Kategoriarkiv: Ultra

19.35K trail run

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#6 – 50 runs in 100 days spring edition
#40 – 100 Days Of Miles Challenge

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This morning it was time for trail running in Fulltofta with Coach K Runners.

I biked to Eva and Helén came and a new guy Christian.

This time we came on time 🙂

Today we were a bigger group of 16.

I realized that we would run the 19K run I ran with Åke and Robert last Fall and I told the group that we would finally take Bäckaslingan instead of this LONG dirt road, I took the lead and realized that the first part was now dry. We were suppose to stick together but I knew that would not happen since most were fast runners and I am not as fast as them plus still have issues with my gluteus and cannot run as fast as I want, the glutues decides the pace.

When we started it was grey, it did not take a long time til I fell behind which suits me just fine. You cannot keep together when we have such different pace and I just get very stressed out when I get behind and then you see the fast runners running around in circles waiting for u, very frustrating.

My glutues was a bit sore but I could continue running, had some problems with my right knee for a short period and right back thigh. I got punished last week when I did the intervals at the Running Technique session, got almost back to square one so I am a bit disappointed of myself since I was doing so much better after have started with foam rolling.

It was such a joy running alone, the sun came out and I hear the birds singing and creeks gurgle. There were some people out for a stroll on some of the trails I was running on, not so many runners. At the end a guy was out with his three dogs and two of them had backpacks 🙂 So I asked to be able to pass, did a wrong turn and got behind him again 🙂 and have to pass for the second time.

Today I enjoyed the run a lot because of Bäckaslingan in the beginning. Met some of the runners when I was running on ”Natur och Kulturslingan”, most in the group had run 15K adn three of them wanted to run longer.

Today I was not forced to get my feet wet, it has dried up now but the ”spongs” were more slippery so I had to be more careful to run on those.

Realized also that it would be good to have my elastic bandage with me, I was close to sprain my ankle which happens on these trail runs but so far so good but that day that it might happen and I won’t be able to move.

I tested the sports drink Tailwind Endurance fuel, taste Mandarin/Orange. It was a bit too sweet to me, diluting it up to 600 ml, Berry is my favorite.

After the run it was nice to come inside and pancakes and drink coffee before we headed home.

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Altitude

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Distance: 12.27 miles (19.35K), time: 2.27.47 h,
average pace: 7.38 min/k, max pace: 5.25 min/k,
VO2 Max: 27 ml/kg/min

 

#33 – 100 Days Of Miles Challenge

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This morning it was time for a trail run with Coach K Runners. I took the train to Höör train station where Åke waited for me, Catherine and Emelie to take us to Fulltofta.

It was a bit colder this morning and grey. I was wearing my winter pants, orange long sleeve, fleece and green windstopper, gloves and hat. Energi belt with a new sports drink, Tailwind, that will be served at Hallands Ultra 50K in June, which I plan to run. I tested the citrus flavor. I also hade made a protein drink, Choko Chai-shake, to drink afterwards.

We were 5 Coach K Runners who decided we would run the 18.8K run that Åke, Robert and I ran last Fall. But Bäckaslingen which is the first part was withdrawn from the run because it is too wet at the moment.

I have had an issue with my right gluteus since end of January which which means that I cannot run any longer runs at the moment, over 32K so I have taken a decision to not run longer than around 20-25K til end of March to rehabilitate myself. I got an advice to take a timeout for a week from running which I did so my first run after the timeout was Wednesday this week. I also got an advice to do foam rolling. I have to admit that I was a bit sceptic but gave it a try Thursday at the gym and I was in shock when the pain was gone after my first foam rolling, decided to buy my own foam roll yesterday. For the first time I have not woken up with pain since I started foam rolling. Did foam rolling yesterday and this morning before the trail run.

Since Emelie hadn’t done any long distance running before she wanted to run 10K so Åke ran with her back to Fulltofta Naturcentrum when we had ran 6K and the rest of us continued the last 13K of this 18.8K trail run.

