47 day, 46 days to go

Cannot celebrate Christmas without running. Finally the rain stopped and I ran 10k trying to create a Christmas spirit by wearing some red. A kid said “Hello Santa” and I said “Merry Christmas” to his family who were out on a walk.

I saw another “Santa” which put a smile on my face and who else could it be then another Coach K Runner named Suz, we said Merry Christmas to each other and the run continued.

I would have hoped for some snow if I have to celebrate Christmas in Sweden but this is as good as it gets.

Weather: Grey, not too cold

Temperature: 10oC (50F)

Average speed today: 5.47 min/k and time: 56.37.3 min

52 day, 51 days to go

Tonite it was physical traning with Coach K Runners where it was running included. It has been a rainy day and my weak me told me to not attend but my strong me won the battle and I do not regret it.

We did a lot of boxing exercises which I love.

This physical training was brutal tonite, I am not a sissy but I admit that I was that tonite. Suz made us do the 90oC exercise and when my thighs started to shake the first time I gave up but Suz gave us a pep talk and then I decided that I won’t give anymore

Once again I got dyspnea and a severe one at the final interval.

I have started to get some pain in the thighs and I suspect that my upper arms will be a bit stiff tomorrow.

Three times I had to wring out the water from my gloves during the burpee exercises.

53 day, 52 days to go

Tonite I decided to run my 10k run backwards and what I mean by that is to run the end first and the beginning last. That is always a challenge the firs time.

Because it was a bit colder today I was having a windstopper over my fleece jacket and then a reflective vest. Good with layering. It got to be a bit too warm so I took of my windstopper during the run.

The 10k run got to be a bit longer because I have to turn to the left on a main bike path and did not know if it was the first or the second side bike path. They are very close to each other. When I got to the second side bike path (which is not a bike path really, you get to a play ground instead) I had to turn back.

Also the end of the backwards 10k run is the same as the end of the 16k run so I crossed a car road instead of turning left so the only difference was that I was running on the right side instead of the left side on a car road.

Fast run today too but without any dyspnea

Weather: Dark but not too cold.

Temperature: 6oC (43F)

Average speed today: 5.46 min/k and time: 56.29.5 min

55 day, 54 days to go

Tonite I ran a 5k run and have now finished 50% of the mandatory runs

Was hoping that my legs would be fast today and I felt that they were that from the very beginning. A bit windy part of the run but not too cold.

When I ran up the hilly bike path at the end I knew that I was fast because it was there where I got dyspnea so it does not only happen at CKR’s physical training and interval training.

Weather: dark, not too cold

Temperature: 9oC (48F)

Average speed today: 5.34 min/k and time: 28.11.9 min

57 day, 56 days to go

After had getting up already at 5.30 to be at the sport hall at 7.30  to prepare before the judo competition and being there the whole day it is very refreshing to go out for a run to clear the head.

Ran a short run, 5k

Wa hoping that I would have fast legs tonite and I do not know where I got my energy from but it got faster and faster during the run. So it is possible for me to run fast also in the winter time :-). I usually go down in speed.

Part of the run is on a country road and tonite I do not know if the puddles had increased in amount because they seemed to be everywhere, that is one of the reasons why I have a headlight so I can see them.

Weather: dark, chilly

Temperature: 4oC (39F)

Average speed today: 5.40 min/k and time: 28.29.36 min

58 day, 57 days to go

Today it was running barefoot, as warmup, at the judo mat before Newaza.

Then our instructor got a lot of energy and started physical traning and in the end a comment came, what is this we want to fight. For you who does not know judo and newaza, we are not really fighting, it is floor struggle.

Tonite I did not have a very good nite, lost most of the battles, tried not to put out an arm and hold in my neck but for some reason Sandor got hold of my arm anyway in a retention but it was good exercise, it was really exhausting. I realized today that I was not taped. End of August I was in a bike accident where I sprained two fingers and one of the fingers have been swollen, skew and stiff and have been taped except tonite and I was ok

59 day, 58 days to go

I heard on the news this morning that a storm is heading in our direction with a class 3 warning so I decided to run earlier during the day.

The calm before the storm

Decided to run 10k. It was a bit chillier today so warmer cap, windstopper gloves and windstopper jacket over the fleece jacket.

Had some slower parts and some faster parts.

When it was a few k left timely I got a stone inside the back of my running shoe, I was hoping it would not bother me so I had to stop and get rid of it and it didn’t

Weather: grey, chilly

Temperature: 4oC (39F)

Average speed today: 6.05 min/k and time: 58.43.6 min

60 day, 59 days to go

I’m back. Sunday I started to get cold sensations and did everything in my power to not have a cold when I woke up Monday morning.  Lucky me I was not feeling worse when I woke up the next morning but not asympomatic.

The snow was gone but I went to Löplabbet and bought new spikes to be ready for the next snow.

Decided not to attend the interval training with Coach K Runners Monday evening and still believe that was the right choice.

Decided tonite to take it easy and ran 5k. Have noticed that I have come down to a winter tempo and was hoping that my legs would be fast today. Started slow but got up the speed.

Weather: No snow, a bit wet on the ground but not raining, a bit chilly, did not think that I would take off my gloves but in the end they did.

Temperature: 7oC (45F)

Average speed tonite: 5.48 min/k and time: 29.18.5 min

64 day, 63 days to go

I blame this on Sven who was not as intense and short as Simone, did my second run today in the evening.

This run was darker, a bit windier and snow was falling part of the run.

When I ran my first run I had not decided if I would run another 5k or maybe 10k.

Spikes are needed at this type of weather

So reflective vest  on

And of course the mandatory headlight

I usually do not have my iPhone with me (which I should) and see how great photographer I would be while running, it does not work very well. Here is the proof of that

Here comes some pictures afterwards without any movement

It was a nice nite run, gloves were taken off and stayed off most of the run.

During the run I saw this fantastic moon and was hoping to take a picture but as soon as I was ready it disappeared behind a cloud but when I have finished the run I saw the moon again.

This was the first snow day and it was a while ago and I thought that I could stretch the normal way but when it was about 1k left I got knee pain in my right knee and was forced for the first time in a long time to walk for about 500m but then I could run til the end

Temperature: -1.6oC (29F)

Average speed tonite: 6.58 min/k and time: 1.06.15 h

64 day, 63 days to go

When I woke up this morning to my great joy I saw this nice scenery.

Due to the visit of the storm Sven who seemed to like Skåne (the southern part of Sweden), Simone was fast and intense while Sven really liked Skåne and decided to stay longer and be tougher so I had to reschedule my running.

Here I am getting ready prior to my first run that I am going to do today.

Decided to run twice today so before lunch I put on extra clothing: windstopper and warmer cap and windstopper gloves and then also spikes.

Ran 5k and it was wonderful to run in the winter landscape, blue sky, sun was out and it glitters so nicely in the snow .

Temperature: 0oc (32F)

Average speed today: 6.12 min/k and time: 30.33.4 minutes

Such a beautiful day for a run and it is going to be another one later today to do some catch up