It smells like ldaybugs outside right now. Today was a little warmer again but later it got back to the chilly spring that we are having. Some years we could go swimming (and enjoy it) in mid May but I am certain it won’t happen this year. But springtime is here and all the dreadful snow is melted away now. Not even the north facing hills on my track had any snow now (which they had last sunday).
Last night I took the car to a nearby parking just outside Järvafältet. I hade in mind to run with my GPS logger and as it has a map to be able to decide on the fly to go a longer or shorter route, take a short-cut or extend the running depending on the feeling.
Turns out the batteries however was depleted in it, although it looked like they where half-charged when I checked them at home so I left it in the car and started on a path I sometimes go by bike and I know fairly well.
It was a magical night, a bit of fog over the open fields, the road was a little soft after the rain but that was great for the legs after doing a tougher round on asphalt the other day and I ran through the wonderful farm at Rocksta where I could hear the horses in the stable and there where cows in the fields. The air was cool, around 16°C and it was just lovely being out in this wonderful weather.
During the whole run I met two people. One lady on a bike fairly close to the starting point, maybe 1.5 km in to the run and then on my way back around 5.5 km I met this guy who was lost on his bike trying to get back to Jakobsberg. I gave him a road description since I know this area pretty well by now and he thanked me.
During the whole run I stopped the clock twice, once to check my bearings when I tought I had gone the wrong way (I didn’t but I ran back and forth a few hundred meters off clock to check) and then when I gave the lost guy some directions.
The path is a little bit hilly, one bigger hill close to the beginning and then some smaller ones and longer stretches of uphill/downhill. I kept a great pace based on my heartbeat trying to never exceed 150 bpm instead work on my endurance today and it worked great I felt so good the entire time it was a shame to stop.
The sun was setting in the long slow way it does up in the north in the summer time, we have sunsets from about 19-21 with the light slowly fading away and although it was pretty dark when I got back to the car it was just lovely from start to end.
This path can easily be extended to 10 km or even 12 km just by slighly changing the route. I think I might go for the 12 km next time. I hope my friend Jenny joins me then.
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!
Now when the Swedish wonderful summer is drawing closer to the autumn I need to share a real runner tip with everyone that wants to keep running in the woods even if there is a slight drizzle of rain or the darkness is hitting earlier than before. In not too long the darkness will descend upon us earlier and earlier and it is actually already starting to get really dark in the night.
So a light on the forehad and a cap to keep the light rain out of your face would not be a bad idea?
Well here it is.
This is a proper cap in nice material with their logo on the side and which got 5 LED lights built into the cap rim that will show you the road in the darkness. It is powered by 2xCR2032 (wristwatch style) batteries and will light for many hours on the roads and in the woods while keeping your face dry (from rain).
And for the price, buy two!
The light switch is in the cap, easy to reach and hitten under the fabric. Turn it on and off as you please while never missing a stride!
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!