Sagene course: endurance session

From Lillomarka

Two day since my last training-and running-session. Being in the tapering period the most demanding part is to back off. My aim with todays workout was to enjoy 45 minutes at a pace just a bit slower than marathon-pace without putting to much effort in to it.
Heading out my feet-and I- felt fresh. I had no problem pushing without feeling anything close to much effort. I backed off a bit and averaged at 5:17 in the working session. I've experienced a ligth stretch in the upper part on both hamstrings the last few days. To remove that I've done some stretching on a regular basis. I only noticed some minor discomfort tonight.

Tecnicals:
-Distance: 7,69 km
-Time: 41m 03s
-Average pace: 5:20 min/km
-Working pace: 5:17 min/km
-Elevation gained: 63 m(8,2 m/km)-below 10,ok.
-Calories: 549 kcal
-Average heart rate(max): Not monitored.
-Shoes: Mizuno Wave Aero 8
-Weather: Clouded, 16 degrees celsius, breeze, low humidity in the air

The GARMIN logfile can be found at:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/48021007

Weekly report; 35/10

Sunset in Oslo

Being the first week in the tapering period it's quite an irony that I seem to have a light stretch in both my hamstrings. Right now I'm working to removing those with some regular stretching exercises. Hopefully I'll be lucky in my efforts by the end of the week.
A total of 5 sessions this week of which four are running and one is flexibility-another irony for you there.
Just one quality-session, muscular endurance. I'll keep it that way through both the tapering- and the competition-period. The only exception is the number of endurance-sessions. I'm down to just three sessions in the former and two sessions in the latter-in total figures.
I experinced a good recovery on Monday after Saturdays marathon in Stavanger. After that I got infected by some virus and was ill for two to three days. I resumed training on Friday. That day I had a muscular endurance session that was very promising.. Saturday it was due for starting my swimming course, but learned that it was cancelled due to lack of interest. I went for a run instead. On Sunday I had a wonderful long run on trails in the wood in Lillomarka-my favourite course.
The most challenging in this period is to stay away from training and follow the training-programme. That means a substansial reduction in amount of training compared to previous periods. That is my approach to taper for Berlin Marathon the 26th of Sep

Technicals: 

1. Total amount of training since 1th of January: 
219h/ 7,3h pr week(Running: 169,3h/1.590 km) 
Verticals: Not monitored before 6th of June 

2. Total amount of training since 12th of July: 
67,8h /8,48h pr week (Running: 61,01h/ 571,1 km) 
Verticals: 8.624 m( Running: 7.987 m) 

3. Total amount of training this week:
5h 43m(Running: 4h 53m/48,54 km)
Verticals: 625 m(Running: 625 m) 

4. Body weight: 70,9 kg
(Saturday morning) 

5. Shoes:
-Mizuno Wave Ronin(innkjøpt 8.4.10)     : 501 km (from the time of buying)
-Puma Concinnity(innkjøpt 30.4.10)        : 220 km (from the time of buying)
-Montrail Masochist(innkjøpt 14.5.10)     : 395 km (from the time of buying)
-Mizuno Wave Aero 8(innkjøpt 28.7.10) : 123 km (from the time of buying)

Lillomarka course: Endurance trailrun

Movatn

Beautiful weather today and I was lucky enough to have scheduled an endurance-session on trails on my favourite course-in Lillomarka. The course is very technical, navigates along wooden trails in a forrest that consist mainly of pine and spruce. As you run along the trees the sun is intruding at different degrees.
In addition it's not much used by others and it's a good way to get some piece of mind as well.

Ormetjern

As always I travelled by train to Movatn and started the ascend towards Sinober-a cottage a couple of miles in the woods- right afterwards. It's just under 3 km and the elevation is somewhat over 100 m. Patience is the key word as I encounter a very technical trail that seems to go straight up in the beginning. It's a good feeling though to be in the woods again after running on streets for some time. It's excatly two weeks since the last run on trails.

After a short while the trail levels out and I continue towards Sinober. Soon I'm encountering the last, big ascend towards Sinober and I'm richly rewarded by the beautiful views when I reach the lake Ormetjern. Not much left then before I catch the first glimps of Sinober-an old cottage situated strategically in the middle of Lillomarka. A nice place to stop a couple of minutes and even for a light snack.

View from Granberget towards Oslo

Well, I'm just stopping today for a quick look and I'm soon on my way through lovely, densed wood towards the highest point of the trip-a ridge called Granberget. It presents some of the finest views over Oslo and the southern-east part of Nordmarka.

