crossroads

1° celsius. clear sky. 17:49 (1:47:40)

with such a lovely weather i wouldn't want to miss my run at all today. i have decided to catch up with the "lost mileage" on wednesday and doing it today. i brought my camera along and since the day is getting longer, i took some pictures along the way.


the alster was really nice during this time, reflecting the light during sunset. waterbirds and ducks are now gathering back to alster. spring is coming :-).


talking about ducks, i had to swerve when i came across them waggling on the running path. unfortunately, it wasn't only ducks that i had to make way but also cyclists without lights! almost bumped into one because the lights from the coming traffic blended my eyes and at the very last minute i could get move aside. damn. running dogs without leash was another problem. hmm... i guess the spring/summer feelings are already settled in.

alsteration (week 7) : 29.085 km
alstering : 14.660 km
non-alstering : 14.425 km

total running (february) : 91.632 km
davon
alstering : 36.650 km
40.00% gehört zu alsteration

25. straßenlaufcup 2008 (10 km)

3° celsius. clear sky. 10:00 (0:43:18)

i was nervous this morning. not because of the run but the parking lot. last year i was slightly late and had to park quite a distance away from the starting point. the damn navi in the car couldn't do what any human usually did - shortest distance with fastest route. instead it gave me shortest distance with complicated route or fastest route with a very long distance. anyway, i managed to arrive at the starting point earlier than last year and got the second last "valuable" parking space!


i stayed for awhile in the car listening to radio and finally went out to get my bib after about 10 minutes. i saw georg and met ingo, who was there earlier than i was and he looked quite nervous. it was his first 10 km event. i told him not to run very fast at the beginning because the route is quite hilly. due to this beautiful weather, there were quite a number of participants running in this event today. compared to last year's snowy weather, this was like summer for us (just the temperature was short of about 20° celsius)!


went back to the car to get my gf305 and to warm up. then i realised that i had forgotten to bring my headband. damn. not only does my headband protect my ears from the cold, it also held the earphones stable. now i had to run without headband and most probably without earphones too.

i fumbled with my earphones for the first few kilometers and it got really on my nerves. i should concentrate on the paths instead of playing with the earphones. i finally decided that the earphone should be just left out and i had to run without music. felt very lethargic for the first stretch of the route and i believed that this could be the after effect from friday's run. even though i made good grounds on runners in front of me during the uphill section, i lost my advantage when running downhill. i always had to slow down. i must train for downhill running!

joined a group of three runners and one of them had to slow down at 7 km point. the guy kept running away from me and the another lady but we managed to "get" him back during the uphill section. i was slowing for the last 1.5 km and soon another guy ran passed me. couldn't do any challenge anymore because my legs were heavy like lead. after seeing the 9 km mark, i was happy and did speed up a bit and used whatever left after turning 90° to the right. unfortunately that turn was not the last turn towards the finish line. quite angry with myself for being forgetful and now had to drag myself uphill for the final 200 meters before i could enjoy my "rest".




queueing up for the tea ceremony


the tea after the run was really refreshing and i took 3 cups of it to drain my thirst. a familiar face greeted me and asked if i got my camera with me during the run - no, not for this event becos of the hilly characters and camera could be a burden for me - i told him. met him last year during that hot 25 km run.


later in the day, i realised that i have been running quite constant with the second half exactly 1 second faster than the first.

alsteration (week 6) : 42.377 km
alstering : 21.990 km
non-alstering : 20.387 km

total running (february) : 62.547 km
davon
alstering : 21.990 km
35.16% gehört zu alsteration

wasn't supposed to run

8° celsius. dry. 17:56 (1:44:32)

i felt totally bad becos i didn't do my wednesday run. yesterday i ended playing badminton instead of going for the training. so i was quite indecisive of whether i should run today becos i'll be running the 10 km on sunday. ahh.. what the heck, just run.

it was already dark when i started the run. it was really very comfortable at first but things changed dramatically when someone kept following behind me. then i slowed down a bit to let him do the tempo work so that i could "sit" behind just following him. he pushed a bit when there's a slope but he couldn't run that far away cos i love running uphill! it was after the embassy that i started to gain my momentum and sped up on the uphill side towards the bridge and that someone couldn't follow me anymore. i felt relieved and at the same time stupid becos i was wasting my energy for the sunday run! so the next alster round i ran slowly and steadily until the end.

for the first time in my life, i ran exactly 18.000 km (according to my garmin 305).

alsteration (week 6) : 32.377 km
alstering : 21.990 km
non-alstering : 10.387 km

total running (february) : 52.547 km
davon
alstering : 21.990 km
41.85% gehört zu alsteration

shitty weather (what's new)

7.5° celsius. rainy. 19:30

luckily it was raining outside of the indoor hall. thought at first of joining another running group earlier on but due to the weather, i gave it a pass.

it was all about coordination - from hockey playing to that 100/200 meters runs. aware of your style. take not of your running gait - whatever. i ran as i thought it should be - couldn't be bothered much about whether i was doing the correct style. it was just too strenuous. hmmm...

alsteration (week 6) : 14.377 km
alstering : 7.330 km
non-alstering : 7.047 km

total running (february) : 34.547 km
davon
alstering : 7.330 km
21.22% gehört zu alsteration

tempo(t)raining

6° celsius. drizzle and windy.

was quite uncertain whether i should run today. it drizzled and rain has never been my favourite weather. nevertheless i went on with my running.

the drizzle wasn't that bad but it was the wind that i hate most. rain, wind and cold wasn't the perfect weather nor temperature to do the training. i told myself, if i could run in this "uncomfortable" condition, then there would be no more excuses for me not to run the next time.

i started running comfortably and began to sped up and maintain the speed for about few kilometers. slowed down drastically and then jogged for about 10 minutes before the routine started again. thrice i did that and was happy when i finally completed the circle. my legs sored but not that serious :-).

alsteration (week 6) : 10.636 km
alstering : 7.330 km
non-alstering : 3.306 km

total running (february) : 30.806 km
davon
alstering : 7.330 km
23.79% gehört zu alsteration

first "long run" for marathon

2° celsius. clear and slightly windy. 10:06 (2:01:56)

i overslept today. woke up slightly late and had to rush to stadtpark - the meeting point. everybody was already there during the briefing, discussing the route of where and which tempo should be run. i was still in the car, fumbling over my gloves and water bottle. they ran passed me and i could see new faces in this marathon training.

the rest was about 1.3 km ahead when i finally caught up with them. i had to run slightly faster and could then settle down with the slower group who was running in 6:30 min/km tempo. it didn't last that very long and i joined the 6 min/km group after 3 km from my starting point and found my rhythm there.

the weather was quite okay. not that windy as the past days. the alstertal are swarmed with joggers and groups of runners, who were most likely preparing themselves for the coming marathon in april.

the other two faster groups were already gone when i joined my group. i realised that now there were the 5:30 and 5 or 5:15 group (i don't know cos i wasn't there right from the very beginning). after 1 hour, all of us must make a u-turn. our group did this as were high on top of the hill and coming down wasn't that easy for me cos i had to stop myself constantly. due to this arrangement, all of us ended up the same time and the final destination and had our warming down session together.

alsteration (week 5) : 52.303 km
alstering : 14.660 km
non-alstering : 37.643 km

total running (february) : 20.170 km
davon
alstering : 0.000 km
0.00% gehört zu alsteration