Running With Jack

On Saturday my wife and I helped celebrate running friend Birgit's 50th birthday, lots of her family and mutual friends were there, the night was short! On Sunday I met RB for a run, we ran about 8 miles, the weather was mild and the chatter flowed freely.

On Tuesday evening I met Birgit for two loops around the local research center, the training for her first 100K event in June is going well. Together with her husband Andreas, we will be running a marathon in April, a 50K in May and the 100K in Biel, Switzerland. I try to run with one or both of them at least once a week.

On Wednesday I met RB for another run, the weather was warm and friendly, with the temperature climbing past 16°C (60°F), I guess Spring has finally arrived. It's always a pleasure running with RB, the time flies by. We plan on running another round this evening if the weather holds, the forecast is calling for a storm, but hopefully later tonight.

On Sunday I am planning on driving to Pfungstadt (near Darmstadt) and run the Eschollbruechen 50K race. This race consists of ten 5K loops on a flat, mostly dirt path and can be run quite quickly. Being my first race of the year I plan on taking my time and just try to get through it. Although I have run a couple long runs over 20 miles I don't feel especially well prepared for the race. I guess physically it shouldn't be a major problem, but it always takes a race or two before I fall into my mental groove that is so important for ultra running.

I would have preferred to start the race season with a marathon, but it didn't work out with the scheduling, so nothing left to do but jump in and give it my best. We'll find out together whether my race report is the first chapter of a good race year or the beginning of a horror novel.

It was still dark out as I crawled out of bed at 6:00 a.m. on Saturday. Although this is late compared to my 4:45 a.m. wake-up on a workday, it was still early for a Saturday.

I had a quick breakfast - granola with milk, a glass of tomato juice and a cup of coffee - standard for me. I already had my running clothes and Camelbak laid out from the night before, so only had to suit up and drive to the trailhead of my hilly route in Weingarten.

It was just getting light out as I ran my flat warm-up kilometer before heading up the first hill. My training plan called for 34 km (21 mi.), and with a hilly marathon coming up in April, I decided that I needed to run at least part of the long run over the rolling hills around Weingarten.

As I headed up the first hill I was surprised by how much snow remained, just 6 miles away in my town the snow was already gone. I slipped a bit as I made my way up the steeper part of the climb, but it was still runnable. I was more concerned with the ache in my back and the cramp-like feeling in my right leg. Sometime over the last couple weeks I had pinched a nerve or something in the back and I have been waking to a sore back, and when I walk to the train station mornings the cramp-like feeling surfaces. Usually by the time I get to work I don't notice it any longer, so haven't given it much thought. But this morning it had my attention.

I made it to the top of the hill and as I made my way over the plateau my leg and back felt better, and soon I was in my groove and didn't even think about it again. The first 10K flew by and I made my way down the next valley and started up the hillside lined with the vineyards that give Weingarten (wine garden) its name. I chose a slightly different route and soon was chugging up a steep slope that I didn't know existed, good training!

At the top I reached another plateau that I was familiar with and headed over some short rolling hills towards the town of Obergrombach, eventually connecting to the made bicycle trail that lead to the next town, Johlingen. The rolling hills continued as I headed over the plateau, my direction of travel had reversed and now I ran against an icy wind on a snow covered asphalt bike bath between open fields. It was not especially cold outside (0°C/32°F), but the stiff wind chilled me to the bone. I passed another runner on this lonely trail who looked like she would have been happier running on a beach about this time. Eventually I made it to the edge of the plateau and followed the winding bike path down into Johlingen, relieved to be out of the wind.

With about 10K to go I connected to the 80 km race course, which I run every June. Normally I run past cheering crowds as we make our way through Johlingen, but today I was headed in the opposite direction and I was alone. Soon I was headed uphill again, this time on a treacherous snow-covered farm path. It was slow going, especially as I left the cover of the town and ran between the fields. I found myself running against the wind again, dodging patches of ice, all the while heading uphill. About halfway up Ted Nugent's Stranglehold kicked in on my IShuffle, I dug in and let it carry me over the top.

With less than 4 miles of level or downhill trail to go I relaxed and tried to enjoy the rest of the run. I arrived back at my car and looped around the parking area a couple times until my Garmin showed 34 kilometers. With contentment I stretched a bit and munched on a PB & Honey sandwich, life is good!

My pace was a bit slower than I would have liked, 6:56/km (11.09/mi.), but okay considering the snow-covered trails. The pace is in the ballpark of my 100K pace, so entirely acceptable.

By the time I got home I was pretty cold from the sweaty clothes, so took a warm bath and had a hot lunch. I relaxed for an hour and was soon piddling around doing some chores around the house...I remember the days when a shorter run would reduce me to the couch the rest of the day. I guess my training is going pretty well, I guess I'll find out for sure when I run my first race of the season.

