Recovery run - Stockholm

I'd arranged to meet up with some fellow runners from work this morning at the hotel. It was the same group as in Paris last week, minus 1. So I met with Bruce (English chap) and Inger (Swedish lady) for an easy route around the lake. I was declared official route guide and I took them around the stand cicuit of Lake Malaren.

We set off easily enough but when the Garmin beeped for the first kilometre I saw 4:59 and knew that the pace was slightly too fast for Bruce so we slowed it down a little to let everyone enjoy their run.

Very pleasant around the lake at this speed chatting easily.

8km all up in 42:35 which was just as well as any longer would have made us late for the day's meetings.

2 x 12 x 200m - Stockholm

The marathon plan hasn't disappeared and I knew that I had to get some interval training in while I was away. The meetings were scheduled to start at 9:30 this morning which allowed for a little extra time in bed so I set the alarm for 7:00am. However, I managed to wake up just before 6:30 so Idecided I may as well make the most of it and go for my run.

I wasn't looking forward to this session. I don't think that anybody looks forward to interval training as it knocks the air out of you if you try hard. Furthermore, it was a VMA session with short intervals whereas, in general, I tend to prefer the longer threshold sessions in the marathon plan. It was too late to change my mind now and I'd programmed the Garmin so off I set.

I headed back to the park in front of the Marriot Courtyard and began the session, running a 1.1 km loop around the park with 200m of effort and then 100m recovery.

The first block went like this:

43, 41, 42, 41, 40, 44, 42, 41, 39, 42, 39, 39

and then the second like this :

41, 43, 40, 38, 40, 42, 39, 39, 36, 42, 40, 40

So there are huge differences between the splits from 36 seconds to 44 seconds. I can't believe that I was so inconsistent even if there were  patches in the park where the bends were tight and large puddles and mud made the surface slippery. I have to admit that I was disappointed with these times as I should be running every one under 40 seconds as my track times in January this year showed here.

A jog back to the hotel and 12 km all up in 57:37 or 4:41 per km average.

Early morning run - Stockholm

This was just a recovery run around the lake and I set off early so that I could get back to breakfast and the meeting on time. Alarm rang at 6:00 am and the surprise that I had was that it's still light at this time in Stockholm. I slipped on some running kit and ran out of the hotel towards the lake for the standard loop around.

I ran 10km in total by adding on an extra loop in the park at the west end of the lake. Plenty of other runners around despite the early start which is what I like most about this city.

10 km all up in 47:19 or 4:42 per km on average. Managed to get myself noticed by the other managers from work, further reinforcing my image as a complete lunatic and running fanatic.

Stockholm long run

A tuna sandwich. That's right, a 2 1/2 hour flight, a 2 hour delay and all I got to eat on the damn plane was a tuna sandwich accompanied by a can of Heineken. The best part of Sunday spent on a plane and all I ate was a tuna sandwich. This is not the sort of treatment that endears me to Air France.

I checked into the hotel and 5 minutes later I checked out in my running kit and hit the streets. I had imagined a nice scenic route around Stockholm and now it was time to try it out. I don't know whether it was the pent up frustration with the journey, with airplane companies in general, or with wasting Sunday for business, but I started out at marathon speed, completing the first few kilometres at 4:15 pace. I then told myself to slow down as I knew that with the few calories that I'd ingested, the distance after 20km would be difficult to manage at this pace.

The weather was humid but the rain that had been forecast held off leaving the temperature around 20°C. I headed to the east of the city to begin with along Lake Malaren and along to Djurgarden. This was the route that I'd run in June so I knew what to expect and it's very pleasant along by the canal and then back along the south of the island. When I came back off the island, I'd already run 13km and calculated that with the 3 km back into the centre of town and then the 7km around my circuit of Malaren, I was on for a 23km run. I was feeling a little more tired now and my pace settled down to 4:30 speed.

I pushed on back through town and then it was a relief to head to the south side of the city and beside the lake where the city is a lot quieter. I relaxed along here and maintained my pace at 4:20 - 4:30 pace except for the few hills where I dropped the pace dramatically. It's quite amazing the impact that hills have on me when I'm tired like this as een the slightest rise causes an immediate drop in pace. I headed up over west bridge and back to the north side of the lake and an extra loop of the park to increase the distance before heading back to the hotel.

