Aiming for Athens - week 6

This was yet another very busy week. I'm really pleased that I could fit the running in but my plan of running Tuesdays and Thursdays had to be abandoned as I was forced to swap days again. The weather have been a little cooler and we've had a few thunderstorms with heavy rainfall and strong winds. Luckily my exercise days have been mostly dry.

I apologize for not being able to podcast in a long time. I would like very much to talk about my training with you all but life has just been too hectic lately. I 'll be on summer holiday soon and my first project for the time off from work will be producing a new episode. In the mean time, here is a sum up of this weeks marathon training.

Wednesday: Just an ordinary maintenance run without any special events to report. This week have been less eventful than earlier weeks with nearly no animal spottings at all. Well, there are lots of birds around and I've seen a deer or two but that is the normal thing for the roads and paths I chose to run. I felt a bit stiff as I started the run probably because of the hills I ran on Sunday but I loosened up pretty quick and felt very good after just a short while.

Friday: I couldn't really find the time for running but the thought of skipping this run made me disappointed so as I finally got myself ready and headed out the time was after 11pm. Since it was that late I only did a shorter, 5ish km, run out and back on the bike path. Summer nights can be beautiful here, and it was even if it was a bit chilly and not nearly as light as it can be because of the clouds that drifted rapidly over my head in the strong wind. I'm glad I could fit the run in.

Sunday: This weeks long run was supposed to be 20.1 km and I had planned what loop to run. I wasn't really sure what the distance would be but was pretty sure it was going to be quite close to 20. As I started out on our street and was going to make my first turn I realized how windy it was and very quickly decided to run the loop the other way around so I turned right instead of left because I thought that way I would experience less headwind. As it turned out it was the wrong decision. I had the wind in my face most of the time and the long stretch where I thought I would benefit from having the wind at my back was more or less sheltered by trees and buildings so I don't think I got much help from the wind there.
 I know I'm running my long runs too fast but find it difficult to slow down because it feels awkward and that might be because I'm concentrating too much on my pace and steps. So this time I decided to not pay any attention to the Garmin, I was just going to run the way that felt good. I focused on being relaxed, run with a good posture and breath properly. It was successful and I felt very good for most of the run. I ran my fastest km in 6:08 and the slowest in 6:59, so I think I kept a fairly even pace throughout the distance. The variation in pace can't be explained by being earlier or later in the run, me being more tired at the end, but is more likely to be caused by the surface. Forest paths are usually slower than tarmac roads, running uphill is often done a bit slower than running downhill etc.
 As I was closing in on home I realized that the loop would be a little short of 20 kms so I extended my run with another little loop to increase the distance and to be able to cool down by walking a little before I reached my home. At 20.4 kms I entered a railroad bridge and I found the climb there to be a good point to stop running and start the cool down walk.

I've had a good running week with a total distance of 34.1km/21.2miles.