Browsing the blog archives for February, 2011
Let’s see how the coming week will turn out. I may be getting a cold but stubbornly trying to fight it off with positive thinking and some natural remedies. I have got one more day to recover before training begins hopefully on Tuesday.
Tue: 1 h easy
Wed: 1 h easy
Thu: 5 x 8 mins intervals, with 2 min rest in between, intervals at 75% effort
Fri: Rest
Sat: 40-50 mins over rolling hills
Sun: 75 mins easy
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It has been a strange week. I missed my training due to my absentmindedness on Wednesday. Never have I been as tired as I was after Thursday’s fartlek session. On Friday I rested. Saturday it was turn for a 40-50 minute run over rolling hills. I have mentioned before that the hills are absent around home but the wind makes up for it. Same thing almost?
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Unfortunately the training routine has suffered from my somewhat severe forgetfulness this week. I had scheduled Wednesday very precisely to be able to fit in my run before taking the train to Malmö to meet my tutor. I left the kids at school and was already dressed to go for my hour run. I drove to the forest track and realised I had left my phone home. I figured I would manage a day without a phone. During the teenage years the mobile phones did not even exist and we lived happily without. I started my run but soon realised I could not travel all the way to Malmö, spend the day far away from the family without the phone. I stopped my run before 3 kilometres, drove 15 km home just to fetch my phone, get changed and then drive back to town to catch the train. That was my training for the day. “The whole body suffers from a dumb head” we say in Finland. And, just to give you an idea about the severity of the forgetfulness .. I drove from home without the phone, which I luckily became aware of pretty soon after driving off, and could just reverse back. Sometimes it just looses its charm to be me.
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During the weekends I try to treat the family with something extra nice for breakfast. Make something different and gather eveyone around the table. That we do not have time for during the week. This saturday I made scones. They are scrumtious while they are still warm with butter and strawberry jam. Try them with whipped cream and jam with your afternoon coffee, or slighty toasted the day after.
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Last week’s training went more or less as planned. Only the 5K time trial replaced the hour run on Tuesday, and Saturday’s run was cut shorter.
It has been cold again the past week or two. Four layers of clothing on the upper body, two on the lower body, a hat and a thick pair of gloves, only then I am ready to face the cold front that has hit Scandinavia. I am not too sure whether it would be more pleasurable to be running in Finland with close -20 degrees or in Ystad with -5 and freezing wind? Let’s hope weather gods will soon treat us with warmer winds and bring us sunshine. I think we are all awaiting Spring to arrive.
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Last week went as planned, only Tuesday’s 1 hour was replaced by the 5K time trial. I do not clock the kilometres as such but one can pretty well estimate the distance from the time. Last week I did about 48 km. This coming week will look like this:
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Almost like fish n’ chips .. only without the fish. Potato wedges, here with parsnip, well roasted in sufficient oil and salt at 250 degrees. Served with a dollop of mayonnaise. Scrumptious!
Roasted veggies
To shock your system and blow out the cobwebs I would recommend a 5K time trial. Or make it a 4K.
It's all about timing
The coach thought it was about time to test my fitness and see how the build up programme has worked for me. I had heard stories how the build up programme had worked wonders for some runners, and of course was hoping this would be so in my case, too. I have been running mostly easy runs for three months now. During the time I have been on the build up programme (the past 6 weeks) I have only done 4 fartlek sessions, which have been approximately at 75% effort. Those are the only faster runs I have done, and yet, I have felt a definite improvement and feel more like a “proper” runner when I am out there. Anyways, I do not really know what I was expecting from today’s time trial ..
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They say honey has many health benefits. With its distinct antiseptic property it is an ideal natural soother for sore throat or chafed skin. It is a sweet treat for your skin and therefore an ingredient in many skin products.
Honey is a rich source of carbohydrates and an all-natural sweetener. I use honey to get a natural energy kick before and/or after training. I just take a tea spoonful of this sweet “medicine” as it is, or mix it in a blender with orange juice and banana to make an energy drink.
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6 weeks of build up training behind, 2 full cycles so to speak. It is going well. We decided to start with a rest day on Monday and then do a 4K time trial on Tuesday, and take things from there. It was a long time ago since I did a time trial, so it will be nice to see where I stand with my running. So, there is no definite plan for this coming week as yet.
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