Over the hill

A.M. Grey, grey, miserable day. -5°C (23°F) and freezing fog, a disappointment after the glorious sunshine of yesterday. Ran with the Lauftreff, only 5 of us turned up and for once we did the sensible thing and all ran together. A nice 11,5k loop through the woods to the top of a ridge and then back down. It was very slow and I felt chilled. 2 of the group didn't wear gloves and had warm hands, I had two pairs on and my hands were like ice. I finished with a quicker 4,5k loop to warm up and make up the distance. Total 16k in 1:26:40, av pace 5:25/k or 8:43/mi.

A.M. -6°C (21°F) freezing fog again, I had my snout against the window hoping the sun was going to break through but finally got out the door and just got on with it at 9:50. I wanted to attack the long run today and make it a hard effort. The scenery was classic winter with rime frost giving the trees a proper Christmas appearance. I set the garmin to record the 5k splits, 7 x 5k is much easier in my mind than 35k. I tried to keep the effort even throughout, the terrain adjusting the pace. No problems with the first 20k, I have a bit of kangaroo bounce in my stride and I tried to correct this to transfer the energy into forward and not upward motion. When I started to get weary after 25k I actually thought I was running more efficiently. The series of hills before town knocked me back and now I was fighting to maintain pace. The loop had took me back into town at the 30k point and now I added the last 5k loop on. This is the point in my dreams where I can suddenly loose the dead weary feeling, prance on my toes looking awesome and smoothly finish the long run at marathon pace smiling. The reality was I lasted about 800m at marathon pace, hit a slope and died, started breathing like an old steam engine and struggled to hang in there to finish the run off. This was still my best ever long run in terms of effort and pace, an early Xmas present to myself.

The nitty gritty details: Total 35k in 2:37:12. av pace 4:29/k or 7:14/mi. 5k splits: 23:01,  22:01,  22:22,  22:25,  22:13,  22:17,  22:43. 

Now for the traditional German Heiligabend dinner, this is a very simple meal of sausages (in our case vegetarian) and potato salad.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!

A.M. Christmas day recovery run. -6°C (21°F) and freezing fog but as I climbed up out of the valley it was beautiful and sunny above. Instead of splitting the kms today into 2 runs I got it out of the way in one go, who wants to run after stuffing yourself with Christmas dinner? This was a slow and easy pure joy run, wonderful scenery and difficult to end it and drop back down into the valley. I took my camera to take a few pics to send to my relatives in England and a pic to the left for the FRB. Total 16k in 1:23:42, av pace 5:14/k or 8:25/mi. Once again Merry Christmas everyone!

A.M. -4°C (25°F) A little warmer today but grey and overcast. Woke up at my normal time (so annoying on holiday) feeling tired and ended up watching "The Mask" with Jim Carrey at 6am until I could run in daylight. I ran a short hill run loop, my left thigh muscle felt tight and I stopped after 5k to do some gentle stretching and leg swinging. On the downward return threw in 10 x 100m strides and finished the run with some hill bounding on the final hill. Nearer to town plenty of  Boxing Day dog walkers about, did my best not to look like a bone. Total 13.1k in 1:04:10, av pace 4:54/k, 7:53/mi.

4:30 P.M. A sizzling 0°C and lots of fluffy snow falling from the sky. The Germans were at their irritatingly orderly best, snow ploughs were out, pavements were being sweeped, even the cycle ways get cleared with mini-ploughs. Why can't they have snow chaos like old Blighty where everything comes to a standstill with the first snowflake.  A short, slow, second run of the day, just enough to loosen up and get some blood flowing through sore muscles. Total 7,3k in 39:38, av pace 5:26/k, 8:44/mi.

A.M. Warmer, 0°C (32°F) and a thin layer of snow and ice on ground. Med-long run day and a very poor performance today. By 10k I was struggling, despite the best sleep in ages I felt tired, my left leg was aching and had a lack of power compared to the right. At the top of a hill at 17k I just wanted to lie down, I felt so totally flat today. The last 8k was at a get home as best you can pace. It's the afternoon now and I still feel washed out. It's frustrating not to be able to pinpoint why this sometimes happens. I know I felt dehydrated this morning and thirsty during the run. A small easy 6k 2nd run is on the schedule today, "to provide an incremental training stimulus by depleting your carbohydrate stores and training your muscles to rely more on fat at a given speed". At the moment I feel I need more recovery time before I can think about trying this out in the evening. Total 25k in 2:07:12, av pace 5:05/k, 8:11/mi.

P.M. With stretching and a leg massage from my missus beforehand I was able to get on the treadmill at 19:00 and complete the day. The treadmill was a compromise, I know it's easier than running outside but I feel the target of the 2nd run has still been met. Total 6k, 1% incline in 29:19, av pace 4:53/k, 7:52/mi.

A.M. -3°C and very icy. Still felt powered out and I felt content to run a short & slow recovery run. At the Annasee (pic left) I was astounded to see a couple walking with a pram on the ice, I know it is not deep and the ice thick but it is such an unnecessary risk to take. Total 10k in 55:06. av pace 5:31/k, 8:52/mi.

P.M. Evening treadmill run, 6k in exactly 30 mins. Reading the Paula Radcliffe autobiography at the moment, she concentrates during a marathon by counting from 1 to 100 over and over. Used this technique on the treadmill, it helps.

A.M. A very warm 4°C (39°F) this morning, clear blue sky and full winter sun. I'd slept an unbelievable 9 ½ hrs last night which for me is not sleep but hibernation. I was in a good mood to run, the niggling ache in my hip is still there but it was a pleasure to be out, to run and to feel warm. I took a trail that takes me high on a ridge above the valley, just wonderful. I'd read an article on winter running that suggests many injuries are caused by the body tensing up constantly to keep balance on snow and ice. I tried to stay as relaxed and loose as I could, taking it easy and controlled downhill and on turns and to keep the pace easy. Total 21k in 1:41:34, av pace 4:50/k, 7:47/mi.