Monday
AM: It was bastard freezing, -7°C when I woke up and windy too. I ran to work to get in a few easy km, it was actually much better than expected, 5.8km at just under 5km/min
PM: Spurred on by my good morning run, I set off for a longer run after work. Again not so bad and after 11km or so I turned for home. I also happened to turn in a head/crosswind from hell! I ran with my buff over my face, but it still really hurt. It was only -4°C, but felt like at least -10°C to me. It was 14.2km at 4:53/km, and not very pleasant at the end, I was freezing!
Tuesday
AM: I ran to work again, it was -8°C this time and wasn’t as much fun. I ran 6.8km to work with a cold cold face.
PM: After work I tried to find a new route, but got a bit lost and ended up running a fairly normal route instead! It was 12.7km which was good for the weather. The last few k were freezing cold against the wind.
Wednesday
It was -9°C in the morning, but I didn’t have to run, so I froze on the bike instead! After work I wanted to run my intervals, but the track was closed. I decided to do a tempo on the poop loop, so I did just over 4km of tempo work, but it was just a bit crap really, it was painful anytime the wind wasn’t behind me.
After about 12km I needed to go doodie, so found a dixie in the messe. I couldn’t make it to the toilet without walking, which wasn’t great in the cold. Then I got to run the last 4km largely against the wind, it was hell. I have to say, I haven’t hated many runs more than this one!
Thursday
AM: It was very cold again on the way to work. I ran 6.7km around next to Volkspark, my pace was just under 5:00/km. All ok except my sore and freezing face!
I was at work just as normal, I got some cells from Barbara, put them in the incubator and came back to my PC. It felt like I had looked at a bright light or something, I had distorted vision on the left hand side, like a half crescent moon. After a minute or two I realised that it wasn’t a bright light, it was a migraine! I have never had a migraine in my life, but Katja has told me about hers before. It lasted about 30 minutes and I felt a bit crappy for the rest of the day. I didn’t get a throbbing headache, but just generally felt a bit spaced.
PM: Not loving the freezing cold, I couldn’t bring myself to run as far as I should have. I also had an appointment for a massage at 18:30, so I looped around a little and ran 8.9km before calling it a day.
The massage was good though! I had 1h on the legs, sometimes it really hurt, but generally it was enjoyable. I felt a little looser after the massage, so it was worth the 40€ in my book.
Friday
AM: It was a bit warmer, the end of this deep freeze is in sight now! I had a butt clenching run to work, that’s why it was only 4.5km long! Still better to do something and get everything moving than not to!
PM: After work I actually felt a bit looser and could run a little freer than I otherwise have been. I tried to find a new route again, with much more success than last time. It isn’t all asphalt, but it is nice crushed dirt, which isn’t bad at all to run on. I then looped around onto my more normal loop to get to 13.7km. The wind had dropped a lot and I repeated the hellish route from Wednesday, today it wasn’t too bad.
I went swimming in the evening. I tried a 400-300-200-100 cutdown. I expected my 400m to be about 8 minutes, but it was 7:20. The 300 in 5:20, 200 in 3:30 and 100m in 1:40 were all better than expected. I swam about 2800m in an hour and even managed to catch my bus! All good in the hood.
Saturday:
As soon as the cold ended, the snow started! I had planned a 35km long run, but in the snow that seemed silly, so I took a rest day.
Sunday:
The snow was gone and the weather was actually pretty good for running. The run started off dreadfully, with me looking for a toilet after 2km. I had to go again after 4km, but fortunately that was that for the day then. I ran over to my Polderloop, a flat 7.5km loop in Bodenheim. I wanted to run 2x5km at marathon pace as part of a 35km long run. The marathon pace part didn’t feel good, I felt like I had to push to keep the pace, it shouldn’t be that hard should it? I pretty much managed it anyway, then trotted back over Laubenheimer hohe. Oh how I hate that climb at the end of a long run!
I realised that if I ran 35.6km, I would have 125km for the week for the first time ever. Though I was obviously tired (more thirsty actually) I looped around to get to 36km, a real marathon long run. My glutes and hips were pretty sore afterwards, but that will hopefully subside.
Feeling Down
I’m feeling a bit down about training at the moment, I don’t feel like I am making the forward progress I had hoped for. My legs are sore and I feel like marathon pace is fast. I don’t know if I should cut my mileage and cross train, or just cut my mileage, or tough it out, I just know that it feels sub-optimal at the moment… Next weekend should be a good test, I think I will do Frankfurt half marathon, I need a PB, otherwise I’ll have to reconsider my Paris goal time 🙁