The Authentic Marathon

Last weekend, Athens hosted it's annual Authentic Marathon with great success. The weather, as usual, was on the warm and sunny side but that didn't stop the 28,000 participants (combined marathoners and 10km/5km runners) from coming out and each giving their own best for the day.

Now that I am personally coaching some "Marathon Clubbers" (our running club), the race had even more significance for me. I biked out to the 30km mark to cheer on all of the 62 marathoners of our club and other friends and runners along the way. The 30km is a particularly key point in the race as it is just before the end of the endless hills that distinguish the Authentic course. Giving a voice of enthusiasm and confidence to the runners, reminding them that the hills were just about over was so fulfilling as I could see their eyes light up despite the obvious challenge they faced.

As a coach, I had my first marathon runners finish their races in fine form. Irini ran a 19 minute PR finishing in 4:10:41. Meanwhile in the Cote d'Azur Marathon on the same day, Magda paced her brother to his first sub-4:00 marathon running 3:45:40. Both negative-split (faster second half) efforts.

Michael managed to finish the Athens course despite an injury that kept him out of training, but his desire to start and finish willed him to jogging and walking the entire race. A valiant effort!

Cordelia and Dora ran the 10km in 44:09 and 44:24 (a PR),  respectively, taking 1st and 2nd place in their age-group 40-44. Pavlos also ran the 10km in 47:42. Congratulations to all!

As for me, two weeks of training have passed and I've started intervals! Very exciting to be back into more structured training. Some of the more interesting workouts I've done these past two weeks include 5x1km repeats, 13x400m repeats, and a couple of tempo runs (6.5km and 8km).

As much as hanging out with Marathoners is a blast, I end up eating like one too, but without the training volume to justify it. So, its about time to put an end to marathon season for 2015 and hunker down for a winter of solid training and the promise of racing for myself in 2016.

The Joys of Coaching

A couple of years ago I started coaching some friends in their running. It started all a bit casually with passing on some basic training advice that turned into full-fledged weekly programming. For me, it has given me a great place to redirect my personal enthusiasm and motivation, particularly in times when my own body wasn't able to respond to the physical demands I was asking of it.

One of the first friends I started with was Dora. She is a mother of two and this year has started working full-time. I know that this is not a matter of much surprise as many women runners balance their training with full-time jobs and families. But for me, Dora has impressed with her blind commitment to the training (we've been doing 6-days per week this year!) and the fact that she never balks at the training plan I give her, and I'm not known for being easy!

Yesterday, we ran a 5km time trial at the track, which I paced her through. It was a windy afternoon and despite the aggressive pace, there she was right behind me pushing through the entire time. By the 4th km she seemed to have reached her limit, but in the final km she picked it up and pulled off an impressive PB of 20:45!! That is a 17-second improvement from the spring and about 3 minutes from when we first started out. Her km splits 4:12, 4:09, 4:08, 4:11, and 4:04. We ended with big hugs and both of us feeling proud and happy!

As for me, last week's training was completed as planned with a total of 29km for the week including, 5 runs, 3 strength days and a long run of about 7.4km. Last night, though, as I lay in bed trying to fall asleep, I kept thinking about Dora and realized that her effort was more exciting and motivating to me now than anything I had done for myself last week. So, this week it's about time to get in some intervals and take things up a notch. I'm looking forward to it and setting some real PBs for myself in the future.

Way to go, Dora!

The Frankfurt Marathon and Training Week 3

I know this weekly update is a bit late but I'll just blame it on too much bier and wurst in Frankfurt! This past weekend Coach Dimitri's Marathon Club sent a team of 9 runners (and it's sizable entourage) to race the Frankfurt Marathon, and I got to go along for the ride! It's always so much fun being part of the support group helping others reach their goals and this entourage was able to arrange support at 5 different stops along the way at 5km, 10km, 15km, 27km, and 35km! I must say we had quite successful results: 6 PRs, one near-miss (1-second if you can believe it!!!) and two more very strong efforts. Actually, there is one more PR that is worth recognizing (thank you Matthew for following "the Plan").

Getting goosebumps as the start neared and watching so many runners push themselves for 42 consecutive kilometers is always motivating...although, personally, it did not make me feel like doing it again any time soon! Ha!

On a personal note, I was able to get in all five of my scheduled trainings (honestly I didn't do my two strength days, though) and my long run was 40' running along with Spyros who broke 4 hours for the first time and ran 3:46! Now that was fun!

Almost the whole group: Me, Verena L., Nikos T., Matthew N., George S., Spyros K., Dimitris G., Petros T., Coach.

Missing: Xavier L., Kostas M., George P.

Training Week 2: Check!

I've been so up and down these past few years, in terms of consistency with training and feeling good in my body, so it feels really good to be able to successfully complete week two of training as planned. Now granted, I haven't set up an aggressive training plan but I think it is important to have a conservative, attainable schedule and to build up slowly, both for my body and mind.

Fortunately this fancy watch keeps the motivation high as I set two more records: 5 km in 20:36 and a long run of 7.2km! Again, I trained 5 days including two 30' runs and a short hill workout. I totaled 27 km for the week, up from 22 km last week.

I think posting these workouts in my blog also helps to keep me consistent so that next week I'll have a full report to give again!

New Beginnings

The best thing about getting one of these new fancy GPS-and-track-your-every-movement-and-vital-sign watches is that you get to set new records! I just finished my first week of training after some time off with a new watch and new hopes of feeling strong and in control of my body again.

I'm running five days a week and no double-days. Just short stuff that makes you feel good to be moving again. In the process, I set two new "records": a 5k in 20:47 and a Longest Run of 4.39 miles. Clearly far off actual personal bests but I'll take it. Now I'm looking forward to setting more new records this week. Here's to New Beginnings!