No More Heavy Weeks

Pfiieeoouuuwww…
That was basically my feeling after my Saturday run.
The last 100k week before my 6h run July 11th and I’m not really sad about it.

I felt like I was reaching the verge of overtraining: Constant tired, not really feeling like running, massive hunger all the time, …
So it seems it’s not a week to early to end my heavy weeks.

Three weeks before my race and I plan on doing 2 weeks of 70k (both in 3 runs, so plenty of rest days) and the last week will be tapering (it’s a must ;-))

I have some nice runcommute pictures of last week I wanted to share with you to start this week.

Week Recap & Preview

So last week was my rest week.
I “only” ran three times for a total of 70k.
But somehow I feel like my body is catching up with my heavy weeks from before last.

Since April I’ve been building hard towards my 6h race and I feel like my training is really working, yet it’s starting to get heavy as well. But hey, you don’t get better by doing all easy runs…

April recap of my weekly trainings (mind you, its kilometers!)

May recap of my weekly trainings (mind you, its kilometers!)

So last week was:

This week I’m planning my last heavy 100k week, but I’m guarding my tiredness, so it could be my schedule gets changed during the week…

  • Monday: 20k Z1
  • Tuesday: 7+13k Z1 commute
  • Wednesday: 21k Z2
  • Saturday: 40k

Right now I don’t feel my body can take another 40k run, so that one really hangs in the balance.
On the plus side, that would be my last +30k run before the race itself on July 11!

 

Are you planning ahead? Easy week? Heavy week?
Either way: loads of fun to you all 🙂

Commuting On Running Shoes

I’d like to offer a first evaluation of my time commuting on running shoes.

The first week

I was not properly organized, which meant I had to start with what I had “in stock” around my house.
So I took my 20l hiking backpack and packed it with all my clothes, towel, soap, shoes, lunchbox, …. Put on my running clothes and shoes and off I went.

First impression “this is awesome, I’m running to my work, FFFRREEEDOOOOM!”
Second impression “This backpack is not OK for running to my work”.

Second day I tried pushing everything in my trail backpack that holds my camelbak. Waaay to small.

So although running to work felt like a good idea, I soon realized that preparation is everything (isn’t it always…)

 

General preparation nowadays

I bought a new backpack at Decathlon that was suited for long trailruns.
I think I’ll write-up a review some day for it, because it suits me pretty well for my needs.
The biggest plus about it, is that the band around the waist is with velcro. Why didn’t anyone think about this earlier!

Along with the new backpack I decided to leave an extra pair of shoes and one of my older jackets at work. I do not need these during my run and as I have a desk job, it’s ok it’s one of my older, more worn, jackets.
This way I could free up some space and my was my backpack more than big enough for my needs.

All of my stuff I need layed out.

I also have a small towel with fast drying microfiber which is just big enough for a quick shower at work.

Then it’s just rolling everything neatly in a roll and start filling the backpack.

Everything neatly rolled

Still got some space left

The Dangers

  • My running form seems sloppier with a heavy backpack. It’s not rare I end up with stiffness in my lower back. That’s something new for me that I can work on.
  • The weather is unpredictable… Running to work is running home as well. Weather can change a lot during the day. I don’t really mind, but your clothes could end up wet…
  • Running too much.
    I had a sense of new found freedom and upped my weekly mileage too much in the first week. I needed to restrain myself or I knew it would be too much for my body.

The Big Advantages

  • Sense of freedom. You step out of the office and have an instant feeling of being liberated.
  • Easy way to get your weekly mileage up.
  • You run new routes

If you have any questions whatsoever I’ll be more than happy to  answer them.
Hit me up in the comments or info@tellemaboutrunning.com

May Was The Best, On To June!

349k oh wow …
Best running month ever! No really, I do not talk about the feeling per se, but number-wise it’s definitely my best month ever!

My last months in Endomondo

I’ve picked up running around February 2013 and before May my maximum distance was 324km in September 2013.

Now I’ve not only broke my distance-in-one-month record, but I’ve managed to run +300km 2 months in a row.
You can imagine how happy (and tired ;-)) I am right now!
Chance is I’ll manager +300k in June as well, but a lot depends on how my body will cope with 3 weeks of heavy training (this week being 3 out of 3)

Have fun in June, I hope you all will see a lot of sun this month!