Training Log Archive: stiands

Drove to the gym and did the warm up exercises. A little sore in my hip flexors from the ball passes and very sore in my triceps from the push-ups. Must have had bad form while doing them. Need to improve on that next time.

Legs felt good though. Went on the treadmill, ran 10 mins a little easy, then normal easy pace for the rest of it. Felt very good today. The most fresh I have been post-Barcelona.

Haven't felt anything in my calf since the race, so I'm pretty sure it's time to declare myself injury-free (knocking wood). Maybe we can re-introduce the double runs?

Started listening to a lecture, but stopped after half an hour. Noticed that I wasn't able to focuse any more. Listened to some music instead. Then my girlfriend came over and jogged beside me for the final 20 minutes which made them pass by rather quickly.

This one went well. It wasn't easy, I did the amount of reps I did prior to backing off a bit, but at least things felt right.

Drove to the gym. Did the warm up exercises. Felt good. Hips are tight though, so I have to do stretch more actively I guess. Good thing it's the weekend.

Started out easy and flat. Ran most of the run at 2-4% incline and 5:20-5:10 min/km pace. Also had 10 mins @ 5% incline which was slower.

Not much to report on. It felt pretty good. Hips became progressively better. Better than yesterday at least. Probably a smart move to skip the tempo anyway. I'd rather start up again with a good one and I think the chances for that are a lot higher now.

Watched a lecture while running. Not much fun, but time went by surprisingly quickly.

Drove to the gym. Did the entire pre-run routine. Legs were feeling fresh for the first time since pre-Barcelona. No pains or niggles. Hips still a little tight.

Started out at 5:27 min/km pace and 2% incline. Didn't plan on staying there, but ended up doing so for 10 minutes. It felt like I needed some extra warming up.

I wasn't feeling too good today. Varied between 4:05 pace and 4:30 min/km and 2-5% incline. My legs felt fine. I was even wearing the Carbon Rockets. They were super comfortable and also fast. Very responsive. It just felt like I was breathing harder than what I normally do on these sessions. That's why I kept the pace a little easier than normal.

Time went by relatively quickly. Had an ok time although I didn't feel that well.

Forgot to say that I spent 15 minutes in the sauna! Felt good

Drove to the gym and met up with my friend from school. Did he warm up exercises. Another 24h of recovery and a massage session this morning had my legs feeling a whole lot better. Just a little sore and tight in my quads and hips now.

Ran the first 20 minutes pretty slowly, but then I felt ready to run a little faster. Effort was super easy and my legs responded well today. Seems like I have gotten rid of all my pains and niggles.

It was an enjoyable run that went by really quickly. Having someone there to talk to makes an hour go by really quickly.

The run went really well, but I struggled a lot with the strength session. Ended up stopping early. My muscles felt spent, every single one of them. Hopefully I can bounce back on Friday...

Slept for an eternity which was really nice and I think I needed it. My throat was a little sore when I woke up but I didn't feel sick or anything. Probably just because the air/temperature is so different here.

Drove to the gym and did the exercises. Calves were a lot better, but my quads are still trashed. Decided then and there to not do the S&C today, but postpone it to Wednesday.

Started out with 10 mins @ 6:00 min/km pace and 2% incline, then I did 40 mins @ 5:27 min/km @ 1.5% incline + 10 mins @ 5:00 min/km @ 1.5% incline.

Quads hurt the first 15 minutes but they got progressively better as I went on. Calves were fine. Hips are definitely tight, but they don't hurt.

My left calf issues seemed to have gone away. Didn't feel anything during/after the race, nor yesterday or today.

The effort felt really easy which is why I ran 5:00 min/km at the end. Wanted to use the sauna, but there was some maintenance going on there.

Managed to squeeze in a run on the treadmill at Oslo Airport.

Did the warm up exercises. Was sore in my quads and lower calves.

Ran 6:00 min/km pace at 1.5-3% incline.

The effort was very easy but it seemed like my calves needed it... Legs felt a little better afterwards.

Spent some time in the finish area talking to teamates and friends.

Some of us jogged 2km easy afterwards. It was painful. Quads were trashed and my calves were sore.

Got better after 10 minutes though.

