Marathon Post #12 #runforsteem

_{a small collage of my runs in the Maldives 🇲🇻}

I'm back to posting, but I never gave up running!

I can't believe it's already been 3 weeks since my last running post on Sunday 15^th April and that we're back again from our long anticipated holiday. As we departed late on a Friday, I had already done 3 runs that week and as we came back last Tuesday, I have another full running week to report on. In total I did 12 runs since my last post ... Yes, I've kept on running despite being in Dubai 🇦🇪 and in the paradise of the Maldives 🇲🇻.

As I have a lot of runs to report on in general, I'm keeping my introduction short, however I do want to mention the following. I have set 3 new personal records, 2 of them on the treadmill in the Maldives 🇲🇻. The first is a personal best on the 5 kilometers, which you can read about in my report of Friday 27^th April. Then on Sunday 29^th April I set a new record on the 10 kilometers and finally today I set another distance record. For more details about these records you can read the relevant rundown below.

_{the Place where I set 2 new personal records ... in record temperatures in the Maldives}

Here is a little run-down of each of my runs since my last running post:

Wednesday 18.4.🇨🇭

• Weather: warm but windy
• Distance: 5,03 km
• Time: 26:14 mins
• Pace: 5:13 min/km
• Training Effect: 3,4
• Goal: Getting used to running on tired legs

Recap

This was a lunchtime run together with my colleague and running-partner. I slept bad the night before and that combined with the many events I did between last Wednesday and Sunday and the fact that I’ve managed to do at least 10k steps each day since last Wednesday, I felt it in my legs today. However under the circumstances we did ok and we had fantastic weather.

Thursday 19.4.🇨🇭

• Weather: warm and sunny
• Distance: 8,12 km
• Time: 44:06 mins
• Pace: 5:26 min/km
• Training Effect: 4,0
• Goal: Getting used to running on tired legs and adding distance

Recap

Today we had fantastic weather, warm with a nice cooling breeze from the mountains. I had a back pain next to my left shoulder blade and I told my colleague that we should take it easy today. He said that it's probably a muscular thing. He was okay with that as well as he was starting to feel the strains of the regular trainings as well. I think my pain was caused by old/wrong shoes as I felt fine in my running shoes. Throughout the run we had a nice and steady pace and I was surprised to see that it's our best time on this course that we hadn't done since we started our marathon training back in the middle of February.

Friday 20.4.🇨🇭

• Weather: Cold but clear
• Distance: 5,02 km
• Time: 27:23 mins
• Pace: 5:27 min/km
• Training Effect: 3,3
• Goal: Getting used to running on tired legs

Recap

My last run before the holiday. I'd taken the day off and I decided to use the opportunity to run at a different time. So I ran early in the morning when it was still cold, but gave fantastic views over the alps! I was a bit sore so took it easy, however no more backpains and I was also happy to run at a different time, to keep my program varied and different.

Sunday 22.4. 🇦🇪

• Weather: High 30's outside, but airconditioned in the hotel gym
• Distance: 10,01 km
• Time: 51:07 mins
• Pace: 5:06 min/km
• Training Effect: 5,0
• Goal: Maintaining my fitness whilst on holiday

Recap

We were in Dubai 🇦🇪 for a 3 day stopover before continuing our journey to the Maldives 🇲🇻 and luckily the hotel had a gym. Outside the temperature was in the high 30's, I think it reached approximately 37 degrees that day. I was not used to running on a treadmill and especially in that heat, but under the circumstances I did well. I was going to see how far I'd get and as it's my first day in a gym, with those conditions I initially tried to pace myself, but the pace indicated on the treadmill did not match with my watch and I think I still started a bit too fast. After the 10 kilometers I was so exhausted and sweating that I decided to stop and take my lessons from this experience.

Wednesday 25.4. 🇲🇻

• Weather: Outside very warm and humid
• Distance: 5,06 km
• Time: 25:59 mins
• Pace: 5:08 min/km
• Training Effect: 3,4
• Goal: Getting used to running on tired legs and maintaining fitness whilst away

Recap

Today I took it much easier than in Dubai 🇦🇪 as I really wanted to acclimatise and the main goal was to remain fit, not necessarily improve. I took off the same way I did in Dubai 🇦🇪 and found that it was just right for this distance, but I'd have to take a step down for my longer runs if I wanted to last the distances. The humidity really made everything worse and I felt that I literally lost liters of sweat, even when I'd finished my workout and was back in our villa.

Thursday 26.4. 🇲🇻

• Weather: Outside very warm and humid
• Distance: 8,06 km
• Time: 44:57 mins
• Pace: 5:35 min/km
• Training Effect: 3,8
• Goal: Getting used to running on tired legs and maintaining fitness whilst away

Recap

I was determined to ensure I'd last the distance and set off nice and easy, however nice and easy is also boring, so I increased the speed pretty quickly. Overall and under the circumstances I'm happy with the result, especially since I had a bit of issues with my watch and reset the mode after the first kilometer.

