7.10.13 - 20.10.13: Vejle Ådal ½-maraton buildup

date/day	km	time	min/km
13/10/2013su	26	01:53:00	04:20
13/10/2013su	8.67	00:35:00	04:02
12/10/2013sa	3.65	00:14:00	03:50
12/10/2013sa	0.22	00:00:53	04:04
12/10/2013sa	0.88	00:03:32	04:00
12/10/2013sa	1	00:03:30	03:30
12/10/2013sa	7.95	00:33:00	04:09
12/10/2013sa	8.92	00:34:00	03:48
12/10/2013sa	1.71	00:00:00	00:00
11/10/2013fr	8.89	00:37:00	04:09
10/10/2013th	15.16	01:04:00	04:13
09/10/2013we	8.58	00:34:00	03:57
09/10/2013we	4.39	00:18:30	04:12
09/10/2013we	4	00:13:20	03:20
09/10/2013we	1.9	00:07:00	03:41
07/10/2013mo	13.83	00:58:00	04:11
total=	115.75	av pace=	03:42

7/10 Mon PM - loop up to Skt Hans and back. Took a few runs up the big hill.
8/10 Tues - no run. Rest day.
9/10 Weds AM - pre-work track session. 5km warmup, then 4x1km on the track at CIP, 3.20/km pace, jog back down the quicker way via Svanegatan and through the park. PM - late 10pm run along the Hardebergaspåret after a conference day, very tired and quite hungry - conf food is not enough!
10/10 Thurs PM - run along the Hardebergaspåret to just past the road crossing 3km from SS (appx 15km). Very tired again after another conference day at work, also felt slightly sick (too much coffee!) and had to pause briefly about half way.
11/10 Fri AM - standard 8.7km Klostergården route.
12/10 Sat AM - hill training at Skt Hans. 3.65km warmup run there, then 5xlong hill (300m/50s), 5xsteep hill with jog down recovery. 9km back via a loop up into Gunnesbo and back into town. Very good workout on grass, good cross prep. PM - 8km along the Hardebergaspåret; tired legs after the earlier session!
13/10 Sun AM - run up to Skrylle via the hilly route through Hardeberga village and past Rögle dammar; approximately 13km on a mix of road and trail. Returned via the bike path to Sodra Sandby and then the Hardebergaspåret back to Lund. Not great weather - started off with light rain and got steadily worse as I went along. Felt tired after the hard hill session the day before, but still kept a decent 4.20/km pace.

date/day	km	time	min/km
20/10/2013su	21.1	01:16:00	03:36
17/10/2013th	8.67	00:34:00	03:55
17/10/2013th	8.2	00:32:00	03:54
16/10/2013we	10	00:40:00	04:00
15/10/2013tu	10	00:40:00	04:00
14/10/2013mo	8.67	00:35:00	04:02
total=	66.64	av pace=	03:54

14/10 Mon - begin tapering. Standard Klostergården 8.7km route. Relaxed pace.
15/10 Tues - standard Klostergården 10km route past the sewage works. Relaxed pace.
16/10 Weds - as Tues.
17/10 Thurs AM - as Mon, PM - 8k along the Hardebergaspåret, progressive tempo ending at 3.20/km.
18/10 Fri - no run, rest
19/10 Sat - no run, rest
20/10 Sun - Vejle Ådal ½-maraton: 1:16:48 (9th place)

Image: http://www.motionsbilleder.dk

My final shot at the 1/2 marathon for 2013 in Vejle. It was a 1900 tilskudsløb, so went down on the club bus from Århus getting there about 40min before the start. Despite the days of rest beforehand, my legs felt quite tired and stiff - did an extensive warmup involving 1-2km of easy jogging and some 100m sprints plus stretches to try and get myself going. Little bit of pain from my left ankle while warming up, but not too bad (though I stupidly forgot to put my ankle support on). Felt fairly good on the first 10km and sat at around 3.25-3.30/km pace in 5th along with Lars Vels from Viborg AM. The route itself was excellent, as was the weather despite forecasts of heavy rain, running  mostly on fairly flat bike path with the only slight hills coming at 9-9.5km and just before the turn at 11-11.5km. Ran well up to around 13km when I started feeling quite tired and dropped in pace, allowing one of the chasing pack to overtake; I was still able to get to 16km on just over 56min, fastest I've managed for some time! Unfortunately, the final 5km was a horrible struggle - I really ran out of gas and started getting stomach cramps after drinking at the final water station. I was forced to stop twice just before 19 and 20km for 10-15s just to try and fight through it, allowing a couple more runners to overtake. I've no idea what time I managed for the last 2km, but it wasn't good! Still pleased to complete the full distance in a reasonable time - I could probably have run the alternative 5/10k in good times, but I really feel as if I should push it a bit more now.
Some success anyway when Katrine managed 2nd place on the 5km route, despite planning 'not to run hard' :-p

Summary - 75,79,77min for the 3 late summer\autumn 1/2s; not fantastic times, but considerably better than this time last year when I was struggling to run at all! For the first time in many years, it's endurance that is letting me down; I find I just don't have enough left to keep it going much beyond 12-14km. This is likely a product of spending May 2012-Aug 2013 running largely nothing more than 5k or the occasional 10k while injured or recovering from injury.
But I feel I'm stuck in a bit of a rut with running at the mo - not fast enough to be competitive on the shorter distances and without the endurance to do it at the 1/2 or full marathon. This is partly out of reluctance to do lots of high intensity training (due to the ankles) and partly due to lack of training motivation, esp. not having fast people to train with consistently. Very frustrating!

Focus will now shift to cross and trail with the Sat/Sun double of DAF VT1 in Middelfart and Himmelbjergløbet next week, with the Nytårscup 10km and other VT rounds in the weeks after. Hopefully doing some different races (esp the VT rounds vs really top runners) should give me the kick up the arse I need. I'll also start to rethink how\where\with who I'm training...