It was time to increase the distance today, I had decided that it is time to test running 8K and see how that goes.
Today it is Walpurgis Night in Sweden and the customer where I have my assignment is off so I decided to sit home and read through documents and not work the whole day.
In the morning I ran an errand and noticed it was windy, I was hoping it would calm down by the time it was time for me to run.
The temperature was 15oC (59F) and it seemed colder because of the wind so I put gloves on in the beginning
Tough tough today, my legs wanted to run faster but I am still convinced that slowing down the pace will get my lungs much less stressed. I found a pace around 7.15 min/k but noticed that my legs increased the pace but I feel it in my lungs that they are not ready for 6.35 min/k which normally is not fast.
I knew that I had run a 8K run out on the bog and checked in my blog when I did it and found the route in Movescount and thought that I had figured out the route 🙂
Got out on the bog and oh boy was it windy, the wind almost took me a couple of times, fell almost to the side but fought to keep me up.
Part of the run it was a very strong upwind, it felt like running in very thick suryp, almost stood still. This was definately the windiest so far.
So I past 5K and still was running, every meter would be a bonus after 5K. When I started to calculate how long this distance would be I was not sure it would end up being 8K but thought 7.5K and I would be fine with that but when I almost was back I had ran 7.13K and decided that I would continue since I could.
Felt good today to run 8K without stopping, except for taking some pictures but that does not count.
Tough tough tough but I made it, I CAN run 8K which is 3K more than last week.
Before I became a regular runner I was as the gym Saturdays but usually I am out on my trail runs on Saturdays.
Today I could do my calves exercises but low weight.
Still needs to get more strength when it comes to my big back muscles and triceps.
Biceps I did double as much on the same weight as last week.
Today I did the following core exercises: Rolling toe plank 30, always tough, regular plank 30s, boat 2.5kgx20x3, pilates ball ”jackknife” 2×10, did just 1×10 last week.
Now when I have started with the hip strengthening and stability exercises I will get my hips under control, pain after my run yesterday.
Calf exercises: Toe lift exercises, 3 variations.
Just to keep going to the gym and get stronger every time
Weight report
-0.9 KG, one KG closer to my middle goal which is below 60 KG. And I have not even started running my longer runs. So this was good news. I will keep up the good work.
The week got a bit changed because I felt Monday that I might catch a cold again.
So I rescheduled to run on Friday instead of the gym.
Decided I would run around the bog after work.
Temperature: 14oC (57.2F)
It felt warm when I got back home after work but I did not dare not wearing my windstopper.
Had decided that I would keep that slower pace but felt in the beginning that my legs felt fresh and wanted to run a bit faster so I had to slow down, for some reason I could keep a pace of 7.30 min/k around the major part of the run.
Was not sure how long the distance would be and did not want to check my blog to found out.
It was nice being back on the bog which is close to where I live.
Part of the run was windy and upwind.
When I left the bog I just let my legs decide what pace they wanted to have. I calculated it would be approximately 1500 m left.
I was quite breathless when I was done but it felt good having a faster pace at the end and be able to keep it.
The reaction after the run is that I get a cough that goes away but I do not run into that during the run.
And it is a weird part of the year since I am Spring allergice, allergic to some trees, especially Birch
Next week I will increase the distance and see where it takes me. To sums it up I should be able to run at least 5K and then it will be interesting it I will be able to run more than 5K without stopping.
The original plan was to run this run yesterday but Monday morning I woke up with a ”cold” feeling in my throat, had a tiny little sore throat and was not sure how it would go, crossed my fingers that I wouldn’t run into another cold now when I just got back from the last one.
Monday after choir rehearsal I took a sip of whisky, went to bed on time and yesterday I fel fine. Decided to not run yesterday.
This morning when I biked to work it was raining 🙂 I do not like to run in the rain when it is colder. During the morning it was grey and rained even more. I hoped it would get better in the afternoon.
In the afternoon I saw that the sun got out and I started to see some clouds in the blue sky 🙂
The socks last week was too warm so I decided to wear thinner socks.