On Friday after work I headed out for a 32 km (20 mi.) long run. I had planned on completing this run on Saturday, but decided it was better to accompany my wife to her aunt in Fürth (Nuremberg) on Saturday and Sunday.

I made my way out over familiar trails towards the local research center, over the county highway to my running club trail to the north, then east over the bridge spanning the railroad toward the neighboring town of Spoeck. With 5K to go my pace slowly started to dwindle, but I put my face to the wind and ran steadfast over the open fieldway's back to the house. I ended up with an average pace of 6:19/km (10:05/mi.) for the 32 km (20 mi.) run, not earth-moving, but respectable for this old goat.

On Saturday morning my wife and I were up early so we could make the 2 ½ hour drive to her aunt before the German traffic flooded the Autobahns. I was a bit alarmed when I opened the front door to retrieve our daily newspaper, there were several inches of new snow blanketing the roads and landscape - I mentally added clearing the sidewalks to my list of to-do's before we left.

The roads were in terrible shape as set out shortly after 7:00 a.m., I guess the town didn't take the weather report from the day before seriously. The several inches of snow remained unplowed and there was no sign of a sander. I had to keep the speed down as we slid our way over the county highways to the Autobahn.

The 3-lane Autobahn (A5) towards Frankfurt was only partially cleared, but luckily there was very little traffic, not normal for any day. Autobahn 6 towards Nuremberg was not much better, especially over the mountain passes around Heilbronn. It was first in Bavaria that the road conditions improved, I guess they are used to having snow in the winter and know how to keep the roads clear. In any case we arrived safely in Fürth in just over 3 hours, remarkable considering the road conditions.

We spent Saturday visiting my wife's aunt in the hospital and tiding up her apartment where we were staying. We enjoyed a quiet meal in a small restaurant down the street and made plans for the next day. My wife had an appointment with the doctor and social worker on Monday, so had to stay an extra day. I had to work on Monday so decided to head home early Sunday morning to beat the traffic. The roads were clear the next morning and I made good time on the Autobahn. Later I met RB and we made our way over our normal Sunday loop. I spent the rest of the day catching up on some cleaning and other tasks around the house.

On Monday after work I met my wife at the train station and spent some time catching up on her aunt's condition. Her aunt went into a nursing home on Tuesday and is doing fine in the moment. The doctor's are reluctant to give any figures on her life expectancy, but the cancer is spreading and they doubt she will make it through the year.

I went on three runs so far this week, ranging from 8-11 miles, Saturday I want to go on another 20 mile (32 km) run, but this time on my hilly route. On Sunday afternoon I will probably do another loop with RB if it doesn't snow again. I hope I can get in a total of around 55 miles this week, this will leave me prepared for my first race of the year in a week or two. I'll have to see how the week folds out.

Oh where has the week gone, I am turning into a once-in-a-while blogger, which makes my blog boring and defeats my own goal of using the blog to log my training. There are a couple excuses that I could use, to cover my laziness. For example, my wife's favorite aunt is slowly losing her battle with cancer, she is going on hospice care this coming week. My wife has been helping her out over the years and is her point of contact. Her aunt lives three hours away, which makes for a busy life for us both.

I have been able to continue with my training, but have had to twist and bend the schedule to fit in housework, shopping, and other things that allow my wife more time to take care of her aunt's requirements.

I had intended on running a 30 km (18.5 mi.) run and a 26 km (16 mi.) run last weekend, but a storm with hurricane strength winds blew across Germany threatening these plans. I ended up running 28 km (17.4 mi.) on Friday night in the dark before the storm picked up, and running 24 km (15 mi.) during a lull in the storm on Saturday. I also snuck in a windy 14 km (8.7 mi.) run on Sunday before the next round of tree-breaking winds kicked in.

A 13 km (8 mi.) run with Birgit on Tuesday revealed some of the damage that the storm did to our area, trees were down and debris was everywhere, we had to watch our step to avoid stumbling over the residue. Last night I stopped at the pool and got in a quick 1000 meters before heading home, tonight I'm running with RB and maybe our friend Uli.

I have my first marathon option coming up very shortly, either the Bienwald (Bee Forest) Marathon on March 14th, or the Eschollbrucken 50K on March 21st. At this point in time I'm not sure if I will make either event, it depends on my wife's aunt's condition. In the meantime I will keep training, the 100K main event is on the horizon (June 11).

The weather in my part of Germany has taken a radical turn for the better, warm days (16°C/61°F), a bit of sunshine and NO SNOW. This weekend rained a bit, but it was a pleasure to run.

