Etikettarkiv: exercise

Time for a change

So, running is coming back again, still need to improve muscular toning and then start working up to the distances I used to run before the summer when I fell off the wagon. However, I feel the energy is coming back already, stress is dwindling as the kilometers tick away when I go out jogging and all the benefits are doing me well!

But now it is time for a new goal. This is to reduce weight with about 15 kg of my excess weight and the goal date is March 31st 2012. It is a decent goal, meaning around 0,5 kg a week until then and so it should be possible without having to go on a starving diet. Keep jogging and just eating smaller portions, less junk, get the breakfast habit going (even if it will be just a protein drink) and be more careful in the evenings to not eat more than necessary.

I have done it before. I can do it again. I need to do it again and so this starts today. Weigh-ins will be wednesday nights after supper but before running (if it is a running day).

My electronic scale claims to be able to discern body fat and water content as a percentage of total body weight. Although I am skeptic to how accurate this actually is – I certainly will log it as well and see where that takes me.

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Training Wk 35

Good week this week, started quite good on Monday with 4,5 km running and then pretty much nothing until Sunday for another 4,4 km. Not very well disposed this week but there has been lots to do and I have gotten home tired and out of what. Better next week!

Day by day

Monday
Running 4,5 km – from home via Slammertorp rd then on the illuminated track and back through the center, good round.
Tuesday
Resting
Wednesday
Resting
Thursday
Resting
Friday
Resting
Saturday
Resting
Sunday
4,4 km in Altorp with Jenny. I felt like crap, the running was bad, the trail however was great so I hope to do it a few more times before the snow sets in, and the company was splendid as always. Love to run with Jenny, it is something I always look forward to.

This Week

Total distance 9,24 km Total tim 1:29:48 HMS
Avg tempo 9:43 min/km Avg. speed 6,2 km/h
Max. HR 168 bpm Avg. HR 152,5 bpm
Training Effect 5,0 TE/EPOC Energy spent 1 213 kcal
VO2(max) 30 ml/kg/min Peak EPOC 158 ml/kg
Max. ventilation 80 l/min Max breathing 38 bpm

Last Week

Total distance 11,79 km Total tim 2:08:36 HMS
Avg tempo 9:05 min/km Avg. speed 6,6 km/h
Max. HR 177 bpm Avg. HR 151 bpm
Training Effect 4,4 TE/EPOC Energy spent 1 626 kcal
VO2(max) 30 ml/kg/min Peak EPOC 156 ml/kg
Max. ventilation 102 l/min Max breathing 46 bpm

Training wk 20

Basingstoke was a bit of a strange place to me. Very sort of run down in the centre area, sad looking people in most places but once you got out of there to the Old Basing area it was different. Much nicer. So I did most of my running out to the east of the actual city and I liked it quite a bit actually.

The downside is the lack of sidewalks. It is a narrow road, 30/40 mph but people generally seems to drive a lot faster and the lack of sidewalks makes it a risky business to go running here in the dark so that is not recommended. I did my runs in the afternoon and that was ok though I had a close encounter with some stingy nettles trying to avoid a car at one time. I was running in shots.

Last day I ran in the War Memorial park, rather central to the Basingstoke city and it was a different experience. Lots of people there, children and dogs playing and then a number of drunks yelling offensive words at people walking (and jogging) past. Quite the experience when I answered back and decided to not run past them again ;)

Day by day

Monday
Starting of from the hotel at London Rd. and then around Basing Commons and back again. A nice route actually with asphalt the whole way. Made a couple of wrong turns on my way back but it did not matter, I was not out to do it on any particular time, I was just happy to go running.
Tuesday
Another round similar to Monday run but farther away in a bigger circle and checking out that nice old railway bride (and the pub on the other side, where we went back in the evening to grab some drinks and a meal) and it was a beautiful run! My legs was a little tired but I managed a steady and nice pace anyhow.
Wednesday
Rest
Thursday
Rest
Friday
Around the War Memorial park in Basingstoke City. Nice place in general except for the drunks being rather offensive there.
Saturday
Rest
Sunday
Rest