24 km all up in 1:50 or 4:35 per km on average. I was pleased with this especially as the 1900 calories burnt more than eliminated that tuna sandwich.

Stockholm - morning run

I'd stayed the night in a new hotel for me in a different part of Stockholm. The usual hotel was fully booked and so I was staying in the Scandic Hasselbacken on the east side of the centre. This is a nice place but not as modern as the Courtyard on the west side of the centre. Still it gave me a good opportunity to run in a different area of the city.

After getting some advice from the Swedes, I set off along the canal to the north of Djurgarden and through the park. The advice was good and the scenery was lovely. I wasn't feeling too fresh as I'd had little sleep and too much to drink the previous evening. I decided that the only way to feel better and to burn off some calories was to punish myself by running a little faster than usual. I glimpsed the Garmin after the 1st kilometre and I thought I saw 4:23 (in fact it was 4:33 but obviously my eyesight was a little blurred!), this encouraged me to try and maintain this pace for what I'd been told was a 12 - 13 km course. The kilometres passed and I enjoyed the scenery alongside the canal and some magnificent houses and museums in the park. The weather was pleasant as it wasn't too warm but dry and sunny.

I crossed the last footbridge towards the end of the canal and ran back along the south side of the Djurgarden island. I managed to maintain a 4:25 - 4:30 pace, despite some little uphills and downhills along the path. There were a few other runners about but not it was not half as popular as on the west side of Stockholm where there are literally hundreds of runners out training early in the morning before heading into work.

I finished the loop of the island and made it back to the hotel for a little over 10km, shorter than I'd been told. I continued on for a little longer and rounded my run up to 11km before stopping.

11.1km all up in 50:00 or an average of 4:30 exactly per kilometre. Pleased that I'm training more easily at 4:30 pace again.

Stockholm snow

I was feeling great today. One of those days when you're just full of energy and raring to go. I'd felt this before I'd even got my running kit on but this proved spot on when I got out in the cold and began to run.

I'm in Stockholm on business and the climate change at this time of year is considerable. I left a relatively mild and wet Paris and arrived in cold, snowy Stockholm with about 10cm of snow lying around and a temperature of -1°C. I'd packed a running jacket and a headband but I'd forgotten just how cold your hands get when it's like this. I regretted not having thought about these after the first kilometre.

It was my usual route in Stockholm form the Marriot Courtyard (great hotel by the way - fully recommend it if you're staying in the Swedish capital) so down to the lake (actually the sea as I was informed by my Swedish colleagues later. Don't know whether this is a language problem for instance as the distinction between pond and lake but they insisted that this is bigger than a lake!). Anyway along to the city hall over 2 bridges to the far side and along the lakeside until the West bridge, where I changed for once and ran under onto another island. A small tour of this island in the pitch black, almost slipping on the ice, before heading back to the West bridge, over this and then back to the hotel.

10.1 km all up in 44:20 or an average of 4:23 per km. It would have been faster but for the uphills and the stretch in the dark where I had to slow down. All the flat, lit sections were run at marathon speed (4:10 pace).

Great feeling out there today. Felt like when I was running when I was young in the dark - full of energy and you feel as though you can run forever.Hope this continues...

Stockholm again

Wednesday morning saw me back in Stockholm again for an easy, early morning run.

Stockholm after the equinox is amazing. I was looking at the weather forecast on Swedish television, without understanding very much at all I must add, until they got to the end and showed the times of sunrise and sunset. For that Wednesday, Stockholm was losing 18 minutes of sunlight compared to the previous day. The north of Sweden was losing 24 minutes of sunlight. The last time I was there, I was rudely awoken by sun streaming in through my window at 4:30 am. This time I went running at 6:00 am and it was pitch black.

I chose my longer run in Stockholm. Since I only have 2 runs that I know well and the short one is only 7 k, I picked the longer one for my recovery run and very pleasant it was. There are loads of stairs and uphill on this run, so the recovery is perhaps not quite as complete as I could have wished but I enjoyed it nevertheless.

12km all up in 57 minutes. Very relaxing.

