Training Log Archive: stiands

Wanted to wait with the run to after our call just instead. Didn't make much of a difference, except that my body was more awake and ready to run. Didn't have any pain in my knee.

Went through the entire pre-run routine. Outside it was a little unpleasant; cloudy and lot's of wind (from the south west), but at least it was 0 degrees and no snow/rain.

Ran my usual moderate route: 30 mins south on a flat road, 180 degree turn, back home. Had a pretty significant headwind for the first half which slowed things down, and it made me go pretty fast on the way back. Final 2k is uphill.

Experienced no knee pain which was good. BUT my left leg that I reported was tight/sore last week was the same today. It still is after the run. I'm starting to think there's a link between that and the knee (though it's doubtfull). I'll send you an email about what my physio/massage therapist says about it.

Didn't wanna run without hearing from you today, so didn't get it done until I was home from work. Obviously I was worried last night was just a stroke of luck, but after doing the entire pre-run routine I was more optimistic. I didn't feel anything in my knee!

I ran a loop in my neighboorhood, over the city bridge, and to the gym after a couple of kilometers on a gravel path. The weather was nice. About 0 degrees, almost no wind and a clear black sky.

I had nothing to worry about. My knee felt totally fine. The rest of my body did as well. No soreness or tightness which was really good. I've been stressed and pretty sad about how yesterday's workout went. Now, I'm sure it was just a tiny bump in the road.

Exactly the same workout as last time. Felt pretty strong, but not as good as Tuesday.

Went to the gym at 8:30, did my entire warm-up routine and hopped on the treadmill. Felt alright, nothing to report on which is a good thing.

Put the treadmill on 5:00 /km and just jogged for 20 minutes. Did one stride off the treadmill after 20 minutes and did a couple of leg swings.

During the run, I was moving along nicely, but sweating a lot. I had brought a small water bottle which I planned on refilling halfway.
And so I did.
I jumped off the treadmill and jogged to a bathroom, filled my bottle and turned around to get back on the treadmill.
Suddenly it felt like someone struck me with a knife in my left knee. I don't really know what came to my mind then, but I hobbled back to the treadmill even though it hurt like hell. For some reason, I thought I could run the pain away, as it hadn't hurt when I ran.
It didn't. Don't know if I even lasted 10 seconds. It was in the outside of my left knee so I assumed it was an IT-band related injury. I hobbled to a yoga mat, stretched and foam rolled for 20 minutes. By then, I was able to walk without very limited pain. There's an apothecary next door to the gym, so I went there to buy a couple of ice packs. I immediately tied one to my knee with my shoelaces and drove home because I had to get to work.

It felt a lot better, but I was beating myself up about getting injured and was pretty down. At work, I stretched and stayed mobile as much as possible. The pain went away.

When I got home, I was going to write the log and contact you. Instead, I foam rolled some more, stretched and decided to try and run in the evening before I wrote to you. I couldn't feel any pain so I thought I could at least give it a shot.

At 7 I started the run. At 1km, I was still doubting if what was happening was real. At 2km I literally shed a tear. There was no pain in my knee. I'm not making this up. I couldn't feel a thing. I ran 6km in 30:56; the route looped around the semi-detached houses I live in. I did not expect this and wanted to be as close as possible to home when the pain would eventually get me. It didn't. There's no pain now either, 30 minutes later.

Ran from my girlfriend's house and back home this morning pre work. Went through the entire pre-run routine. Felt okay. The S&C session yesterday was really good, probably because I only had one of them last week. There was a little soreness in my legs from that.

Started out with 2km into a headwind; then 5k tailwind, 4k headwind and 4k with the wind at my back. A more hilly route than I usually do for these, but that was fine. After the 2km in the headwind, everything felt super easy from that point. Ran pretty even splits, relative to the wind, without looking at my watch.

Going to stretch a bit tonight. My quads, hamstrings, and hips feel like they need it.

Late post today because I went straight to work after finishing up the run.

My watch died during the run and the file was corrupted, so I borrowed the stats from an identical run in November. I ran 30 minutes south, 30 minutes back and did 6 strides outside the house.

Did the warm-up exercises but skipped the drills. I was a little tight in my right leg during the run. Going to foam roll that one before I do the S&C later today. My nose was also running a bit. I guess it's because of the sauna session yesterday; it was running the day after sauna last week as well.

The strides went well. There's no snow or anything, so I can basically do them anywhere flat. There wasn't any wind today either. Because I had no watch, I did them exactly where I've done them previously and tried to replicate the distance of stride and duration of recovery. Might not have been exactly 20-second strides or 2 minutes of recovery because of that.

