(busy with work at the mo, so updates may be infrequent here - see Strava for more up to date detail)

Back to Britain

In the new year, my Scandinavian adventure in Denmark and Sweden will come to an end when my gf and I move to Bath back in England for her job.

It's been fun and I'm absolutely sure I'll return one day.
 
I should keep updating here, it's very useful for my training to log what the hell I've done!

My last race with Århus 1900 should be the Nytårscup New Years Eve round, and if I'm fit I might give that a serious go! 


27.10.14-2.11.14: Himmelbjerg Recovery and Highest Point in DK.

 

Main sessions: 6x1k intervals round Egå Engsø in Århus at 3.15-3.20/km pace. 28k long run Sun to Yding Skovhøj.
Summary: during the week mostly easy runs in Lund, up to Norra Faladen for variety for a lap round up there. Sat went down to the Engsø in Århus and did the classic 1k marked intervals round there (there are now 2 sets, a bike version and a running version, which is a little confusing). Sun: visiting gf's parents, so had a run up to the highest point in Denmark Yding Skovhøj (at a mighty 170-odd metres!) which is just about in range running via Østbirk and the former railway to Horsens. It was a lovely day, with quite a good view from the top!
Races: none.

3.11.11-9.11.11: Nytårscup Round 1



Main sessions: Thurs: Standard St Hans hills, 6xlong, 6xsteep, some SHE course. Mon-Weds: assorted Hardebergasparet (inc 4km tempo @ 3.20-3.30/km) and some Strava segments along by the river - the climb to the sewage works, Flakarpsbakken, the horse field and Mean Machine. Sat: Brabrand parkrun, Sun: Nytårscup Round 1 (10k as tempo  training)
Summary: start of the week easy runs, with a couple of fast Strava segments thrown in. Thurs went up to St Hans for the first time in a while - it was very muddy and they're still doing a lot of digging work up there. Sat and Sun was the stardard parkrun\Nytårscup double as per previous years.
Races: 1900 Nytårscup, 10k, 34.30 (target pace 35.00!)

As usual, aimed to do this as tempo training (which I think worked pretty well last year) so I could also run hard on Sat rather than resting as I would for a more serious race. Target was 3.30/km decent half mara pace, on a fairly hilly road course. As usual, got dragged along with the 5k people who start at the same time and ran the first 5 in 16.50 - just a little bit too quick! Slowed it down in the second half, but got dragged along a bit again by Anders LN to finish in 34.30. Overall an excellent good workout. Finished off afterwards with an easier 12k run down to Moesgård strand and in Skåde skov back to the 6A bus home.

At 4.5k...Source: Steffen N Christiansen http://www.snc-foto.dk

10.11.14-16.11.14




Main sessions: 5x1k on the track at Lunds CIP at 3.20/km pace. Weekend: Strava segments of North Århus and Risskov.
Summary: Mon-Weds felt extremely tired, so only managed easy runs. Weather was very horrible this week, grey wet and windy. Went up to Hardeberga from Dalbyv. which I've never got round to before. Thurs I was feeling a bit better (and it was a dry evening for once) so took a trip to the track at Lunds CIP for some 1k intervals. Track conditions were still not idea, quite slippery with leaves in places. Fri went for a longer run up to see how things are going with the ESS and Max IV - former is just a large pile of portacabins, latter looks nearly finished from the outside (inside they still have to build all the beamlines!). Sat and Sun I was in Århus - I decided to do a bit of Strava segment hunting before we move, so knocked off a few round the north of the town and then in Riis skov on my Sun long run as prep for the VT at Vestereng next week.
Races: none.  

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...

29/9-5/10/14: Århus Xtreme Running

Photo: Løberen

I was not in ideal shape to do this, still pretty tired from the LL last weekend and still with a sore back. But  I'd been trying to do this race for about 4 years, but due to various reasons (mostly being injured or away), I'd never got round to it. I watched the 2011 and 2012 versions however, so had a fair idea of how tough a race it is: 3x2.5k lap with a hilly section in Marselis skov, then down a steep descent along the (stony) beach to a long set of stairs back up into the woods and a grass section round Hørhaven.

I decided to give it a decent go on the first lap and then see if I could hang on the rest of it on tired legs. I was about 10s down on the first lap to the eventual winner, who was a top class orienteer running for the race sponsors Løberen  (and hence was substantially faster\braver on the steep downhill than me!). After that though, I decided there was no way I'd close the gap, so slowed a bit into an easier pace for the rest of it, finishing a comfortable 2nd. Pretty enjoyable race, with a good turnout especially amongst 1900 runners and lovely sunny autumn weather on the day.