Maridalsvannet

My aim with todays run was to have a good feeling all the time. Most of the time I managed allthough I could clearly feel the ascends. But again, patience is what counts and I'm constantly improving on that. Mind and outer world seems to disappear as I slowly work my way through the beautiful scenery and I'm soon approaching Granberget. It's mandatory with a quick stop to enjoy the views before the run continues towards Kjelsås. The course is starting to descend right after leaving Granberget and I'm soon approaching a place called Solemskogen. This time I chose to run towards Maridalsvannet by following the skie-track towards Kjelsås. After some very steep descends I reach an open field just before the lake Maridalsvannet. Shortly afterwards I'm running on gravel paths along Maraidalsvannet towards Kjelsås. I had a good run overall. I could feel some discomfort at both sides of the hip. I noticed that Yesterday as well. Maybe it's some muscles that are over-stretched. Anyway, I'm off from running a couple of days. Next week I'm scheduling three sessions with running with a total amount lower than this week.

Tecnicals:
-Distance: 16,19 km
-Time: 2h 01m 41s
-Average pace: 7:30 min/km
-Elevation gained: 270 m(16,7 m/km)-above 10, well, it was a light session.
-Calories: 1047 kcal
-Average heart rate(max): Not monitored.
-Shoes: Montrail Masochist
-Weather: Sunny, 18-20 degrees celsius, breeze, low humidity in the air

The GARMIN logfile can be found at:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/47686696

Akerselva/ Kjelsås-course: Endurance session

Maridalsvannet, from Kjelsås

I wasn't going to run today. My plan was to start swimming again by attending a swimming-course in order to improve on my technique. I was contacted by the arranger a couple of hours before and told todays session was off due to low interest. I asked a few questions and after some thinking afterwards I find it highly unlikely that my course will ever be arranged as planned this fall/winter. I need to rearrange my plans when it comes to swimming. More on that on another blogpost.
My aim with todays running session was to carry out an endurance workout a bit slower than marathon-pace, keep the ascent-gradient below 10 and have a bit freshness left after the workout. I don't like running along trafficated roads so my favourite parts are north from were I live. I went up to Kjelsås to the southern end of Maridalsvannet, back again along Akerselva before heading back home. My feet were not as fresh as Yesterday and I lowered my pace after my warm-up trying to average on 5:30. The ascend towards Kjelsås went fine as I tried to execute patience when ascending. After reaching the top level I continued with an pace of 5:15 and felt good doing so. Along Akerselva it's mainly downwards and the scenery today was especially beautiful-sunny, quiet, still green after the summer.
I think 5:30 is as far down I can go on a slow run. Any slower than that and I'll get more exhausted than running at 5:30.
Marathon pace right now is 5-5:15. Treshold pace is 4:45-4:55.

Tecnicals:
-Distance: 11,88 km
-Time: 1h 05m 39s
-Average pace: 5:31 min/km
-Elevation gained: 108 m(9,09 m/km)-below 10, that's acceptable in this period.
-Calories: 847 kcal
-Average heart rate(max): Not monitored.
-Shoes: Mizuno Wave Ronin
-Weather: Sunny, 20 degrees celsius, breeze, low humidity in the air

The GARMIN logfile can be found at:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/47513333

Blindern course: Treshold-session

Operahouse, Oslo

I've been subjected to a virus-infection a few days. Sensing that it was fading away I went out for a treshold-session tonight. I was still a bit affected by the infection though. However, eager to get back in to running againg after four days I headed out for this weeks muscular endurance workout. My intention was to test what speed I could achieve while running just below or at treshold pace. I don't use a heart rate monitor anymore, and I guess I never will, but I know my body well enough to know how it feels at different efforts. Initially my legs felt fresh. I did the warm-up 30s faster than the previous ones. Beyond that my quality session started and I had decided to run approximately 10 km to se if I had made some progress since the spring. Establishing at a speed of 5 I could clearly feel that this was just below treshold. I had a good feeling and managed to keep a good technique. Before long I passed the 10km mark at 49m 37s(not monitored). That's 17s down compared to Sentrumsløpet this spring. At that time I was free of illness and had a bigger effort to produce the result. Anyway, I logged 4:59 on the session and I'm satisfied with that. In the weeks to come I'm doing the same session once a week. Next week the session will be a 10km race-Lørenskogløpet on Sunday the 12th of Sep.
I clearly feel that I'm in a good position now to further improve on my form as time is closing up to Berlin Marathon in just over three weeks. At that time I'm targeting at 5 as an average pace for the marathon.