I am so glad for my Suunto GPS pulse watch where I can import routes and follow them. Since I had not run this run since last Fall I have forgotten part of the run, then it is so good to have the pulse watch as a backup and practice to follow the markers. Åke had said that he would continue his run when he had left Emelie at the Naturcentrum and run in the opposite direction from us. We never met him.

There were a few times when I looked at the watch and thought we would turn left (which was true but we had to run into the woods first and then to the left 🙂  ) The pulse watch was a life saver 🙂

During the run the sun came out and I took off gloves, hat and the windstopper, a sign of spring. 🙂

When we were getting close to Fulltofta Naturcentrum we were on the orange marker (Skåneleden) which we also ran last time in Fulltofta, missed the last piece of this 18.8K run this Fall last time time we ran in Fulltofta, but on this orange marker also is a white leaf marker to the left. at that time I said now it is going to be interesting to see if Åke will meet us or not because we came on this white leaf marker in the opposite direction this time. Catherine needed to visit a rest room and I said to her that we will wait for you but she wanted us to continue and I told her we would continue on the orange marker, which was true for a while but then we continued on the red and white marker (Bokskogen). This is where I realized we didn’t have her mobile number and hoped she wouldn’t get lost.

I asked Lars how long his longest run was and he said it was 45 min and we had at this time been running 14K and he was tired in his legs. At that time I had a bit faster pace than normal and asked if the pace was fine and he gave it an OK 🙂 It was such a relief to see Catherine when we came back from the loop.

The joy this morning was that my right gluteus did not bother me, I had some other issues, one of them was that I was tired in my legs but I prefer that instead of my glutues forces me to walk and stretch a lot. Part of the run I was able to have a faster pace than last time.

I was on my way to go to a physiotherapist next week but yoga in combination with foam rolling has really done a great work this week with my gluteus. I will give this a try a couple of more days and will see what it gives.

Distance; 11.7 miles (18.84K), time: 2.21.44 h,
average pace: 7.31 min/k, max pace: 5.46 min/k, VO2 max: 27 ml/kg/min

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#30 – 100 Days Of Miles Challenge

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This morning I did what I have refused to do the whole January and pretty much the whole February. I woke up at 5 am to take the train to Tjörnarp train station to run a 40K trail run. Every time I do this it amazes me that I just get out from the train and start running just outside this train station. It is a special feeling.

It was a test to see if I would have a good day or a bad day and then it was very good to start early. I have had issues with my right M. Glutues Maximus since end of January which have bothered me during my longer runs. This year is my ultra year and the first planned ultra race is May 3rd that has been a lot of ? around. So if I would have a good day my training in March would change and if I would have a bad day I would put 40K on hold in March and not run my first ultra in May.

On the train I did some stretching and the girl and guy who were sitting across from me whispered, she is stretching and I said Yes I am. I guess you do different things on the train was the guys answer and I said yes to that too 🙂

When I started my trail run it was chilly and a bit foggy but around 10 am the sun came out and it was such a joy. I have decided, after a discussion with another trail runner friend of mine, that I would try to have a bit faster pace and had  a pace around  7 min/k. Saw that I had been a bit sloppy last time I removed streamers from TJörnarparen so I removed them  during my run. It was such a joy being back in this neighbor hood. I also heard the birds singing, to me it is a Spring sign. It was not so wet but gooey.

When I got to Frostavallen I decided I would continue to 20K and then return back. My right M. Glutues Maximus had bothered me earlier but then it disappeared. At one place it was a big wet area where I had to take a detour in the woods and at Frostavallen there was also a wet spot that I didn’t want to run through and climbed instead on the stone wall, had to be a bit cautious with tired legs and wet stones. I started to notice that my right M. Glutues Maximus started to be a bit more upset. There were some streamers left to take down and on my way back I did not pay attention on the route on my pulse watch and did a detour as well and tried to locate the white marker. Got a bit grumpy since I ended up in a little troublesome terrain 🙂 But then I saw that white marker and came right eventually. I also walked up the hills to not irritate my right M. Gluteus too much.

So when it was around 15k left I took a decision I would take a time out and do a longer stretching, 1.5 minutes on each which took 17 minutes. Part of me wanted to quit but the stronger part of me said NO Way!