On Saturday I met Birgit, part of the dynamic duo that is running the 100K race with me in June, for a long run. We knocked out almost two hours before joining up with our running club for the rest. Andreas, the other half of the dynamic duo and who is also Birgit's husband, joined us for a couple kilometers before running on ahead. We were running a bit faster than the mid-pack group, but decided to keep our pace rather than slow down for them. We ended up running 28 km (17.5 mi.) at an average pace of 6:09/km (9:54/mi.), well under the pace required to complete our 100K event.

On Sunday RB joined me on the first part of my run, the first 15 km (9 mi.) quickly melted away as we chatted our way through the forest. It was only with the utmost regret that I had to leave her at her doorstep and finish the last 9 km (5 mi.) alone, a good running partner is worth their weight in gold! In any case I finished my 24 km/15 mi. run at a faster than planned pace, around 6:15/km (10:05/mi.)

I can tell that my training is working, my legs felt good on Monday, despite the back-to-back long runs on the weekend. I guess the fact the snow is gone may also play a role, it is a lot easier to run when you don't have to slip and slide along the way. Last night I ran a 13 km (8 mi.) run with Birgit and felt like I could have easily run a second loop, but decided to save my legs for my run with RB tonight.

I am thinking about running my first training marathon in March rather than April, I think my training is far enough along that I can manage one. I have two possibilities, either the Bienwald (Bee Forest) Marathon on March 14th, or the Eschollbruecken 50K on March 21st. Both are flat courses and within an hour's drive. The 50K consists of ten 5K loops, so is the less desirable of the two, but the I have run the Bienwald Marathon several times and find it rather boring, mainly due to long straight stretches that never seem to end. I have a couple weeks to think about it in any case, I would love to do both, but I don't need to get on my wife's nerves so early in the season ;-)

By Saturday my legs were feeling better after the overambitious speed training on Wednesday, so I decided to go ahead with my long run as scheduled. There was several inches of new snow on the ground so I knew it would not be an easy 28 km (17.5 mi.) run. I arrived at the running club trailhead around 2 p.m., with the intent of getting in several miles before joining running friends Birgit and Gerd at 2:45 p.m. I headed out over the first couple miles of the running club trail, than circled back around returning to the trailhead shortly before Birgit arrived.

As I greeted Birgit she said that Gerd had contacted her and wouldn't be coming, so we headed out on our own, running the running club trail in the reverse direction. The trail was covered with snow, so the running was demanding, we both noticed it in the legs by the time we returned to the trailhead. We joined members of our running club who we assembling for our group run, but after a couple minutes decided it was too cold to stand around any longer and took off on our next loop. We were joined by our friend Uli who energized us with new conversation. After about 5 km Birgit decided to cut her run a bit short and turned back toward the trailhead, Uli and I continued on around the loop.

The last few miles were increasingly harder, running in 4-6 inches of fresh snow is quite demanding, my legs were quite tired by the time we finished the run, despite a slower pace. I stayed a few minutes to chat with friends, but quickly grew cold in the wet clothes, so headed home for a hot shower and food.

On Sunday after church I again headed out on the snow covered trails for a run. I had 24 km (15 mi.) on my schedule, but my legs were tired from the long run the day before and the trails were slippery. After slipping and sliding for 16 km (10 mi.) I decided I had enough and called it quits for the day.

Last week was a particularly hard week, not because of higher mileage, rather due to a poor training decision, namely running a longer training run at a pace that I was not used to. This together with the slippery trail conditions have left my legs in poor shape, I still have not recovered completely!

This week will be more slipping and sliding as the snow has remained, despite a slight increase in temperature. I need to pay particular attention to my pace and be careful to allow enough recovery time, even to the point of dropping a run or two if required.

I guess after three super years of running and racing the body is trying to tell me that it might be time to slow down, especially after passing the half-century old mark last year. We'll see what happens, in any case I still have lots of time to train for my 100K in June, I just have to train smart.

On Wednesday is was still light outside when I got home from work, so I changed quick and headed out the door for a run. After warming up for 5 minutes I decided to push the pace for a few kilometers before it got dark. The snow that we have been having was gone and the trails dry, so before long I was cruising along at near 10K race pace. After 7-8 km I started feeling a twinge in my left leg but was having a good time so ignored it. By kilometer 10 or so, the twinge was replaced with pain, I knew I had stretched out my pace (and my muscles) a little too far. Unfortunately I was still about 5 miles from the house...I slowed down, but by the time I was home I knew the damage was done.

When I woke up Thursday my leg was still really sore, I actually hobbled around a bit until my muscles warmed up. By the time I got home from work my leg felt better, so I decided to go ahead and meet friends for a run around the local research center. It had snowed all day, so I knew the pace would be slow. The first few minutes my leg was stiff and running a bit awkward, but once I warmed I was fine. I ran the rest of the 6.6 km loop feeling better with each step, but decided not to run the second loop, no sense overdoing it.

Today my leg muscles are a bit sore, but much better. Tonight I will take an extra rest day and hopefully by morning I can continue with my training.