This Week

Total distance 17,92 km Total tim 2:32:28 HMS
Avg tempo 8:31 min/km Avg. speed 7.1 km/h
Max. HR 168 bpm Avg. HR 154 bpm
Training Effect 4,4 TE/EPOC Energy spent 3 220 kcal
VO2(max) 49 ml/kg/min Peak EPOC 194 ml/kg
Max. ventilation 83 l/min Max breathing 41 bpm

Last Week

Total distance 11.66 km Total tim 1:33:13 HMS
Avg tempo 8:00 min/km Avg. speed 7,5 km/h
Max. HR 172 bpm Avg. HR 150 bpm
Training Effect 4.1 TE/EPOC Energy spent 2 051 kcal
VO2(max) 51 ml/kg/min Peak EPOC 201 ml/kg
Max. ventilation 83 l/min Max breathing 41 bpm

Better than last week, still under the 20 km I want to do in a a week on average (or more really) but still okay considering traveling and all that. Tempo is not so bad, running in unfamiliar terrain and so on, and the condition figures (mainly VO2max and ventilation) seems to be on the right track still.

I have decided that next week will be really good working out :)

Training Wk 30

A nice week but a little slow on the training side because we went to our summerhouse for a bit of holiday and I did one 5k run there around the lake. They have built a new gravel road there in order to be able to run timber from the woods out of the area but this road is hardly worth the name, it was soft and difficult to run, lots of potholes and fist-sized rocks strewn about and it was also quite hilly, not surprising actually. After that we came back home to Stockholm again and I had a really nice run together with my friend Jenny.

Jenny who started running in 2006 and then had a couple of stops since she’s had two children since that time, runs at a tempo that is a bit higher than mine usually but this was really good, she could slow down and I could work on getting a little better tempo in to my run. Not to mention she’s just such a great person and nice to talk to so we had a really good run although we took a couple of wrong turns so the 6,7 km yellow track at Altorp became about 7,7 km instead, no problem there.

Tonight I am going for a run where I live so that will make it 3 runs this week.

Then I have less than two weeks before Midnattsloppet to train for it, I am not worried but I need to get a quality week of running in and then a long distance run and some rest the days before the actual race, I think that will be good.

And of course more runs with Jenny!

Training Weeks 28-29

Week 28 started out with a good contiuation of the previous couple of weeks with a 5 km run on Monday before I left for the Summerhack meeting in Skutskär. While there I found this beautiful bike/jogging trail going all the way to Rullsand, one of the finest beaches in whole of Sweden so I started out on Tuesday by running almost all the way there and then back again, making some 6,5 km.

Then one day of resting the legs and hacking in the night (Carpe Noctum as we say) before setting off on my next run all the way out to Rullsand and back again completing a full 10 km if I include the warmup and cooldown walks as well, it was a beautiful run with loads of energy and the kilometers just ticked away as the legs moved. Not too fast either just a great running experience with the exception of the mosquitoes and flies that set on in the woodland parts of the track.

That was it for week 28.

In wk 29 I started on Monday with a tempo based run with lots of hills, the ordinary long track at home 3,5 km one lap and did a pretty good time despite being intervals and kept a 7:23 tempo on average. On Tuesday I did my second 10 km PLUS warmup/cooldown (Kallhäll-Ängsjö-Kallhäll) so in total about 12 km actually but the running part was 10,9 km. This was asphalt for the full length with the exception of the first and last km that was gravel road.

This run was also a really good one, I even though parts are extremely hilly on this run but I managed with a few walks to get the pulse down again to jog at a really steady pace most of the time. Tempo was about 9:07 min/km which is slow but still, for being me not bad at all, I was really happy but very tired when I got back home. A bit overtraining here if I believe the training watch I am using.

On Thursday I tried jogging again but it was terrible, I just went home after 2 km that felt terrible. Bad sleep from the heat and not enough fluid as well as the 10 clicks from 2 days earlier was still in the system, it was better just give it a rest actually.

Saturday I visited a friend in Täby, Jenny B and ”borrowed” her usual track. Took a few wrong turns there so her 5 k run turned out to be a 6 k run for me but did well and it felt really really good!

Trail running 7km

Sunday was another first for me, running trail! I have heard much about it so I did myself a map over the trails in the area and laid out a 7 km run on them. It was not fun. It was just BRILLIANT! I have never really had so much fun running. Roots and fist-sized stones, slippery boulders, wet pine needles and loose branches as well as mud, cold water streams to jump across, a little bit of old forgotten gravel road and then back into the woods again.

