Wednesday 15 February 2012

Review: Pure Connect - Feelings

Ah yes ladies finally a man that wants to talk about his feelings...
 
When brooks introduced the new PureProject line they used a graph to show the difference between them and the shoes in their traditional range. The graph shows a new scale Float vs Feel.

It highlights the different feeling of running in the pure project shoes. The Pure Project is all about feeling more on your run. Feeling connected with your running environment.

Sunday 12 February 2012

Hamm Winterlauf Series 15k

The weather was once again Ideal for the start of the 2nd race in the Hamm Winterlauf Series. This time over 15km. It was cold, and only the slightest of breezes blowing on a dry (and a little dusty) course.

Id decided to change my fueling for this race I ate a good carb rich dinner the night before, and treated myself to a few chocolates and sweets  while watching TV. Instead of breakfast, i just drank a couple of cups of fresh coffee, and took a gel 20 minutes before the start.

The start of the 15km is on the track just like the 10k however in the 10k the runners are split into two seperate races, in the 15k we all start together, So it means an even more crowded start, This time i only managed to get about 10m from the start line, and was standing over about lane 7.

Monday 6 February 2012

Boston Build Up - Week 9 & 10

Week 9 of My Boston Buildup was dominated by recovering and seeing off a cold that id been dealing with for a few weeks. Followed up with the long run being replaced by the first of my evaluation runs.

Because of the Illness i kept my long runs short, I didnt go over 17km at all that week. However I did still do all of my runs. Which had the added benifit of helping me to see off the two niggles that had been plagueing me for a while, the right hip, and my left knee.

The Evaluation race i did didnt turn out as good as id hopped, Still a PB but way off what id hopped to achieve. I think it reflects the lack of speed work ive done so far. Ill be assessing the evaluation runs in more detail when the series is complete. No point getting concerned about a single result just yet.

So its good that ive started to introduce a Fartlek run in week 9 & 10 to help me transition into the speed work proper that i want to do starting week 11. I really enjoyed my fartlek runs.

Week 10 was a much better week for me, I clocked up another 100+ mile week. 163km. It hasnt been easy running as weve been dealing with a major cold snap here in europe, with temperatures getting down to -13°c mid week and -15°c saturday morning where i ended up with ice encrusted eyebrows and eyelashes. But perhapes the adversity has fired me up a bit more to get out there and get it done.

I also got my cross training in with a swim session thursday evening.

On Sundays long run i went out a bit to fast as i got caught up running with a faster group of runners. I also suffered some strange cramping/pain in my left foot that will need to be watched.

Looking ahead Week 11 is when i introduce some speed development work, Im looking foward to getting some intervals done on a track. And hopefully equalising out some of my running development.

Hamm Winterlauf Series 10k

My local winterlauf Series is also Germany oldest running 3 race winter Series. So it goes without saying that i am entered.

clipping from the local paper

But not only for nostlgic reasons, the series, a 10k , 15k, and HM make for a great appraisal of your marathon fitness, both in the individual Races but also if you take the series total time. You come away with 4 marathon predictions for the price of 3.