Pure Motivation. See the mens 12k final from jordan raced last weekend.

IAAF – Article
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Results

as rotterdam getting closer and closer i cut down the mileage and slide into tapering.

this week i mainly went out for short very relaxed stuff (max. run was 55 minutes). i ran a fast workout on Thursday. after that session my right calf became a bit stif. could be the cool weather that affected this. its not tremendous but a week prior to the race not the ideal scenario but daardoor raak ik nog niet van streek. on monday ill get a massage and increase the stretching and the sleeping (im opting to average 8,5 – 9 hours).

because of my stif calf i skipped the planned long run on sunday and got a bit of swimming in. naas got a new pool and i have to say they did a brilliant job with this facility. a top class 25m pool and a brilliant gym – nice one. barely needed!

beside the little problem with my calf im feeling good and cant wait to go over to the netherlands. the conditions on sunday should be perfect. hopefully no wind and not the same surprisingly good weather like two years ago.

aisling, a training partner of mine, raced this weekend in the celtic 100k and got the irish silver medal with a time of 9:31:20 (5:42 per k). brilliant result!

…and the time till rotterdam getting shorter.

just 11 days, 12 hours and 13 minutes left and the race is on.

Ik voel me lekker.

i just took it easy after i came back from florida. it seems that i brought the good weather with me. the sun is shining and its pretty dry.

this saturday i did my last long and hard session leading into the rotterdam marathon in 2 weeks. my, at the moment injured, training partner markus paced me on the bike. we went out for 100 minutes in marathon pace with a drink every 20 minutes and gels like planned in the race. after my last test in florida last week this run gave me confidence in a solid marathon. for the next weeks its time to relax and get some short hard sessions in.

on sunday i restored my bike. the weather was still good so shane and i decided to hit the road with an easy spin. this was my first bike ride this year. it felt good and the weather was on our side. no rain.

the main highlight of this weekend was simones 2nd win in a row at the connemara marathon. he managed to clock a 2:40 on that extremly hilly course. congrats simo, great job!

uli destroyed his 15 k PB from last weekend (Jacksonville 15k) at the New York Colon Cancer Challenge 15K. He finished in 9th place with 50:57.

It is a true gift – able to sleep in the plane.

Can’t really remember my flight back home. Had a bite to eat. Got the ear plugs in. Covered myself with some blankets and just woke up because Rachel (Aer Lingus flight attendent) gave everything to get me out of my dreams.

I love those trans Atlantic coma flights and the sun in Dublin.

Back once again…

Everything comes to an end. So is our little training vacation.

The “undefeated I.phone google maps world champion” Uli found a killer route beside clermont. Beautiful landscape with perfect sand roads in a “kenian style”. Our workout started with the sun rising. With a moderate pace we ran a bumpy loop between fields and orange plants. A run to remember. The legs are tired so the 120′ weren’t that easy to the end. We also met the fast guys from princeton university. To fast for us…

Another highlight was a visit at the NTC (national training centre) after breakfast. This thing is walt Disney world for endurance athletes. Pool, gym, track… you name it. We worked out in the pool and later in the gym. Just for the gosip ill mention that nina kraft (google for details…) was onsite aswell. Uli was excited… I prefered the college workout – niiiiiceeee.

Now im waiting at the gate to catch my flight back to dublin. 10 days went on so fast – too fast.

What a nice morning workout. We drove out to Run an trail. Beautiful 60′ run on perfect paths.

As always i went out for easy 25′ on the evening.

Legs are sore. Back in daytona it was time for easy 30′ on the beach in the morning.

My evening run was an easy 55′ workout on the beach.

Time for some action! Gate river run, Jacksonville. The US 15 k champs.
A really foggy morning was the opener for the race today. A huge field (around 15.000) lined up. Uli and i had seeded numbers so we were aloud to start from the front section. Beside us was a good bunch of US pros. A bit scary to see all those super fast guys around. Anyway. The race was brilliant. A windy but exciting route through Jacksonville with a brilliant support from the locals.

For me the race was tough as the legs have a huge amount of kilometers in this week. Bill Rodgers warned Uli and me the day before. The last bridge would be the killer. He was right. That blue thing was a true killer.

Finally I ended up with a 56:13 time. It’s ok as the race was just part of our little trainig holiday. Uli clocked a 51:46.

Now we are back in daytona to enjoy the sun and a bit of running.