2:59 !!!

First run of the year after having a cold.

moderate effort

with 5 strides

moderate

easy long run

moderate, lots of rain

with 3 strides

Crescendo: 20´ easy, 15´ moderate, 10´ tempo

easy/moderate

jogging on snow

easy long run

Doing 4 x 1k tempo (~4:25min/km)

+ 10´ strecthing

tired legs

+ 10´ core strength

42´ easy/moderate, 5 strides

+ 10´ stretching

60´ incl. 5 k "fast and relaxed" in 22:53 on a muddy and slightly hilly road. I´m not worried, it will get faster soon.

36' very easy

+ 10' core strength

94' easy & funny with Maike, Jens & Thomas (--> 5000m in 14:48, Holy cow!)

+ 10´ stretching

34´ easy, 3 strides

Using a 4-day recovery block to test what works for my immediate marathon taper (last week). Looks like:

Monday: rest

Tuesday: 30-40´ easy with strides

Wednesday: rest

Thursday: 30-40´ easy with strides

Friday: return to normal schedule

There are 2 more opportunities when racing a 10k and a half to find out what works for me.

31´easy, 3 strides

+ 10´ stretching

8 km Marathon Pace: 4:47, 4:51, 4:42, 4:52, 4:43, 4:46, 4:42, 4:35/km

Should have been between 4:50 and 5:00 min/km, but it was the first marathonpace-run since months and my legs felt great after my 4-days-marathon-taper-test. Could really be an option! Also the run was too short to have respect for that pace. Did that pace (4:50/km) easily for 25 km while I trained (and injured) for my fall marathon last year. The big issue will be how I feel at that pace when I run more miles in general and longer marathonpace-runs (up to 60 min, but not more).

58' easy

+ 10' stretching

91´ easy/moderate with Daniel on a hilly & muddy route

Decided not to run a marathon in April because my Achilles tendonitis reacts when running faster paces. Will go the long & lonely road now: just running consistently easy/moderate paces for 6 days a week, year round.

+ 10´ stretching

62´ easy, tired from yesterday

+ 10´ stretching

64´ moderate, went really well after 30´

+ 10´ usual core strength

57´ easy

I love to run at sunset! It´s scary how good I am feeling during my runs at the moment. Not that I am very fast, but it´s the first time I feel like this since many years...

+ 10´ stretching

Planned my rest day for carnival, we call this day "fat thursday". Our town halls are getting "stormed" by carnivals, mayors will be arrested. Really funny, everyone´s dressed, I´ve been an Indian. Too bad that there isn´t an opportunity to upload photos... (-: After my regular work day I served drinks to carnivals. Would have been easier (and more fun) to run... (-:
 

63´ easy/moderate

tried some Kenyan-style running, though much slower: separated in 20´ jogging, 20´ easy, 20´ moderate. First km 6:23, last 4:41.

Was harder to get into running then the weeks before. Yesterday´s rest including a very good night of sleep (8 hours) maybe was too much recovery. (-; or is that normal after a day off?

+ 10´ stretching

66´ easy - really found what works for me, running feels great at the moment.

+ 10´ strength

92´ easy in the wind & snow with a lot of steep climbs = my new running area, we´ll move to our new house this spring.

64´ easy - sweet hilly new home

+ 10´ stretching

60´ moderate - just let it roll (fast & relaxed) after a few miles on a hilly & icy route. Feels just great at the moment!

+ 10´ stretching

58´ easy

+ 10´ strength

62´ easy

9 h-work-day including a 3 h-meeting, kids & wife having a cold, had to work at the new house and walk the dog after work, first time to think about running at 8 PM, drizzling rain and dark streets, expected run should be...? GREATEST! I´m a bit scared how well training is going...

+ 10´ stretching

95´ easy/moderate

ran from 270m altitude to 505m and back (happens when you want to run in the forests rather than on the streets...). Could welcome the first cranes again, spring is coming!! Had to do my long run today instead of sunday. Will have to help evacuate parts of our city on sunday because an american aircraft bomb was found while construction works. But I would never ever blame you for that. Even 2 generations after, we know history very well... )-:

60´ easy

After a short night and evacuating the city because of the aircraft bomb in the morning, I had to be creative with our family life. So when we went for a family walk, I ran there and back. Some of the course with my 6-year-old son Paul on his bike, some meters running with my 4-year-old son Henri. In between my wife with our Labrador Paula. Fun in the sun!

