Friday

Today's balance: Pain- and pitiful 6 miler, a massage and a I-don't-what-happened visit to naprapathic therapist. My spine was stuck and accordingly, my right leg was clearly shorter than left one. OOooooh what crazy noices the therapy caused...

Singing the old song

These hamstrings are pure evil.

Next up: massage, naprapathy, physiotherapy, md and then maybe acupuncture.

Optimal Marathon Performance

Here's a model from one run fulfilled with marathon (suprise) related discussions. It has mediators and moderators but most importantly the direct relationship between training and performance. The text related to the model is now only in Finnish, but this is not any nuclear physics...

Fartlek

Yesterday was fun. After awhile I felt like a runner. A slow one, but still. I did 10x2/2min. with a chilly tailwind. The faster intervals (5.40-5.15 pace) weren't as fast as I hoped for. In addition, hamstrings died around the 7th faster interval. Today is easy and tomorrow I have a massage. 

Enjoyed the silence

Yeah man! I'm almost back in business. Last week was about 43.5 easy miles with only one steady state 9 miler. I had two really powerful massages and the next one is on Friday. However, the same disturbing problems are bothering the pace again, but today I'll try to get back on the road no matter what. The plan is to do a fartlek workout (10x2/2 min.) which will give me some idea of my current location in the marathon matrix.

Next week I'll start a schedule aimed at "possible" 10000m race in July. This will also serve as a preparation phase for Berlin Marathon. The first workout is 6x1mile at the goal pace.

Nothing special

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/15-things-you-wouldnt-want-to-see-while-running-a/

Pain

I have had several massages and then I have had some Massages. Today was a time for the latter. I really hope that this soreness is the key to unlock the current negative trend.

Downward spiral continues

I'm pretty much done. Ready to retire. The fire is fading. I'm in the middle of this miserable downward spiral.

Today incated my current state pretty well. Race pace is slowing down (week after week) and I just can't run hills since both glutes are totally tired and hamstring are ready for some violinist. That kinda hinders the whole idea of running fast. It has been my state for awhile, and I haven't have any enjoyable run since last Summer. If this continues, I won't be running too long anymore. I don't see any reason for continuing. But before making these less believable conclusions I have to do something to correct the current situation. I'm not willing to give up yet.

Tomorrow: a day off + massage.

Warning sign

Related to my experience in Tallinn in early Feb: This would have been nice to see in that dark morming before actually meeting this dog.

Under the clouds of ash

Tempo repeats - check.

Even if my feeling wasn't too optimal, I decided to give a try. I did the same workout as last week: 4x1350m'2min. rest jog on Karikko loop (average pace 5.17/mile). During the CD I joined with a group of ultra-runners. Their races vary from 100 to 250kms. That's serious business... Thereafter I've been eating a lot. Currently, I'm on an intermission from eating.

The heading refers to this.

Even Pepsi Max does not work...

It's already Thursday but it feels like Monday afternoon. Is it good or bad I dunno. This week has sucked almost in any field. Both work and running do not provide anything to brag about. They just take my energy and give nothing back. But I like them both. Reason for this downbeat may be related to the fact that this week is easy.

Monday was off, on Tuesday I jaunted 4 miles (with 4x100m strides) in the morning and then joined triathletes in their core workout in the afternoon. This time we did an adaptation of Norwegian Olympic skiers' workout routine. Accordingly, Wednesday morning's 10 miler was flavored with sore muscles. Today I almost skipped my morning run, but did it anyway. In the afternoon I have planned to do some tempo repeats.

Long run

Long run - 18 miles. Felt relatively good. At the same time I was missing CB 10 Miler... In addition to that, today was an insane road racing weekend: marathon in Rotterdam, Milan, and Paris and then Carlsbad 5km.

Weekly mileage 63.

Here and there

I've been busy => no updates. On Wednesday I had time only for one run in the morning. The evening/night was spend at TVO's "End of days" festival. One decent rock/punk -music venue is closing down and they have a stream of concerts. I just couldn't miss Boomhauer's and Sweatmaster's performance. Accordingly Thursday was tough... no running at all but on the other hand I didn't have any extra time for that.

Yesterday I jogged something already in the morning, but the evening went at the work. It sucks. Today I joined triathletes' test run and did a 6.2 miles tempo run slower than I hoped for. At least I tried, right?

Workout Tuesday

Last week I had a great chance to run tempo repeats in a group. Or actually behind a group of faster runners. Due to tomorrow's tight schedule I had to skip this week's group run and do my tempo repeats alone already today. But it worked just fine. I did the same workout as week ago: 4xKarikko loop. This time the average pace (5.20-5.15/mile) was faster than last week's fastest one so some progress is taking place. Accordingly, I have nothing to complain about.

Maybe one thing. I did a "longer" cool down before attending core workout after the tempo reps. After I had 20 minutes in I crashed. Totally. I just noticed that I'm not running straight anymore. I had to stop for awhile before I could make my way to the indoor track. When I got back home (after 3 hrs workout session) I ate a pile of carbohydrates.

A blind date gone bad

I woke up in Tallinn, Estonia. Again. The workout "plan" said a tempo run (T pace). After setting up my Garmin I was ready to go. I headed South in order to find my way to a lake close by. There I was going to start and finish my run. Everything looked fine from Google maps. But the less artifical reality showed me after 500m's tempo effort that there was no way to get over the gate (and high fence) to the "lake road". Instead I found myself running among plenty of cars on a highway which could be characterized as a crossover of Route 29 and I-95.

The shoulder was wet and muddy and cars did not appreciate my presence too much. Luckily, after 2 miles I noticed a paved cycle path on the other side of the highway which eased my anxiety a bit. I was so happy meet that after the rough start...