The goal today was to be able to run the whole run without any walk so decided to have the same slow pace as Saturday.
At the start I felt that my legs were faster but I had decided to go for this slower pace, it is a challenge when your legs are faster and you have to force yourself to calm down.
Satuday it was much windier but it was a bit windy today.
After the first uphill I had to remove the windstopper and catch my breath, I was still running and decided not to check the pulse watch at the distance, I would run til I couldn’t run anymore
The big question was the last uphill which is close to home, a bit longer, a bit steeper but I decided that if I still was running that I would continue running up that part and see how far I would get.
When I was on my way to the cemetery I saw this little creature and in the bushes the male mallard was there. When I ran through the cemetary I saw two more mallard couples. I was wondering if they are sticking together as couples? And I just read that they form couples already in the Fall.
I ran up all the way on the last uphill part and then I let myself loose the last part home, just let the legs decide in what pace they wanted to run.
So more improvement today, finally I ran the whole 5K, felt really good.
Tonite it was the first time I was back at the gym since beginning of November last year.
I realized that I had not been there in a while, almost forgot to check in, my sports club have a system where you check in if you have booked a training session or just to check in to see statistics, which is good for me to.
Then I realized that I had forgotten the key to lock in my clothes 🙂 so I carried my backpack around in the gym.
Since I had not been at the gym I had to take lower weights, some exercises were not that bad.
Where I have lost most strength is back and triceps. Good to start exercising my back again, it has complained.
Part of the gym was closed, it looked like it was going to be renovated so I could not do one hip exercise.
Did a variety of hip exercises which I need and then I did core. That was tough, did the boat with weight and turned my over body from side to side, then rolling the toe plank, that felt a lot, but did my 30 that I usually do. Then the pilates like the ”folding knife”, just did 10 of those, usually to 3×15. Core is definately something that I will work on and hip exercises plus back.
After Tuesday’s run I had very sore muscles the day after, lets see how I will feel tomorrow after the gym.
Probabaly going to have a tough time at the gym too but I need to get a strong back, feel it at work but glad that I have a table which I can sit and stand at.
So after 3 months cold that got over to pneumonia. Got better. Ran 5 times on my vacation. Even if it was tough it was nice being back running. But when I got back home I ran into another severe cold that made me cough for some weeks.
Yesterday I was able to sing through the whole choir rehearsal, now it was time to head out on my first run since February 18th.
So this is reality
This really disturbs me, before I ran into a cold in November I was down to 61 kg and I am sure that I would have gone under 60 kg by the end of year 2017 if I would have been able to continue running and also run the last ultra race in December.
So this year it is going to be about loosing a lot of weight, main goal is to finish those two laps at Kullamannen in November so it is going to be a tough year.
In the beginning of this run it felt good, not so breathless, sun was out and blue sky, I looked at my watch and saw that the pace was 5.25 min/k but knew that that wouldn’t last, had to slow down.
When I was in Thailand during my vacation I was forcing myself to run 2K and then I had to walk and then the last two runs I was forcing myself to walk a short distance and then run til I get back to the hotel, got up to 4K.
Had decided to head out on a 5K run, I was not sure how it would go but I was going to try to run as much as possible. Decided that I would run longer than 2K if I had to stop. Today I ran 2.8K before I had to stop and walk. It was not fun at all at the end, really heavy legs and it felt like I had a ton on my chest, got very breathless but was proud of myself.
Decided that I would walk 500 m before I had to get back running again. Had to catch my breath. Started running again and got to about 4K when I walked a much shorter distance, decided to force myself to run all the way through the cemetary and made it and then it was a hill on a bike path which I walked up on and then ran all the way nome.
Those 5K felt like I had run so much longer, like running intervals but it felt good putting on those running shoes again.
This week I am going back to the gym, ached in my knees and feel sore in my lower back, have not been at the gym since beginning of November and need to exercise my back and core but also the rest of my body and then I plan to run a 5K run this weekend.