+ 10´ stretching

71´ mainly easy/moderate

ran to our new house and back, but there are two nasty hills. Could not do otherwise than ran hard because of the really steep climbs (parts with >15%). Did 2k at the end fast & relaxed.

58´ easy

+ 10´ stretching

60´ easy

very tired from work and family life. Felt like the last 10k of a marathon, it was iron will...

+ 10´ strength

58' easy

still tired, but it gets better...

94´ easy/moderate

with my friend Wombat, who is a very good ultra-/trailrunner. It was very cold & very windy with a lot of snow. There were a lot of snow banks we had to run through...Funny: Wombat never runs in long running shorts. Since artic air flows through Western Europe at the moment, even the skier were packed like Eskimos. They were staggered to watch him running along their slope with his shorts...

60´ easy

Tom was right: I had 2 very good nights of sleep, my weightless running feeling is back again! I´m happy that I didn´t run less mileage in the middle of the week. Would have have been able to run faster today. But because of the artic air with very cold temperatures, the weather is also very sunny. So I decided to take photos of my new running course. It was one of my best runs ever, this is why I love this sport so much! If you´re interested how my running course looks like: https://www.strava.com/activities/1425839627

Couldn´t run because on an influenza which kept me one week completely in bed and one week to get back to normal health. Crazy, never had fever and shivers 7 days at a stretch...

Finally running again. 33' easy.

40' easy

28' easy & tired

33' easy after a birthday party with my sons and their friends in a children hall. Harder than a marathon! (-: luckily running gets better.

34' easy

58´ easy & hilly

58´ easy

convinced that those 3-weeks-off didn´t have killed all the fitness I have gained in January and February.

41´ very easy

62' moderate

Felt very tired, maybe because of a stressful week. Hope it isn't still an impact of influenza.

40' easy

62' moderate with Wombat, better than the days before!

35' easy

53´ moderate including 10 x 1´ fast/ 1´ easy

I´m back in my normal routine with about 40-45 miles per week. Trying to run that consistent in April and going for more in May (~50 miles) if that works well. I was careful about the tempo of the minutes because it didn´t run that fast for months. I like minutes because they´re a great way to get some faster running into your legs without that exhausting effect of longer intervals. That´s not what I am shooting for in this stage.

62´ easy

It´s surprising how fast (5:20/km, 8:34/mile) those truly easy runs are at the moment. I don´t look at the watch and don´t push the pace when running easy. There´s no special time goal, just running by feeling. I think there are 3 main reasons for this:

1. Due to Easter holidays I am able to sleep almost 8 hours each night.
2. A 3-week-break in Febraury because of an influenza.
3. I´m simply not running enough... (-:

71' moderate

Rest day

49´ including 5k tempo run

40´ easy

92´ easy

Because my achilles tendon showed a little reaction to the faster running of this week, I decided to go through a real base-building phase this summer. In my understanding of running, I am a low-mileage runner who needs a lot of prudence to stay injury free. Therefore I will have just one goal: mileage! In Germany, 100 kilometers is what a local runner with a bit of ambition is going for. I want to find the savest way to reach that until August...this year...(-:

My plan is as follows:

1. primarily easy and moderate runs

2. making small mileage jumps from month to month (rough & perfect plan: April 70 kmpw, May 80, June 90, July 100 with recovery weeks here and there)

2. spreading volume over the week as even as possible (i.e. no real long runs)

3. no intervals, hard tempos or serious races

Since my 10k and HM-PB are much better than my Marathon-PB, I´m in the curious situation that my moderate runs often are as fast or even faster than marathon-pace. I will fix that with higher volume and more tempo-runs in common marathon training cycles. Also I am living and running in the Central German Uplands with somestimes long and/or steep rises. I will try to use this topography to build my fitness.

This plan sounds very boring, I know, but it´s simple and flexible.  

59´ easy

61' moderate home from work

65' easy

Rest day - just trampoline with my sons (-:

61' moderate

62' easy

90' easy

Tired legs because I dug the garden the last two days. But as in the last few days it began to feel good after 40 minutes.

63´ easy

felt like crap because of stomach cramps, got better after 40 minutes again...

61´ easy fartlek (300-1000m segments fast with longer easy running in between)

after an 8 hrs work day and then 2 hrs gardening. Amazing what a body is able to handle if it gets enough sleep.

What a day...not worth mentioning! Hectic, taxing, annoying and no running.

Nice times will come! 

62' easy

67' incl. 30' tempo ~4:30/km

Would be a nice pace for my marathon in October...(-;

62' easy

Ran exactly the same mileage as last week! No progression! (-:

121' easy with Daniel, 50% on technical trails

Rest day

Work, house delivery & parents evening...