Training summary: easy recovery runs after the LL all week, only once a day, with lots of back stretching.  Some longer runs on Sat (20km) and Sun back from the race (12km) and in the evening (9km).
Races: as above.
Next week: back to more regular training...

22/9-28/9: LL Week



Training summary: light, easy runs round Lund up to the Lidingoloppet on Sat.

Lidingöloppet 2014: 1:57:55, 74th place

Well, all went well for 19k of the 30k...then I pulled a muscle in my back\right shoulder which pretty much finished it for me as a race :-( But meh, what can you do, that's life...! I think had it been a smaller race closer to home I'd have quit straight away, but after coming all this way I was determined to finish, although I think I've taught some Swedish kids a few new English swearwords up the last couple of hills!

This was actually my first Sweden race (or even trip) outside Skåne in my 2 years here, since it's a been a bit impractical given the Aarhus-Lund commute, so it was part-race, part-seeing another part of Sweden. Best way to get there was by SJ train, approx 4.5h from Lund, and best place to stay any Stockholm near tunnelbanan (metro), since this makes getting around much easier.  I collected the number from the stadium Lidingövallen on the Fri evening (recommend this - it's quite busy on Sat morning), where there was a free bus from the end of the line Ropsten metro station over the bridge onto Lidingö. I expected a major queue for this bus and a traffic jam up to the start on Sat raceday, so I got to the metro station about 10.30 on Sat morning 2 hours ahead of the start and half expected to have to walk the 4k there. However, after doing this race 50 times I think they have organisation down to a T,  the queue for the bus was all of 5 minutes and very little traffic up there, so I got there at about 10.45!

Start: 1A group in the front

Conditions for the race were pretty much perfect: about 13-15C and sun. There was a moderately strong wind, but that didn't really matter since it was a circular lap with most of the race in the woods. It had rained the night before, so some areas of the trail were muddy, but nothing serious. Trail shoes arn't necessary for this, in fact they probably give a disadvantage on the road sections.  The start was about 2k uphill from the stadium - you have to be careful to leave enough time to get up there and go to the right start for the race length (30k was at Koltorp). The start area has lots of toilets and water plus places to sit, so there's actually little point hanging around at Lidingövallen. Iit was clearly marked out where you should start from, except for my 1A group at the front, but I think we we expected to be able to work that out for ourselves!

In our 1A front group were about 300 people, then a 200m gap back to the 1B\1C groups, then about another 200m to the 15,000+ others. The start was a gentle uphill grass area, but with a hard path through it, so people tended to bundle\aim themselves towards that. The aim at the start was pretty much the same as any cross race with a mass start: whatever you do, concentrate and stay on your feet else get trampled! (at least you're not going to get a cross spike through your leg though!) After about 750m of grass the race turned onto a hilly road section, where it got a bit crowded - don't expect to set a fast time on the first k, but then it's a 30k race so it doesn't matter. The first 5k is very up and down, lots of small hills and quite a testing start. At around 5-6k you hit some serious downhill, where you have to keep your wits about you just in case someone behind comes down a bit too fast (I saw one guy run straight into the back of another...doh!). 5-10k is pretty flat; my first 10k split was pretty much bang on 36min, as I aimed for. After that the hills get going again, with some twisty woodland sections until you reach the other side of the island, where it gets back to up\down again.

I managed to pull my back on a hill somewhere on 18-19k; I think I just carried too much momentum into it, then tried to push on upwards too fast. I managed to keep going though, although by the time I'd got to 20k I'd had to drop the pace, which was somewhat depressing as a lot of people started overtaking. This was at Grönsta, where the finish was, so I could've quit fairly easily (as a few people ahead did), but I decided to carry on. The final 10k had the toughest hills, including the largest on the course (Abborrbacken). The hills however were not especially steep, especially not compared to the midtjyske Søhøjland races such as the Himmelbjergøbet or Midtjysk Bjergløb - there were no 100m high climbs at 10-15% gradient. Through here it was really a case of gritting the teeth and getting to it, despite it hurting. The worst I found was Karins backen at about 2k from the finish, one final nasty steep hill that you don't really see coming (except for the crowd of people at the start of it). I got passed by quite a few people through this final 10k - I think had I not injured myself, it would've been the other way round, since I was feeling pretty good beforehand.

End...

