Post Århus Half Recovery and Friløbet

9/9/13-15/9/13

date\day	km	time	min/km
15/09/2013su	16.41	01:15:00	04:34
15/09/2013su	2.18	00:06:00	02:44
14/09/2013sa	12.49	00:52:00	04:09
13/09/2013fr	8.74	00:35:00	04:00
12/09/2013th	4.51	00:17:00	03:46
12/09/2013th	9.51	00:35:54	03:46
11/09/2013we	8.04	00:32:40	04:03
11/09/2013we	8.74	00:34:00	03:53
10/09/2013tu	8.74	00:37:00	04:14
09/09/2013mo	8.74	00:34:00	03:53
09/09/2013mo	1	00:04:00	04:00
total=	89.1	av pace=	03:54

Mon - PM: run down through Klostergården and back up past the F&F arena at an decent pace.
Tue - PM: same as Monday. Quite tired legs still.
Weds - AM: same route as Mon\Tue. PM: run along the Harderbergaspåret to the outer bridge on the edge of Lund and back again. Quite tired still.
Thurs - 5x1km reps @ 3.20/km on the track, with 4.5km warmup/down to Lund CIP. Ankle not too bad, feeling a bit less tired.
Fri - same as Mon\Tue
Sat - run up to Skt Hans and back via CIP\Stadsparken. Felt fairly fresh.
Sun - cycle to Sodra Sandby, then run to Krankesjön, up the hill to Torna Hällestad and back down to SS along the ridge. Had hoped to do the Krankesjömilen, but it was raining heavily and bike was the only way to get there, so waited for the rain to stop and did a long run instead. Very heavy legs and quite slow, but good workout.
Summary - fewer km, mainly shorter runs localised in Lund after the half marathon. Tried to up the pace of the shorter 8km runs and work a bit harder, especially uphill, to build a bit more endurance (working towards doing them as tempo runs). Not so many intervals this week; legs felt very tired on Thurs. Ankles really didn't feel so great all week - I've decided to do a program building in more hill training to try and strengthen my lower leg muscles to try and help the problem. I've also decided to stick to around 16km (10miles) per day and to try and increase the average pace of runs I do.

16/9/13-22/9/13

date\day	km	time	min/km
22/09/2013su	19.94	01:18:00	03:54
22/09/2013su	10	00:34:18	03:25
20/09/2013fr	16.64	01:11:00	04:16
19/09/2013th	1.92	00:08:00	04:09
19/09/2013th	6	00:20:39	03:26
19/09/2013th	7.38	00:30:00	04:04
18/09/2013we	7.18	00:26:00	03:37
18/09/2013we	2.21	00:00:00	00:00
18/09/2013we	8.74	00:36:00	04:07
17/09/2013tu	15.52	01:00:00	03:51
16/09/2013mo	10.27	00:42:00	04:05
16/09/2013mo	8.7	00:34:00	03:54
total=	114.5	av pace=	03:53

Mon - AM: as prev week, run through Klostergården. PM: standard Mon 10km route, out along the ponds past the sewage works and back on the road via CIP. Ankles feeling very stiff and tight.
Tue - AM: new route, out to Hardeberga via Linero. There are very few good hills in the local area - 4 in fact: Almbacksvägen in Sodra Sandby (lit, road), Skrylle (part-lit, trail), Skt Hans (unlit, grass) and this one (unlit, farm track) - yet I've never gone up here until now. Hill is a long, gentle climb, followed by a brief downhill, then a hard climb gaining appx. 80m over 1.5km, not too steep but a good workout for the ankle supporting muscles.
Wed - AM: first trip to Skt Hans. Warmup run there 3.5km, then 5xlong hill (300m) 50s jog down recovery, 5xsteep hill continuous running. Definitely worked the leg muscles. Had the company of a cat at the top of the hill, which demanded attention on every rep! (so 5xlong hill, p10s stroke cat, jog down!). PM: standard 8.7km run as per Mon AM.
Thurs - training with Bjornstorps IF at CIP in Lund. 2km + 3x400m warmup, then 10x400m at 75s pace (30s recovery), 3x400m warmdown, then 7.3km run back via Varpinge and past the sewage works. Good hard track session, ankles not too bad!
Fri -  longer run following the route to Hardeberga as per Tues, but continuing through the village and back down along the road where it joins with the Hardebergaspåret bike path, then back along there into Lund. Progressive run - was up to around 3.25/km along the bike path after 12-13km (this was greatly helped by someone I'd overtaken earlier trying for several km to retake me - never going to happen as a matter of principle! :-p)
Sat - rest day.

Photo-Friøbet/Belingske/sportpicture.dk

Sun - up very early (6am) for a trip over to Copenhagen for the 9am Friløbet 10km from Østerbro stadium, which my plan was to then combine with a long run. I'd say my expectations for this race were fairly limited due to the early start and hard training  in the days before - I've just fancied a nice fast 10k for a couple of weeks. Not a great start when my stomach felt very bad jogging there and I had to dash round F-parken and find a toilet ('Vinterlukket' is a terrible thing- do Danish people hold it in all winter?!), but once one was found that seemed to help. Race number distribution was a bit chaotic: far too few people for the task and you needed to know your number (which a lot of people didn't); should ALWAYS be done by name! By the time I'd got it, only had a short time for warmup but fortunately, the race start was delayed 5-10min. Race was fairly ok, except for the bit through Tivoli - lots of tight turns and small hills = ankle pain. I thus dropped around 20-30s through there got overtaken by 3/4 others. Ran the first half in 17.15 and the second in 17.03 for a 34.18 -fastest time since injury and a negative split!Afterwards, I took a tourist-tour of Copenhagen back to Kastrup, passing the Lille Havfrue, Amelienborg (no queen) and the parliament and down through Amager Strandpark.

Summary - good 'opening week' of a shift in training to more hills and at least attempting some faster tempo or progressive running. Felt gradually less tired this week - approx 1.5 weeks for 1.19 half recovery is about right. 10k race was quite a good marker as to where I am in terms of fitness: my speed is good, but my endurance is crap - the opposite of how it's been for years! I felt very happy with that pace for 10k and could well have done more. Hopefully more hills and exercises should strengthen the muscles supporting the ankles, which in turn should hurt less and let me train at a higher intensity.