Milestone No.1 achieved!!!

The first milestone on my running path in 2013 is achieved.  After 1,5 month of training I completed the cross-run around the same time as I did 13 years back on the same track. Not to shabby for a fat guy with only 1,5 month of running. To cut things short, I completed a 2,07 kilometer  long track in 8 minutes and 36 seconds. I was expecting a result below 9 minutes, but to have improved the previous time from a training session for over a minute? Impressed, indeed. So what now? Well I plan to attend on a 10 kilometre run on the 15th of June 2013 in Mozirje. I could attend the 21 kilometre run but now there is no need to prove myself any more. I already know I can do it. But I also know that I need to keep my feet healthy enough so I can keep running. And a quick check of the last month and a half. After 6 weeks of running I have ran for over 12 hours and in that time I completed over 100 kilometres. That is not much if you are a seasoned marathon runner, but if you are like me, it is a lot, considering I am only running for a month and a half. Of course the weight is still hanging at around the same value of 100 kilograms. Do I need to starve to loose some weight? One more thing. Today is the 11th day with no migraines. Isn't that lovely? Silently I'm hoping it's the acupuncture therapy from last year that is finally paying off. In any case, whatever the reason, I am glad it's gone for the time being.

Tako, prvi zadani cilj v moji tekaški karieri v letu 2013 je zaključen. Kros na rekreatorju Škale sem uspešno prestal in na moje presenečenje z odličnim rezultatom. "Stric", ki je meril čase, po mojem ni najbolj ažuren glede brisanja pomnilnika na dataloggerju. Primerjal je namreč moj čas včeraj, s časom, ki sem ga na isti progi pretekel 13 let nazaj :S Kakorkoli, razdaljo 2,07 km sem pretekel v času 8 min in 36 sekund (po moji štoparici, bom pa počakal na uradne rezultate od "strica"). Tempo je bil kar dober - 4 min in 9 sekund na kilometer. Glede na to, da so moji intervalni treningi in poskusni krogi po isti progi namigovali na čas pod 9 min, si nisem niti prestavljal, da bom v 14 dneh kar za minuto izboljšal čas krosa. Zadovoljen. Kaj sedaj? Udeležba na Mozirskem teku, 15.6.2013. Prijavil sem se za 10tko, mogoče bi mi uspelo tudi 21tko, vendar se od sedaj naprej ne mudi več za čas, zato nameravam trenirati bolj po pameti. Konec koncev, sem imel za kros malo več kot mesec časa, da iz lenuha-slamuha, ki 2 leti ni migal, sploh, naredim tekača, ki je zmožen preteči 2 km malo hitreje. Še povzetek. V letošnjem letu, ko je za mano 6 tednov teka, sem v 12 urah teka opravil malo čez okroglih 100 kilometrov. No ja, ko gledam razne programe za maraton ali pa nadaljevalni program za nekoga, ki se malo bolj ukvarja s tekom je 100 kilometrov mala malica. Zame je pa to že kar dosežek, glede na to da v prejšnih dveh letih po mojem, nisem imel niti 50 pretečenih kilometrov. Teža pa sledi načelu, če ti paše ne spreminjaj. Kar noče in noče dol :S Aha še nekaj. Sedaj teče 11 dan odkar sem nazadnje imel migrenski napad. Ne vem ali je lanska  kura z akupunkturo pomagala, ali pa še nisem dovolj obremenjeval telesan na tekih, ampak se mi pa dopade zadeva in upam da bo čim dlej zdržala.