Didn't fit in 20 minutes of running in the evening. Pretty much spent all day laying in bed or out eating lots of food (mexican and vietnamese). Plane leaves 06:55 in the morning so I gotta wake up at 5.....

Race was 08:45, so I woke up at 6:45 to eat breakfast. Went for a short walk afterwards. At 7:30 I started foam rolling and did some dynamic stretches. Went out at 8:00.

Jogged for about 20 mins, did drills and a couple of strides to make it 30 minutes. Wore my watch to watch the time but didn't start it to log the session.

Felt pretty good actually. No pains or niggles. Didn't feel tight anywhere either. Strides were smooth.

Changed clothes and got into the starting line 5 mins prior to race start.

Barcelona Half marathon - 1:10:51, 5th place in U23

The conditions were optimal. 12 degrees, clear skies and more or less no wind at all. Sun was up, but we ran in the shade for the first 2/3 of the race.

I started my watch but had tape in front of the screen so I didn't have any stats visible. Couldn't stop my self from doing the math on some splits as I went because there was a big clock on every kilometer split sign.

In the starting pen I found myself behind the 1:15-pacer but still pretty far in front. Didn't bother making my way forward as I correctly guessed the pace would be more than hot enough anyways from the gun.

The first 4 kilometers were uneventful. It was slightly uphill I think, but the effort felt easy and the legs were popping. Didn't settle in any packs but kept passing people instead. I felt good and the conditions were really good.

From 4-7km I ran with a fellow Tromso-runner. He would end up running a 60 sec Pr with 1:11:40 something. I was the one who caught up to the other. I felt really good so I just kept on rolling. Did some quick math on the splits and figured I was on Pr pace.

From 5-10k it felt like the course was downhill. Drank a little bit of water, but poured most of it over me to keep my body temperature low.

One of my goals was to get to 10k as effortlessly as possible and try to run faster from there on. Ended up doing just that. Slowly pulled away from my teammate at 7k. At 8k I ran up the first little hill (3 in total) of the race. There were no packs in sight, just a lot of runners strung out. I focused on keeping the effort even and trying to catch up to as many runners as possible.

I passed 10km in just over 34 minutes according to the clock at that split. Because I was further back in the starting pen, I correctly guessed I was just under 34 minutes in reality (33:58). That was right where I wanted to be. Time to shift gears and get going.

The 10-15k split went by quicker than the two previous 5k splits. Usually in my half marathons, this is where I start to dig. I have only once run a half marathon as smart as I did today. I just felt really good and the effort was still feeling relatively easy. Noticed I started running some sub 3:20 min/km splits as well which was encouraging.

At 12k I was passed by a runner. That surprised me. It was probably the first time in the race it had happened and I knew I was going quick. He was absolutely sprinting it seemed like, but his breathing wasn't notably hard. I latched onto him, but let him go as I knew this wasn't something I could keep up with. Never saw him again in the race.

From there to 17k, the course is really flat, but you start getting exposed to the sun more as you near the coast. Drank some more water, but again I mostly drained myself. Didn't feel hot or anything, but didn't see the point in not doing it. I started pushing hard enough to know that I wasn't going to be able to run much faster. All I knew was that if I could keep this effort for the final 20 minutes, I would run a solid time. Focused on catching the next runner, and then the next.

At 17k I caught up to a Norwegian friend of mine. We were exposed to the sun and people were breathing hard. Somehow I was going fast enough to past of them. He couldn't hang on. Right before 18k, there's a short but punchy hill. Didn't see it coming so it was a bit of a shock to the system after running 18 really flat kilometers, but I got to the top knowing that it would be all downhill or flat from here.

Had to work with myself mentally to keep the pedal down. I was starting to hurt. Mostly from the effort itself, but the legs were getting tired as well. Hips were tightening up and my quads were a little sore. I guess that's to be expected after running on roads for the first time in a month.

Told myself to "sell out" at 19k and start running as hard as I could. My form wasn't that pretty probably, but I caught a lot of people in the final two kilometers. At 20.5km I turned a final corner and sprinted for the finish line. I knew it would be close, so my relief was great when I saw that the watch above the finish line said 1:10:59.