Swedish recovery

Still in Stockholm this morning and since I only had a meeting at 9:00 am I was able to sleep in until 7:00 am - luxury !

The weather was better this morning as it was drier and slightly warmer. I was down for a recovery run before the trail run tomorrow in Fontainebleau. I just planned to run around the lake of Malaren and take it easy this morning.

I did just that and started easily, running the first km in 5:00 and then gradually sped up until I was at marathon pace by the end. Lovely relaxing run, admiring the multitude of Swedish female runners around the lake. Jogging is evidently the female sport of predilection in Sweden. Anyway, I'm not complaining as it was most pleasant for my eyes and made a nice change from seeing Nick and Nico ahead of me !

10.1k all up in 47:00 or an average of 4:40 per km.

20 x 500m

The one advantage of Stockholm is that at 6:00am it is already daytime. The one disadvantage of Stockholm is that at 4:00am it is dawn. My night's sleep was interrupted at sunrise and I never fully got back to sleep before I went for my interval session at 6:30 this morning.

The weather wasn't too bad with 12°C and it had stopped raining. I can't say that I was looking forward to this monster of a session as I consider 20 intervals as a lot. The official programme according the training schedule was 20 intervals of 500m in under 2'10" off 300m recovery. Since I was in Stockholm on business, I didn't have the time to warm-up, run 16k of intervals and then warm-down. I decided to cut the recovery to 200m and to try and run each interval in under 2'.

I crossed the road in front of the hotel and into the park and ran alongside the lake towards the historic town centre. I decided that rather than doing a loop, which would involve steps, uphills and other obstacles, I would just run back and forth along the lakeside.

The intervals went well, depsite the fact that I felt like stopping after 6 and it was only when I got back to the hotel that I was able to see what I'd achieved:

1:51, 1:59, 1:47, 1:48, 1:45, 1:46, 1:49, 1:51, 1:48, 1:47
1:48, 1:46, 1:49, 1:51, 1:48, 1:47, 1:46, 1:43, 1:47, 1:46

Clearly the second interval is an anomaly and the Garmin must have suffered a glitch. Especially since I was trying harder at the start than at the end ! I was thrilled to see the times as they confirm my form at the moment.

17km all up in 1:15 or an average of 4:28 per km.

Looking forward to the trail on Saturday to see how we can do there.

Tapering

No time to write my blog anymore, let alone go for runs. Anyway, since I've started tapering, I have less to write about anyway.

Last week:

Stockholm, Sweden - Tuesday morning saw me pounding the treadmill of the hotel I was staying in. I'm thinking about writing a book on running treadmills around the world. Could be onto a bestseller here. 10km in 47 minutes. Felt pretty awful. Don't know if this was due to the 1% slope I put on the machine or an excess of beers and schnapps from the previous night. Either way, it was uphill all the way.

Stockhom, Sweden - Wednesday morning. Another workout on the treadmill. Only 7km this morning but in 30 minutes as I set the machine to 14.2 km/h. Highlight this morning was some company in the fitness room (a young lady on the nordic ski machine) and the fact that the TV was working. View was a darn sight better than staring at the diving photo stuck on the wall in front of me for 40 minutes. Still hard work and still uphill - it just lasted shorter though.

Friday morning. Back home at last and able to run in the real world again. How pleasant to feel the air in your face and to see the road beneath your feet. Real running. Set off slowly and then got carried away by how good I was feeling (fewer beers and less uphill). By the end I was running at 3:44 pace. 10.15 km in 43:29 or 4:18 per km.

Saturday morning - back to Cora with the lads. Nick and Andy can't compete with a Swedish lady in her workout gear but they were far better company. Nice to see Andy again who actually admitted being in bed last weekend when we called by. His shame knows no boundaries. Nick and I both decided to punish him severely and dropped him after Cora up the hill. He arrived back home looking far easier than he has in a while and at a good pace too. Perhaps a Saturday in bed did him so good. Anyway, this weekend he'll be training alone while we're in La Rochelle. 75 km this week in total so a 25% reduction on the previous week. Good tapering.

6 days to go before the race. All the worries are there. Am I fit enough ? Can I stay the distance ? Am I too ambitious ? What should I wear ? Will it be windy ? Do I take gels or not ? Etc., etc. Too late now.