Quarterly report: 3th quarter-2010

UltraBirken 2010

The third quarter of the year is history and it's about time to do a thorough evaluation of the activity and what I've achieved. Total amount of activity measured in hours is about the same as in the second qyuarter. That goes for the number of races as well(one more ultra in the third though). However the third quarter is one week shorter and I've therefore increased my weekly volume of activity. That's good.

Results:
1. Marathon:
Improved my personal best two times. First in Stavanger(aug) and finally in Berlin(sep)
2. Ultras:
Finished my first 6h race with a distance covered of 60,096km(Romerike 6h). In addition finished a very technical ultrarace on trail of 73 km(UltraBirken).

Evaluation:
-Overall:
Primary targets this quarter was UltraBirken and Berlin marathon.Allthough I aimed for a better finish time on both occasions I'm satisified with the outcomes of the races. It was very demanding to go through both races in one week, but I managed to do so. I'm pretty certain that the outcome of the last race(Berlin marathon) was affected by the efforts from the first race(UltraBirken) one week earlier. However, it's doable if I plan on doing it, and this time I planned on it.
6 races in a quarter is not too much, but some of these races were pretty demanding-ultra races. I future I need to consider more carefully what races I'm going to attend to and what priority they'll have.
When it comes to recovery I need to make improvements both in general and after my competitions.


-Training:
90 % of the training has been running-in second quarter it was 86 %(40 % in first quarter). I've suffered from injuries of a light to modest character. These are overstrained muscles in my butt and hamstrings. They affected the outcome of my two A-priority races to some degree. In addition I needed to start tapering a week earlier than initially planned due to need for more recovery. There are several reasons for this. First I've had to high intensity on my endurance sessions, second I had to high volume in the building period. I need to differ more between my quality workouts and my endurance sessions. I also had some pains in my knees at the beginning of the quarter, but got that sorted out by changing running-shoes.
However, the quality work has made me capable of improving my finish time on two occasions when it comes to marathons. In addition my long runs has made me capable of finishing the ultra-races I've attended. Including hill-work in my traning has made me stronger runner. During the quarter I've executed 5 sessions each of speed-work, treshold-sessions and hill-work, mostly in the building period.
My amount of cross-training has suffered due to extended amounts of running. Due to that I've experienced injuries and general fatigue. In future I'll make sure that cross-training is carried out during all period, except the tapering and competition-period. I consider 20-30 % of total volume as acceptable.

-Races:
Preparations for the races have been good. To establish a strategy in advance has paid off. I can clearly feel that I'm improving my mental strength and getting able to endure more and more pain.
I need to improve on my nutrition routines before, during and after the races. I've been in need of attending the toilette in several races and that affects my finish time with 5-10 minutes in a marathon.
Further on I need to work with mental training regularly and incorporate is as an integrated part of my training programme. I've had trouble with keeping a steady pace in my races and part of that is due to lack of enough strength in my core. I need to work with that in the next two quarters.


1. Total activity:
-Workouts: 52, including 6 competitions; 3 ultraruns and 3 marathon
-A priority races: 2(1 ultra and 1 marathon); UltraBirken and Berlin Marathon; 115, 2 km
-B-priority races: 2(1 ultra and 1 marathon); Romerike 6h and Stavanger Marathon; 102,3 km
-C priority races: 2(1 ultra and 1 marathon): Rallarvegløpet and Kongsvinger skogsmarathon; 123,3 km
-Distance: 884,7 km
-Time: 96h 44m 32s
-Verticals: 11.814 m
-Calories: 58.246 C
-Days off: 30 days of 84 (35,7 %)

2. Running:
-Workouts: 41, including 6 competitions.
-Distance: 784,3 km
-Time: 89h 4m 16s
-Verticals: 11.064 m
-Calories: 53.401 C

3. Bike:
-Workouts: 4
-Distance: 100,4 km
-Time:  4h 00m 15s
-Verticals: 750 m
-Calories: 4.845 C

4. Strength:
-Workouts: 3
-Time: 2h 5m

5. Flexibility:
-Workouts: 4
-Time: 1h 35m

6. Shoes(as of 3th of Oct):
-Mizuno Wave Ronin (purchased 8.4.10)     : 512 km
-Puma Concinnity (purchased 30.4.10)        : 220 km
-Montrail Masochist (purchased 14.5.10)     : 415 km
-Mizuno Wave Aero 8 (purchased 28.7.10) : 146 km
-Saucony Kinvara (purchased 9.9.10)          : 56 km
-Puma Trailfox (purchased sep 2006)          : 40 km