I am two weeks ahead of schedule, last Spring I ran into a longer cold, 5 weeks, starting end of November and now I have started 2 weeks before I got back on track last year so maybe I will not be so breathless in a couple of weeks and can start running shorter runs in the woods shortly.
Getting back from pneumonia is no game, I just have to make up my mind to not give up, just keep going but I have to get up to 30K around beginning of Summer if I will have a great time running this ultra race in November.
Today I was waking up 5 am to get ready for the last run on Kullaberg before the race in November 4th that I have prepared for this year.
If you do not have a car it will be the longer ride, 40 min train ride to Helsingborg and then wait for 20 min for the bus which takes 1 h to Mölle bus station.
Arrived to a very windy Mölle, fleece was already on but gloves was very needed as well. Chilly start. Had to use my eyeglass to find the right route, here in this area I would be lost without following the route.
Really windy when I ran near the harbour and then after 100 m I have this steep road among the villas. Had to stop and walk. Felt that I had to get rid of the fleece when I would get into the woods.
Later I also took off the buff that I had on my head, got a bit too warm.
Then this narrow gooey path, knew how this day would be 🙂
After I had run on the steep hill into the woods I decided to stop and take off the fleece to get some air.
Some longer steeper hills that I had to walk on.
Yesterday I finally got my new trail shoes that I have planned to use on the race in November, in August I felt that my Altra Lone Peak 2.5 didn’t have such a good grip anymore.
Nice color too.
Realized that it was more wet than in August.
Find my way around til I got to the part where you are running down to the stone part, had some difficulty to find my way down but managed, just had to stop and slowly get back on track.
The stone part before Nimis was wetter than August so I just had to take my time, be cautious, the only issue is not that it is wet but also loose stones.
This time I had decided that I had to find the right path up Nimis and I did, I even decided to get off the regular path and turned out that I had made the right decision.
The stony part and Nimis are two of the three tough part on this race.
Quite breathless when I had climbed up Nimis, here I have use of my climbing experience in my earlier life.
Just after have climbed up Nimis there is a tough hill but then it is some catching breath before Håkullen. This time I had planned not to injure myself and chose the Håkullen path that was at the race last year. Everything was fine in the beginning but then I got off track, some cursing when trying to get back on track but then I just decided to get up and then it would solve itself and it did 🙂
I started to hate the goo, this was definite the run with most goo, I could not even avoid it so the trail shoes got well run in if you know what I mean.
It felt good knowing that I was getting closer to the light house.
More trekkers today then other runners, met some runners that I said hi too.
At the lighthouse it was very windy and there is some tougher parts before I get back to regular running with some uphills wheren I had to walk again plus also during the run take it easy over the wet stones.
Such a relief to get down to the beach, just had top pass some slower trekkers, I was in a hurry to finish and get inside 🙂
Then it was only 800 m back to the harbour.
Finished with late lunch at Hotel Kullaberg.
Distance: 21.49K, time: 4.46.24h, average heart rate: 139, average pace: 13.20 min/k, max pace: 5.18 min/k, cadence: 140, VO2 Max: 27 ml/kg/min
The 50 runs in 100 days challenge is over but I will continue blogging about my preparation for the race ”Double Death”, a race I will run November 4th, 44K, total altitude: 2000m.
More hillier running since this summer.
I have gone over to do pulse based intervals which suits me better as a ultra runner but have now gone over to hilly intervals to be better prepared for this race.
Today I had planned to run around 30K, the route last week was 26 when I did not run the footpath but with the footpath included I would get up to 30K.
Camilla P got in touch with me and asked if I wanted to have running company, we have the same pace and of course I said yes but I also informed her that I run from A to B.
We met at Christinehof and she wanted to join me for 7K and then she sould turn back. I told her that it is 5K to Hallamölla and then it is 8K to Vantalängan so she decided to join me to Vantalängan.
The pulse belt did not want to be found so I hoped it would be found later and it did.
At Alunbruket she thought that we would go on Yellow but I told her no we will continue to run on Orange, to Hallamölla you are running more in the woods on Orange, on Yellow you have asphalt which I do not like.
