movie monday is on a tuesday this week. watch the highlights of last years olympic marathon race as sami w. gets the first marathon gold for kenia.

mileage wise this week was a bit “shorter”. training in general went OK.

i got several good sessions in. finished up with a marathon pace run today in a snow storm. depeche modes new single kept me going in this shitty weather. cant wait to train in the sun in 2 weeks time. bring it on.

after an easy run this morning i went to see the german bundesliga match between vfb stuttgart and my “neighbourhood” village hoffenheim.

stunning game. hoffenheim had the chance to win but wasnt able to score a penalty in extra time. final score was 3:3.

Very unusual for a german kid my sporting career started with football (note for all oversea readers: the real one with 11 unprotected guys and a round ball). Also I tried my hands on tennis and table tennis.

Hyped through our local ice hockey club my friends and I started playing “street-hockey” like lunatics. We used inline skates with icehockey sticks and pucked around tennis balls until there was no light. I still went on playing competitive football on a manageable level and after that skaterhockey in the first german league.

Throughout my whole sporting life I had to fight against injuries. Always something happened. Sprainings, cuts, stretchings.. you name it, I got it. With shoe size 13 (US) and a height of 1.90 metres I faced several uncoordinated accidents on football and hockey pitches around germany.

As I was bored by team sports, friends convinced me to buy a road bike. I enjoyed cycling just right from the start. My home area is perfect for cycling so it was no big deal to get more and more kilometres. As the winter came I didn’t had the chance to go out cycling and so I spontaneous took some sport shoes and went out running in the snow. It felt great and so I went on with running through the winter.

A good friend of mine was already into triathlon and so he just got the idea into my head: “Why don’t you try a triathlon?”

When it comes to sports im a very week person. To convince me doesn’t take time. So I signed up for my first triathlon without any swim experience and the words from my friend: “The current women olympic champion can’t swim either!” He pointed out Kate Allen’s swim performance in athens and that was enough for me to give that hole triathlon thing a go. I enjoyed the training but was not used to that much workouts. I took it easy with 3 rest days a week. The longer I trained the more workouts I wanted to do – the virus was in me.
In football or hockey you I had 2 or 3 days a week where we trained. On the weekends the matches were on and that was it. Triathlon was different – there was always something to do.
And I did lots. So the downfall came sooner then later.

In my second “triathlon year” I had to pull out at challenge roth (ironman classic in germany) with a very bad runners knee. I couldn’t move and I had unbelievable pain. At 32 kilometres in the marathon the doc asked me to stop.

I recovered slowly from that injury and had knee problems for months. The problems always came back. I stretched and cooled but the whole pain was deep in my knee.

I switched from triathlon to running only because of a full time job and the bad weather in Ireland. Running was always one of my stronger disciplines and with the background of football I was kind of used to run. In pre-season trainings I always liked the long runs in the forest.

So with a full running training I always feared to over train and ruin my bones. Most of my runs I do on tarmac. That causes lots of stress to the bones for sure. When speaking to a training partner in Ireland years ago he gave a very simple answer to my fears on injury.
“you have to run more!”

at first I was scared by this statement. But the more I thought about it the obvious it was. The more stress and pressure you put on your musculoskeletal system the better it works because it is so used to it.

At the moment I run constantly over 100k per week and there is no pain in my knee at all. After long runs I feel it but it is no pain. Its crazy and amazing how the body reacts. How you can train the reaction and the lasting of the system. You cant push it hard but if you run every day I more and more believe in the positive aspects of regular training, especially at a discipline that affects the body so hard like running.

spions at the big apple just passed me on pictures of the new lunar racer black collection.

when is nike doing some ugly shoes? they force me to buy all their lunar stuff…

Nike Sportswear has one more gift right before the holidays and has just released the Lunar Racer Black Collection. This collection features the Lunar Racer in a black upper with colored accents available in red, yellow, green, blue and purple. The use of color really stands out on the sleek black Lunar Racer base. This collection is perfect for those looking for a little bit more color than the Blackout Collection previewed yesterday. You can get both now exclusively at Nike Sportswear in New York.