So the last 15K wasn’t pleasant. Had to stop and stretch from time to time. Started to feel like a rerun of Tjörnarparen – my first ultra race in Dec where I had to stretch a lot the last half of the race. The difference now was that I could continue running. 🙂

I fell flat on my face 2 times, the first itme I was not in a good mood but the second time I handled it so much better 🙂

When I stood stretching after 30K all of a sudden there was a girl out riding and the horse was behaving strange. I was told that the horse was not used to meet so many people 🙂 I couldn’t agree more. Was running with some pain and had to stop and stretch and there was people having a coffee break. Most of the time when I have been running here I have been pretty much on my own or just with the people I have run with.

My legs was very tired the last 10K and I tried to get myself to run as long as I could before I had to stop and stretch but when the pain is unbearable I just cannot force myself anymore and had to stop and stretch. When it was 3K left I found out it was only dowmhill from now on but downhill when your legs are tired is so much worse. Then finally it was only 500 m left and I was not going to stop no matter what and oh boy how great it felt to finally stop.

Then I was invited for coffe at a runner friend’s house which also made the day. We had a very giving running discussion.

After that it was time to get to the train station to take the train back. Got on the train but the train did not move because there were unauthorized people on the train tracks between Höör and Stehag. I took the opportunity to stretch while we were waiting. But it is no fun because when it is finally time to head home and your legs are aching you just want to get home as fast as possible. That would not be any walking from Stångby. I would get to Lund and get another train to my train station and walk from there.

So 25K was a good run, last 15K not so good and very tired legs the last 10K but even if the run was not on top, the weather and temperature was perfect which made it more bearable.

Distance: 24.86 miles (40.02K), time 6.14.18 h,
average pace: 9.21 min/k, max speed: 5.48 min/k, VO2 Max: 25 ml/kg/min

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#28 – 100 Days Of Miles Challenge

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This afternoon it was time to get to the gym.

Decided to have the warmup on the treadmill. Stretched first and then started the treadmill.

Started with the pace 5.49 min/k and increased the speed every 500 m til I got up to 1K, then I increased the pace after 250 m and then after 250 m again and ran the last 500 m with a pace of 5 min/k. It is my hope that I will be a bit faster this year. It has started to be a you running under 6 min/k.

During cool down I gradually reduced the pace.

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Distance: 1.81 miles (2.92K), time: 19.19 min,
average pace: 6.36 min/k, max pace; 4.39 min/k, VO2 Max: 26 ml/kg/min

 

#27 – 100 Days Of Miles Challenge

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I am not a treadmill lover but sometimes the treadmill is a life saver, like today when the weather is rainy, windy, cold and grey. I do not like to run in the rain.

So I have a pulse watch which warns me about storms and it made noise this morning and when I biked to the gym I had some heavy upwind part of the way so the watch was right 🙂

I was suppose to have hilly running this morning with a CKR friend but she ran into a cold last night so it was cancelled. Plan A was not to run on the treadmill then but since I have set a goal now to hit at least 10000 kcal before March 1 (participating in ”Kalorijakten”) I decided I would run on the treadmill also and when the hilly running was cancelled I decided I would do interval training on the treamill instead of only running 2-3K.

Last week I did Krutgubbens (The powder man’s intervals) intervals, since it was the first time and I did not know how I would respond to this type of interval training my fastest pace was 5 min/k but felt that I probabaly could run faster than that I modified my interval paces to the following:

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I have noticed that at 5.10 I start to feel a bit more breathless and have to fight with myself, not that I am going to quit or anything but it is getting down to the area where I am not really at. At 5.00 it was even tougher and today I would go beyond 5 min/k and I was a bit scared even if it would be for only 2 minutes and 1 minute but 2 minutes is quite long but I did it. It was such a joy to do the last 2 intervals even if I had to pep myself that it is not long time left til you will have 1 min rest. That minute rest is a relief for a short moment 🙂

I am going to stay with these intervals for a while now. It feels good to have a security string that I use to be on the safe side.