62´ easy

My legs are feeling "itchy" and hurt at hips, knees & feet. Think it´s too much stress to work at the new house and doing my runs. I´m angry with myself that I even included a light fartlek and a tempo run last week. Stupid! I need to get smarter with that...I don´t want to reduce mileage, will just run easier for a few days.

63' easy

63' easy

59' moderate

62' easy

99' easy

61' easy

63' easy

Rest day

92': 70' easy/10' moderate/5' M-pace/7' easy On my way to get a LSD-proponent. I really like this easy and smart approach to distance running. Having a good balance between running and life at the moment!

63' easy

58´ easy

Just read Joe Henderson´s "Long Slow Distance - The human way to train". Since I was forced to train very relaxed because of an Achilles tendonitis last fall, I´m on my metamorphosis to a LSD-runner.  I think Henderson´s method isn´t the best nor the worst. I´m training consistently and enjoying every run because I´m relaxed. Love it!

(that doesn´t mean I won´t run faster when needed - it´s just about the very relaxed approach)

94' easy

59' easy

Didn't wait to run at first because I was tired and had a headache. But the run was all the more better! Came as close as 1 yard to a deer!

62' easy

70' easy, 10' tempo-run, 10' easy

62' easy

60' moderate, 3x30" strides

Rest day: more sleep, more water, more stretching than usual.

127' easy

63' easy

Felt faster, but was very slow. Could be because of the miles in the last weeks and especially the 2-hour-run yesterday. Just listened to my body and kept it relaxed.

64' easy

Rest day

60' easy/20' tempo-run/15' easy

62' easy

62' easy, 3 strides

120´ easy

The hills made it harder than I think it should be. Feeling tired, sore legs and some kind of headache. Since the last run of 2 hours felt the same, I don´t know what to do: cutting back again or going through?

55' Jogging

65' easy Legs and overall well-being are good again. Will practise intermittent fasting for a while because I'm still too heavy. Made good experiences in the past.

69´: 5 k easy / 5 k tempo / 3,7 k easy

Came into a thunderstorm without rainjacket. It was scary and fulfilling at once to feel the power of nature. I felt free like a bird, one of the best runs of my life!

66' easy

71' easy, 3 strides

Having a cold, need to take a few days off.
 

63' easy

Back after a cold...also have to work a lot at our new house. In July, we will move in.

60' easy

90': 60' easy, 20' tempo, 10' easy

61' easy

65´ easy

Had a little tweak in my left Achilles tendon (not the injured one) the last two days, so I´ll take it easy the next few days. It´s all right again today!

60' easy

120' easy including 3 strides to tell my legs to run faster at the end. Could be better, but right now mileage is all that is important.

65' easy

Legs very well rested after the long run yesterday, think that's a good sign, isn't it?

This week I will run not as many miles because of a triathlon relay on sunday. I will take the 5k run-part and will have to run well because the mayor of our city (and my boss therefore) will take the bike-part. (-;

64' very easy

Tried so safe energy for the rest of the week.

Rest day

too much work, too tired

6:15 am: 4,4 k easy

7:00 pm: 8,3 k incl. 5x1' fast/ 1' easy

I'm kind of stuck at slow pace. Need to do more strides and minutes to get to a good easy pace again.

42' easy

Good running feeling!

Easy incl. 3 strides

3,8 k warm-up

5,5 k in 21:50 in a triathlon-relay. The course was a bit hilly throught a forest with a difficult underground. Often the lumberjack put crushed rock on the course, so it wasn´t very comfortable to run. Happy with that time on this ground and out of base training. Nearly didn´t do intervals at all before. Now my team is "Saarländischer Betriebssportmeister" (company-facilitated sport activity in my state) and am not fired because my boss was happy with my effort. (-:

5 k cool-down

6 am: 5 k easy

8 pm: 7,3 k easy with my 7 year old son on the bike

63' easy

The 5k-race definitiv had a positive effect to my easy running pace. Felt very well!

rest day and birthday of my son Henri (5). It´s a great sensation to be father of such an amazing boy!

6:15 am: 5 k easy

6:00 pm: 7,16 k easy at "Firmenlauf Dillingen", a run for companies. Took it easy and had a lot of fun with my colleagues!

3 k easy

7 k @4:26/km

3 k easy

62' total

8 am: 4 k easy to bakery

8:30 pm: 8 k easy after 12 hrs of work at our new home. Even ran during country game Germany-Sweden, but came right back for the final 2:1 in the last minute! YEAH!

