I have decided that I will do Yoga once a week and tonite I challenged myself with YinYoga where you stand in each positilon 4-5 minutes.
Good again to do the Standing dog where I at the same time stretch my calves.
I got to do my favorite Yoga position The Dove/the pigeon/the swan which is good for the gluteus.
Saturday I will run a 44K trail race and the week after that I always do Yoga twice plus massage, I have booked one hour because I will have a very tired body and need massage probabaly on my back as well.
I started the year with pneumonia and have been working on coming back after that. Started running in April after a rough cold in February.
During the summer I experiencedissues with my right knee.
Usually I have experienced that and then that issue has gone away but it continued.
Then I decided that I have to run pain free and got in touch with Lisah Hamilton who recommended me to talk with Rich and had a conversation with him. Great talk where I got to think a lot.
What has happened is that I started to commute to Älmhult beginning of 2016 and had to reduce my training to survive, not be able to do Yoga before work.
After Älmhult I started my job in Malmö and still did not do Yoga, could run at lunch time on Mondays either on my own or with colleagues.
Got a new assignment where I felt I could not run during lunch time.
Changed Consulting company, love my new assignment but could not run at lunch time and reduced my gym to once a week.
Have done massage once in a while.
During my talk with Rich it was clear to me that I had to go back to being at the gym twice a week, since I have not been good at stretching this summer, have streched but not long enough, I had made a decision to go back to Yoga again and RIch mentioned massage reguarly. Plus I have decided that I will run at lunch time every other Monday and after work every other Friday after work.
This week I went to my first Yoga class after a long absence and it felt so good. Was a fantastic class for me as a runner, some very good stretches for runners, a lot of planks, the dove etc. I am going to do Yoga once a week and after my race in November it will will be two times the week after to stretch out a lot, which is needed after a tough trail race.
So I have sceduled Yoga next week.
Went to a 30 minutes massage before work this morning and got a good masseur. Both my calves were stiff but more on my left calf, hurt a lot but I can take it, stiff on the back of my right knee and stiff on my right hip.
The masseur gave me a new exercise that involves my foot and suggested foamrolling which I will continue with everyday from tomorrow.
Decided to wear wool sports bra, wool long sleeve, regular tights, regular socks.
Lately my legs have been wanting to run fast, I should take it easy when it is rest weeks 🙂 but my legs have not listened. So I got up a fast pace from the beginning and had to catch my breath and walk for a short moment. Back to running again and fast pace again, needed to walk for a short moment.
The positive thing was that I did not have any knee issue tonite. I felt some pain in the beginning but it disappeared.
Results
Weight report
Happy with the weight today. This is where I hoped I would be at for the last couple of weeks.
Tonite it was time to run this night run with the headlight that I am going to use on the second lap on the race.
I was suppose to get up to Tjörnarp and run with my running buddy Lars but he could not make it so I decided to find a route out in the country close to where I live. Remembered that I and another running buddy of mine, Eva, we had run a run during the day out in the country where there were no street lights.
I had just run once and was not 100% sure where I would run, found the route on Movescount and studied the map and imported the route to my pulse watch earlier this weekend.
Put on my headlight and reflective vest, thought it was needed.
Started to run, interestering with running at nite is that I can followo the route on my pulse watch without using the inverse light but it goes off very quickly so I had a much tougher time on the bike streets to find the route, had to stop a couple of times to see if I was heading in the right direction.
Finally I find this narrow path between the two fields, pitched dark and now I could finally follow the route due to the fantastic headlight that I invested in last year, Lumonite Air 1500. The light is wide so I can see on the sides and far ahead of me which makes me calm. I also got up the speed when I ran in the dark.
I was glad I decided to wear the reflective vest because when I got out on a dirt road I saw on a distance a car that turned down on this road. With a strong headlight, reflective vest and reflectives on my compression tights the car could see me in the dark.
Felt some pain in my knee at the end of the route otherwise I was fine. Was breathless in the beginning probabaly because I felt the tiredness after the tough trail run this weekend. At the end I had a good pace and could run longer without stopping and walk too much.
Results
Weight report
This was a bummer but hope for better results later this week.
Some weeks ago we got the PM from Kullamannen and the route had been decided. One week later I read that Länsstyrelsen (=county government) that Nimis would be a no-go zone which meant that the race cannot be at the stone part to Nimis and up Nimis. The people who are arranging this race had a 72h email conversation and had to come up with a new route.
Today it was time to head up to Kullaberg and run this new route, I had plan to run on Kullen this Saturday but now had to run the new route of course.
