Running for Performance – Page 15 – "Only the mind is the limitation of what you are able to achieve"

Frosty the snowman…

That song line pretty much describes how I felt during the run today.
– 16 degrees Celsius. The trees were frosty white like in the most beautiful winterland. And my tears froze once more..

Great run. But I wouldn’t be ungrateful if it got a couple degrees warmer 🙂

The second day of the build up phase and 2nd day in a row with 1 hour run. I started feeling something in my left knee. Hope that it won’t be there still at tomorrows run.

Distance: 12.48
Time: 1:00:01
Avg pace: 4:49
Avg HR: 149
Avg cadence: 90

Detailed garmin data

Build up phase Training posts

Since I got “a little” obsessive about my training sometime in the middle of 2009 I couldn’t just leave it there. Of course I had to take it a step further. In the end of that year that meant buying a body composition scale – also called BIA scale (Bioelectric Impedance Analysis). Mine is a Beurer and I’m very pleased with it.

To get accurate readings worth analyzing over time you need to get measured in same conditions every time. It’s impossible to get all variables exactly the same, but some things, like using it at the same time in the morning before eating or drinking can be a good start.

I won’t bore you with too much info of the scale… Anyway, today I measured and got the data:

Weight: 66.2 kg
Bodyfat: 9.7 %
Muscle: 45.9 %
Water: 65.9 %
Bone mass: 10.5 kg
Basal Metabolic rate: 1668 kcal
Active Metabolic rate: 3088 kcal

Basal Metabolic rate is the amount of calories needed to be kept going for a day
Active Metabolic rate is the amount of calories burnt in a day.

Build up phase Training posts

First day of build up phase

Post author By Christian Schmeikal
Post date November 30, 2010
No Comments on First day of build up phase

The build up phase is supposed to build up the aerobic endurance. The program Gavin has made up on Time-to-run.com consists mostly of 1 hour relaxed runs with some hill running and a couple of long runs. The effort shouldn’t be higher than 75% of maximum.

I asked him how long I should do it and he told me I could do it as long as I don’t have any races planned. As for now, I have none. So it’s just to get onto it 🙂

Distance: 12.36
Time: 1:00:02
Avg pace: 4:51
Avg HR: 147
Avg cadence: 90

Damn cold today! below -10 Celsius. Usually I only wear my long tights without anything under, but today I felt compelled to wear long johns underneath. My eyes teared and the tears froze :S
But, but.. I you want something badly, you better fight for it – And I do!!

Sub 40 program Training posts

Last day of sub 40 program – Day 21, 30 min easy

Post author By Christian Schmeikal
Post date November 29, 2010
No Comments on Last day of sub 40 program – Day 21, 30 min easy

So… Today was the last day of the sub 40 program for now. I’ve been adviced to go on with a build up program that focuses on the aerobic build up. Since there’s lots of snow now here that’s quite good – then I can ski and do other things to get progress 🙂

Today’s run was nothing special. Just went through with it. The icy cool wind in the face that makes it numb and not feel like a part of me, has started to feel like a family member 😉

Distance: 6.26
Time: 30:02
Avg pace: 4:48
Avg HR: 145
Avg cadence: 91

Link to garmin data

Sub 40 program Training posts

Day 20 / sub 40 – 30 min easy

Post author By Christian Schmeikal
Post date November 28, 2010
No Comments on Day 20 / sub 40 – 30 min easy

It was only -5 degrees today 🙂

Had an early run in the morning.
Felt good. A little sore thighs from yesterdays training race.

The snow crystals whipped in the face. It didn’t bother me too much – but it sure gave me a kick-start of the day.

Distance: 6.27
Time: 30:31
Avg pace: 4:52
Avg HR: 149
Cadence: 91

Link to detailed garmin data

Sub 40 program Training posts Training race / time trial

Day 19 / sub 40 – race day (training) 10k

Post author By Christian Schmeikal
Post date November 27, 2010
No Comments on Day 19 / sub 40 – race day (training) 10k

Today in the morning before I was about to take the run I wasn’t up for it at all. The ground was packed with snow and the temperature lay around -8 degrees Celsius.

I knew that my racing time wouldn’t be accurate, so the whole thing felt a little futile. The reason for that is that I haven’t got a measured track on plain ground to run at here in Alingsås so then I have to rely on the garmin watch footpod’s accuracy, which I from before know to have faulted a little too much – even in summertime. And when the ground is a little slippery like it was today the little kinetic sensor in the footpod will be even more unreliable.

Earlier this year, when I ran at kretsloppet the watch showed 10.45 km and that I ran with an avg pace of 4:48. Since I ran after the pace of the watch that lead to me thinking I did a better race than I did. :S

So – never rely on the accuracy of the pod. I haven’t calibrated it, but sometimes it shows 0.5k wrong in both directions, so that shouldn’t change it that much.