120' easy

good run at a good pace!

rest day

Have some pain at my left kneecap which came after tempo-run last friday. After the 5 k-race last weekend, I ran 3 days easy and took a day off, then that tempo-run. The only reason I can imagine despite I am old (-: is that I ran parts of the race and the tempo-run downhill. Knee hurts only when I bend the knee, but it hurted every step of the long run yesterday. Don´t think it will be a big thing, but I will have to respect it this week.

rest day

Think this is what I am affected by: http://fastrunningblog.com/forum/index.php/topic,1571.0.html

I don´t really know what I did wrong. It seems like everytime I am going beyond 50 miles/week and trying to implement tempo (carefully), my body reacts with inflammation: last year Achilles tendon, this time kneecap. I believe that I don´t have a good balance between mileage/speed. Last year I barely ran 1.250 miles for the year. Maybe it´s a bit too much to run >50 miles per week this year.

Right now, I am thinking about limiting miles to 45 miles/week and 160/month to stay injury free.

If there are any ideas/suggestions, I would appreciate!

64' very careful

Little pain in the knee after the run. Hope to get that fixed soon.

20' Stretching

15' Core

15' Stretching legs

Knee got worse again. )-: will try to use the time to get stronger in core and more flexible in legs. That's all I can do for now...

5x1' Bridge

20' Stretching

10' Blackroll

15' Core

15' Stretching legs

5x1' Bridge

15' Blackroll

Rest day

Rest day

Rest day

30' easy

10' Core

20' Stretching

Trying Sasha's General Injury Prevention/Recovery Philosophy. Knee doesn't hurt itself, but when I push the tendon. So I won't push anymore (clever) and try to run what I can every day. Think this will be a long term issue, so I will carefully trying to get back to run an hour daily.

30' easy

5x1' Bridge

10' Blackroll

Knee still hurts, it will be a long way...

30' easy

10' core

40' easy

4 x 1:15 Bridge

20' Stretching

40' easy

10' core

40' easy

4 x 1:15 bridge

Rest day

50' easy

50' easy

4 x 1:15 Bridge

10' Blackroll

50' easy

10' core

60' easy

3 x 1:40 Bridge

15' Stretching

60' easy

10' core

60' easy

rest day

60' easy to swimming pool, very hot weather in the next 2 weeks here.

15' core

68' incl. 1k @4:49/km

3 x 1:40 Bridge

10' Blackroll

Very hot weather again.

60' easy, 98 degrees even in Germany! (-;

15' Stretching

62' easy, 1x30" stride

10' core

59' easy

3 x 1:40 Bridge

121' easy

A friend of me celebrated his birthday with a run and a party after. Great to met a lot of old running friends!

20' Stretching

rest day

69' easy

10' core

61' easy fartlek

had a lot of fun, will do this more often!

2 x 2:30 bridge

54' very easy

Again hot and humid

20' stretching

60' progression run, we call it "crescendo" here in Germany.

10' core before the run, maybe that's why I had a stitch while running downhill...

60' easy

Good for marathon runners: there's no bakery anymore in our village, so you can run a few extra miles.

85 degrees at 9 am: crazy!

2 x 2:30 Bridge

20' Stretching

2:16 hrs easy

rest day

67' very easy

+ core

I was dizzy several times at work because of the heat, so I ran extremly relaxed. Maybe I should do more often! 😉

60' incl. 4,6 k hill-run, 190 m difference in altitude

61' easy

core/stretching

77' moderate

51' easy

2:29 hrs easy

Good run, no problems with length and pace.

Rest day

59' easy incl. 3x20" strides

as always very tough after a rest day...56 hours of non-running since the long run was finished!

68' incl. 10k tempo-run @4:31/km

Very even splits, I'm still able to run like a swiss clock (we say here in Germany), even if it isn't as fast as a few years ago. But there is hope! 😉

57' easy

Remember my boss who wanted me to run in this triathlon relay a few weeks ago (He's a sub3-marathoner btw)? He called me at 7.30 pm after 10 hours of work already to give a presentation about elections for his party. After I did I started my run at 9.15 pm. No chance I would miss a run! 😂

55' easy

2:46 hrs easy

again a very good feeling. Now I have to go to a wedding including a 40th birthday. It will be a hard day...

54' easy

I built a good base during the last months, but I'm still afraid of muscular problems in the marathon. Hope that will get better the next weeks. I planned a recovery week, so just 30-35 miles next week.