Got the route from Kullamannen himself.
Took the train and bus up there, put on wool sports bra, wool long sleeve, compression tights, gloves and the jacket I will wear in November. It is colder in the morning and it can be cold in the morning when you get to Kullen. Better to be able to take off clothes if I get too warm then being cold from the beginning and not be able to something about it.
This year they are renovating the harbor where the start and finish has been so the start and finish for the race I am going to run will start at a hotel so I walked up there. Started running, the start will be tougher, it goes uphill very shortly after the start and then I got to the regular part that has not been changed.
It did not take long til I felt too warm and had to take off my jacket. I also realized that I had not attached the water bladder properly and had to stop and fix that too.
It felt good to know that I am so much better prepared. I was running up on some hills and walked on the more challenging or at least tried to run up on them and then have to stop and walk but that is fine with me.
I passed the narrow path where we had run down to get to the stone part that we won’t run down on this year and continued further down on the dirt road and then continued down on another dirt road.
Got down to the water and realized that someone else was also testing running this route, we pulled our heads together to find the path to continue on. This guy had run the same race as me last year and had also thrown in the towel. He disappeared and then I was alone again, was not sure if I was on the right path turned around and now came two other runners who also were testing the new route so we were running on the route together for a moment and then I was on my own. Nice to collaborate to find the correct way. Realized that I now had gotten to the bottom wher the stone part starts but now would get up on that part where we have heading now earlier. It will be a tough part on the race and after that it was off road. I loved it. Got a bit confused but all of a sudden saw a pattern that I could follow.
Thought that I had gotten to Håkullen but was on the top before Nimis.
Then I was back on the regular route again when I had passed Nimis on the top.
I was so happy that I did not have to walk due to a knee issue, only had to walk because I had tired legs or too breathless after running up a hill.
It was a bit windy when I got to the light house and had to take it easy to not blow away.
I was not dressed for the weather but it is not easy to know how to dress, it can be very cold in the morning and then get warmer or stay cold. So I got a bit over warm. I had told Wille that I might not swim in the ocean afterwards but then informed him that meet me at the beach because I am a bit over warm and need to cool down after the run.
Wandered a bit off but it was not too long. I stopped at the beach and probably had 1K left to the finish line. This is going to be a great race this year, am glad not to have this long stone part and love the off road part a lot. It will as tough but more off road and narrow paths. It is going to be interesting how we runners will behave, we will be many who will run and some need to pass from behind because they are faster and how we will deal with that.
Results
Weight report:
Have not been satisfied with my weight this week. Hope that next week will be better.
Decided that I needed more total altimeter plus it has started to be more cold in the summer cottage.
This Saturday I decided I would run my 40K trail run from Tjönarp to Frostavallen.
Put myself on the train and got out on Tjörnarp train station and started my run.
Realized it was a while since I started from Tjörnarp, most of my trial runs in this area have started from Frostavallen this year.
This can happen sometimes on these trail runs
Just needed to find a way around all of these trees laying on the ground.
Needed to take off my windstopper because I got too warm.
When I got to the loop I got totally confused, what had happened. Last time everything was just normal but know they had cut a lot of trees, the area looked completely different. I realized that I had gotten more to the left, thought a path was the path to the loop but turned out that it was not, was wondering where is the loop and all of a sudden it was just in front of my face 🙂 what????? It was totally overgrown, seems to me that this summer has messed things up, now everything is green and this overgrown is usually in the spring but the loop has not been this overgrown before. It was walking in a jungle. All of a sudden I heard voices on the other side and realized for the first time that there were other runners running on Tjörnarparen, which was a first. Later they passed me, one of them would run Tjörnarparen.
I started to have issues with my right knee and had to walk.
Also hunters were out.
I said hello to a little puppy who was out for a walk.
After Osterian I run on a dirt road and then I cross the forest to get to a path, have run here many times, end up getting a bit off track but always find this path but today I got totally brain drop. All of a sudden I was in a forest and did not know where I were, lucky me I had a backup of the route in my pulse watch, after some wandering around I ended up on the dirt road again and told myself to get a grip and take it more slowly this time but ended up off track again, had to get my frustration out and then I finally find the path and continued my run. Realized that I had run 4K extra and had to cut the distance. Would be fine because it would be 4K back to Höör and then I would walk back home which would be some extra k.
This was the most frustrating route so far. Don’t know what was going on. But I think I am just fine before the race in November.
Weight report
Have not been happy with my weight this week so hope for a better week next week
This morning it was time for another trail run, the last on Österlen this and the last but one 40K trail run.
