Regionalliga – Woogsprint Triathlon

This is what I have been dreading for a long time, my first Regionalliga race, a higher league that the ones I did last year, and what is worse is that it is a ITU style race, i.e. it is draft legal and it is a dry start, with us diving into the water.  The draft legal bit is bad for me, as it means that I, as a bad swimmer, will be behind the main groups riding alone, whereas they can ride easily and quickly in a group.  The diving in start was also a bit worrying, my goggle never seem to stay in place when I dive in!  It isn’t the biggest problem in the world, but a worry nonetheless.

I was hoping that wetsuits would be allowed, apparently it would be borderline, but on the morning of the race I heard that they would be allowed, phew. Continue reading “Regionalliga – Woogsprint Triathlon”

Mainz Half Marathon 2016

I wasn’t certain about doing this, the race and/or the blog entry, but at the end of the day it looks like I am doing both! So whatever, lets do this!

I found a cheap start for the half marathon on Friday afternoon. It was from a 30 something guy too, so I decided that I wouldn’t pay to get my name in the results list.  My running has been reduced a bit since my marathon. Quality has pretty much been stopped, or at least not organized quality. I have been doing some quite fast Bricks after my bike rides.  I think I’ve put on 1-2kg too, which obviously isn’t ideal.  My allergies have been playing up too, so have been on loratidine which might explain some of the water weight. Anyway, I got my number on Saturday, ran into loads of people I know and talked down my race, especially given that it would be warm on Sunday, possible up to 27 degrees. Continue reading “Mainz Half Marathon 2016”

Backeslauf 2016 – Burning in the heat.

I hadn’t raced in a while, not since Rotterdam actually.  I took 1 down week after Rotterdam and then got started on triathlon training.  I have been aiming for 70km per week of running, swim 3 times a week and do what I can on the bike.  Training seems to have been going well, my legs aren’t too happy about the cycling, but swimming is coming along nicely and I am running far more than I usually do post-marathon.

So to the race.  I did this race last year, it is a hilly 14.3km affair.  I cycled to the start in Framersheim, which is about 30km away.  It has been a fairly mild winter, it was rarely really cold, but it also hasn’t been warm at any point in spring, up until now!  There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and it was 25 degrees, a bit warm for my north of England blood.  Anyway before the start I had a good chat with all the regulars and lots of fast runners were there, and most on form as Mainz marathon is in 2 weeks time. Continue reading “Backeslauf 2016 – Burning in the heat.”

Rotterdam Marathon 2016 – Sub3 for the first time

 Pre-race:

We got to Holland on Thursday afternoon ready for my first sub3 and stayed in Rotterdam on Thursday night.  On Friday I signed in to the race and headed to Den Haag for 2 days. That was a good decision. Den Haag is a really nice town, and only 25 mins away by train. So even on race day I could travel over without problems.

I tapered quite a lot.  On Thursday I didn’t run (but walked quite a lot), and on Friday and Saturday I ran with Katja in the park, doing a few strides on Saturday to be race ready.  Diet-wise it probably wasn’t ideal as we were away from home. We were eating out and enjoying the buffet breakfast in the hotel.  I tried to control myself and keep my fibre down. No spoilers so I won’t say now if that was successful or not! Continue reading “Rotterdam Marathon 2016 – Sub3 for the first time”

Frankfurt Half Marathon 2016 – PB + Goal Achieved!

Five weeks since my last race! Five weeks, that is a long time for me.  I would normally have raced at the end of February, but we were away in Cagliari, so I have just been getting stuck into training for the last 5 weeks.  2 weeks ago I did my best long run ever, a 36km run with 2x5km just faster than goal marathon pace, some hills and a final average speed of 4:30/km.  I was flying all that week, but then the following week I started to feel the fatigue. After a slow 30km run last weekend I was absolutely bushed, so took the week up to Frankfurt half marathon as a down week/ mini-taper to get ready for the race.

I only had 1 half marathon in my schedule before Rotterdam and there is only one goal for me in a half marathon, and that is to run sub1:20.  For some reason that has always been more of a dream for me that a sub3 marathon, maybe because it was always close enough to be a realistic long term goal, but was always far enough away that I knew it would be hard work to ever manage it.  Last year I surprised myself in Rheinzabern by running a 1:21:51 in a near perfect race for me.  That was great, but it was still 112 seconds shy of a sub1:20!  This year my best 10k was slightly short of being equivalent of a 1:20HM, so finally breaking through that barrier was not a given. Continue reading “Frankfurt Half Marathon 2016 – PB + Goal Achieved!”

Cagliari Short Break – February 2016

This is my first blog post about a holiday, I mentioned to Katja that I would like to write something about our trips, so that I remember the details, much like I do with my races nowadays. So here it goes:

We decided to go to Cagliari as Ryanair fly there from Hahn for 19,99€ each way.  We wanted somewhere a bit warmer than Mainz in February, and the warmest cheap place was Cagliari!  I had planned to book for my birthday, but Katja had an exam on the 15th, so we moved it back 1 week to the 19th until the 22nd.

I found an airbnb apartment that was 103€ for 3 nights, a whole apartment in the middle of town, it has a kitchen too, so we could eat breakfast at home, then head out, ideal.  The bus to Hahn was going to be annoying as it is 27€ return, and takes ages, but luckily we found a Blablacar for 4€ going from Mainz-Hechtsheim to, so that worked out perfectly too!  They actually turned out to be coming back on the same flight as us to, so we arranged the travel back at the same time! Continue reading “Cagliari Short Break – February 2016”

Groß-Gerau 10km Frühjahrslauf

So just like last year, I had an early February 10k planned to see how my training has been going.  Since the last 10k I did 3 weeks ago I have been trying to lose weight.  I have managed to lose 1.5-2kg in the last 3 weeks, not extreme but not bad either.  I have been piling in the mileage too, so I was hoping to set a nice big PB today.

