A bit chillier but I survived wearing my leopard tights, long sleeve shirt.
Realized in the beginning that my legs wanted to be fast tonite but I had to slow down the pace once again.
Chose to run my 5K run on the country side. Nice being out on the dirt roads and see some cows 🙂
Part of the run I am running through a cemetery, feels weird and that I have to ”behave” even as a runner.
Once again I decided to walk up the last hill close to my home.
Increased the pace again and had to slow down again.
Foamrolled my hips tonite, realized that they were not in such a bad shape, they usually hurt, I also foamrolled my calves, they definately need to be more foamrolled. I have not done any trail running but my calves were stiff.
Distance: 5.28K, time: 34.59.9 min, average heart rate: 142, average pace: 6.37 min/k, max pace: 5.47 min/k, cadence: 174, VO2 Max: 26 ml/kg/min
Did not do my lunch run Monday because it was raining, I really do not want to catch a cold now.
Thought that I would run at the gym as warm up on the treadmill but when I got there all the old treadmills were occupied.
Today I worked from home and had plan to head to run before lunch, it usually is good weather during the day but just before 10.30 it was raining like it did in the morning.
The original plan was to run first and then donate blood, they have text message me several times.
But then I decided, since I do not get very affected after donating blood, I am running slower during these resting weeks that I would give it a try to run after the donating blood instead.
And then something magic happened, the sun came out 🙂
Had problems with my wifi at the end so I decided to stop earlier and head out while I could, hoped it wouldn’t start raining.
Decided to wear my leopard tights, long sleeve, flipbelt.
This is really tough, I have lost weight and starting to get back on track, so now during resting weeks I am not going to run faster than 6 min/k but my legs want to run faster.
Got down to 6.30 min/k but if I did not pay any attention I saw that I had got up to 5.55 min/k and had to slow down.
Nice being out seeing all those Fall colors during my run
1 week and 2 days til the race. It is getting closer and closer.
So two more runs this week and then I got the tip not run next week before the race.
Distance: 9.73K, time: 1.04.06.8h, average heart rate: 147, average pace: 6.35 min/k, max pace: 5.57 min/k, cadence: 172, VO2 Max: 27 ml/kg/min
Last tough run before the race Nov 4th was Tuesday, now the resting weeks have started. I am going to do what I normally do before I am going to participate in a longer trail race.
The original plan this week after Tuesdays’s run was 8 hilly intervals Wednesday, I can tell you that that wouldn’t have happened no matter what. I was sore in my calves, front lower legs, front thighs and back thigs, also my lower butt.
Then I was suppose to run 5K yesterday but decided not to.
10K today but when I was out earlier it was raining. I changed my mind yesterday and decided to run 12.5K but when it was raining I decided I would bike to the gym and run on the boring treadmill but then I decided that I wanted to run outside and back to 10K but when I started I decided it would be 5K on the country side.
When it is resting weeks there won’t be any trail runs, no longer runs, max 10K and lower pace to keep the legs going but get the legs so they are fresh Nov 4th.
The toughest today was to keep the pace down. I had fast legs today, when I look at my pulse watch I was under 6 min/k so I needed to slow down.
So when I had ran half the distance I was having a good pace, decided on purpose to walk up the last hill, increase the pace again but slowed down again.
Distance: 5.26K, time: 34.49.5, average heart rate: 137, average pace: 6.36 min/k , max pace: 5.46 min/k, cadence: 170, VO2 Max: 24 ml/kg/min
Nov 4th I will run a race called ”Double Death” (=Dubbeldöden), a 44K ultra race with with a total altimeter of 2000 m. I have been prepared that I will run in the dark and needed to invest in a very good headlight. This race is on Kullaberg and it will be pitch dark.
I asked my running buddy Lars what headlight I should buy, he is running a lot in the dark and have good equipment. He suggested a Lumonite Air 1500.
When I signed up for this race I thought it would start around 9 am , at the latest 10 am and then would be 1-1.5h in the dark and I was ok with that. But then I found out that it would start at 12.30 which would mean I would be 3.5 h in the dark, now I started to doubt myself.