Was cold in the summer cottage in the morning so I had to drink two coffee before we hit the road.
How could the temperature drop so fast, last Saturday it was 11oC (51.8F), my feet was cold but got warm eventually. When I started it was 6oC (42.8F).
I was prepared and brought compression tights with fleece, wool sports bra, wool long sleeve, wool socks, windstopper, had forgotten to bring gloves but brought with me on the run my gloves I have when I bike to work. Didn’t need to wear them very long til my hands were warm.
Was left off at Alunbruket, from a distance I saw that there were cows on the meadow I pass before the woods. So I decided to start with the yellow marker instead of the orange marker, everything was just fine til I got out on a more open area and saw these cows, I do not trust these cows at all, at Brösarp hills I and the cows have bonded. I was not in a mood of dealing with these cows so I turned around and hoped that all cows would be on this first meadow. I now continued on the orange marker but when I got to the famous meadow I saw the cows, what?????? These cows are not going tot destroy my day, I am going to run my 40K trail run, since I am a problem solver I had to come up with a second detour, there is a red marker that I have seen when I have gotten out from the woods and am getting close to Hallamölla, where is the start, decided to head back to Alunbruket and have seen that there is a map, saw where the red marker started and had to head back towards Christinehof and then saw where the red marker was heading, have never run on the red marker before
A bit hilly in the beginning and mainly dirt roads, the red markers were far apart but one running friend of mine has tought me to continue forward if u do not see any arrow in another direction and it was true. Finally got on the dirt road where I am getting down on when I run on the orange marker and am in the woods and then get out on this dirt road.
Was not sure how long detour I had taken but when I was on my way to Vantalängan my pulse watch sounded and saw that it was 10k, so I calculated that I had 3K extra. I was suppose to run to Baskemölla and was not sure where I would end now.
I had some knee issues in the beginning and also fell flat faced before Vantalängan, scraped my elbow and my knee.
When I got to the Northern Brösarps Hills there were these cows I have bonded with very close to the orange marker
But I could walk to the left and they stayed on the right, one was glaring at me but did not move and when I had a distance I could start running again. When I got to the top hill there were more cows and I also managed to pass them without any issues, see how it goes when u have bonded 🙂 After I had run down in the valley and up again I saw that there was bull calves but I could pass them too 🙂
At the rest area I informed Wille that he had to pick me up at Vik instead of Baskemölla. Continued to Brösarp hills on my to Haväng, it got colder and put on the windstopper again but after a short time I felt it was too warm so I had to take it off. Had to walk from time to time but tried to walk not too long. When I got closer to Haväng there was a group in front of me, kids and some adults, one tried to scare the sheep, it was not my job to tell the kid to stop but finally the owner got his attention, passed this crows and got to Haväng, was a bit tough to run between Haväng and Vitemölla, tired legs and sand is not a good combo.
After that I had some K’s with asphalt and this weekend it was also Kiviks apple market, tought to pass Kivik with all the cars parked on the side, cars on the road moving and people waking on the side but finally I got out from Kivik and thought that I would be fine but of course they also had to visit Kivik’s musteri (cider place), narrow road, cars in both directions, bus, train with people between Kivik and Kiviks musteri and a tractor also transporting people and then me trying to be on the left side, sometimes have to stop to let cars pass, with tired legs it was not easy balancing on the shoulder and the ditch. Good to finally reach Stenshuvud
Good started running again til I got to the part where it goes up to Stenshuvud 400m when I have to walk and for the last time see this view, for this year
Magical.
Then it was time to head down from the top and the bottom of Stenshuvud.
Tried to walk shorter and run longer, had to say that I had to pass some times during my run at Stenhuvud’s area.
Finally got out from there, had a dirt road to run on before I got out on the asphalt again. Trail shoes on asphalt is not a good combo. There are two uphills on the last 5K. Had informed Wille to pick me up on the other side of Vik because I thought I would have 1K left when I got to Vik.
But when I got close to Vik I only had 800m left to 40K so I informed me Wille to get to the harbour instead. When I got down to the water I turned to the left and then turn back, when I got to the harbour Wille was there, odd, turned out that he had to read about the other part 🙂
So of course I had to take a swim in the ocean before the late lunch. Just had to do it. You probably can guess it was cold, it was 13oC (55.4F)
The original plan was to run my 20K city trail run after work but then I decided that I would try to rest my legs a bit more before the longer trail run this weekend.
So I decided that I would do pulse based intervals, I have done these intervals in a while but felt it was time again. Both pros and cons doing these intervals so close after a trail run when I have tired legs afterwards.
