in 1:42:16. av pace 4:45/k, 7:39/mi.

A.M. Late start, I slept for a whopping 10 hours last night. Despite the sleep I found this mornings run hard going. It was warm (25C/º77ºF) but not hot but I felt pretty dehydrated. Workout was 5k easy in 24:43, then 15k at M.P. in 1:03:36, av pace 4:14/k, 6:49/mi, finishing with 5k easy in 24:28. Total 25k in 1:52:49, av pace 4:31/k, 7:16/mi.

Best thing was coming home and drinking 2 pints of apple/orange juice/water mix, lovely.

Evening - My legs were feeling sore and stiff to I asked Johanne to do me a favour and go for a jog with me in the woods. Within the 1st km it started to pour down with rain. We jogged a short 6k nice and slow in 36:09, but it did the trick and I felt much better afterwards.  

A.M. Slow-easy pace hilly trail run. I had a gippy stomach this morning and I was twitching at the end. Finished the run with a 10m dash from the front door to the loo in a record breaking time. Total 17,4k in 1:25:25, av pace 4:55/k, 7:54/mi.

A.M. Reverted back to my old long run round this week, nice and soft underfoot. My heart wasn't really in it today and it was an easy and steady 32k before injecting a fast 3k. I normally fade on the return hills but this week there was no problem and I only lost 5 secs off the pace on the longest uphill.

So it was 32k in 2:38:25, av pace 4:57/k, 7:58mi, then 3k in 12:06 and 1k cooldown.

Total 36k in 2:55:28, av pace 4:52/k, 7:51/mi.

A.M. Recovery run, up through the woods to Schloss Wildeck, down and then up to the ruins of  Schloss Helfenberg. Down again and then up to the top of a beckoning hill overlooking the town for a last wee view before cruising back down. Total 19,6k in 1:42:19, av pace 5:13/k, 8:24/mi.

A.M. Valley run, 5k warmup at easy pace, 10k in 39:47, finish with 5k cooldown. I felt good today and the tenner was pretty comfortable. Total 20k in 1:29:38, av pace 4:29/k, 7:13/mi.

P.M. Evening run with Johanne, we caught a bus out into the countryside and ran back home together. Total 10k in 58:24.

A.M. I felt weary to start this morning. Warmup for 4k, then 3 x 3k hard with 2k easy inbetween. Finish with 8,6k easy. Splits for the 3k's was: 11:57, 11:45, 11:47. Yesterday had seemed so easy, today felt just tough and tiring and I had a deep ache in my right thigh at the end. Total 25,6k in 1:59:30, av pace 4:40/k, 7:31/mi.

A.M. Recovery and birthday run today, 43 years old, only another couple of years to AK45 :-) We're both off together today so rather than split the run I got it out of the way in one go to enjoy the rest of the day. Johanne came with me and ran a 10k round, I ran 20k nice and slow, pretty warm this morning.  I took 5k splits to make sure I stayed at rec pace as I have a tendency to get gradually faster after the first 5k is out of the way. Total 20k in 1:45:12, av pace 5:16/k, 8:28/mi. We're now going to go out for a cycle ride this afternoon with a stop for some tucker on the way.

A.M. Hilly trail run, easy effort with 3 x 150m strides. Very warm, 30°C/86°F and with no wind I sweated some. Total 17,4k in 1:25:24, av pace 4:54/k, 7:54/mi.

A.M. Workout race on an up and down hill course.  Herwelzer Gaenslauf 10k. Gaens means goose and I didn't manage to find out the connection between the town and the bird. Very warm day and 10am in the summer is a late start. I went to the car after the race which was parked in the shade and the temp guage was measuring 29,5°C/85°F. No watch and my aim was just to go work as hard as I could throughout. Very steep, long and stony hill climb starting at km3 knocked the wind out of my sails, after this my will power was there to push hard but my legs were not responding as well as they should. We were strung out and the positions were settled early in the race. I crossed the line and went straight to the fireman to get hosed down with cold water - that was wonderful. Johanne had counted me in 10th so with a 10yr band on the AK there was no point hanging about. Found my result this morning. Time 39:58, Overall 10th/294, M40 4th/78. It was ok.

A.M. Pretty warm this morning, no freshness. The day temp is predicted to be over 30°C all this week. Recovery trail run - very slow first 5k,back of my thigh was intially sore and painful but gradually felt better. Total 20,3k in 1:48:20, av pace 5:20/k, 8:35/mi.

A.M. Very warm and sunny, sweated lots, I weighed myself before and after, lost 3kg during the run. I struggled today, my legs felt weak and tired, my right thigh constantly aching. Enough whinging. Workout was: 29k easy, 6k at nearly M.P. (didn't hit it, 5s/k short), 1,5k jog. Total 36,5k in 2:58:46, av pace 4:53/k, 7:52/mi.

A.M. Rec run, r thigh stiff and painful, slow short run. 12,1k in 1:05:17, av pace 5:24/k, 8:41/mi.

P.M. 32°C and humid. Again a short slow run in the woods. 11k in 57:04, 5:11/k, 8:21/mi.

A.M. Wet and soft underfoot after thunder storms in the night, but still very warm and humid. Workout was 5k easy, 15k M.P. in 1:03:16, 6,5k easy to finish. Went easier than expected after blitzing my thigh last night with stretching, pilates, heat pads and massage. Total 26,5k in 1:58:20, av pace 4:28/k, 7:11/mi.