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!