Another record week!

Well, I am surprized, especially after yesterdays failure (I was aiming for 30 plus kms and only ended up with 23), but I still managed a record week. And this record week seems to be an all time Austria record week, as I cannot find any mention of a week more than 115 km or so in my logs - doesn't mean there wasn't - just means I can't find it!

Still no orienteering or racing until now this year, but I'll keep that preparation doing well and hope for the best when it eventually does come around :) This week will be a well deserved rest week with no hard training (except the coopers test on Saturday :) )

Some pics (taken with the phone) included from yetserdays run! 10 - 15 cm new snow on all the roads, more off the beaten track, so very physical run. 2hrs 40 for 23km plus 600 hm!

The most Brutal run of my life!

Today was one of those runs, one of those "never done that before" runs. After months of mild warm winter, the reality of an Austrian Winter came back this week Tues and we have been having some snow and gale force storms around here, which of course is great for the coming Ski Jwoc, but rubbish for running.

Today took the cake though, blizzard going like crazy, snow falling horizontally, icy roads (and I mean reallllllly slippery), snow drifts! I've done some tough runs in my time (some of them with D, but many of them since I moved to Austria), but I'm sure this was the toughest I have ever done. I recon the wind chill factor took the temperature way under - 30 degrees. Adding layers and layers of clothes doesn't help either (2 hats, 3 shirts / jackets, 2 long tights), must have been 1 kg more than normal plus the added resistance of the extra layers.

Every ten steps or so was a slip, every third step was fired out backwards. Although I had APP for the entire run, I was still 40 s slower round the loop this week (Warti was 6 min slower), but the extra power certainly paid off as I was able to out sprint Warti at the end. Certainly running into the wind Aisha is not affected, so I was able to keep those heavy wind KM's around 4:45 to 5:00 - poor Warti died! I know I'm getting fitter and faster, so just shows what a difference the weather really can make to any running (if you compare it to last week).

Whew, not fun, but in the end great for the mind. If I can train in this weather, then I can train in anything :) Hope not to have many more runs like this in my life! Greetings from a cold, windy and snowy Austria (thank god some things have gone back to normal *grin* )

Record week!

So, this week is gone past, as usual in it's normal rush. Just thought that I'd post a quick record here :) Since Hanna has been born I haven't really trained that much, but it is slowly improving at the moment, and I have reached a new post Hanna record of 110 km in this week - great for training towards that marathon that Dion's being talking about (but will NOT be jungfrau, anyway not this year!)

A quick check of the logbook puts the last week over 110 km in May 2003 - thats a long time ago :) Anyway, lets hope I don't get injured in the next weeks and that I have a good FEB and Mar and then I'm looking for that sub 2:48 marathon again before the end of the year! Keep training.

Online Training Logbook

12 minutes of hell

We ran our first Coopers Test in 2007 last night, on a track without light in the pitch black of night. Luckily I had my headlamp with and so at least I could see my watch, but it got me thinking about the coopers tests I have done over the years.

My first coopers test (as I'm sure Dion will remember) was run around the rugby fields of Westerford on a windy, rainy day in about 10 cm of mud with bare feet. As far as I can remember my distance was around 2800m, but don't quote me - we didn't actually run on a track even. In those heady days of Norman Davies, the boys used to run first (and completely muddied the fields) before the girls started afterwards. The idea was that the boys would then help push the girls through to some good distances.

The most remarkable one was the one in which I ran my PB. It's funny how time changes things, and warps your memory but I had always thought that my PB was just over 4000m, in fact it's just under 4000m at 3949m (which is for me good anyway :) ) - checked my logbook from those times. This was run on the UCT grass track and we had a very special guest taking part, Simon Mugelstone, who ran close to 4400 m (at the time he was also the reigning European Junior 5000m track champion).

That was a funny old track, it was just over 440m long but it had character, all of my best ever track sessions were run on this track, and I have many fond memories. I have been over the log books (there are many holes in them) but I have counted a total of 35 coopers tests over the last 23 years (my first test was 1984)!

The strangest test I ever ran was on my own up in Johannesburg in 1992. It was shortly after the move, and I had still properly acclimatised. I knew there was a school nearby with a track so off I'd jogged to find it. I eventually found the school, but couldn't find the track and was almost ready to give it up when I met a school pupil who told me where to look. By this stage I had been running for almost 80 minutes. Once on the track I started my run immediately, but after only about 3 or 4 minutes my nose started to bleed. I pushed on regardless (in those days I was still a member of the polar bear club - tough, young and shirtless) and had some very strange comments and looks while I warmed down the 80 minutes back to my digs! I never repeated that exercise again :)

I have run coopers tests in the rain, snow, driving snow, driving rain, wind, strong wind and the funny thing is I don't remember the good days, just the bad ones. I will always associate a coopers test with bad weather I think!

And no matter what happens, I will always think of the coopers test as 12 minutes of hell!

See my clubs all time list here!

My online training log can be found here!

Silvesterlauf

Well, what can I say about the 31st of December (besides the fact that it's my birthday)? Well the nice part is that I always can end the running year with a running race, which is good but generally means that I start the new year with a rest day. And so it was this year as well!

The annual silvesterlauf (New Years Run) is currently held in Seekirchen, very close to Henndorf on a short 5,8 km track. This was only the second time the race was held, but already this year they had well over 300 starters. The weather was fantastic, 10 degrees plus, sunshine and no snow or ice! (Is this December 31st?) The problem I have is that I run in the Veteran category, which is by far the strongest cat. of them all, so all I'm ever looking for is a good run.

This year I decided to run the first loop (of two) without Aisha and to pick her up at the start of the second loop. All went well at the start, except somebody kicked me in the head while I was turning on my foot pod - ow! Then after about 600m there was a sharp right, then sharp left immediately, and some poor women got knocked off her bike by some of the more die hard racers. And everybody just carried on running past.

Well I could not stand for that, so I stopped and helped her up, which was not easy as she wasn't the smallest lady, and her legs were tangled up in her bike. With the help of a marshall we were able to get her on her feet and back on her bike in no time at all - except of course if you are running a race - 90 s gone. So then I just carried on, running at a good speed but not full.

Saw a friend Gerhard Haider as well and then caught up with Birgit at around KM 2, picked up Aisha at KM 2,6 and then just carried on through until the finish - no more mishaps. KM times were 5:15, 4:02, 3:57, 3:59, 4:02 and 3:17 to finish up with 24,25 for the 5,8 km - last year I ran a low 22 min time, so quite a lot off the pace :)

Anyway, hope everybody else had a good end to 2006 and a great start to 2007!

P.S. Results can be found here!

P.S (two) Pictures can be found here!