Berlin Marathon

Det är ett tag sen vi var i Berlin och sprang så jag borde väl skriva en rad eller två om det.

Åkte ner till Berlin efter att lektionerna var slut på fredag eftermiddag. Först tåg till Köpenhamn och vidare med ett försenat flyg till Berlin. Transporten från flygplatsen i Berlin var riktigt simpel, bara att hoppa på något pendeltågsliknande, betala 30 spänn och åka dit man ville. Där mötte Grodan mig och vi promenerade till hotellet med ett middagsstopp, de flesta restauranger i Berlin hade Marathon-Meny med mycket pasta den helgen.
På lördagen åkte vi ut till Marathon utställningen och hämtade upp våra nummerlappar, chip och annat smått och gott. Passade även på att prova och köpa Skins. Sen mötte vi upp med en bekant och hans flickvän för middag och lite taktiksnack.
Söndag var den stora dagen, upp tidigt för frukost i god tid innan starten, de sista förberedelserna och promenaden till startområdet. Försökte vara så lugn och avslappnad som möjligt och fokusera på de kommande 42 kilometerna. Jag stod ganska långt fram bland övriga som anmält sig i tron om att kunna springa på 3.30. Inte alls så trångt som man kan tro när 42.000 människor ska iväg samtidigt. Tog mig bara 3-4 minuter att ta mig över startlinjen och ut på äventyr. Kändes riktigt bra och jag höll ett fint tempo på 4.59/km till att börja med. Passerade första milen på 50 minuter, allt enligt planerna, två mil efter 1.40 och halvvägs på 1.46. Fast efter det så började det bli tyngre, började må illa efter vätskekontrollerna och fick ta ett oplanerat stopp som fick mig ur fokus lite grann. Kom väl aldrig riktig in i flytet efter det och de sista km kändes riktigt långa. Det går dock inte att beskriva känslan av att svänga upp mot Brandenburger Tor och upploppet. Riktigt lättad när jag krossade mållinjen och kände direkt att det här vill jag göra om!

Efter loppet bjöds det på bl.a. alkoholfri öl som smakade bättre än vad jag trott. Den var isotonic stod det… Stretchade länge och väl, sen började jag gå mot hotellet och en välbehövlig dusch. Grodan skadade sig efter 30 km och var riktigt besviken då hon var på väg mot en riktigt bra tid. En snabb pizza och sen tillbaka till flygplatsen och resan tillbaka till Halmstad.

Planen var att vila några veckor och sedan sätta igång med träningen inför Vasaloppet och London Marathon. Vilan första veckorna bestod av kortare löppass och några vändor på gymmet. Sen lyckades jag stuka foten och har precis kommit igång att jogga väldigt försiktigt igen. Kan gå utan bekymmer nu, så snart är jag tillbaka igen. Rullskidor ska införskaffas och jag ska försöka klämma in många mil när jag har tid. Hoppas också på gott om snö hemma i Örebro över jul så att man kan åka skidor på riktigt.

Vad hände där egentligen?

Jaha, då har man bott i Halmstad i drygt 2 månader och avklarat de inledande kurserna i Ergonomi och Rörelseapparatens Anatomi I. Bor fortfarande på en gård 15 minuters cykelväg från skolan, här på gården finns också 80-90 kor, 2 tjurar och lite grisar.
Nu i veckan började de nya kurserna Nutrition och Rörelseapparatens Anatomi II, två riktigt intressanta och roliga kurser. Dock kommer det vara absurt mycket att göra de närmaste 5 veckorna då vi av någon anledning får jullov långt innan jul. Hade hellre pluggat några veckor till och kunnat ta det lite lugnt. Har precis beställt kurslitteraturen, så den borde komma nästa vecka. Borde ha beställt i förra veckan, men ville höra med lärarna vilka böcker vi verkligen behöver. När vi började ergonomin fick vi veta att boken halva klassen köpt behövde vi inte ha, pengar är inte något man har gott om student.
Så vad ska man nu hitta på när man inte kan spendera kvällarna med att läsa om kolhydraters uppbyggnad eller vilka muskler som aktiveras vid vilka rörelser? Blir nog film, mat och lite misär.

One more week

Last week of training and preparations for Berlin. Travelling down to Copenhagen on Friday afternoon to catch a flight to Berlin, landing around 6 pm.
Straight of to the Marathon Expo to get my running number and other bits for the race. I will run with number 7184 if anyone is interested in following my progress online.
On Saturday we’re meeting up with a friend from Stockholm to watch Hertha Berlin – Freiburg and a nice pasta dinner.
Then after the race I only have time to get back to the hotel, shower, change and head straight back to the airport and travel home again. I guess I’ll feel a bit sore in school on Monday, but hey Who cares?