We had different running discussions, I asked her about Stranda, a very tough Ultra race she participated in, in Norway. She hopes that she can run Tjörnarparen this year.
There was talk about rain but there was no rain 🙂
Got to the footpath where there are some steeper hills so some walking, nice to see that the heather was still purple.
Today it were no horses when I got back on Orange after the footpath but now I know which animals live in the big holes, rabbits, saw a bunch of them when I was walking up that steeper hill.
There were some trekkers on Orange that I said hello too.
I do not know where I got the sand from inside my shoes, stopped at Bengtemölle and took it out, it is no good feeling running with sand in your shoes.
Since the Orange marker to Haväng is mainly asphalt and dirt roads I am going over to Yellow at Bengtemölle where I instead will run Brösarps backar.
After approximately 1K I run on a dirt road and these guys
I am not afraid of cows but always walk slowly past them but these cows I was not sure about so I walked further up in the grove til I had passed the last one and then there are stairs and a gate.
It is a varity on these runs 🙂
Continued and saw some horses
And some cows
After I had run over the steam locomotive train rails I saw these horses. At the side were two bikers resting.
I was worried about one of the horses because it was just laying there, the breathing bothered me, went back to the bikers and asked them if they knew anything about horses and told them about the horse, they had seen him but said that the other horses was just standing there, if the horse would have been in a bad condition they would have reacted and I realized that they were right, when I passed him the second time he moved his legs a bit.
This time when I got to Haväng I decided to run directly to the parking lot and continue on Orange, now I knew where to run, in what direction, was a bit of confusion last time
Nice to have this the last part of the route
Had some issues with my right knee, forgot the linament at home, also tired right calf from 20K so it took some time the last 5K and the last 1.5K is asphalt. Next weekend I had planned a 35K trail run but I will stay on 30K.
My ride was delayed but for a good cause, got cold water for me. But I decided to take a swim in the ocean with my running clothes on, not socks or shoes, pulse belt or pulse watch. A bit colder but it is cooling my body down.
Then my ride arrived and I could change to regular clothes, drink water and then we drove to Kåseberga and had a good late lunch, last time we tried to have lunch at Kåseberga it was so many cars that we could not drive down to the harbour, we decided to have lunch in Ystad instead and decided to come back another time, this time we could park down at the harbour
Distance: 29.54K, time: 4.20.46.3 h, average heart rate: 135, average pace: 8.49 min/k, max pace: 5.33 min/k, cadence: 150, VO2 Max: 25 ml/kg/min
Weight report
I weighed myself in the evening and the weight loss was 0 kg. Ideal is to weigh myself first thing in the morning, I am sure I have to be under 63 KG at this point. So much better to be a bit lighter. Running feels so much better with less kilos on my body.
#49 – 50 runs in 100 days – Keep Running edition
#50 – 50 runs in 100 days – Keep Running edition
Woke up 4.30 this morning to eat breakfast, pack the last things and bike to Nova to be picked up by Marcus who would drive to Mölle. I was so glad that Marcus wrote on FB in our running group that it would be more fun to not drive alone. Beginning of this week I did not have any ride and had decided to take the train and bus to Mölle which takes 2 hours and yesterday a dead bord caused train chaos that wouldn’t be solve til lunch today so I am not sure how it would have gone today if Marcus hadn’t asked for company.
We were 5 in the car and we got there around 7.44, Maria would start at 8.50 and the rest of us would start at 9 am. It was cold and we decided to head down to the harbor to get bibs. Some of us already had our bibs and then we would go back to the harbor and get changed for the race.
At 8 am it started to rain and I thought oh no don’t say that it will be rain all day long but then, lucky me it stoppad.
This year they have changed it to different start times, last year the ultra runners started at 7 am and we who ran Dödens Zone (the death zone) started at 8 am which meant some clogging. This year the Dödens Zon started at 8.30, 8.40, 8.50 and 9 am.