So distance: 5.18 miles (8.34K), time: 50.03.30 min,
average pace: 6 min/k, max pace: 3.53 min/k, VO2 Max: 31 ml/kg/min

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After that it was biceps, triceps, legs and ended with core: circles, side plank and then 5 min and 15 s regular plank 🙂

#25 – 100 Days Of Miles Challenge

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This morning it was time for hilly intervals with Coach K Runners. Before I woke up I heard the rain 🙂

After breakfast I saw that the rain had not stopped and was hoping that it would end before those hilly intervals. I do not like to run in the rain 🙂

I got ready to run up to St Hans hills. We were suppose to be 18 people and 7 dropped out because of the bad weather.

We started with warm up and ran to the long hill to get ready for the first interval. I always run fast in the beginning but slower at the end. It would be nice one day to be able to keep the speed.

And then we had an interval where we started at top of the top hill, ran down to the middle hill and when the first person touched the dirt road behind the middle hill, we were turning around and ran up to the top hill again. Of course Jimmy ”the gazelle” was the fastest down the hill. I do not understand where he gets his energy from. We did this interval a couple of times.

Then we did a new type of interval where we started from the top of the top hill, ran down the downhill hill, back up the downhill hill and up to the top hill again. This time I was coming down the downhill almost first but Jimmy ”the Gazelle” passed me at the end 🙂 then it goes slower up and the hills again where I was passed by the fastests hilly runners. We were told that if we want we are going to take the time and then later this spring time us again to see if there is any improvements. I need to remember to bring my stopwatch with me next time.

After that we did intervals on the ”circle hill” where we run down in the middle, turned right and ran up the steeper right side, down in the middle, turned to the left and ran up the steeper left part and did this til Mats felt it was enough, it was 4 or 5 times.

And then finally it was time for Mats’s brutal variant of the longest hill. I am running a hilly race called St Hans Extreme, last year they had to make some adjustments to the route because the municipality was performing drainage work on the slopes so at the amphitheater which had been my worst hill was changed and became much more brutal. So you run up that part, down to a flatter part and then up the top hill. I just made up my mind that I am going to it all which I did and was one of the first people up that hill.

Last it was the same interval when we ran down the top hill to the start of the middle hill and when the first person got to the dirt road we turned back and run to the top hill again.

It was wet, gooey and rainy today but a very good workout 🙂

Total distance: 6.04 miles (9.73K), time: 1.13 h

Average speed (to St Hans Hills): 6.40 min/k, max speed (to St Hans Hills): 6.10 min/k

Average speed (hilly intervals): 9.36 min/k, max speed (hilly intervals): 3.28 min/k, VO2 Max: 31 ml/kg/min

Average speed (to Eva): 8.59 min/k (stopped to compare the bottom of our trail shoes), max speed (to Eva): 5.57 min/k

Average speed (from Eva back home): 5.54 min/k 🙂 , max speed (from Eva back home): 5.53 min/k 🙂

Thanks Eva and Niklas for the good fika after those hilly intervals. I did not want to to get their home dirty so I took off my socks. It was very nice afterwards to put those wet socks on again to run back home. I do not know where I got my energy from, a fast run back to my home.

 

Results from the hilly intervals

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Altitude at the hilly intervals

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#21 – 100 Days Of Miles Challenge

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This morning I got up at 6 am to get ready for a trail run at Fulltofta. Since no one from my hometown wasn’t going to participate I took the train to Höörs train station and Åke was nice and picked me up there.

We were not a lot of people today, only 5 and I wanted to run the route I ran with Åke and Robert in September. The rest of the group decided to join me and I thought that I could follow this route but I realized that something was not right. Maybe it was due to that the route got saved with the route before in Lund and didn’t understand that I was at Fulltofta. Lucky me Camilla and Åke knew the area.

Two weeks ago we ran in snow and today there were hardly any snow but some ice parts and not so gooey.

Discussions that we had today was Camilla’s preparation for Kalmar Ironman, a race that I want to do one day, Sövde sprint, fuel when running longer distances and loose dogs and our experiences with those.

The trail was mixed terrain, I had repressed the run but parts of the run was familiar so some steep hills and a steep downhill. I did not walk on any of them 🙂

I just love to run in the woods and now when it was more green parts of the run was breathtaking.