Kullamannen consists of many races and I have run the ”Death Zone” twice and know that I can do that and needed a new challenge, decided to sign up for two laps and also the experience of running in the dark and have prepared for this during the year. From that day that I found out that it would start after lunch I have thinking a lot of my safety. This is a very tough race, technical difficult, it could be very wet (wet stones) and gooey. Part of me have wanted to just run one lap but then I get angry at myself because this is what I wanted.
So I wanted to test this headlight and what better company could I have then running with my running buddy Lars. I asked Lars if we could have a night running with my new headlight so I took the train to Tjörnarp and met him at the train station. Put the headlight on and off we went.
Of course we needed to do this when it was dark and I put on my headlight and wow what a light. Lars who is a much faster runner than me got a very fast pace from the beginning and I just had to try to keep up with him, got breathtless. We would run around 16K.
Of course it was a lot of running talk during this run. We both still remember that day when I went with Lars to Vallåsen where we ran up and down the hill called Halmstad (no 11 on the map). I never thought that I would keep up with Lars, with his pace, never thought that I would be able to run as many laps as Lars but I did, that was one of the toughest runs I have done.
Part of this route that we ran was on Tjörnarparen that I will participate in December, a 50K ultra race, starting in Tjörnarp, but I also ran at outside of Tjörnarparen so I saw other parts as well.
We also talked about The ”Double Death” and my doubts and Lars asked what I am afraid of, the dark? No I am not afraid of the dark but I am afraid of my safety, Lars was wise, it is so true, if I think that I am going to injure myself I probably will so no negative thoughts.
This turned out to be a threshold training, I have never run a trail run so fast as I did. Good to run with somebody who is running faster with you, I also ran up a longer hill, if I have been running alone I would have walked.
At the end when it was 2K left Lars said that now we have to get up the pace so you do not miss the train, they go once in an hour. So I had to keep up with Lars, was very close to respiratory distress. And then when we got to the train station he said that now it is 15 min left, he tested me and I managed.
One time Lars asked me if I was thinking I was running in the dark and to be honest it was almost like running during the day except that it was night, I fell one time but not because it was dark, I have fallen during the day time.
So now I have finally made up my mind to do those two laps
Distance: 16.46K, time: 1.53.29.4h, average heart rate: 157, average pace: 6.53 min/k, max pace: 5.33 min/k, cadence: 168, VO2 Max: 30 ml/kg/min
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
Planned lunch run Monday did not happen due to rain.
I also had planned to run 5 laps on St Hans hills Tuesday, got my running gear on and when I started running towards St Hans hills it started raining so I decided to turn back, am not one bit interested in catching a new cold, and biked to the gym instead.
New attempt yesterday but I got a phone call (work related) and needed to escalate an incident and decided not to run and lucky me, it rained much heavier when I could have headed out.
So today I was working from home and decided that if it was sunny during the day, I would take a break and head out on St Hans hills but busy day but just before I shut down my computer the sun came out. Of course I had to get to St Hans hills.
Decided to run in my regular running shoes even if I suspected that it would be gooey, since it has rained a lot lately, I just had to walk where it wasn’t safe.
I decided that I would run 3 laps instead of 5, need to have fresh legs on Saturday when I will head up to Kullaberg and run one lap, last chance before the race in November. I have to check how long it will take to run one lap and the route that was the race last year so I do not risk to injure myself.
Was a bit breathless but ran the first lap and walked where it was slippery. During the first lap I saw another runner who also ran the same route. It was very windy as well, at the top hill I felt the wind 🙂 Also on the circle hill at the top.
Then I decided that I would switch on the second lap, which meant that I turned around and ran the end first and the start last. When I was running up the downhill hill (slalombacken) I had to walk part of it due to tired calves. The other runner was running up the top hill and ran back in the other direction, I thought that he might have decided to do the same thing as I but I didn’t meet him again.
Last lap was a regular lap, always a relief the last lap when I know that every hill is the last one and then it was time to head back home.