The shock.... and pain

This week I decided that instead of doing those  hard uphill intervals I will rather do intervals on a flat ground with 4 min fast pace (approx. 1 km) and then 3 min of slow pace. Yeah, 4 min per kilometer  Dream on. And even though I finished the training, it was only after the session that I noticed the pain. In my left knee just under the plate, on my inner side of my lower legs, mainly on the right leg. Obviously I am not ready for that kind of workout. First things first, get my legs used to running, then we will increase speed and length. And if the pain wasn't enough I got the news that the race I'm preparing for is not in 2-3 weeks from now but this Saturday. In the same week that I did the hardest workout yet. Oh yeah! So today, to relax a bit, I went for a short jog. And it was really short. Only 3,9 km with a pace of around 7 min/km. I know I should do my relaxation runs slower but I just can't. Only way to go slower is to walk. And why don't you walk, you'll ask? Because I went running! Anyway, I hope my legs will stop with the pain till Saturday so I can do my run of 2 km in a pace of around 4,5 min/km. To think, that 10 years back I ran 2,7 km in a time of 7 minutes and 38 seconds. Maybe I'll repeat the time someday in the future. Not this Saturday though. Oh, and I did manage to stay awake on Monday during the heart rate measurement. My lowest resting heart rate is 46 beats per minute. And my new VO2max is 46. Now I know that the only reliable measurement of VO2max is done in a laboratory, but it's still a pretty good estimate of where my fit level is.

Ja po nedelji pa pride ponedeljek a ne. Ta teden sem se odločil, da ne bom delal intervalov v hrib temveč bom poskusil intervale po primeru opisanem na strani  tek.si. Delal sem 5 x po približno 1 km. Se pravi časovno nekje 4 min? Ha, optimist. Sicer sem zadevo izpeljal do konca in na koncu naredil še krajši iztek, tako da sem naredil blizu 8 km, ampak po teku sem šele začutil stvari. Bolečina pod "skledčko" na levem kolenu, bolečine ob notranji strani goleni, predvsem na desni strani. Nisem še za tak trening! Najprej moram noge navadit, da spet "laufajo". In naslednji dan izvem, da "tekma" za katero se pripravljam ne bo čez "2. do 3. teden v maju" ampak ta vikend. Jaz pa naredil enega najtežjih intervalov v moji enomesečni karieri v istem tednu kot imam "tekmo". Ah, ja. Da se malo zrelaksiram, sem odtekel danes krajši, 3,9 km, dolg krog, v izredno počasnem teku. Izredno počasen tek je namreč nekaj nad 7 min/km. Počasneje ne gre, ker potem na mestu stojim in grem hitreje če hodim. Zakaj potem ne hodim? Ja ker sem šel tečt, a ne? Kakorkoli že, upam, da se bodo noge poštimale do sobote, da bom lahko odtekel po planu. To je tam okoli 4,5 min/km ali hitreje za cela 2 km proge. Glede na to, da sem v rosnih letih (10 let nazaj) 2,7 km pretekel v 7 min in 38 sekundah, imam še rezervo in računam, da jih bom nekje v prihodnosti zopet pretekel v takem času. No, pustimo času čas. Aha, pa uspelo mi je ostati buden v ponedeljek med meritvijo srčnega utripa. Moj najnižji izmerjen srčni utrip v mirovanju je 46 utripov na minuto in zaradi tega se je spremenil tudi moj VO2max in sicer na 46. Ja, ja, saj vem, da je to samo ocena in da je za prave številke potrebno stopiti v laboratorij. Ampak okvirna ocena, kje sem kondicijsko je boljša kot ocena, ki je ni.

Recuperating?

Sunday should be, by all rights, a day off. But today it just wasn't meant to be. Almost a month has passed since I did the middle body workout. And I had to try and make it today. I did the Tae Bo Insane Abs from Billy Blanks. And although I feel great, I am a bit worried about my performance on the interval training tomorrow. The workout does focus on the abs, like the name suggests, but legs have to work as well. And today I finally measured my fit level that my Polar RS300x offers. I dosed off before the test finished but before I went into dreamland, I saw my pulse hanging at 50. When I woke up, I found out that my VO2 max is at level 44. Nothing spectacular, but not to shabby either. I plan to raise the VO2 max level anyway. I'll try to measure the pulse again tomorrow to confirm today's result, if I don't fall asleep during the measurement again that is.