I got out but had to return back in again and get my eyeglass to be able to see what I needed to choose on my pulse watch. Off I went.
The pros with doing pulse based intervals so close after a longer trail run is that it is easier to stay below the threshold pulse which in my case is 160.
Started with 2K warm up when I run slower, try to stay not over 132 in pulse but at the end I start to get to 135-136.
The first interval was toughest, got to around 147-148 and stayed there most of the intervals, very close to the end I got to 157. I try to be at 157, it is easier if I would start to get to 158 to run slower and get down to 157 again, if I am at 158, it is so much easier to get to 159 and then above 160. What you need to work on is to not get over your threshold pulse.
Decided to walk during the 2 min rest and then it was time for the second interval when it did not take very long til I got to around 150 and then around 157. On the second interval I am running up on a bike path where I have a tendency to start to run faster and get above 160 but now I know that and slow down when I run up and tonite I got to 158 but not higher.
TIme for 2 min walk during the rest part.
On my third interval I felt my tired legs, stayed at around 155-157 but all of a sudden I got to 161, tried to slow down but got to 163 but finally I could slow down and get back on track.
Last time I did pulse based intervals my heart raced to 180 in pulse which was very scary, took a very long time to get down to normal pulse then.
Walked during the 2 min rest and started my fourth interval. I do not know why this is happening now. My heart raced this time to, got over 160 and slowed down but the pulse just got higher and higher, I just had to stop and walk til the pulse dropped and then I could start running a bit faster again. This is the second time this has happened.
Then it was time for cool down when I walked first and then I ran slowly til I got back home.
Last weekend I ran one lap on Kullaberg and this weekend it was time for a longer trail run on Österlen.
Yesterday the storm Knud hit Sweden. I had a gig with my choir at lunch time, had a lovely upwind when I biked to the city and it was warm on my way up back to work. Lucky me I got back before the rain started. I was also lucky I did not have to take the bus down to Östelen, Wille picked me up at work but on my way to the car I got my shoe in a puddle, did not see it, I tried to get to the car as fast as I could, did not have any umbrella 🙂
There was talk the storm would stay over the weekend. It was windy at lunchtime but nothing flew in front of me. It was windy on our down to Österlen, got a beginning water planing and some rain. I heard the rain during the nite and hoped it wouldn’t a rainy run today.
This morning I decided to put on my capri tights and t-shirt and I got a ride to Alunbruket, when I stepped out of the car I felt the cold and decided to change to long sleeve and I was glad that I did that.
It does not take long til I get to a short steep hill and have to walk a short distance after I have run up the hill and I felt the cold, my feet was cold and I hoped that I wouldn’t freeze for the rest of the day.
It did not take long til I got warm, at one point I felt that the long sleeve was a bit too warm and was thinking that I would change to the t-shirt that I put in the dry bag in my ultra back pack but then the cold wind hit me again so the long sleeve stayed on. I rolled up the arms from time to time and wet my hair a few times.
On the meadow there was no cows 🙂
I continued running in the forest and minding my own business and all of a sudden I saw two cows, what? Where did they come from, there have not been any cows in the forest before.
When I had run up the hill that I decided to run up all the way I was breathless, which I have been on all the runs before, had to drink but could not swallow, that was a first.
Another interesting thing that happened was that at one place, North Brösarps hill, at a long distance I saw cows jumping down a hill, was wondering what was going on. When I got down to the first valley I saw a bunch of cows walking in their pasture, seemed that that was a leader, realized that they were passing Skåneleden where I was running so I had to make a detour to the left, keep a distance from the cows is a good advice. Further up there was a cow who was bellowing, some cows had not followed the crowd and further up to the left there were cows who still were there who started running to get to the crowd, first I had to stop, did not want to come in their way but saw that I could continue before they came in my way, now another cow was also bellowing to the rest of the cows further up.
Today it was the most windy run so far and the positive thing was that I did not want to walk too long because then I got cold 🙂
Passed some trekkers.
When I got to Haväng I thought that it would be best to stay away from the water, I thought it would be more windy there.
The first 10K took 1.30h so I hoped that I would be able to run 20K around 3h and I made it in 2.58h 🙂 there was hope.
When I got to Vitemölla it would be asphalt all the way to Stenshuvud but I kept going with trying to walk short and run longer.
The question was if it would rain or not. When I left it was blue sky and not anything grey so I thought that I would be safe but when it was 1K left it started to drizzle which was ok.