Distance: 10.53 min/k, time: 1.23.44 h, average heart rate: 149, average pace: 7.57 min/k, max pace: 5.57 min/k, cadence: 166, VO2 Max: 29 ml/kg/min
The original plan was to run a 40K trail run from Tjörnarp to Frostavallen.
The weather forecast said it would rain and I hoped it wouldn’t rain at all or come later in the afternoon.
Realized Friday evening when I was going to check the train departures that it would be rail road construction work so it would be a long bus ride in the morning. I am not very fond of bus rides.
Woke up at 5 am and ate my breakfast and then it was time to put on the running equipment, didn’t have time to put water in the water bladder and was hoping I would be fine.
Put on a fleece to stay warm and gloves. Had to take the train at 7.00 am and the bus would leave 7.35 so I had decided that I wouldn’t stand outside, tried to find a warm place and saw that the coffee shop was open and went in there and said that I wanted to stay warm. I was thinking that I could buy a small cup of coffee but decided not to.
I was very tired on the bus and slept from time to time. I had promised the bus driver to guide him in Tjörnarp, show him where the bus stop was.
When I stepped out from the bus it was drizzle, oh no don’t say the whole run will be like this, I waited under the viaduct shortly but decided to start running and then the drizzle disappeared.
Had the fleeze and gloves on.
Realized that it had happening things on the trails around Tjörnarp, the footbridge had been replaces with a much better one, a smaller path had been
broadened, not that I have had any issues with the marking but it had been improved as well.
At clear-cut it was time to take off the fleeze, ran into issues with my breathing and also realized that I still was tired in my calves after the 10 hilly intervals. the walking started earlier than expected. Had to make a decision if I would get out on the last 10K or not.
It was being back in the Höör’s area. It is hunting season, interesting to read the sign This area is a hunting area, be there on your own risk, I came from the other direction.
I got very confused at the thicket (snårskog), they had cleared it so it did not look familiar at all, tried to locate where I had to continue and made it eventually. It will be marked in December.
I thought that I came to a hunting place, I first it was a hunter but it was a motor cycle, they could have been hunters, I do not know, heard a noise and another motor cycle biker came. They wished me a good run.
It had been raining so some paths had puddles and I hardly could pass them without putting my shoes in there and I do not like to get wet feet too soon.
I had now decided that I would cut the distance to 30K.
Even if the weather was not the best there were actually some trekkers out there. When I got on white and was on my way to Nyrups Nature hotel I heard girl voices. They asked me if they were on the right path and I said it depends where you are heading, we are trying to find the white path. I told them you are on the right path, the white will be down in the valley and it is good marked.
Nyrups Nature hotel was still there, the owner had informed on FB that they are moving. Someone was cleaning the windows at the Nyrups osteria (cheese house), maybe it was the new owner.
There is this part where I have had difficulties finding my way there too, it had been cleared earlier and I have not followed the route, realized that I only had 29% left battery on my pulse watch, it was a lot of sworing there because it was wet and I got wet feet and tired legs but eventually I find the narrow path, here it will be marked as well. I am wondering if branches will be removed or the route will be rerouted.
When it was approximately 7K left it started raining, bummer and 7K did not take 42 min, it took longer than that, I was soaked when I got back to Frostavallen and in a shitty mood. Decided not run back to Höör, 4K, instead wait for the circle bus (ringbussen) so I stood under a roof so I didn’t get more wet. Hoped that I wouldn’t catch a new cold. Finally the bus came. When I got back to Höör I waited in the waiting area at the train station. Finally the dry clothes in the dry bag come in handy, changed on the bus and also the news paper were not wet so I could put them in the running shoes. Lucky me it was a faster bus, replaces the Öresunds train so It did only stop at Eslöv and then Lund
Distance: 31.82K, time: 5.10.52.2 h, average heart rate: 126, average pace: 9.45 min/k, cadence: 140, VO2 Max: 25 ml/kg/min
The original plan tonite was to run 10x500m hilly intervals on St Hans Hills.
