6.10.14-12.10.14: Rain, rain, rain...
Training summary: standard week in Lund.
Main sessions: Tues: was\had been raining a lot, so decided to do road intervals along Åkerlund & Rausings väg next to the railway line rather than on the track which was too wet and slippery (lots of leaves too). 3km warmup, 3x1km at 3.15-3.25/km pace, 2x500m same, 5k warmdown. Thurs: standard St Hans hills, 6xlong, 5xshort, lap of 3/4 of the Extreme Running course. Sun: 26-27k long run with 3.30-3.40/km tempo section from Lund to Dalby, hard run up the hill towards Skrylle, then easier pace back via Hardeberga.
Races: none.
13.10.14-19.10.14: Week of Long Runs and Rain
Training summary: During the week I was working on long distance endurance on hillier routes. Tues: 18km in Lund, from the lowest point at the river up to the highest point near Sony and the Synchrotron Hill opposite Max IV, probably as long and hilly as you can get in the city. Weds: 22km out towards Dalby, then uphill to the very top of Billebjer. I wanted to work out if the climb up from the road to the top (Billebjer Climb via Sjöstorp) met the requirements of a categorisable climb (grade in percent x distance in km > 8000), quite a rare thing in this area given the flatness of the terrain. From the Swedish cartographic data, the climb was about 81m over just under 3km, which just about makes it. Fri: 26km early morning run to Södra Sandby, then up to Skrylle the steep Måryd way (this is also prob a cat 4 climb). Absolutely lashed it down with rain the whole distance...
Weekend - standard Brabrand parkrun in Århus on Sat, then a session of hills up Djævlebakken in Ris skov (1 full lap of the woods, then 5x to the road crossing).
Main sessions: long runs Tues, Weds, Fri plus short hills Sunday.
Races: None.
20.10.14-26.10.14: Yet More Rain and Himmelbjergløbet
Training summary: easier week before Himmelbjerg and because my right achillies had been feeling a bit sore. Had to divert a few easy runs from the usual route south of Lund, since the river had flooded due to all the recent rain.
Main sessions: Weds: short session of road intervals along A&R way (due to rain), 2x1km, plus 750m Maskinvagen. Thurs: quick blast up 'Hill of Rabbits' to check the achillies; felt ok. Sun: Himmelbjergløbet.
Races: Himmelbjergløbet, 15.1k (hilly, MT), 57.10, 2nd place.
Still as ever my favorite race outing of the year. My 4th go at this race now and by far the muddiest it's been - excellent! Heavy rain over the last month, right up to the night before, left big sections with it ankle deep, particularly in the first 5-6km. However, on the day the weather was actually pretty good, 11C, cloudy and a bit windy - last year it rained heavily just after the race (making for an unpleasant bike back to the train at Ry) and the year before it was frost and only a couple of degrees above zero. It was really the perfect time of the season this year, with the leaves all turning, giving a great view from the top of Himmelbjerg.
This year I didn't race for 1900 the VT in Middelfart on the Sat since the gf was injured, which made things a bit easier. I was a bit concerned about my right achillies tendon after walking up, it had been sore all week and I decided that if it felt too bad that I'd stop immediately, since that's definitely not something worth taking a risk over. Race start was pretty much as usual, with 6-7 people going all-out down the Himmelbjerg, whereas I took the sensible way and hung back 10-20s, making sure not to trip on the way down. From the bottom to around 5k it's just uphill, so I quickly caught the fast starters. At about 5k I was caught by super-fast 1900 clubmate Ulrik Heitmann, who must've been tired after running the Vejle half (in 1.07) last week since I could just about stick with him, even catching him after the hilly section just before 10k! (after which he accelerated again :-p). At the bottom of the Himmelbjerg I was far ahead of 3rd (a guy who'd come all the way from Gothenburg) so I decided to take it fairly easy up the hill and not risk it with the tendon.
Overall a great race as usual, and 1000Kr voucher for Sportigan in Silkeborg (I now have about 1600-1700Kr in accumulated race prize vouchers for running shops there, so a shopping trip is soon needed!)
I'll probably take a break from racing now (although I may do a couple of rounds of the Nytårscup as training) in order to rest the tendon a bit...
