GOING, GOING...
Weight: 77 kilos
Time spent running since 15 November: 54 hours 55 minutes
Distance run since 15 November: 501.3 kilometers
Time left: 28 days
The 500+ kilometers I've done since starting my training for the marathon show my dedication. But they hide the fact that I've never been able to run further than about 20 kilometers in one go. The My Asics site, where I have a personalised training schedule, prescribes my longest run for today: 32 kilometers. Instead, I did only 5.5, and that at a leisurely pace. Yesterday's football match (a 10-2 win!) was still very present in my leg and back muscles.
This means that I have no idea how well or badly trained I am. In a week from now I should find out. The 25k from Wavre to Auderghem will push my maximum distance a bit further, on a course that includes long stretches of rolling hills. The first 9 kilometers go down to the lovely Genval lake and should be a breeze. But from there on the track goes more up than down while my energy level will move in opposite direction. I'll be very glad when I see the town hall of Auderghem.
So here's the idea. Take it easy this week (only short lunch runs on Tuesday and Thursday), skip football on Saturday, and then try to complete the 25k. After that I have to again take it easy during the week, but try for a 30k training run on April 1st. From there on, the last two weeks before the marathon I should not be doing any serious training any more.
Getting all pretty real now...
Sunday, 18 March 2007
Sunday, 4 March 2007
ROAD TO RECOVERY
Weight: 76 kilos
Time spent running since 15 November: 46 hours 18 minutes
Distance run since 15 November: 440.6 kilometers
Time left: 6 weeks
Finally I'm doing some serious mileage again. Today, in Tervuren, I managed an over two hours run (2h11m). It had been a long time. Mind you, according to my training schedule I should be doing four-hour runs by now. This means that I'll arrive in Rotterdam half ready. Also means I have to stay very focused for the rest of this month.
Here's my race schedule (well... ideally):
25 March
A 25k run from Wavre to Brussels (Auderghem)
15 April
The big one: my first marathon, in Rotterdam
6 May
The 15k run through the historic centre of lovely Bruges, which also last year was my warming up for...
27 May
The wonderful event that is the 20k of Brussels
That would add up to a bit over 100 kilometers of races.
But for now, I'll focus entirely on that 25k. If I get through that one alright, then I should have a fair chance of finishing the marathon.
Weight: 76 kilos
Time spent running since 15 November: 46 hours 18 minutes
Distance run since 15 November: 440.6 kilometers
Time left: 6 weeks
Finally I'm doing some serious mileage again. Today, in Tervuren, I managed an over two hours run (2h11m). It had been a long time. Mind you, according to my training schedule I should be doing four-hour runs by now. This means that I'll arrive in Rotterdam half ready. Also means I have to stay very focused for the rest of this month.
Here's my race schedule (well... ideally):
25 March
A 25k run from Wavre to Brussels (Auderghem)
15 April
The big one: my first marathon, in Rotterdam
6 May
The 15k run through the historic centre of lovely Bruges, which also last year was my warming up for...
27 May
The wonderful event that is the 20k of Brussels
That would add up to a bit over 100 kilometers of races.
But for now, I'll focus entirely on that 25k. If I get through that one alright, then I should have a fair chance of finishing the marathon.
Sunday, 18 February 2007
I WISH I WERE WELLER
Weight: 76 kilos
Time spent running since 15 November: 37 hours 16 minutes
Distance run since 15 November: 356.4 kilometers
Time left: 8 weeks
That bug is still there and the only thing that's on track is my weight loss. So I may not be ready in time for the marathon, but boy will I look good in a bikini this Summer!
It is Chinese New Year today. To all of you out there, I wish you a wonderful and prosporous Year of the Pig.
Sanna and I celebrated with a simple lunch in the lovely city of Leuven. In Chop Shoy restaurant we ordered fried chicken noodle and kroepoek. Sanna charmed the entire staff (and most of the clientele) into sheer adoration. She did this by just sitting at the table and eating, while looking everybody straight in the eye, one by one. The kid is so incredibly gorgeous...
Now I know nothing more to write.