Just about managed to finish inside 2 hours (I even managed a bit of a final sprint), although just finishing was more than enough. Strangely, you don't see the finish until the final corner where you're about 400m from it, and there is a dogleg away from it in the final k - so you hear the crowd at the end, then seem to get further away, before suddenly you're there! My time was good enough for the silver medal they give for those finishing within 2.10, which was quite nice. I was quite hungry at the end - remember to bring cash: there are lots of places to get food on the way back to the bus at the stadium (I forgot and had to walk past them all). Overall, excepting the injury it was an excellent race and very well organised (as big races have to be). 

I think probably 30k was a bit too long for the distance of training I'm doing. I've been limiting myself to no more than 100km/wk since my ankle injuries, in fact closer to 90k during the summer; this race probably needed 130-150k+ over a good period of time. I certainly couldn't have gone another 12k to marathon length. The pulled back muscle, although not too serious in the long term, is likely a result of this lack of distance. I'd probably have been happier blasting it round the half (15k) distance, but this would've seemed a bit of a cop-out: that way didn't even include the big hills!

Training 8 to 14\9\14: Recovery, Hills and ESS-tur




Summary: start of the week easy recovery after Århus Half, Mon easy run round by the F&F arena and some jogs up the St Hans hills, Tues a rest day, Thus\Fri just easy running around Klostergården, Sun long run. Not so fast, but some quite hilly running, so quite a decent workout overall.
Main sessions: Weds standard St Hans Hills (6xlong, 5xsteep). Sat: race, Sun: long run 26k, out past Max IV and the ESS site in Lund, looping back round the country roads north through Stangby to Norra Fäladen. I very rarely run out this way, but I quite wanted to see how far they'd got with the ESS over the summer...(it seems a lot bigger than Max IV)
Races: Veberodsrundan, 7km (3.00-3.20/km pace)

15\9 to 21\9\14: Skryllegården and Krankesjön



Main sessions: Weds: hard session at Skryllegården, fist since the end of May somehow. Fast on the 5k lap (3:40/k pace), fast 3k lap (3:20/k pace), fast 1k lap, run up the final hill section of the 10k lap up the ridge Skryllemilens slutstigning, then one last slower 5k with a final hard sprint uphill for the final 1k and a bit. Lovely early autumn\late summer weather, great session! Fri: session back on the track, first since holiday - 10x400m at 1:15/lap pace. Also did a couple of longer efforts along Maskinvägen (my Strava segment Mean Machine) at around the same pace. Sun: race
Races: Krankesjömilen 10k.

Lidingöloppet Prep Races: Veberödsrundan (7km) and Krankesjömilen (10k)

In order to get sharp and build confidence after holiday for the LL, I decided to go and do a couple of local races around Lund in the weekends before the trip to Stockholm.

First up on 13\9 was the Veberödsrundan in Veberöd, out to the southeast of Lund. The race HQ was at the local farming club, which had lots of cute animals to entertain the poor injured gf. This is a place with some of the few substantial hills in the local area (I've been considering going here for some training for about 1 1\2 years, but havn't quite got round to it!). Unfortunately, the race was a fairly flat but fast course on a lap of the town, mostly on bike paths and quieter backroads. 

The main race was a half marathon of 3 approx 7km laps which served as the Distrikt Mästerskap (the 'other kind' of DM) for Skåne and so attracts a few good local sub-75 runners. As much as I was tempted however, doing this 2 weeks before the LL would've been stupid and left me too tired. I also felt a bit of soreness in the back of my knee, I suspect I managed to pull something getting up out of a chair too quickly at work :-p So I went for the shorter single lap, 7k version, racing the clock since the other fast guys were doing the half. I probably went out a bit hard (3.05 first k) but managed 5k in 16.15 and the full 7 in 22:40, not too bad. The route itself had quite a few 90deg bike path turns in it, which probably cost me time. They were also a bit scary, since you couldn't really see round the corner in a few places; I had a vision of running full speed straight into a kid or a dog...or bollard to the groin!

Overall a good workout, well organised race and a nice place to walk in the hills afterwards.

Second was the Krankesjömilen on 21\9, held out around the lake of the same name in Revingeby pretty much due east of Lund as a 10k or 5k option. I went for the 10, then did the 5 as a warmdown.  A lot of this area is run by the Swedish military (Revingefältet), where they practice driving the tank round sometimes. This is a race I've been 'attempting' to do for 2 years since I came to Sweden: in 2012, new to the area, I managed to go totally the wrong way on my bike and missed the start and in 2013 I was injured and didn't want to risk it on the trail.