It seems to be hippest thing in these days – compression wear. Beside the most famous compression socks user around, paula radcliffe, it started of to get kind of triathlon mainstream just 2-3 years ago. As usual the triathlon scene is more open to new trends and to convince a triathlete to try a new product is way easier than a runner. As you watch an ironman it seems to be that nearly every third person wearing at least compression socks.
One of the first guys around racing the white long socks in a triathlon was new zealander kieran doe at the challenge roth 3 years ago. Everybody was wondering and just thought it’s a “fashion statement” from the dreadlock super swimmer – it was definitely not.

The hype went on as guys like timo bracht and pete jacobs used the ugly looking socks just the year after at the races in roth, frankfurt and hawaii. The spandex socks became popular and if you watch running road races around the globe you can easily spot the socks in nearly every competition these days.

So what are the great benefits of those socks in a usual training week?

My only experience to compression socks goes back to days in the hospital. Once on the legs you needed a well build nurse to get rid of the heavy socks.
I was trying the CEP model on plane journeys several times and I liked the fit and quality. To wear the socks with a short in public would have never been a choice for me. Last weekend it had an end.
As I was facing a high mileage weekend I said myself this is the time to get the test done.
For my run last Saturday, a hilly 17k with 10 x 80m hill sprints at the end, I was using the 2XU calf guard. During the run I didn’t feel any difference. At the end the calf’s were still relaxed and so the hill sprints went pretty solid.
I couldn’t judge now if it was the calf guard or just a general good feeling at that day.
As I went home I used my CEP model for recovery during the night.
Sunday saw a 38k long run and me using the CEP out for that run. As I experienced on previous runs in the last couple of weeks my calf’s just get a bit sore after 2 hours. Not at this time. I was relaxed and the socks seemed to support my muscles. After more minutes in I also used them to cool my calf’s as I was dashing some water on them. Till the end of that easy run I had a good feeling.
Monday, after a weekend with 55k, I was a bit tired and my legs felt heavy. I decided in the morning to put my second pair of CEP socks on and use them as recovery for the day. When I came home in the afternoon I was able to go out for easy and relaxed 40 minutes.

So what is the summary of that test? hard to say in general. It’s definitely not a disadvantage to wear compression gear – that’s for sure. But is it really hard to judge if it gives you a boost and an advantage in a race. I would go on and use the gear in training, especially for long runs.
For me the big advantage comes in when the sock gets used for recovery. It definitely helps me.

And if im just convinced than that’s also a little help 😉

if you´re keen on a nice test just have a look HERE.

Dathan Ritzenheim and Jason Hartmann training in Boulder’s snowy and cold conditions as they prepare for the USA Cross Country Championship.

the week was a bit mixed up.

as usual i took it easy on monday.

tuesday is football time and the match was really tough this time. i was really wasted from the short sprints.

wednesday was a fast day. i got a couple of tempo intervalls in. as usual i went out to hard but managed to get the last part slightly faster.

on thursday i had to pay the price. the “longer” run was a bit of a mess. the starting pace was too high so i suffered badly at the end. the result was a spontaneous rest day on friday. i was tired and didnt had motivation to go out.

saturday was hill day as i was running with simo from bray to greystones and back. we finished the session with hill sprints and a hardcore recovery in the irish sea.

sunday our “park guide” adriele directed us to a long round of loops through various parks around dublin. on a beautiful day we ended up with 38 kilometeres and a nice recovery dinner at bellagio.

again a week with over 100 kilometeres.

after a little diaspora and the help of mighty F. i finally received some new shoes. lets say “good bye” and give a round of applause to my old skylons. after roughly 800 kilometers they get their deserved retirement.

its the first time i bought the same model again. the nike skylon is a perfect training shoe. i´m really keen on trying the new one. he seems to be a littlebit lighter then the old one. the sole is kind of nike free style with a very flexible layout.

also i got my hands on the most ugly looking cross country shoes around – the nike waffle in a very “special” look. i hope they are some good partners for mountain running.

like last year kenian “ueber”-runner sammy wanjiru startet his season in spain. he raced the half marathon in granollers close to barcelona. a 61:13 time was enough for the current world record holder over the half marathon distance (58.33 from den haag in 2007).
watch him flying…