A look on the sign-up list online showed that TCEC had 3 male runners taking part, Bastian Schäfer, who I know is fast, Sebastian Dahl, who I know is fast, and me!  I got the train to Groß-Gerau and promptly got lost on my way from the station to the start.  It ended up taking me 40 minutes to get there, and when I did I found that there was no changing area, and one Portaloo for everyone!  I did a little warm up and got to the start line, where I saw Konrad another TCEC guy, who I know is really fast, I was worried I not even make the TCEC top 3!

Continue reading “Groß-Gerau 10km Frühjahrslauf”

Lindenseelauf 2016 – 10km Race – PB

So I did this race last year, and decided to run it again this year as it was a good run last time.  I had it in my head that it was a really fast course, perfect for setting my 10k PB, which I did last year and wanted to again this year.

My training has been going well, I have only had 2 days off running over the Christmas period, I have been at or over 80km/week for a couple of months, and have pushed on to over 110km last week and this week.  I went into this one thinking that a 36:30 should be possible, though I didn’t taper at all for the race.

I’d luckily met Christian Hafner in the supermarket a few days ago, and he offered to drive me to the start.  We got there really early, like 1h10 before the start, which on a cold day could have caused problems!  I was getting ready when I saw the frequent winner of the race – Martin Skalsky – dressed in shorts.  I decided that I too should wear shorts, a good decision in the end, even though it was about 2 degrees and slightly snowing. Continue reading “Lindenseelauf 2016 – 10km Race – PB”

Sub-18 minute 5km Time Trial – Goal Achieved and 2015 Goals Checklist

I had set myself the goal of running a sub-18 minute 5km this year, but I only ran one 5km, and that was 4 days after my Ironman and over a 5,2km course, both making a sub-18 somewhat unlikely!

Given that I am in good shape and got through Christmas without illness or allergy induced bad lungs, I fancied giving it a go by myself as a time trial at the local track.  I mentioned in my last post that it isn’t an easy goal for me, it’s certainly much faster than a tempo run.  It was windy today, which didn’t help, but it was also cold and the track was completely empty, especially as the gates were locked so I had to jump then to get in 🙂 Continue reading “Sub-18 minute 5km Time Trial – Goal Achieved and 2015 Goals Checklist”

Ebersheim Adventslauf – 2nd place

So this was the one I was aiming for. I wanted to win a race for the first time ever, no age group win, just first over the line.  I have followed the Jack Daniels plan very closely and really feel like I am in 36:30 or so form for 10k.  Ebersheim is a bit hilly but there is a long downhill too, so it kind of levels itself out.  Last year I ran a 39:45 and was really happy with that, I fancied that I could beat the winning time from last year of 37:21, and then just hope that that is good enough to win it.

I got there well in advance and once Andre and Ronald were ready we went for a little warm up jog.  The wind was pretty strong and in the wrong direction, i.e. against uphill and with downhill, but it had dried up a bit since yesterday when it rained for most of the day.

I got myself on the start line and was straight into the front group when the gun fired.  I wanted to run behind someone into the wind and soon enough 1 person went forward to take up the pace.  I was in a 3 person group just behind.  After the first 1km the 2 others in my group started to fall back, but the leader was slowing stretching his lead too.  After 3km the route goes by the start area and an ecstatic looking Katja was there cheering me on!  KMs 4-5 are slightly uphill and on paths that were pretty muddy.  I had to run up on the field twice to avoid the massive long puddles on the route.  There were also a couple of dodgy corners that were slippy that I cautiously jogged round.

Then comes the downhill.  I tried to push the pace a little, hoping to bring back the leader, but my legs weren't quite fully ticking over, with the wind and downhill obviously I was travelling quickly, but not making in-roads in the leaders advantage.  On the long downhill there are 2 sharp left turns that then go steeply uphill for about 100-150m, before the downhill continues, they were killers, but also a good chance to see how much lead I had over 3rd place.  I could see that 3rd was further behind me that I was behind 1st, so I had a fair lead.  Soon enough I got to Harxheim and turned left up the big hill of the day.  It was a really hard slog up there, I did have it in my head that I was overtaken on an uphill in my last hilly race, and that worry wasn't helped by the fact that the guy who passed me last time also had moved into 3rd place behind me this time!

I finally got to the top and was pretty confident of making it home without being caught as it is generally downhill until the last few hundred metres.  I got onto the home straight and gave the peace signals / 2nd place signs everyone as I crossed the line in 38:57.  I can't complain too much as that is all I could give, I guess I underestimated the toughness of the course.  The result, though not what
I wanted.

I waited to see Andre cross the line in 48minutes, a great time for him as he had been working with 50 mins as his dream time, then came Ronald who was pointing to his knee, and seemed happy to have got around the course in one piece.

I might do a silvesterlauf somewhere, depending on where we are and if they fit into our silvester (NYE) plans.  I do have a few goals left on my 2015 list that I can try to take down, for example an 18min 5km and getting to 2500km running in 2015.  I need 114km more to get to that mark, which in 2.5 weeks should be easily doable, even with Christmas in the meantime.  The 5km might be a bit more tricky.  Somehow I had thought that my goal was 18:30, so as I have done splits in 10km races at that pace, it was essentially done.  18mins is actually quite a tricky prospect, it is obviously doable but it is pretty much full race pace.  I think I will head down to the track some time soon when I am feeling good and give it a go.

Otherwise I expect that I will write a 2015 wrap-up post and a 2016 goal setting post.  I'll see you then!