There was a mist all through the woods, permeating everything and the really tricky parts I had to negotiate half crawling but it was challenging, hilly, technical, lovely and just something I really really enjoyed doing.

 

Challenging is an understatement. Compared to running on even ground this is so much more difficult, you got to keep a cool head and THINK all the time in order to not put yer foot in the wrong place and slip leading to a sprained ankle or even breaking something. When you get tired you have to be even more careful of the footing but it was just great.

I am going to keep doing trails more often now that I know how fun that is!

 

Training Wk 25-27

The training is going well despite the extremely hot weather we are having. I have started my holidays now so my training is done outdoors exclusively since I don’t wanna go into work just to use the gym there.

Wk 25 saw 4 passes all between 2-4 km but wk 26 I ran every day, 7 workouts in total and it was great, the legs felt really good. Of course i ran shorter and easier between the longer tougher runs but active resting seems much better than just not running at all!

By the end of Wk 26 I did my first 10 km ever. It is difficult to tell you how good that felt. It was not a high paced run or anything but just to be able to go on for 10 km without stopping was a big win for me.

Wk 27 had 5 workouts because I had a bit too much other things to do on two of the days but I was pretty happy with that, the Suunto training watch has upgraded me to activity class 8,5 which is very high on the scale but also means I have to work harder in order to maintain the training effect I am looking for. This is an indication that my condition has improved a lot since I started on activity class 7.

The legs need to get stronger, now that the condition is improved it is easy to run out of strength and fuel and in this heat water… I generally do not bring a flask of water when I go running mainly because I don’t like carrying it in my hand and I don’t have any belts or similar for carrying additional drinks with me. I might get that some day but for the short runs I do these days it is generally enough to drink before and after.

But last saturday got me thinking when I tried to repeat the 10 k run I did the week before it just stopped working after 7 km. I was definitely in the zone up to that point but then I started getting into all sorts of trouble and when my right thigh muscles started to cramp up painfully I decided enough is enough and walked back home without pushing my luck.

This week seems to be just as hot and frankly, last nights run was not really cool at all even if I started at midnight it was still hot. Incredible.

My first 10 km run!

I did it! My first 10 km run tonight. Not very fast at all, instead I forced myself to run really really slow keeping the heart beat low and not considering the pace or the time really just letting the kilometers drop away.

My favourite lap times five, it’s about 1800 meters and then down towards the beach and back going home again.

And it actually felt quite nice. Right now my feet hurt a little but during the running it just felt good. Strange that, I hardly thought I could make it and then it even felt good. I’ve been training at a too high pulse as usual before.

Streak Running

Not the same thing as streaking that is, but I have been running every day since Sunday and I am starting to notice results. Condition goes up very fast and now I need to let the muscles and ligaments catch up. I am back at about 6 km and are working my way up to 10 km slowly in low tempo but still jogging. Yay.

7 weeks to my first race!

There are just seven weeks to Midnattsloppet now and I have not been getting the exercise necessary. Time to change all that, there will be some training every day now from short runs to weight lifting, treadmill, forest and asphalt running and not more than 1-2 resting days a week. Together with a better diet and no alcohol what so ever I think it may still be possible.

The demons to fight are excessive food intake, the heat outside as this is the hottest period in Sweden with temperatures reaching 30ºC it is better doing pulse-high activities in the evening rather than in the mid-day sunshine. Such as my 2.1 km run today which was tough but I still felt good after it.

I am currently developing my exercise schedule based on good advice from funbeat.se the greatest training community in Sweden right now.

Training Wk 19

Today the training will consist just of a walk. I have gotten a major cold that I have been incubating a few days but this morning I was really under the ice. Therefore no more cardio training this week but the weather is so good that I want to make a walk around my favourite track tonight.

Two good runs on monday and wednesday this week however, another 6k run on Monday and intervals for 4km on wednesday finished by steep hillclimbing that really got the pulse up.

Now, I will give this cold tomorrow to get in shape and then I want to start training on monday again.

Oh, and I got a new pulse training book today with lots of examples of different types to run to, intervals, hill running, distance jogging, and many other things, I’ll get back to you with a review when I know more!