Training summary: standard week in Lund.
Main sessions: Tues: was\had been raining a lot, so decided to do road intervals along Åkerlund & Rausings väg next to the railway line rather than on the track which was too wet and slippery (lots of leaves too). 3km warmup, 3x1km at 3.15-3.25/km pace, 2x500m same, 5k warmdown. Thurs: standard St Hans hills, 6xlong, 5xshort, lap of 3/4 of the Extreme Running course. Sun: 26-27k long run with 3.30-3.40/km tempo section from Lund to Dalby, hard run up the hill towards Skrylle, then easier pace back via Hardeberga.
Races: none.
13.10.14-19.10.14: Week of Long Runs and Rain
Training summary: During the week I was working on long distance endurance on hillier routes. Tues: 18km in Lund, from the lowest point at the river up to the highest point near Sony and the Synchrotron Hill opposite Max IV, probably as long and hilly as you can get in the city. Weds: 22km out towards Dalby, then uphill to the very top of Billebjer. I wanted to work out if the climb up from the road to the top (Billebjer Climb via Sjöstorp) met the requirements of a categorisable climb (grade in percent x distance in km > 8000), quite a rare thing in this area given the flatness of the terrain. From the Swedish cartographic data, the climb was about 81m over just under 3km, which just about makes it. Fri: 26km early morning run to Södra Sandby, then up to Skrylle the steep Måryd way (this is also prob a cat 4 climb). Absolutely lashed it down with rain the whole distance...
Weekend - standard Brabrand parkrun in Århus on Sat, then a session of hills up Djævlebakken in Ris skov (1 full lap of the woods, then 5x to the road crossing).
Main sessions: long runs Tues, Weds, Fri plus short hills Sunday.
Races: None.
20.10.14-26.10.14: Yet More Rain and Himmelbjergløbet
Training summary: easier week before Himmelbjerg and because my right achillies had been feeling a bit sore. Had to divert a few easy runs from the usual route south of Lund, since the river had flooded due to all the recent rain.
Main sessions: Weds: short session of road intervals along A&R way (due to rain), 2x1km, plus 750m Maskinvagen. Thurs: quick blast up 'Hill of Rabbits' to check the achillies; felt ok. Sun: Himmelbjergløbet.
Races: Himmelbjergløbet, 15.1k (hilly, MT), 57.10, 2nd place.
Still as ever my favorite race outing of the year. My 4th go at this race now and by far the muddiest it's been - excellent! Heavy rain over the last month, right up to the night before, left big sections with it ankle deep, particularly in the first 5-6km. However, on the day the weather was actually pretty good, 11C, cloudy and a bit windy - last year it rained heavily just after the race (making for an unpleasant bike back to the train at Ry) and the year before it was frost and only a couple of degrees above zero. It was really the perfect time of the season this year, with the leaves all turning, giving a great view from the top of Himmelbjerg.
This year I didn't race for 1900 the VT in Middelfart on the Sat since the gf was injured, which made things a bit easier. I was a bit concerned about my right achillies tendon after walking up, it had been sore all week and I decided that if it felt too bad that I'd stop immediately, since that's definitely not something worth taking a risk over. Race start was pretty much as usual, with 6-7 people going all-out down the Himmelbjerg, whereas I took the sensible way and hung back 10-20s, making sure not to trip on the way down. From the bottom to around 5k it's just uphill, so I quickly caught the fast starters. At about 5k I was caught by super-fast 1900 clubmate Ulrik Heitmann, who must've been tired after running the Vejle half (in 1.07) last week since I could just about stick with him, even catching him after the hilly section just before 10k! (after which he accelerated again :-p). At the bottom of the Himmelbjerg I was far ahead of 3rd (a guy who'd come all the way from Gothenburg) so I decided to take it fairly easy up the hill and not risk it with the tendon.
Overall a great race as usual, and 1000Kr voucher for Sportigan in Silkeborg (I now have about 1600-1700Kr in accumulated race prize vouchers for running shops there, so a shopping trip is soon needed!)
I'll probably take a break from racing now (although I may do a couple of rounds of the Nytårscup as training) in order to rest the tendon a bit...