I had put the wind stopper in a dry bag in my ultra back pack just in case I would get soaked
In the beginning it was a narrow path where someone of course started walking so the rest of us had to walk.
When I ran this route in October the lazy me was in charge, walked early on the hills but I had decided today that I would run on most hills except the challening ones like Nimis and Håkullen.
After a while you get down to the coast where there are 600 m stones that you have to walk on (some ultra runners passed us and they had another pace) and these stones were really slipper today, I was glad I did not sprangle my feet, I was surprised that I did not injured myself during this stone part and finallåt I came to Nimis and even Nimis was slippery.
After that it was flat for a short time and then Håkullen came where they had rerouted the route and it was very steep upwards but definately an interesting new part.
The first 10K are definately the worst part of the race, you have some steep down hill part which were gooey so I was gliding and could have injured myself there too.
In the beginning I was among the last in the group that I belonged too but during the stone part and Nimis I passed some runners.
I got a bit angry sometimes, in a nice way, when the ultra runners passed me and had a much faster pace and look so fresh 🙂
My legs were really tired after 10K but then I had Lars ”the devil” in front of me who pushen me forward and also another not so pleasant evil devil e who pushed me forward in another way (to get some steam off me)
Finally I got the light house where I met the main organizer of this race and this was my last chance to run this ultra race (60K) but was glad I did not run this year, next year it will increase to 160K (100 miles) and I asked him if he could make the Dödens Zon a bit longer and more altitude, he then informed me that 2001 it was 500 m more altitude, now we’re talking 🙂
160K is too long for me.
After the light house it is only 4K left and they feel much lighter. There is a tough part just after the light house but after that I feel the finish lite close.
I was not in the same shape this year, have gained 9 kg but finished with 3.35 according to my pulse watch, the result is not out yet
Distance: 20.65K, time: 3.35.21 h, average heart rate: 153, average pace: 10.26 min/k, max pace: 6.47 min/k, cadence: 150, Vo2 Max: 30 ml/kg/min, asc: 826 m, desc: 832 m
This race was definately the Death Zone or the Hell Zone this year but the rain stayed away, a little tiny rain during those last 4k’s but did not bother me
Nov 5th I will run the race Dödens Zon (The Death Zone) on Kullaberg, approximately 22K trail run that is very different from the other trail races I am participating in. So today it was time for the last trail run before the race and what would be better than running the route.
3 other Coach K Runners that I had not run with me before wanted to join me plus Irma the dog 🙂
3 of us and the dog drove in one car and then the fourth runner would drive alone.
When we got to Mölle harbour it was very windy and cold. We waited for the fourth person but he never showed up so we were 3 runners and a dog who started running. After some k’s I had to take off my windstopper and gloves, the first k’s just goes up and up.
I could follow the route but the distance did not work this time either, I just need to get to the bottom with this.
After about 9K the route turns into a tricky narrow path into the woods and down to the coast. I had asked one of the runners to import the route just in case I would loose the route which happenend on my last trail run so there we were not in an agreement how to run, so we got off track but something felt not right so I stopped and turned back, shouted on the rest but they didn’t hear me so we got separated but since Fredrik had the route I thought that they would probably run back so I found the narrow path and ran on my own down to the coast
Text messaged Fredrik and asked if they had done a detour and got back yes but that they were close. Put my windstopper back on and gloves so I didn’t get cold while I was waiting for them.
After a while I got the message that they were 200m in front of me of the route and I was wondering which way did they go 🙂
This part is just stone stone stone so no running, loose stones, I was wondering how Irma would make it but she was doing just fine.
After a while you get to Nimis and then a steep uphill. Irma was struggling a bit.
Back to running again and then down a steep path to the coast again and then up Håkullen which is tougher than Nimis. You are basically crawling up and Irma the poor the dog got scared, she didn’t have anything to hold on to and refused to go up any furhter, Amanda decided to head back and up the other part and Fredrik and I continued on our own.
We cut the route a bit to get back to time Amanda so we probably ran around 17K
Then we got back to Mölle and I had wanted to eat this famous shrimp toast