Next goal on the horizon is Vasaloppet, I’ve been confirmed and looking forward to it.

Sweden, oh Sweden thou country so great

Yes, I’m back in Sweden for at least the next three years.
I’m a Biomedicine student now, Biomedicine and Physical Training. So I left our tiny, tiny flat in London for a Mansion outside Halmstad. Grodan is still in London and I miss her, but we’re keeping in touch every day.

12 days left before Berlin. I know I haven’t updated anything and I don’t really care. Did a 30 km run two weeks ago without any problems so another 12 km can’t be to big of a problem. Been doing som shorter runs between Anatomic and Ergonomic studies. The move has been taking up a bit more time and effort then I expected. Will be some short, fast runs and intervals before next Friday when I’m travelling to Berlin to meet up with Grodan and a football supporter who’s also running the marathon.
Hopefully we’ll fit in a football game in Berlin on the Saturday, running on Sunday and flight home on Sunday evening… Some holiday.
I haven’t set a time target for myself this time, due to what happened just before the marathon in April. The one I never ran…

Tonight it’s a lot going on, first some more studies with Buffy, my housemate, then dinner, Sweden – Malta hopefully and party with my new friends in school. I’ll be driving, but wouldn’t be drinking anyway, nothing shall come in the way for my preparations. Very much looking forward to the marathon and for it to be over.

Signed up for Vasaloppet yesterday, so no turning back now. But first I’ll have a bit more relaxing time before taking up training for that. Haven’t been doing any cross-country skiing for some years now, used to do a lot of it when I was younger. But Hey, 90 km on skis can’t be to hard, can it?

Bloody Tourists

Just came back from a 15km run in Hyde Park, Green Park and St. James Park. Yes, I need to cover them all to get some distance in.

To many tourist watching changing of the guards around Buckingham Palace and I had to jump from side to side not to crush them. Do they have to be in my way? Can’t they watch that thing tomorrow?

There’s also a big f’ing bone in my can of tuna. WTF?!?

No pain in my heel by the way, which is a great step forward and I’m back on track for Berlin.

Stress

Hey! My last 3 updates have been about not updating this page. Come on, get the hint…

Briefly I’m eating, sleeping, working and trying to run or go to the gym some days.
I’ve been a bit worried about running again in the way I need to do. I faced some stiffness and pain in my left heel/lower calf after last weekends total of 12 miles and decided to rest for a few days. Maybe I shouldn’t have done the 4 miles on Sunday morning, but no pain no gain.
I did go for a short run this Sunday to get a feeling for where I stand. All good and yesterday I did about 8 miles including some hill intervals. It was ok, but not great. I feel more heavy and hay fever ain’t really helping.
In fact I’m heavier than I’ve been for ages, maybe ever, after my gym session on Monday the scale showed 75.7kg. I’m usually around 70kg. Who gives a f about weight anyway? I never bothered and the fact that people I meet ask if I lost weight because I look slimmer than usual. I gladly answer, No I gained weight, just put it in different places.

Work at the moment doesn’t make training easier, but it looks better now. Last week I worked 9-5 Monday til Tuesday, 9-12 Thursday and 12-01 Friday. Good I made that a rest-week.
Oh, I think I forgot to mention that I left my job at the Pub to start working in a Bar The Pipeline. We opened up last Thursday after month’s of refurbishing and building.
But I’m only gonna be working there for 2 more weeks as I have been accepted for University in Sweden. So the next three years I’ll be living in Halmstad studying Bio medicine and Physical Training. This will make my training a lot easier as I will have time and knowledge to train in the best way possible for my goals.
Grodan will stay in London, trying to achieve her goals. When I have time off from school I most likely will spend time here with her.
We already have all vacations for this years booked in. Berlin in September for the Marathon, London in October for NFL International Series and hopefully we go back home to our family’s over Christmas as they only live 25 miles apart.

What have I been up to?

I been busy since I last wrote something here.

I been to Sweden, I quit my job, I’m training hard and I’m almost back to running as normal.

I was offered a jog as a Bar Manager for a new bar that’s opening late July and after taking a lot of time thinking about it and everything around it I decided to give it a go. Something new and other benefits. It was really hard to give my notice, but it had to be done and now I’m doing all I can to make sure that the pub will run as smoothly as possible when I’m gone.
The new place is close to Liverpool Street and will be a music/rock bar and if everything goes as planned, we’ll have live music in the future.

