Running to Think

The end of the week has been marked with the long distance running session that has been scheduled, namely 42 km self supported, completed at the pace of 4:34" per km on 270 mt elevation gain.
Legs were rolling like wheels. I never pushed along the test and was running very relaxed, breathing and looking around as if I was running on a much shorter distance. I take this as a sign that my condition is getting better and better.
The workouts at the gym are being effective, as expected. No pain on the hills, no slowdown, no problem to the knees whatsoever.
Looking forward to May 17th.

Here is a split of 40.1 km of the total.
Happy running!

 

Running at the best pace can be tricky especially on the long distance. Physiology can help, of course. However, mathematics can assure of the optimal running strategy to follow, regardless of our training in the last weeks or the current shape.

Some applied mathematicians found out the best strategy to run at the fastest pace, with the least energy expenditure, in physiological terms, of course.

I highly recommend to read this post, in which they explain exactly how we should run.

Run fast!

The schedule of the last week has been quite tough. Especially if I think that the left knee is still recovering from an injury and rule #0 says "watch out! don't push too hard".
Some running sessions of 15 km for three consecutive days, some drills and intervals did a great job to exhaust my legs before the long distance session.
As expected my legs today were not exactly responsive. But that was the training indeed: running on numb legs.
The course was not extremely difficult, but a bit technical in the beginning with about 400 mt of elevation gain mainly distributed in the first part. The second part was indeed quite boring due to the road, straight and clear. With cars...
I am still not an expert of Finnish roads and I will probably never be. Definitely not in one more week, the duration of my staying.

One important fact that I should consider in my next training sessions regards the fact that I lose too many salts, finding quite disgusting white spots on the hydration pack and shirt that becomes sand when dry. Today I drunk the whole 2 liters provided by the pack, ate 1 gel and 2 bars on the total distance of 40 km.
The real story goes like this.
At km 39.5 I sucked the straw harder than usual and nothing was coming up.
"Damn it broke!" I thought.
Nothing more wrong than that, Frankie.
I just had drunk it all. No water. Nada. Niente.
This fact is curious and I will need to fix it with Caroline, because the pace and the weather gave me no reason to drink like a camel.

Anyway, as the first long distance session after a period of active recovery, I can consider myself satisfied. Tomorrow, I will check how legs respond to some short drills on the track&field.
Greets from Finland.

Run happy!

First time in Madrid. Actually day 2.
After landing I had to take a train to get to the apartment which is located out of the city centre and I really couldn't contain the excitement. After only half an hour I was cycling around to check some of the places I will be running in the next few days. The weather conditions are much better than those of Belgium. A steady 14 degrees/celsius and the presence of the sun in the morning can make the running experience just perfect. This is also the time for serious training sessions due to the fact that the race of the year is much closer now (and I am really feeling it).

New place, new tracks, new distances and, of course, a new form of intensity training.
In fact I am experimenting another form of training in which the resting time is basically set to a minimum, sometimes even below the threshold governed by the heart rate monitor. This prevents me from running at very fast pace during interval training.
I believe this to be open to debate.  I heard of runners training at a pace they will clearly not get to during race, not even in their last 30-second sprint. So what's the point?
Moreover, running at slower pace will give benefit to your ligaments and tendons and to your running technique in general, due to a better control in body coordination.
I believe this applies quite well to those who are training for ultra marathons, which is exactly what I am doing.

Running smart in Madrid!