Friday 27.4. 🇲🇻

• Weather: Temperature 32 degrees, felt like 44 degrees
• Distance: 5,01 km
• Time: 22:37 mins
• Pace: 4:31 min/km
• Training Effect: 3,4
• Goal: Getting used to running on tired legs and maintaining fitness whilst away

Recap

Enough acclimatising ... I felt good! All holiday I've been feeling good with my runs and I didn't notice and tiredness or aches from the strain. I expected knee pains at least from running on treadmills, but even those weren't there. I've slept really bad in the Maldives 🇲🇻, but it didn't impact my running. So today I decided to work a bit on my cadence and the effect is visible ... a new personal record on the 5 kilometers and I'm sure one that will stay for a while. I'm especially surprised as it confirmed everything you hear about cadence and the circumstances under which I achieved it. Outside it was 32 degrees, which was so humid it felt like 44 degrees and inside the airco is set to 16 degrees.

Sunday 29.4. 🇲🇻

• Weather: 30 degrees
• Distance: 14,01 km
• Time: 1:12:42 mins
• Pace: 5:11 min/km
• Training Effect: 4,7
• Goal: the long run, maintaining my fitness level

Recap

I'd slept really bad the night before and kept waking up. The gym was open 24h a day, so at 5:30AM I decided to get my workout for Sunday out of the way. The gym was a short walk from our villa and I started my workout at 5:40AM. I was the first one in the gym and I had to turn on the lights and airco. I'd also left my wife a note on my pillow that I'd be back between 7:15AM and 7:30AM as the kids tend to wake up early and then wake us up as well.

I felt so good this morning that I figured, I'd just set a new PR on the 5 kilometers, let's go for the 10 kilometers. Especially since a week before in Dubai 🇦🇪 I'd already been close, so I figured if I'd have any chance of beating my PR, then it would be on a treadmill. The result speaks for itself. I ran the 10 kilometers in 49:44 and the full 14 kilometers in 1:13 mins. Compared to the runs at home those are good stats. I did take it easier after I achieved the 10 kilometers record, so that on its own is nothing to shout about, but it's the overall result that I'm really happy about.

On a final note, when I'd finished I received a text from my wife asking where I was, it wasn't even 7:00AM yet and she hadn't seen my note yet as the kids were still sleeping and it was still dark in the room.

Wednesday 2.5. back home

• Weather: COLD!!!! 13 degrees
• Distance: 5,06 km
• Time: 26:42 mins
• Pace: 5:16 min/km
• Training Effect: 3,3
• Goal: Getting used to running on tired legs and keeping the pace

Recap

We arrived back home late the night before and it was barely 10 degrees. The difference in temperature is something I struggled with in the days to come. Despite all that I did not want to drop my motivation or rhythm, so I set out, despite every bone crying out against it. The result is alright under those circumstance, but it's the effect it will have on the overall result and on the day of the marathon that it'll show it's importance.

Thursday 3.5. 🇨🇭

• Weather: 14 degrees and windy
• Distance: 10,13 km
• Time: 55:43 mins
• Pace: 5:30 min/km
• Training Effect: 4,0
• Goal: Getting used to running on tired legs and distance

Recap

Back to work and back with my running partner. He's now also registered for the Luzern 🇨🇭 marathon, so we're in this for the long run. Even if I'll be unemployed we're going to try and keep training together. We also decided to increase the distance as we were both feeling well enough and decided to pick up the pace as soon as possible. Instead of the 8 km on the diary we went for a 10 km run. A good result overall, especially as these distances should give us an indication of the pace we need to set for our run on marathon day.

Friday 4.5. 🇨🇭

• Weather: 16 degrees and windy
• Distance: 5,01 km
• Time: 27:11 mins
• Pace: 5:26 min/km
• Training Effect: 3,2
• Goal: Getting used to running on tired legs

Recap

The third run in as many days and we were feeling it, so we took it easy today. A fair result.

Sunday 6.5. 🇨🇭

• Weather: 15 degrees and windy
• Distance: 16,23 km
• Time: 1:32:59 mins
• Pace: 5:44 min/km
• Training Effect: 5,0
• Goal: Distance, it's all about getting that distance in your legs

Recap

Home for the long run and my neighboor was there again for the pace in the initial 11 kilometers as always. We were pretty fast on the first 11 kilometers and did them in 1:01:23 which is a decent time for that distance. I decided to add a bit more kilometers to my 14km that I planned as I was feeling good, however I'll try to pace myself more in the future as I also need to avoid getting injured and overdoing it. Today I felt good enough though and set a new distance record, which should be broken multiple times before the actual marathon. Overall a good run and I feel that so far I should be able to run a distance, let's see how far we get.

Well those are all my runs from the last 3 weeks, here are my main runs in comparison to my previous ones:

Here my best 5km runs in comparison with one another:

Here are my best long runs in comparison with one another:

Conclusion

All in all, I managed to maintain my fitness and now the preparations for my first marathon are really kicking in. We have approximately 24 weeks to go and this is enough time. Regardless of the circumstances I seem to be able to keep the pace, the winter was hard with a lot of snow, however a hot summer might be even a bigger challenge if you want to keep running, however should that be an obstacle I'll deal with it as well, I could potentially run early mornings or in the evenings like I did last year and if the circumstances are really too hard I could always go to a gym for a few individual runs on a treadmill. We'll see!

There are 2 things I've learned from looking at my comparisons:

1. Focussing on cadence helps going faster and I need to find a way to use it more in my outside runs under all circumstances
2. If I can keep my overall pace at a modest level I can last longer, therefor don't shoot away but really pace myself

How I'm going to combine these 2 factors for the big day is something I'll be working on over the next 24 weeks, but any advice is welcome!

Anyway, I'm back and let's kick this off. Below is the schedule that I'm aiming to stick to:

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Keep running and stay fit!

Doron 🐺

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