15-21/4 - week in Lund and Skrylleloppet

date                day        km         time          pace(min/km)
21/04/2013     sun        13.61     1:01:00     4:28    
21/04/2013     sun        10.66     0:45:00     4:13    
20/04/2013     sat         10           0:34:00     3:24    
20/04/2013     sat         4             0:00:00     0:00    
19/04/2013     fri          5.59       0:24:00     4:17    
18/04/2013     thu        8.17       0:33:00     4:02    
17/04/2013     wed      7.01       0:29:00     4:08   
16/04/2013     tue        5             0:22:30     4:30    
16/04/2013     tue        4             0:12:40     3:10   
16/04/2013     tue        3             0:11:00     3:40    
15/04/2013     mon      9.14       0:37:00     4:02    
Total: 80.18km, av. pace: 3.59/km

Mon: Easy run down through Källby, up past the arena, to Lunds C IP and back through Stadsparken. Legs quite tired after long run the day before, but included 5-6x1min efforts on some of the quieter roads in the industrial area.
Tue: Training at Skrylle with Björnstorps IF. 3km warmup at 3.40\km, followed by 4x1km (hilly 1.5km red route) in 3.13,3.10,3.11,3.13 and 2x1km at 3.40\km. 5km warmdown round the yellow route. A good hard session, managed 4km at full pace before I started to feel the ankle, then slowed to the pace of the majority of the group as usual. Very warm evening - something I've been looking forward to after all the cold, dark months up there and definitely an example of why Skrylle is such a nice place to train.
Wed: Another shorter easy run - legs really stiff after Tues session! Taken at lunchtime in the sun, short route as per Mon but without the diversion to IP.
Thur: Repeated Mon route in the morning, but then had to work late, so missed the track interval session and it was too late to run in the evening...
Fri: Very easy 5.5km and loop of the F&F arena in the morning. Resting my legs before the race Sat, but a nice run-out just to stop getting too stiff.

Sat: Skrylleloppet 10km (hilly, trail) : 34.15 (3rd place).  (Pictures)
I was initially reluctant to do this race, after testing the course a couple of weeks ago and finding it was hard for my ankle to cope with the terrain. However, after the success of Tues session on similar trail terrain (and the suspicion that the adrenaline of race conditions would probably help), I decided to risk it. The other reason pushing me to do it was that this is the only seeding race I can practically attend for the Lidingöloppet in Sept - where without a good time (<37min) I'd be forced to start from the back and work my way through the crowds, not an attractive prospect. The race was run in pretty ideal conditions - 12C, sun and very little wind on a dry course. My plan was to run the race very conservatively, aiming for 35-36min and 3.25-3.30\km pace for the flatter first 5km. Within the first 3km I found myself in a fairly comfortable 4th place, with 3 guys in a group together around 10-15s ahead - I decided this was far from ideal, since it would give me little push through the harder second half of the race. I thus increased pace and caught the 3rd place runner at around 4km. At this point I judged the front 2 to be running around 33min pace; too fast to risk at this time. So I stuck to the runner in 3rd, which helped greatly through the hilly final 3\4km, having someone to run with. At the end of the final hill I was again left alone to finish the final km for a great time (and a good seeding time), the fastest 10km I've managed since the injury and on a v. hilly course!

Sun: Split the long run up into 2 this week, primarily after racing Sat. 13km in am, 10km in pm. Morning: took a run up through the uni to Sankt Hans backar - great view from the top, all the way to the bridge and Copenhagen - and back via CIP and Stadsparken. Evening: standard 6mile route run past the lakes in Källby and back along Trollebergsvangen.

Next 2 weeks will be focused on preparing for the Lundaloppet on 11/5 - ideally increasing distance towards 100km per week with 2 tempo sessions pw, primarily on the track. 

8-14/4: Back in Sweden

date                day              km         time           min/km
14/04/2013     sun              16.16     1:05:00     4:01    
13/04/2013     sat               12.54     0:50:00     3:59    
13/04/2013     sat                 5.00     0:16:55     3:22   
13/04/2013     sat                 1.18     0:05:00     4:14    
11/04/2013     thu                 7.20     0:24:00     3:20
11/04/2013     thu                 2.00     0:00:00     0:00    
10/04/2013     wed             10.00     0:37:30     3:45    
10/04/2013     wed               3.00     0:00:00     0:00   
09/04/2013     tue                 8.06     0:34:00     4:13    
09/04/2013     tue                 6.67     0:29:00     4:20   
08/04/2013     mon               9.75     0:39:00     4:00
Total: 81.56km, av pace: 3.54/km