After my 35K run I had 1K walking and just before I had to pass the car road to get over near the golf club it started to rain a bit more, got wet, was on my way to fix the syncing over to my mobile app, the phone got wet so I had to put it back in my ultra back pack.
Knew that Wille was already at Vik, was not sure if I would take a dip in the ocean or not but since it was unsteady weather, raining back and forth I decided that I would not take a swim in the ocean so I had to do a pick shower (=raggardusch) with wipes.
It felt that I still was tired after the run on Kullaberg even if the pain has stopped at the sides of my thighs, it was tough running up on the hills and even if I had some knee issues I was satisfied with the run. Hoped it would be shorter than last time
Today it was time for my first run this year around Kullen (Kullaberg).
November 3rd I will run Kullamannen (Double Death, 44K) and decided earlier that it will be 3x40K runs and 2xKullaberg to get fully prepared for this race.
I could have done another thing today but I cannot be at two places at the same time and since the goal this year is to run through the finish line Kullaberg was more important.
So I took the train to Helsingborg and then the bus to Mölle. During the bus ride it rained, it was suppose to rain at 8 am but as we know weather is very unpredictable. But I hoped it would stop.
Here on Kullaberg I need to follow a route because I cannot find my way around, it is not my regular trail running area, I come up here 2-3 times before the race, the plan this year was to run in the spring as well but since I ran into pneumonia beginning of this year I needed to get in better shape before I could get up here. It is a tough lap even if it 21K instead of those 35-40K runs I do on Österlen.
When I started the run it was very windy down at the harbour but when I finally got into the woods it was more calm.
Last year it was a lot of walking up on most hills but now I could run up on most of them before the stone part.
I hadn’t run very far before the rain started, what a bummer, tried to hide under some trees but it did not help and I thought that if I have come all the way up here the rain is not going to destroy my day so start to run otherwise it will be a long day, started running again and the rain stopped, did not get so wet.
Got down to the stone part and followed the rule to stay closer to the land then more to the water, less wet stones and it was not so wet this day lucky me but there are still loose stones, they can seem to be steady but when u step on one it will move so I always walk on these stones and do not try to run, 700 m took 44 minutes and then Nimis shows up, an art work by a Swedish artists in wood, a steep hill up which I also walk/climb up on. It had rained earlier so it was a bit wet. It feels when u get up all the way to the top and then you have another steep shorter hill to get up on til it is time to run and walk til u get to Håkullen. I walk where there are more rocks, wet rocks are dangerous, I hurt myself last year when I stepped on a wet stone and fell, nothing broken but hurt my hand when I tried to dampen the fall.
Decided not follow the route 100% from the bottom to the beginning of Håkullen. I finally made it. Then the worst part is over.
This time I did not get lost, when I get closer to the light house and I get down a hill there is a gate to the left that I have missed in the past and has turned to the right but have realized that it was wrong.
Today I also tested these notorious Altra Timp. Saw these in a running paper, the grip looked good but when I read the reviews it was more cons then pros. If u haven’t listened to ”the ginger runner” on Youtube here is a video Review Timp The Ginger Runner but the ginger runner said that there are people who love the Timp so it would be interesting.
I can say this, the trail shoe was nothing wrong with except that it turned out it was too small for my feet even if I had ordered a bigger size so it was not nice after a while to run down the hills, that was the only negative thing I could say about this shoe. So the chance is high that I will order a new pair and sell the old pair.
The first 10K took 2.30h but then I also have the two toughest parts. Hoped that it would take less then 5h to get back. At the light house it was windy and I took it easy down the light house.
This day Kullaberg seemed to be occupied with Danes, I love Denmark but the people in front of me during my last 4 K’s did not know the rule about moving to the sides when runners or trekkers comes behind them and want to pass so I had to make a move when I had the chance so I could continue in my pace the rest of the way.
So finally I was on the beach and had 800 m left til Mölle harbour, had to run where the finish line normally is, this year it will be moved because they are renovating the harbour when the race is.
So what can I say about this first run compared to last year, 30 minutes faster, ran up on more hills, felt good. Last year one lap took 4.30h, it was very gooey and I had not prepared enough, was suppose to run some 40K runs but did not happen, was twice up on Kullen but that is not enough, ran into a knee problem closer to the light house and walking did not help so I threw in the towel.
So I hope for a fast first lap around 3.30 and then 5h on the second lap, then I will not make it before the max time of 8h but the goal for me is to run through the finish line and if I won’t be on the list, it is OK.
After the run it was time for the mandatory swim in the ocean, cold but refreshing.
Then Wille and I shared a shrimp sandwich for lunch after the swim