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Distance: 10.34 miles (16.65K), total time: 2.04.45 h,
average pace: 7.29 min/k, max pace: 5.38 min/k, VO2 Max: 25 ml/kg/min
Total distance so far: 145.78 miles (234.71K)

#18 – 100 Days Of Miles Challenge

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The plan was to run a 40K hilly run.

Got up early in the morning so I could start the run around 9 am.

Mixed the sports drink and filled the bladder with 1 liter of water. On my longer runs nowadays I always put the reflective vest and headlight in the ultra backpack.

Was prepared it would be gooey since it rained last night so definately Fellraiser.

When I got to St Hans hills I realized it was icy on the roads. Also met Åke and Marie, two Coach K Runners. And when I was running down the top hill the rest of Coach K Runners were standing there, getting ready for ”Fartlek” (=simpler form of interval training) and I said hi before I contined on my run.

It was nice being back on those hills, part of the route was icy so I exercised some ice skating :-), it was also gooey but I did not wet my shoes so much 🙂 The sun was out. I ran 4 laps before it was time to get out on the flat part of this hilly run. This is where this run became a shitty run. Have had problems with my right butt part after I started running on those hills again which bothered me. Also I was not able to dring a drop of water from the bladder which did not make things better. I thought that something must be blocked somewhere and have to check this out when I got back home.

So I had to walk a couple of k’s with running between. The first time I streched there was a guy on rollerskis who asked if I was ok. This is such a positive thing. I told him I am just stretching. It was also windy and cold.

During the run when I realized I could not get my right butt part to get better I decided I would shorten this run a bit.

It was a long time ago I have had a shitty run like this.

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Total distance: 15.13 miles (24.36K), total time: 3.29.06.
average speed: 8.35 min/k, max speed: 5.46 min/k
VO2 Max: 29 ml/kg/min

It turned out that when I took off the bladder from the backpack and put it back I forgot to turn a plastic piece to the right place, that’s why I could not drink a drop of water, at home I could drink a lot of water 🙂

#13 – 100 Days Of Miles Challenge

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From the beginning the plan for this Saturday was a 12.5K flat run but after I did the hilly intervals Thursday I missed those hills so the plan changed, decided I would run 3 laps on St Hans hills in the afternoon.

Expected it to be gooey and wet so Fellraiser on and for safety I brought my headlight with me just in case it got dark during my run.

When I got to the hills it started to snow or hail.

I was prepared it would be a tough run since I had not been up here since end of November.

Most hills were just fine but some were slippery even for my Fellraiser’s. When I ran down the amphitheater I was gliding but I did not fall flat on my face 🙂

I was a bit disappointed because it just felt just like a regular flat run, a bit more wheezy. I guess I have a lot of hills in my legs now.

I got wet and the running shoes were really gooey when I got back home and Dirty feet 🙂

It was nice being back, I have missed those hills.

Total time: 1.28.48 h, total distance 6.99 miles (11.26 k), average speed: 7.53 min/k,
max speed: 6.10 min/k, VO2 Max: 45 ml/kg/min

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Power Yoga 2

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Last week I tried Power Yoga 1 and this morning I went to Power Yoga 2 6.45 in the morning. I am not a person who normally get up and exercise Before breakfast and I thought that doing this yoga Before breakfast might be a mistake. But last week I had coffee with my friend Johanna who also is a yoga instructor and told her about this morning session and her comment was that I am going to feel so much better afterwards.

Who did not walk in then Jeanice, a Coach K Runner friend so we said hello before yoga started.

A lot of the positions that I did a Power Yoga 1 were also here but today we also did Warrior 3 which was new.

Positions I had done before was child position, Salute to the sun , the dog, upward dog, the dove, Cobra, happy child, at the end universal twist that was also at Power Yoga 1 but did not remember the name then.

It really was a nice way of starting the day, I still need to work on the breating, I breathe but am not sure if I inhale and exhale at the right places.

Power Yoga seems to be the yoga that I will do reguarly. It is going to be interesting how it will pay off later for me as a runner but also as not a runner.