Mon: Run in Lund, standard route down Malmovagen, through Klostergården and past the sewage farm lakes at Källby. Fairly easy recovery run after flying back Sunday night. 
Tue: 
am - 5mile run along Hardebergaspåret to the outer bridge (Utmarksvägen). 
pm - shorter route through Stadsparken, past the arena and back round to Lunds Central IP through the industrial area. 
Wed: 10km green route at Skryllegården. Decided to do this at as good a speed as possible as a test to see if I could manage the upcoming Skrylleloppet, with a view towards getting 36min for a good Lidingöloppet seeding time. Legs felt quite tired at the start and I could only just match the 3.35/km  pace required. At 7km, as the route became more hilly,. I was forced to stop due to increasing ankle pain - unfortunately it doesn't seem up to running on uneven, muddy trail. I completed the final 3km as 3x1km intervals with 1min pause. Quite frustrating, but unsurprising. Afterwards, a 3km warmdown on the white 'myror' route.
Thur: Training with  Björnstorps IF at Lund C IP. 800,400,400,800x3 (1min, 2min pause) with some warm up and down. First track session since about October; I found the ankle didn't like taking the inner lane tight corners so well, so ran out in lane 3 at an easier 3.20/km pace for all intervals. Afterwards took a 2km warmdown back through Stadsparken.
Fri: Rest day after hard sessions on Weds and Thurs

Sat: Amager Strandpark parkrun - took the train over to DK to run the Strandpark route again, after my previous abortive attempt. Course is largely flat and entirely hard surface, so aimed for sub-17. Not a good start when I lost 20s after running straight into a bollard (doh!), but worked my way back and ran happily at 3.20/km pace for a pleasing 16:55 finish. Afterwards took a tour of Amager for 50min, up to the bridge to the main city and back down through Amager faelled to the train at Ørestad.  
Sun:  Tired legs, took a fairly easy long run out along the Hardebergaspåret, as far as the road crossing past the golf club and back again via a tour of Linero. Lovely sunny day and great spring weather! 

Overall a week with a few less km but some higher intensity sessions for once, on the track and on the trail. First time I've averaged sub-4.00/km for a week for some time.

1/4 - 7/4 San Francisco

Flew straight to California after the IoM to attend and present at the 2013 MRS Spring Meeting. Horrible journey over, slightly hung over and with a cold, through several busy and unpleasant US airports!

 Despite having a fairly heavy cold, I managed easy  runs most mornings and evenings of around 30-45min duration and ~4-4.30min/km pace. From my downtown hotel (on 4th Street/Market) I found the best route to run in the early mornings was along the bay front, between the baseball stadium and Fort Mason, a fairly flat section with a number of toilets and places to drink. However, later in the day and in the evenings I found this section becomes impassibly busy with tourists - instead cutting through the hilly back roads of Chinatown and Nob Hill to Fort Mason and continuing along the bayfront towards the Golden Gate bridge was less crowded. On this route, I managed to take a run up the twisty Lombard St (pictured) a couple of times! I found the weather to be extremely variable (as most tour guides of the place will tell you) although warm enough for shorts most days - definitely advisable to wear at least a thin waterproof jumper in early April.

On my final morning there, feeling a bit better, I decided to try and do a long run in order to stretch my legs before the long plane journey back. Somehow I got a bit carried away with myself and managed 31.84km in 2h15 - the longest run I've managed in half a year and without too much ankle pain :-) I took a route along Market St, through Haight-Ashbury (the old 'hippie town') and down through Golden Gate Park to the sea. From here, the route was fairly easy - just follow the coast, all on nice soft trail paths. I'd imagine the views from Land's End and of the bridge from Fort Point are quite spectacular; unfortunately, this day was dense fog and drizzle, meaning I could make out the bottom of one of the bridge supports at best! 

I also visited(\mooched free stuff) at the expo for the Rock n' Roll San Francisco Half Marathon, run on the day after I'd left - a great route including across the Golden Gate bridge, with lots of bands playing along side the race (and a large beer tent at the end!). Quite frustrating, since I could've stayed to do it - but I suspect despite being able to do long easy runs I'm not up to a competitive half yet, and I certainly wasn't when I planned the trip in Jan.

Weekly total: 93.46km

Isle of Man Easter Festival 28-31 March
10km: 35.26
Hill ~4miles: 24.50
5km: 16.59
Overall: 20th place. 

Definitely the coldest edition to the festival I've yet attended - temperatures in the very low positive degrees and snow on the ground! Hilly 10km on Friday to begin with, managed the first 3km ok then definitely felt the lack of training, dropping back through the field steadily as the race (and the hills!) went on. Decided to risk the Peel hill race on Sat, despite the very muddy and slippery conditions  I managed to get through it without wrecking my ankle further - fortunately for much of the route I was largely running alone and could ease off at the more tricky downhill points. Some substantial rest and a bus part-way back to Douglas on the usual 10+mile running pub crawl helped ahead of the 5km, a flat but windy route on road along the harbour front. Ran fantastically for the first 3km again - 3.12/km pace - but then began to feel the ankle, slowing but recording my first sub-17min 5k since September! Overall a good weekend of running and very stiff legs at the end of it; one year I might be able to go to this without carrying some sort of injury...

Weekly total: 83.1km