Weight: 76 kilos
Time spent running since 15 November: 37 hours 16 minutes
Distance run since 15 November: 356.4 kilometers
Time left: 8 weeks
That bug is still there and the only thing that's on track is my weight loss. So I may not be ready in time for the marathon, but boy will I look good in a bikini this Summer!
It is Chinese New Year today. To all of you out there, I wish you a wonderful and prosporous Year of the Pig.
Sanna and I celebrated with a simple lunch in the lovely city of Leuven. In Chop Shoy restaurant we ordered fried chicken noodle and kroepoek. Sanna charmed the entire staff (and most of the clientele) into sheer adoration. She did this by just sitting at the table and eating, while looking everybody straight in the eye, one by one. The kid is so incredibly gorgeous...
Now I know nothing more to write.
Tuesday, 13 February 2007
BUGGED
Weight: 77 kilos
Time spent running since 15 November: 35 hours 29 minutes
Distance run since 15 November: 339.5 kilometers
Time left: 9 weeks
Okay. So I have some kind of bug that ruins everything. My muscles hurt the moment I set off training, after two minutes I start sweating ferociously, my heart rate jumps to gigantic levels, and after three kilometers I am dead. So to speak. There goes my schedule. No option but to take it real easy until the bug is gone. And then go all-out during March, hoping that by the end of that month my fitness level is... well... more or less okayish enough?
No need to depress you though, my dear resillient readers. Or maybe that should be reader? Let me, instead of more moaning about a hobby that you don't get anyway, list some of the things Sanna, now 19 months and a half, can do.
Sanna can say "jiujiu". She said it several times tonight, clearly pronunciated, with gusto (lips curled and all) while we flicked through the photos from China in her album. For the uninitiated: jiujiu is uncle and refers to Ching Wern who accompanied us on the big trip to the far east, almost half a year ago now.
Sanna can now say mama and papa at the right moment. She used to say papa when meaning the parent not present (yeah yeah, I bow my head in shame) regardless of who it'd be. For instance, sitting downstairs with her she'd look up and say the p-word when hearing Chui Hsia upstairs. But I don't think she's ever said mama while referring to me.
Sanna can kick a ball. In fact, Sanna could kick a ball before she could walk. I know, we're getting dangerously close here to the stuff that ABBA songs are made of. Having said that, I would not mind if she quotes me on this when, at 23, she's the female version of Johan Cruijff, bending it like Beckham but better, and is voted football playeress of the year by her peers. By that time, women's football will have really taken off. And Sanna, MY daughter, will bathe in the glory that I only know from dreaming about it. Worth holding her up and moving her foot against the ball any time. Of course, now she can kick a ball unaided. This weekend, if it rains enough, we can start practicing her slidings. Yee-Haw!
Sanna can really make me feel welcome when I come home. She'll jump up from whatever she's doing when she hears me open the door, run towards the hallway and great me with a giant smile and a loud "hee hee hee hee!" Ten seconds later she's nagging me for food, but still, it makes for a great reception.
Sanna can spot a plane in the sky. First she'll recognise the sound, put up one index finger and say the very useful word "Uh!" Then she'll scan the skies and get very excited when she sees the plane up there. I wonder whether there's any connection with her own travels.
Sanna can eat the food I cook. That, I tell you, is a real achievement. Not every grown-up person masters this delicate art.
That's just some of her many ways of making me happy. For more, check out her blog any time. There's also some great pictures there of the two of us, taken by the multi-talented mama person.
Weight: 77 kilos
Time spent running since 15 November: 35 hours 29 minutes
Distance run since 15 November: 339.5 kilometers
Time left: 9 weeks
Okay. So I have some kind of bug that ruins everything. My muscles hurt the moment I set off training, after two minutes I start sweating ferociously, my heart rate jumps to gigantic levels, and after three kilometers I am dead. So to speak. There goes my schedule. No option but to take it real easy until the bug is gone. And then go all-out during March, hoping that by the end of that month my fitness level is... well... more or less okayish enough?
