Patrick
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The finish line - and beyond
Monday, February 18th, 2008It´s all over now. After months of preparations and a hard day on the Thames Path the Thames Meander is now behind me. Good, but also a bit sad.
I had a fine day overall. Freezing temperature at the start. It was a bit hard to run straight into the wind the first 10 to 15 miles. The muddy sections during the first half also took their toll. I got passed by quite a few during the first 4 to 5 hours. But later on I found my stride. I teamed up with Jan Soderqvist who is an excellent map-reader and he guided us through the tricky parts of the course.
During the late afternoon we ran along as smoothly as can be expected on an ultra. We got into some navigations problems after the last checkpoint, where the wind was absolutely freezing as well, and lost the chance of a sub 10 hour time.
The last 3-4 miles along the river were great. For the first time ever I managed to increase my speed during the last section of an ultra. I think I did the last 4 miles at about 8min45s per mile. It almost felt like flying.
My hat is off to all runners, the organizers and to all volunteers that stood outside in the cold most of the day waiting for us and passing on water and kind words.
No Comments »Getting close
Friday, February 8th, 2008The last week before a big race is always peculiar. You are supposed to rest and therefore you get a lot spare time and nagging urge to go out and run, which you should not do. I try to distract myself by devoting my time to choose the right clothes and extra equipment. I decided to not use a headlight. Instead I will a strong small torchlight and a good reflex vest to make sure I am visible.
I will go out for medium long run tomorrow night to test that everything works well.
No Comments »Time to taper
Monday, February 4th, 2008I did my last long hard run yesterday. 20 miles on a snowy and muddy forest trail. It was not a nice experience, but a necessary physical and mental test. I did not run fast, but steady. And that is my only goal on Feb 16. To able to plod along the whole day and reach the finish not to long after sunset.
I will bring more extra clothing along. After 3 hours running I was competely soaked. I think it is good idea being able to change into nice dry clothing half-way.
No I start my tapering. Just some nice relaxed runs from now on until Feb 16.
No Comments »Final push
Thursday, January 31st, 2008I am well into the final week of hard training. I started off doing 21 kms on a hilly forest trail carrying a full backpack. I managed a steady 6 min/km all through the run, which bodes good. But the TM is four times as long…
Today I plan two sessions. 6 fast kms on the treadmill at lunch followed by 12 slower kms this evening with the back-pack again.
The dress-rehearsal will be a 28 km forest run on Sunday with the backpack and headlight on. After that just slow jogs and rest until Feb 16.
No Comments »Peak training
Friday, January 25th, 2008Just three weeks left to the race. Allowing 10 days for tapering means there is only a week and a half left for hard training. This week has been good so far. I have done three quite fast runs between 15 and 20 kms each. The first 5 kms are always hard. But after that the feet start moving and I come in to a good nice stride.
This next days will be crucial. I plan two more long runs to move my weekly total up to 100 kms. If the legs and feet fell ok I will top up the training with a 70-80 km week before I taper.
No Comments »Rain and wind
Monday, January 21st, 2008Awful weather today. A hard wind was blowing and heavy rains all day. I still managed 20 kms on forest trails full of mud and small ponds. I was drenched and cold to the bone afterwards and very happy that the run was over.
No Comments »Caution required
Monday, January 14th, 2008I have done five runs in six days with both speed sessions and hill training. Maybe I have been too hard at it. I feel a slight numbness in the legs and some pain in my right foot. Intensive training means increasing the risk of injury. I have learnt the hard way that it is important to put in days of rest even when you are on roll and just want to train more.
No training today therefore. If the pain goes away I´ll be back on the road during the weekend. After that, only three more weeks of hard training before the taper starts.
No Comments »Getting momentum
Wednesday, January 9th, 2008I am starting to gain some momentum in my training. I have run 4×12 km in the last 5 days and I begin to feel more comfortable running at a faster pace than before. I managed 200 kms of running in December despite some illness and really bad weather. I hope to manage between 250 and 300 kms in January.
I have also tested how it feels to run with a loaded backpack. It feels ok, at least when I run at a slower pace. I really don´t know how it will feel to carry 4 kgs during 10 hours of running. I still haven´t bought a headlight. Sone I can´t postpone it anymore.
No Comments »Cold and icy
Monday, January 7th, 2008The temperature was minus 5 this morning and the roads were icy and empty. Not the best conditions for a morning run. But I managed a slow 12 km run anyhow. Not a good run. But still more kms in the bag and hopefully something that will make me mentally stronger. You need to be strong in the mind if you want to finish a tough race like the Thames Meander.
No Comments »Good finish
Tuesday, January 1st, 2008November and December went bad for me training wise. But I managed to wrap up the year in decent way. I ended the year with a 63 km club run on Dec 30. Together with a three shorter runs I managed to do my first 100 km week since September. Best of all my legs feel good, which should mean that I am still reasonably fit and should be able to handle harder training during January.
Only seven weeks left to the race. Discount one week for a short taper, and another week with light training, there are only four weeks available for hard training.
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