Tecnicals:
-Distance: 12,29 km
-Time: 1h 03m 20s
-Average pace: 5:09 min/km
-Moving pace: 4:59 min/km
-Elevation gained: 106 m(8,62 m/km)-below 10, that's acceptable in this period.
-Calories: 876 kcal
-Average heart rate(max): Not monitored.
-Shoes: Mizuno Wave Aero 8
-Weather: Clouded, 13 degrees celsius, breeze, low humidity in the air, chilly-I need to dress up a bit next time.

The GARMIN logfile can be found at: 
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/47397937

Flexibility: Sports- massage

Bellevueallee-Berlin

I've been scheduling some sessions with sports-massage the last couple of months. Initially it was just a try-out to se if it worked out well for me before I incorportated it in my training programme as a recovery-session. I started out in June and have completed just over half a dusin sessions. I can clearly feel the effect when it comes to recovery-time. I feel a lot more fresh in my legs at a spesific time after a race than without sports-massage. My conclusion is that I will include this on a monthly basis-carrying out 1 hour a month.
Today I had 1 hour of sports-massage working manly on the hamstrings(30 min), legs(10 min) and 10 minutes on the quads. Last time-a week ago-I had 1/2-hour and worked only on the hamstrings due to severe thightness expereinced after the 6h-race on 21th of Aug. After todays session I feel that the thigthness has loosened up a great deal. I felt some of it during Stavanger Marathon last Saturday, but now it's almost gone. The last three days I've experienced an outburst of fluea, but that's fading away now. Tomorrow I'm back on regular training again-tapering for Berlin Marathon in just over three weeks.

Technicals:
-Quads: 10 min
-Hamstrings: 30 min
-Legs: 10 min

Monthly report: August-2010

Brandenburger Tor-Berlin

Total amount of workouts is up slightly and the distance covered is down by 20%. Verticals is down by more than 50 %. In running I've had 9 quality workouts-distributed on speed-work, running-strength and treshold pace. In addition I've completed three competitions-two marathons and an ultrarun(6h-race). I'm down on strength-training and cross-training-not doing the amount I planned in advance due to need of recovery.
Around 90 % of my training is running now. I'm set for an injury if I don't make any precautions. That'll be some more cross-training and reduced amount of training volume as I enter the tapering period now-as a matter of fact I tapered for my last marathon in Stavanger last weekend. I haven't had any problems connected with injuries, but I've been training "over the edge" when it comes to amount. I do think that to include a weekly trail-session does prevent injuries. I'll continue with that in the tapering period. My new focus-towards street-running-has paid off. I finished with a new personal best at Stavanger Marathon last Saturday-in the building period. I think that this is due to the amount of training, both in quality and in endurance-workouts.


1. Total activity:
-Workouts: 22
-Distance: 340,29 km
-Time: 33h 57m 43s
-Verticals: 3.177 m
-Calories: 22.945 C
-Days off: 9 days of 31(29 %-a bit under every third day, most of it the last 9 days-5 days).

2. Running:
-Workouts:19
-Distance: 312,25 km
-Time: 32h 05m 37s
-Verticals: 2.961 m
-Calories: 21.649 C

3. Bike:
-Workouts: 1
-Distance: 28,04 km
-Time: 1h 2m 06s
-Verticals: 216 m
-Calories: 1.296 C

4. Strength:
-Workouts: 1
-Time: 35m

5. Flexibility:
-Workouts: 1
-Time: 15m

6. Shoes:
-Mizuno Wave Ronin(innkjøpt 8.4.10)     : 489 km (from the time of buying)
-Puma Concinnity(innkjøpt 30.4.10)        : 220 km (from the time of buying)
-Montrail Masochist(innkjøpt 14.5.10)     : 379 km (from the time of buying)
-Mizuno Wave Aero 8(innkjøpt 28.7.10) : 111 km (from the time of buying)

My cross-training in the weeks to come will be swimming and cycling. Strength-training is off untill the next quarter-starting in October. My running workouts in the tapering period will consist of endurance and treshold-pace sessions. That'll last till the end of next week. I'm scaling down on my verticals-below 10/km.
My A-priority race for this quarter is only just over three weeks away-Berlin Marathon. In that race I'm racing to achieve a new personal best. More on stratetgy for the race later on.