So 2014 was the year! Armed with a map, I cycled out there (about 20k from Lund, straight along the Hardebergaspåret and then on the road). About 5k along, it started dripping...and then the heavens opened. I arrived at the race HQ absolutely soaking wet - I had to wring the water out of my socks! I tend to get quite stiff legged after cycling, so I took a half hour warmup jog (in the pouring rain) to get myself going. Despite being soaked, I was quite up for this...

First few k was on dirt roads, mud and slippery but not so many stones. I had a couple of guys try and keep up for the first 2k, but once we hit some smaller hills at around 2.5 I lost them. First 4k were pretty much nailed on 3.20\k pace. From about 4-7k however it was much rougher trail, lots of big stones and not so nice to run on (especially not in heavy wet shoes) which cost me quite a bit of time (5k in 16:55). There were a few small hills mixed in, which wasn't so much trouble but was a bit unexpected - I thought it would be pretty much flat all the way.

The rest of the race was a mix of this not so nice stone trail and fairly muddy woodland trail, up to about 8.5k when it became a very muddy grass track; the last k was tough going on this in normal trainers (3.40 pace). On the last corner, 200m from the end I managed to slip over and bang my knee which cost me 10-20s and was somewhat embarrassing, being right in the view of everyone at the end - thankfully I was far ahead, I'd never have lived it down had that cost me the race! My final time as officially 34:45, but I also forgot to scan the timing key right at the end, so I have it as 34:38, quite a pleasing time given the conditions (at least the rain had died down by the end).

I always love running good, muddy cross or trail races though, so this was an excellent outing. The organisers did a superb job given the rain and the race had probably the best toilet\person ratio of any I've ever been to, with the race HQ at the tank barracks. Some amusing squaddie graffiti there, I've forgotten what SNAFU stood for!

But I really hope it stays dry in Stockholm next week :-p

Target next week at the LL will be to average 18.00\5km pace - so 1h48 for the whole 30km, which should hopefully give me a top 30 finish. This is going to require quite a bit of self-discipline the first 10-20km and on the hills, since I'm probably going to concede places for the first 10 miles or so (which I should then get back). The final 10k concerns me. I've not really done enough distance work, especially over holiday time, so it may just be a case of running it like cross - grit teeth, aim for the guy in front, don't let anyone get past.

1.9.14-7.9.14: Back in Lund and 1900 Half in Århus



Main sessions: Tues: 4x0.8-1.5k intervals along the Hardebergaspåret, between the road bridges across the bike path at 3.00-3.10/km pace. Weds: 10xlong hill at St Hans backar. (I'd hoped that by the end of summer they'd finished with the rebuilding work up there, but unfortunately it seems to be carrying on another year...).

Races: Audi Challenge Aarhus Halvmarathon: 1:16.30 (10k split 35:11)

Urrrrrrrrgh at Brabrand sø. Simon Mikkelsen\Spotted.dk

Since flying back from the US, I'd not felt too well, most probably down to something I ate. During the week, I was unable to even finish an easy run without stopping and the interval sessions were horrible: bad stomach cramps (hence the slower 4:21/km average pace for the week). On a short run in Lund on Fri, I barely managed 6km before having to stop completely and walk home. Not good at all. I decided to do no running from Fri morning and have a day on Sat eating very little, in order to try and get well enough to race. This seemed to help, so I decided to go for the race on Sun. The weather was pretty good for it, 15C and slightly cloudy so I decided that I'd go down and if I felt bad warming up, I'd simply abandon the race - it's effectively the season-opener after summer, and not such a high priority. After a bit of a run round the football pitches at Viby stadium, I decided that although I didn't feel brilliant, that I'd give it a go anyway.

I decided to aim for a steady 3:30/km pace, which I largely managed with no trouble out to 10km. Out around the lake, however, I started to feel bad and was forced to slow down between 10-15km. The final 6 was a real struggle against stopping to be sick, with the cramps returning :-( and I think I lost around 4 or 5 places, including one in the last 200m...no way I was sprint finishing!. No drinks (that would've finished me) made it especially hard going. Very frustrating, especially since had I kept the pace I may have well finished 3rd, but I made it round in a half decent time. The aim of it anyway was just to get back racing again after the summer holiday ahead of the Lidingöloppet now just 19 days away.

Next week: some easy running to start with, just to see if I'm getting better. If so, I may do the Veberödsrundan at a bit of a slower pace, just to build some fitness ahead of the LL.