3x
12 box squat (each leg, +2 from last time)
20 salsa twist (5kg ball)
10 step up (each leg, 8kg all sets)

2x:
30 push up
10 runners touch
30 reverse clamshell
30 single leg glute bridge
15 side plank knee to chest
30 mtn climb
12 ball pass
20 russian twist (4kg weight)

1x:
5 single leg hamstring curls

2x:
30 hamstring curls

Sauna-day so I drove to the gym, but ran outside. I did the entire warm-up routine as it was cold today (-6 degrees and clear skies, no wind).

I ran on roads and a gravel path. It was completely dark and there gravel path is not artificially lit up. Luckily a three quarter full moon lit the path up which was really pleasant. I didn't run strides today.. There's no snow down by the ocean at the moment, so there definitely were a lot of places to do them. I felt ok as well, but I thought it was a little too cold for strides.

I was a little sore yesterday evening after the travel and workout. Today I was much better. Still a little tight in the hips, also my left leg was a bit sore. No faitigue though!

After a quick shower, I went into the sauna. The last two weeks I've spent about 20 minutes in there. Today I was going to do a little more. The first 10 minutes went by really quick, but then a man from Somalia came. I got nothing against him or Africans, but heat is relative!!! He wanted it warmer and I said yes of course! The next 10 minutes was definitely warmer than I have had it earlier, so I was happy with 20 minutes.

Foam rolled and went through the entire pre-run routine this morning. The weather was excellent for a workout. There were 2 minus degrees and basically no wind.

I felt pretty good before the workout. In the morning it takes a couple of minutes for my body to wake up, but the drills kickstart the process.

I ran to a sidewalk that is salted and therefore never gets covered in snow and ice. It's completely flat for 2km and it's the go-to place for intervals in Oslo.

After 20 minutes, I ran two strides and did some leg swings.

Warm up: 3.94km in 20:00, 22m elevation gain


I was breathing really hard at the end of the last rep and so I just stood with my hands on my knees for a while. When I felt a little better, I walked for 30 seconds and then I started running back to the hotel. I had finished my reps 1.2km further from the hotel from where I had started so the warm down was going to be a little longer than 20 minutes. When my breathing returned to a more normal rhythm, I felt pretty good actually. My legs were a little tired and heavy, but nothing too bad.

Cool down: 4.7 in 24:34, 28m elevation gain

5 x 1200m in 3:42 (4 min recovery)

Splits: 3:41.9 - 3:42.1 - 3:41.7 - 3:42.9 - 3:41.7

There was a slight tailwind during the odd-numbered reps and a headwind during the even numbered ones. It didn't play any part though, that's how slight it was.

The first rep was pretty tough actually. It felt like a rust-buster. My legs didn't respond properly until a minute had passed. Maybe I should run my warm-ups a little faster or maybe this is just how it is when you're not used to this pace. I was in control of my breathing though.

The second rep felt better in terms of how my legs turned over. It didn't feel like I was breathing any harder than the first rep either and I ran pretty much exactly the same time.

The third rep was my best rep in terms of how I felt, relatively to what number of rep it was. I was very much in control, my legs worked well and didn't tire, and my breathing was controlled like the first two reps.

The fourth rep was where I felt some fatigue in my legs and I started working pretty hard. Maybe it was the headwind, though I highly doubt it. It felt like the fatigue started settling in my thighs and hamstrings. I should probably stretch tomorrow.

The final rep wasn't that hard mentally at least, becuase at least I knew it was pretty much over. I started out and felt the fatigue at about 700m. The last 500 meters weren't easy. There was definitely a lot of hard breathing on heavy legs.

All the recoveries of 4 minutes in between the reps consisted of walking for the first 30 seconds and then jogging for 3.5 min. At least for the final two recoveries, it took 3 minutes before I felt okay again. I think I'm going to improve on these a lot in the near future. I'm just not used to running this pace in training. It was interesting to do this one as it was pretty similiar to the 6 x 1k at 3:05. This was harder, even with the extra recovery.

Flew back to Tromsø, watched a football match and went to the gym.

A little sore in the leg. I guess it's from travel. Foam rolled a bunch and stretched for a good while before I did the warm up exercises. Skipped the drills.

It went pretty well. Eased into the pace. A little sore and heavy, but my breathing was fine. Felt a lot better afterwards.

The run was pretty enjoyable. I like these runs and 30 mins go by pretty quick.