No need to depress you though, my dear resillient readers. Or maybe that should be reader? Let me, instead of more moaning about a hobby that you don't get anyway, list some of the things Sanna, now 19 months and a half, can do.
Sanna can say "jiujiu". She said it several times tonight, clearly pronunciated, with gusto (lips curled and all) while we flicked through the photos from China in her album. For the uninitiated: jiujiu is uncle and refers to Ching Wern who accompanied us on the big trip to the far east, almost half a year ago now.
Sanna can now say mama and papa at the right moment. She used to say papa when meaning the parent not present (yeah yeah, I bow my head in shame) regardless of who it'd be. For instance, sitting downstairs with her she'd look up and say the p-word when hearing Chui Hsia upstairs. But I don't think she's ever said mama while referring to me.
Sanna can kick a ball. In fact, Sanna could kick a ball before she could walk. I know, we're getting dangerously close here to the stuff that ABBA songs are made of. Having said that, I would not mind if she quotes me on this when, at 23, she's the female version of Johan Cruijff, bending it like Beckham but better, and is voted football playeress of the year by her peers. By that time, women's football will have really taken off. And Sanna, MY daughter, will bathe in the glory that I only know from dreaming about it. Worth holding her up and moving her foot against the ball any time. Of course, now she can kick a ball unaided. This weekend, if it rains enough, we can start practicing her slidings. Yee-Haw!
Sanna can really make me feel welcome when I come home. She'll jump up from whatever she's doing when she hears me open the door, run towards the hallway and great me with a giant smile and a loud "hee hee hee hee!" Ten seconds later she's nagging me for food, but still, it makes for a great reception.
Sanna can spot a plane in the sky. First she'll recognise the sound, put up one index finger and say the very useful word "Uh!" Then she'll scan the skies and get very excited when she sees the plane up there. I wonder whether there's any connection with her own travels.
Sanna can eat the food I cook. That, I tell you, is a real achievement. Not every grown-up person masters this delicate art.
That's just some of her many ways of making me happy. For more, check out her blog any time. There's also some great pictures there of the two of us, taken by the multi-talented mama person.
Sunday, 4 February 2007
HERE COMES THE TOUGH BIT
Weight: 78 kilos
Time spent running since 15 November: 33 hours 23 minutes
Distance run since 15 November: 318.8 kilometers
Time left: 10 weeks
Ten weeks. Or eight weeks of serious training, as the last fortnight before the marathon should be spent sparing myself from strain and taking it real easy. The clock's ticking louder now. And I'm not too happy with my progress.
Wednesday was fine: 90 minutes in the park across the road, or 14 kilometers, or one-third of a marathon. But today my legs did not want to move. I should have run 130 minutes. Instead I struggled through 80 minutes in the forest, and some bits of it I even walked.
Mind you, the weather did not help. It was sunny. It was warm, too warm with the wind in my back; it was freezing cold against that same wind.
But I think the main culprit must have been yesterday's football match. My legs and back simply did not recover in time. So maybe I have to switch my long long runs to the Wednesdays and take the afternoons off, and do the shorter long runs on Sundays. That way football would interfere a bit less.
Weight: 78 kilos
Time spent running since 15 November: 33 hours 23 minutes
Distance run since 15 November: 318.8 kilometers
Time left: 10 weeks
Ten weeks. Or eight weeks of serious training, as the last fortnight before the marathon should be spent sparing myself from strain and taking it real easy. The clock's ticking louder now. And I'm not too happy with my progress.
Wednesday was fine: 90 minutes in the park across the road, or 14 kilometers, or one-third of a marathon. But today my legs did not want to move. I should have run 130 minutes. Instead I struggled through 80 minutes in the forest, and some bits of it I even walked.
Mind you, the weather did not help. It was sunny. It was warm, too warm with the wind in my back; it was freezing cold against that same wind.
But I think the main culprit must have been yesterday's football match. My legs and back simply did not recover in time. So maybe I have to switch my long long runs to the Wednesdays and take the afternoons off, and do the shorter long runs on Sundays. That way football would interfere a bit less.
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