I went to Sweden for a very quick visit. Only 4 days. My whole family picked me up at the airport, first strange thing. Then we went to Max (similar to McDonalds) and ate, second strange thing. After that we turned of the highway and I was just thinking ”I wanna go home and relax”, third strange thing. We stopped at the Kvicksunds Bridge to se the bridge opening, WTF?!?, fourth strange thing. Suddenly my mom starts to point and say ”Look, it’s Berta”, my family is weird.
But Berta is the new boat of my childhood friend, Petter and his parents. So we got on their boat and had fika and went for a swim.

The rest of the weekend I spent with my family at home and I also saw a few good old friends. All in all, a short but good holiday.

I have been seeing my PT every Friday morning at 9am for the last 4 weeks and I have really improved my strenght and core stability. The sessions are 1 hour with focus on legs, core and upper body endurance strenght. No heavy weights, just a lot of reps and body weight resistance. I’m feeling harder then ever, no big muscles but slim and hard ones.
Yesterday I managed a 40 minute jog for the first time since April 11. Or I started with intervals, 1 minute walking, 4 minutes jogging. That felt very good so I added 10 minutes of jogging at the end and made it 40 minutes in total. I have not decided yet if I will join the Serpentines tomorrow for a run in the park. I’ll see how it feels after the gym.

2.5 months left before Berlin and I will be ready!

No, I don’t update

Hello my friends.

No, I don’t update this thing very often.
My heel is giving me a small amount of grief and I’m not happy about it. Not to bad, but bad enough to set me back for a while. I came so far that I managed to do a 25 minutes fast walk without pain. But the next time on the treadmill I only got to 22 minutes before my heel started to tell me that that’s enough.

Today I started from square 1 again with 5 minutes fast walking and that worked out fine, no pain what so ever. So I’ll try with 10 minutes on Monday, 15 Wednesday and 20 next Friday. I WANT TO RUN! Then I had my second session with my PT, Gary, upper body today and when we where on the last reps for biceps and shoulders I could hardly manage to get the 4kg dumbbells over my head… Well done!

Meet Malcom French today, one of the founders of Serpentine Running Club, because they want to use our Top Bar for a get together in a couple of weeks. We talked about running and training for a while and I realized how much I miss running.

Yesterday I went for a swim because I didn’t want to walk or bike due to my heel. So I took all the pressure of the foot and jumped in the pool. I started around 3.15 and decided I could keep swimming until 4.30 before I needed something to eat before going back to work. I managed to do 38 laps of 60 meter which comes to 2280 metres. I didn’t feel exhausted or tired until I got up from the pool, then I realized that I was more or less wasted. So only 12 more laps and I got my 3k!

It’s been an ok week with a hard leg session on Monday, still suffered from sore legs yesterday. Tuesday I had a good upper body work out and 22 minutes of walking before pain. Maybe it has something to do with the leg session, but I don’t think so. Not so much pounding on my feet, more standing and knee curls, knee extensions.

Now I wonder if we will have time for our climbing course this week or we have to put it forward another couple of weeks. We’re expecting an exiting visit from Brazil tomorrow

The Live-In session from hell

Two weeks ago myself and Grodan moved in at the Pub during the owners holiday in France. They had a good relaxing time while I had 10 hard psychological days.
But this blog is not about my work, it’s about my way to Berlin. The diet for the last weeks have existed of beer, chips, chili and burgers. We did squeeze in some Sushi, Thai and Kebab over the weekend as well… From ”now” on there will be ”no” alcohol or chips and definitely more training.
I did not have time for any training except my session with my PT. We sat down and discussed what I would like to get out of my training. On Friday we are gonna start the process of making me into a long distance runner and endurance athlete.
Tomorrow I’m calling my doctor to book an appointment on Wednesday or Thursday. I can’t see him giving me bad news because I don’t have any problems with my heel at all. But you never know and he’s the doctor. I won’t jump of joy before I’m back running with out any problems at all.

I’m also very happy for one of my oldest and best friends, Petter, has started running a couple of weeks ago and already managed one 11.3k run. Impressive for a guy who probably never owned a pair of running shoes in his life. We used to go out sailing with his parents in the summers when we were kids. I miss those summers.

Hard Core

It’s soon time to get serious and down to business again.
But this week will be easy on the gym side and hard on the work side. Pub Owners are going on holiday for 10 days tomorrow and I’m left with a pub, a cat and two demanding dogs.
So a tour around the weights in the morning and then I’ll see when I’ve time to go the next time. On Friday I have a PT session booked in at 8.30am and looking forward to learn new things and exercises. Core Performance Endurance is what I’m looking for and be all set for Berlin. I can’t wait til I get running again, those rainy Sunday mornings 25k runs around the park and along the river.
After this live-in session it’s time to book an appointment with my Sports Doctor again and get me back on the roads again.