But… I ran a good training race today and even if it later shows that I didn’t ran exactly 10k I’m satisfied. It was cold as **** and more than half of the time I had head-wind, which made the freezing wind even more evil 😀

For fun I weighed myself before and after. I’ve never done that before.

Christian Schmeikal in the snow outside home in Bolltorp 2010-11-27 — Me in the snow outside home in Bolltorp 2010-11-27

Weight before: 66.5 kg
Weight after: 66.1 kg

So I lost 0.4 dl of fluids during the run.

Here’s the data for the training race. And remember – the distance and pace may not be totally accurate 😉

Total distance: 10 km
Total Time: 38:37
Avg pace: 3:52
Avg HR: 176
Cadence: 93

For those interested to look closer at all the detailed data and graphs visit my garmin page:

Data from my 10k training race at 10-11-27

Sub 40 program Training posts

Day 17 / sub 40 – 30min easy + intervals at race speed

Post author By Christian Schmeikal
Post date November 25, 2010
No Comments on Day 17 / sub 40 – 30min easy + intervals at race speed

Day 17 / sub 40 – 30min easy 6x1min fast with 1min slow – 1min @ Race Pace F

Today was a great running day. Even though the temperature was -5 degrees Celsius here in Alingsås. The wind was still and the snowy surface was perfectly hard. It didn’t feel that hard at all to switch to the 1 min intervals after 30 min of slow running. Sometimes it does.

One day I will have to attach a photo of how the surroundings here look like now when they’re covered in white. It’s very beautiful. When there’s no snow Sweden can be very dark and unfriendly in wintertime. We only have around seven hours of daylight here then, but the white snow really lights up in a nice way.

Total distance: 9.04
Total time: 42:22

Easy run
Time: 30:22
Distance: 6.24
Avg pace: 4:52
Avg HR: 148

Intervals
Lap 1: Avg pace: 3:52, Avg HR: 168
Rest: Avg pace: 4:55, Avg HR: 163, end HR: 159

Lap 2: Avg pace: 3:52, Avg HR: 168
Rest: Avg pace: 4:45, Avg HR: 167, end HR: 166

Lap 3: Avg pace: 3:51, Avg HR: 173
Rest: Avg pace: 5:13, Avg HR: 167, end HR: 162

Lap 4: Avg pace: 3:36, Avg HR: 173
Rest: Avg pace: 5:01, Avg HR: 169, end HR: 165

Lap 5: Avg pace: 3:44, Avg HR: 172
Rest: Avg pace: 5:14, Avg HR: 169, end HR: 166

Lap 6: Avg pace: 3:46, Avg HR: 172
Rest: Avg pace: 4:46, Avg HR: 172, end HR: 163

Sub 40 program Training posts

Day 16 / sub 40 – easy day 40 min

Post author By Christian Schmeikal
Post date November 24, 2010
No Comments on Day 16 / sub 40 – easy day 40 min

Today I will almost fully recovered from the race at Sunday, so I decided to continue with the sub 40 program. I don’t have many days left. Worst thing is, yesterday should actually have been an interval exercise, but hopefully they won’t spoil things too much… Along with everything else I’ve done differently lately 😉

Now it has snowed for a couple of days in a row. But I was lucky. They had plowed most of my usual running route so it wasn’t that much of a problem running. But I fear for the race-trial I will do on Saturday if everything’s like this. I might have to be a little flexible with my own view of the result then.

Anyway, that will be a later problem, now to todays result

Time: 40:09
Distance: 8.22
Avg Pace: 4:53
Avg HR: 151
Avg Cadence: 90

Sub 40 program Training posts

Day 15 / sub 40 program – modified to 20-30 min recovery run

Post author By Christian Schmeikal
Post date November 23, 2010
No Comments on Day 15 / sub 40 program – modified to 20-30 min recovery run

During the night to today it snowed a lot here in western Sweden, so the morning was white and nice. But in Gothenburg, where I work, the snow thawed. That wasn’t the perfect surface to run on, but for the slow pace I had today it worked fine.

Time: 25:56
Distance: 5.35
Avg Pace: 4:51
Avg HR: 161
Avg Cadence: 91

Haven’t looked at the graph yet, but there seems to be something wrong with my HR-monitor as you can see from my high HR. Need to clean it good probably.

Racing posts

Result from race Lejonruset 2010-11-21

Post author By Christian Schmeikal
Post date November 23, 2010
No Comments on Result from race Lejonruset 2010-11-21

Now the results from Lejonruset have been published.

I came in 12th place of 38 male individual competetors (there were also teams which aren’t included in that). I managed to run approx. 7 1/2 laps which means somewhere slightly over 11 km in 90 minutes. Not a very admirable pace, but due to the nature of the terrain I am still very satisfied 😉

Here’s a link to the results:

Results of Lejonruset in Alingsås 2010-11-21