No nedelja bi naj bil tisti ta pravi dan za počitek. Recimo če mi nikakor ne bi uspelo čez teden počivati, bi to naredil v nedeljo. No danes si nisem mogel pomagati. Že cel mesec nisem delal vaj za telo in sedaj me je prav držalo, da jih zopet poskusim. Tae bo Insane Abs od Billy Blanksa je bila vaja, ki sem jo danes zvečer delal. Ker pri vaji ne delajo samo mišice trupa, ampak sodelujejo tudi noge, me malo skrbi kako bo jutri, ko imam planiran intervalni trening. No danes sem si tudi izmeril "fit level", ki mi ga ponuja moja Polar RS300x ura. Nameril sem utrip okoli 50 v mirovanju in pa VO2 max 44. Ni ne vem kaj, ampak plan je, da to tako ali tako dvignem. Glede pulza pravzaprav nisem 100% saj sem zaspal nazaj takoj ko sem si začel meriti. Bom videl koliko bo pulz jutri, če mi ne bo spet uspelo zaspat :)

Nice sunny May

As I have planned, I did my interval run on Monday. It was a bit easier than the last time and I had no problems with the migraine. I have collected all the details about the runs in a Google spreadsheet. The link can be found in the navigation bar under data. And yes, I had planned a regeneration day for Tuesday. But I was busy chasing all the kids at some kind of festival. It seems that plans are made to be changed. Well it makes sense. If you don't have a plan, it can't go the other way since there is no planned way anyway. Am I going to hear about that last sentence from my sister, oh boy. So, regeneration on Wednesday then? No. I had attended the traditional climb on some nearby hill. Started at 10 am and came back at 4 pm. But "luckily" I got a migraine attack in the evening so I could start with my regeneration in the evening and I extended it throughout the Thursday. And today, being rested and all, I managed to reach a new milestone in my running carrier. I ran 2 hours straight and managed to put 17 km under the belt. And based on my previous experiences I took naproxen just in case. The hunch paid off since the migraine is going away as I'm writing this. And the link if anyone is interested. Oh, and the book I got. Still haven't read it till the end but I found a nice advice. To prevent burning out, I should monitor my heart rate. If the heart rate is higher then average by more then 10% it could show signs of burning out or exhaustion in which case I should rest. Whether I will be able to implement this thing into my daily routine, is another matter completely.

Kot po načrtu sem v ponedeljek, kljub dolgi vožnji v službi, odtekel pet ponovitev v klanec. Pa še težav z glavo ni bilo po tem. Aja, če koga zanimajo podatki o posameznih tekih, jih najde na povezavi data (navigacijska vrstica). Jah, kot vsi plani, je tudi plan o regeneraciji in pa rahlem teku odpadel. Včasih imam občutek, da se planirane zadeve vedno obrnejo v drugo smer kot pa sem jih planiral. Kakorkoli, v torek je bilo kresovanje in seveda sem bil edini bebec, ki se je v kratkih hlačah lovil z 5-12 letniki. Toliko o regeneraciji in neobremenjevanju mišic. Vse odkar sem pred leti imel vnetje pokostnice, imam malo strahu, da bi ga spet fasal. No bomo pač naredili regeneracijo v sredo a ne. Ja pa kaj še. V sredo je bil pa na vrsti tradicionalni vzpon na bližnji hrib. Urca, dve na vrh, potem pa še urca dve nazaj. No štartali smo ob 10.00, domov pa sem se priplazil ob 16.00. Šele zvečer je prišla na vrsto migrena in končno načrtovana regeneracija, ki sem jo potegnil tudi čez cel četrtek. No danes, sem pa dosegel novi mejnik v moji tekaški karieri. Tekel sem celi dve uri, pri čemer sem pretekel okoli 17 km. Glede na občutke, sem preventivno vzel še en nalgesin po teku. V času pisanja (okoli polnoči) se je migrena že poslavljala. Ha, končno se izkušnje vsaj nekje poznajo. Aja pa še link če koga zanima. Glede na knjigo in pa par člankov, planiram merjenje utripov vsaj na dan, ko imam planiran tek. Povišan srčni utrip bi naj nakazoval na pretreniranost oziroma na preutrujenost. Kakorkoli, škoditi ne more. Če mi bo pa uspelo zadevo izpeljati je pa druga zgodba.