Worked from home to be able to get up to the hills earlier, always get started earlier when I am working from home.On the 2 hilly interval I had a 4% incline and a pace of 6 min/k and then I ran 500 m with 0% and a pace of 6.18 min/k
Thought that I heard rain before I woke up, grey morning.
Ran an errand at lunchtime when it was colder, rain in the air, on the news there had been talk about storm later so I started to think that I might head to the gym instead and do hilly intervals on the boring treadmill.
I was thinking how I would tonite on the treadmill, last time I increased each interval with 0.5%, started with 2.5%, finished with 6% which was tough. Decided that I would stick to 4% incline on all intervals.
Streched before I started doing those intervals.
Then I actually did 1.5K warmup, with a pace of 6.18 min/k, so it would be easy adding 500 m to those 1.5K.
On the 1 hilly interval I had a 4% incline and a pace of 6 min/k and then I ran 500 m with 0% and a pace of 6.18 min/k
Put the fan on high.
1 min rest standing on the side and then had to get the distance to an equal distance so it would be easy adding 500 m so it would be approximately 1 min each rest.
On the 2 hilly interval I had a 4% incline and a pace of 6 min/k and then I ran 500 m with 0% and a pace of 6.18 min/k
Approximately 1 min rest putting my head close to the fan and drinking water.
On the 3 hilly interval I had a 4% incline and a pace of 6 min/k and then I ran 500 m with 0% and a pace of 6.18 min/k
Approximately 1 min rest putting my head close to the fan and drinking water.
On the 4 hilly interval I had a 4% incline and a pace of 6 min/k and then I ran 500 m with 0% and a pace of 6.18 min/k. Started to feel the incline in my calves.
Here a couple stepped up on the two treadmills to the right of me. The guy was a bit heavier and breathed heavy and I asked him if he had put on the fan, it really helps on the treadmill but he said that he easily got a cold, not that I believe that the fan would get him sick so I continued with my hilly intervals
Approximately 1 min rest putting my head close to the fan and drinking water.
On the 5 hilly interval I had a 4% incline and a pace of 6 min/k and then I ran 500 m with 0% and a pace of 6.18 min/k. More tired calves.
Approximately 1 min rest putting my head close to the fan and drinking water
On the 6 hilly interval I had a 4% incline and a pace of 6 min/k and then I ran 500 m with 0% and a pace of 6.18 min/k. More tired calves.
Approximately 1 min rest putting my head close to the fan and drinking water
On the 7 hilly interval I had a 4% incline and a pace of 6 min/k and then I ran approximately 430 m with 0% and a pace of 6.18 min/k. The treadmill stops automacially at 60 minutes. More tired calves.
Took a mini break, got off the treadmill and wiped my face and breathed for a short time
Approximately 1 min rest putting my head close to the fan and drinking water
On the 8 hilly interval I had a 4% incline and a pace of 6 min/k and then I ran 500 m with 0% and a pace of 6.40 min/k. More tired calves. Here it started to be tougher during the 4% incline, more breathless and had to fight harder and that was how it was the last 3 intervals.
Approximately 1 min rest putting my head close to the fan and drinking water
On the 9 hilly interval I had a 4% incline and a pace of 6 min/k and then I ran 500 m with 0% and a pace of 6.40 min/k. More tired calves.
Approximately 1 min rest putting my head close to the fan and drinking water
On the 10 hilly interval I had a 4% incline and a pace of 6 min/k and then I ran 500 m with 0% and a pace of 6.40 min/k. More tired calves.
Here I had to step off to the side and breath for a short moment before I started the cool down.
These two hilly intervals trainings had been good preparation if I will participate in the 6h treadmill battle that Coach K Runners have had for some years now. Felt the tired feet, get more tired under my feet after a while.
At the warm up I gradually decreased the pace til I got down to walking mode.
Even if the treadmill is boring it is great that it exist when outside is not an option
Distance: 11.22K, time: 1.29.13 h, average heart rate: 154, average pace: 7.56 min/k, max pace: 5.57 min/k, cadence: 176, VO2 Max: 30 ml/kg/min