Rest day

42' easy

61' easy

Unplanned rest day, worked 14 hours instead...doesn't hurt that much during a recovery week.

97' easy with my friend Daniel

"Rest day": stag night with friends in Cologne...

82' easy

End of recovery week.

59' easy

5x800m in 3:09/13/11/11/10, 400m jog recovery (2:20)

Had to fight with playing kids, smoking football adviser and even dogs on the track: horrible!

Rest day

61' easy, 3 strides

74' incl. 11k tempo-run @4:31/km

52' easy

2:59 hrs easy

Fighting with a light cold, but it's not that I feel bad. So I decided to start the run and see how I feel. I thought so much about it that I came into a "Forrest Gump-mode". I said: "I came until this point, so I can run to the next" and so on. The first loop was about 25k...

First run without carbohydrate intake.

Rest day

Cold got worse...need to take a few rest days...

Rest day because of a cold. We´re speaking a very special dialect in my area which says "fregg" for having a cold. Maybe you can surprise your family/friends next time you´re suffering from a cold! (-:

I´m always trying to see things positive:

- this will be the last "fregg" before my marathon

- the marathon is still 7 weeks away. It would be worse to have a "fregg" later

- maybe this break saved me from a more serious injury/illness/overtraining

Will be back soon! (-;

Rest day because of a cold. We´re speaking a very special dialect in my area which says "fregg" for having a cold. Maybe you can surprise your family/friends next time you´re suffering from a cold! (-:

I´m always trying to see things positive:

- this will be the last "fregg" before my marathon

- the marathon is still 7 weeks away. It would be worse to have a "fregg" later

- maybe this break saved me from a more serious injury/illness/overtraining

Will be back soon! (-;

Rest day because of a cold. We´re speaking a very special dialect in my area which says "fregg" for having a cold. Maybe you can surprise your family/friends next time you´re suffering from a cold! (-:

I´m always trying to see things positive:

- this will be the last "fregg" before my marathon

- the marathon is still 7 weeks away. It would be worse to have a "fregg" later

- maybe this break saved me from a more serious injury/illness/overtraining

Will be back soon! (-;

Felt that I need another rest day to recover from fregg...😉

64' incl. 3 steep hill sprints

Bought that idea from Brad Hudson who uses hill-sprints for his runners as injury prevention. I will incorporate them very carefully into my training because I'm in the middle of my marathon training cycle. So I'm trying not to change too much too quickly. Just a few sprints once or twice a week as muscle training.

Cold is still there, but I'm feeling well enough to run easily.

64' easy

Planned was a 2-hour-run, but I'm still not fully recovered from that cold. Need to accept the situation and be patient...Shit happens! 😉

cold

cold

cold

63' easy, 3 hill sprints

Finally healthy again!

77' incl. 12k tempo-run @4:35/km

Could have easily run faster, but wanted to run as close as possible at marathon-pace...

41' Jogging

3:01 hrs easy with Guy

Very confident, it was really easy throughout the run.

Rest day

Football with my sons is always fun!

50' incl. 4x1000m in 4:02/4:03/4:02/3:58, 500m jog recovery

Fresh legs although I ran 33k 2 days ago. Think that's a good sign!

Now mini-3-day-taper for a 10k-race on saturday.

42' Jogging

44' easy:

first 20' jogging with my son Paul (7). He easily kicks my a## running downhill-trails...

24' easy including 3x1' fast with 3' jog recovery

29' easy incl. 3x20" strides

98' splitted as follows:

9 am: 22' easy, 3,4k as a pre-race jog

15 pm: 16' warm-up incl. 3 strides, 3k

15:30 pm: 10k-race in 39:58, splits: 3:54/3:55/3:58/4:06/4:00/4:01/4:08/4:01/3:59/3:50

It was 17 degrees Celsius (63 degrees Fahrenheit), but windy, which made the splits uneven. Especially the way back was hard against the wind. Expected to run 40 to 41 minutes in the 2nd 10k of my 2nd running career, so I'm very happy with that time. This gives me confidence to go for 3:15 hrs in the marathon in 5 weeks. Let's go for sub 1:30 hrs in the planned half-marathon in 2 weeks!

16:30 pm: 20' cool-down, 4k

64' Jogging

Well-deserved rest day

79': 3,5k with my son Paul (7), rest easy

65' easy

81' incl. 13k @4:32/km

Felt really good, no pain in Achilles tendon and knee anymore! Thanks to 2 x stretching per day in the last few weeks!

58' Jogging