28 Sep 2008

Berlin Marathon - 3:53:55 [Results] [Videos]

A new PB in a fantastic race with the most amazing crowd. Speed was pretty constant (first half in 1:56:29, second 1:57:25), apart form the last 30 minutes when I was really struggling (again). The course is extremely fast, but only if there aren't thousands of runners around you all the time which was mentally and physically very exhausting, especially towards the end.

My hip felt surprisingly good and caused very little problems (maybe the Japanese tape I got applied on the expo the day before did the trick) - my lower back and a sore stomach from the half-way point made up for it. I also made the stupid mistake to wear racing shoes on the long distance which was very painful in the last hour. It was the first marathon I ran with compression socks and I must say they caused me major problems during and particularly after the race. I constantly felt that my blood flow was restricted. When I rolled them down after the race I thought my calves were about to explode - I got severe cramps when I took them off.

All in all a fantastic race and given the circumstances, I am happy with the result. 3:50 is doable on a better day!

km 1: 6:04
km 2: 5:30
km 3: 5:43
km 4: 5:34
km 5: 5:30 (28:20)
km 6: 5:34
km 7: 5:33
km 8: 5:21
km 9: 5:30
km 10: 5:26 (55:46 / 27:36)
km 11: 5:21
km 12: 5:32
km 13: 5:32
km 14: 5:26
km 15: 5:27 (1:23:05 / 27:19)
km 16: 5:27
km 17: 5:26
km 18: 5:28
km 19: 5:19
km 20: 5:51 (1:50:37 / 27:32)
km 21: 5:20
km 22: 5:26
km 23: 5:21
km 24: 5:27
km 25: 5:32 (2:17:44 / 27:07)
km 26: 5:24
km 27: 5:24
km 28: 5:33
km 29: 5:38
km 30: 5:24 (2:45:10 / 27:26)
km 31: 5:30
km 32: 5:21
km 33: 5:45
km 34: 5:25
km 35: 5:38 (3:12:51 / 27:41)
km 36: 5:48
km 37: 5:35
km 38: 6:04
km 39: 5:42
km 40: 5:40 (3:41:41 / 28:50)
km 41: 5:47
km 42: 5:31

25 Sep 2008

Running:
8km - 45:00


Last easy tapering run. Hip a little bit better, but not good. Well, that's all I can do - roll on Berlin!

Pre-Marathon Body Composition

Weight
89.2kg
Body Fat
19.5% LA:19.3 RA:16.6 LL:16.0 RL:15.5 T:22.0
Total Body Water
56.2%
Muscle Mass
68.3kg LA:3.9 RA:4.0 LL:11.3 RL:11.6 T:37.5
Physique Rating
7
Basal Metabolic Rate2096 KJ
Metabolism Age
33
Bone Mass
3.5kg
Resting Heart Rate
56

This is certainly the best composition this year. Let's see how the hip feels on Sunday...

21 Sep 2008

Running:
16.5km - 1:32

Last easy test run before the marathon. Hip was fine for 25 minutes before pain started getting progressively worse.

So, program (or lack thereof) for this week contains anti-inflammatories, bio-freeze, a lot of stretches and rest. Let's see...

20 Sep 2008

Swim:
800m - 16:00 (approx)

Open-water swim in the best lake pool ever at the Strandbad Klagenfurt Lakeside Beach.

19 Sep 2008

Running:
8.3km - 48:00

Easy early morning run in Klagenfurt, mostly on a track.

Severe problems in left hip after the run. Appears to be connected to the ITB which is not only the worst timing ever, but also very painful...

17 Sep 2008

Running:
10.3km - 56:00

Another tapering run after a tough one hour sports massage yesterday and a bit of man flu last night.

14 Sep 2008

Bike:
43km - 1:45:00

Easy cycle. A but longer than planned and quite windy. Tapering time!

13 Sep 2008

Waterside Half-Marathon - 1:43:15 [Results]

Start: 0:19
Mile 1: 8:00
Mile 2: 7:53
Mile 3: 7:53
Mile 4: 7:51
Mile 5: 8:02
Mile 6: 7:56
Mile 7: 7:39
Mile 8: 7:48
Mile 9: 7:51
Mile 10: 7:48
Mile 11: 7:48
Mile 12: 7:52
Mile 13: 7:48

PB by 2 minutes (ignoring the time lost at the start). Was tough to keep up the pace towards the end, but all in all very pleased. Roll on Berlin!

11 Sep 2008

Running:
1km Warm-up
10 Yasso 800s - 3:28/ 3:30 / 3:32 / 3:28 / 3:23 / 3:25 / 3:26 / 3:19(!) / 3:28 / 3:24 -> 3:26
1 km Cool-down

Best Yassos ever. All set for the rest of September...

10 Sep 2008

Running:
10km - 53:30

First third (very) easy, second third moderate, last third fast. Had planned to do hills, but legs just weren't up to it.

06 Sep 2008

Running:
36km - 3:21

Wow. Very long run in wet and windy conditions. No real problems all the way which is good news. That's the 20+ mile training runs out of the way.

04 Sep 2008

Running:
3km Warm-up
4 Yasso 800s - 3:25/ 3:28 / 3:34 / 3:30 -> 3:29
3km Cool-down

Short Yasso session using the Garmin's Interval feature - very cool!

03 Sep 2008

Running:
14.2km - 1:19

Easy / moderate run, partly undulating / hilly.

02 Sep 2008

Bike:
20km - 45:00

Test cycle on the Newtownabbey triathlon course in torrential rain