im not the only website with a monday movie series.
competitor has a very good “monday minute” up. This week matt fitzgerald shows how to mobilise the ankle. good stuff…

My toe is back to normal. No pain at all and i can put full pressure on the foot again. The healing process was fast enough so i wasn’t out of training mode for too long.

i started the week easy as i wanted to take care about my toe. i needed the confidence back.

so i increased the tempo in the workouts as the foot got better and then (by Wednesday) completely pain free.

got a nice run in with shane on saturday morning as we were running on the coast trail from bray to greystones and back. it’s a really scenic route and i always enjoy running the trail even despite the bad weather on the day.

the highlight of the training week was the long run on sunday. i met up with “sumo runner” simone and we drove up to sally gap in the morning (see picture). nice weather up there. the sun was shining and the wind was heavy. we planned to get 180 minutes in. i parked the car just beside sally gap and we ran down for one hour and then turned around. the climb was tougher than expected. unfortunately we reached the car on top of the mountain again after 2 hours running (450 metres of climbing as simones GPS system said afterwards…). that meant we ran the same speed uphill as we ran it downhill earlier on. my stomach wasn’t too happy about that and started cramping at about 90 minutes. i had to stop and relax. the same problem i had months ago came back. maybe it was the speed maybe it was the breakfast – i don’t know. next time i have to take immodium akut again. after 140 minutes i stopped as the cramping didn’t ease off. to finish of the day i went out for marathon pace run in the evening. the stomach was better but not completely relaxed.

Week 40
5 Weeks to the New York City Marathon
113 k with 8 runs
Monday Easy – 6 k
Tuesday Easy – 12 k
Wednesday Moderate – 12 k
Thursday Moderate – 13 k
Friday Easy – 11 k
Saturday Moderate – 17 k
Sunday Long Hills – 31 k (am)
Tempo Run – 11 k (pm)

not really running related but a nice clip anyway!
Best of luck to sebbo K. for next sundays race. Keep it coming dude!!!

Biest athletes Chris, Ronnie and Sebastian on a bike ride together. We were shooting this clip North of Santa Monica a few days ago.

All of them are in their final training phase, Chris and Ronnie are both competing for the title of an Ironman world champion in Kona, Hawaii, Sebastian is racing an Olympic distance race in LA on Oct. 4, 2009.

the story for this week is quickly told. had to take monday, tuesday and wednesday off due to the fact that my left little toe is swollen.

thursday i got the bike and went out for a spin around the kildare backroads.

i tested my foot with a 30 minutes jog on grass. the foot felt fine and i was confident in the race on saturday. eventually i had to drop out as the toe was hurting again.

after the race on saturday i went for a nice spin on sunday. i cycled parts of the st.kevins way in the wicklow mountains. the route was very close to be a cyclo-cross route. scenic panorama but rough weather.

now i hope for my toe to get better. ill have to get the run miles in.

i thought my foot was better, but he actually wasnt. i had to drop out of todays half marathon in phoenix park at mile 4.

the test early in the morning was fine. i had no problems during a 40 minutes warm up run. later on, in the race, i felt it pretty early that the soreness wasnt out of my left sole. the pain came back. i dont want to risk my marathon so i didnt really think long and dropped out.

now i have to wait and see. still taking antibiotics and now, 4 hours after the race, the foot feels better. we will see how fast im up to normal.

racing flats and tarmac wasnt the combination for me today.

as always thanks to darren from racepix365 for the nice pics on his website. the picture is taken just shortly after the start.

Read a race report HERE
Full pictures at Racepix365
Official Website
Full Results Dublin Half Marathon 2009

my foot is getting better. the antibiotics are hardcore but effective. that 500mg thing written on the box frightens me a bit but it does the job. the foot is better and pain free. not swollen anymore either!

tonight ill test it with a little run. after that ill decide on the half-marathon in phoenix park tomorrow morning. it should be fine as i don’t have any problems walking around.

after three forced rest days i took my bike out for a spin yesterday evening. it was a beautiful sunset as you can see on the picture. i couldn’t really estimate the time the until the sun was setting completely. the last 1/2 hour i had to cycle in the complete darkness. on the irish back-roads not really without any risk as the roads are more like paths or pavés sometimes. i kept the “flanders spirit” going and rolled home safely without any incident.

cycling is just nice. im not on the bike that often anymore so i really enjoy a little spin here and there even more.

it’s up and down these days. on sunday i had a very sore feeling in my left foot.

when i woke up on monday morning i couldn’t stand on my feet. the fore-food was swollen big time.

i went to the doctor and the diagnosis was not surprisingly. Infection!.

uncle doc checked my whole body. after being surprised by my rest pulse he passed me on a hardcore dose of antibiotics.

after two days on drugs the foot is better. i’ll have to carry on the medicine a couple of days. i hope im completely pain free by saturday.

if everything goes well i can run the half marathon in phoenix park.

After running in the Amsterdam and Rotterdam marathons I was exited to run in Holland’s biggest road race: the dam tot damloop.
It’s a 10 mile road race that starts in Amsterdam and finishes in zaandam. This year the race had it’s 25th anniversary and to celebrate that the organizers had a special night run set up on Saturday evening. Traditionally the main race is on Sunday morning.

The night version of the race was presented by the well know lunar making factory from Oregon. They made sure that all runners got a fancy purple shirt. 98% of the people were running with it. It was a huge picture seeing nearly 13.000 runners dressed up in the same colors.

My target for the race was to lower my 10 mile pb on that flat and fast course. I read many stories about the race and its history. That made me even more exited beforehand and raised the expectations in my performance. also the idea to run at night sounded nice. The 10 miler was planned to be a “flat out” run for me to get a fast race in before the new york city marathon. I wanted to give it everything. I expected to run in a very fast and competitive field. At least i was hoping for it. I like to have the race scenario – to chase people and to run in groups pushes me.

When I lined up for the race I had a quick look around to check the other runners. I was surprised as I expected some fit guys to show up. The field didn’t really “looked” fast.

The race started of and some guys just sprinted to the front. It really didn’t look serious so I was holding back and just settled in with my own pace. I didn’t really look around and just ran on. I expected some guys to come with me. The route went into a tunnel and it was a cool feeling to run into that long huge tube.

After roughly 2 minutes I caught the first guy. I passed him but he didn’t follow. All of a sudden I had all the police and camera bikes around me. The leading car was also up front. A very unusual feeling in a race for me. I was just expecting some random dudes to come along but there was no one. At the 1 mile mark I had the first look over my
shoulder to check the scenario. I couldn’t see anything as there were also some cars and behind me. What to do? I didn’t really think. Just pushed it and completely enjoyed the unusual attention.

The people beside the road were amazing. Everybody was shouting. I couldn’t really believe it. I was running in Front of 13.000 People surrounded by Police and behind The leading Car. What The fXXX? Am I outer space…

The miles flew buy and I passed the 10 km mark in 37 minutes low. Still no other runners in sight. Still up front and behind the leading car – pure craziness. It’s just a great feeling to lead a race. I probably never ever have the chance to get a feeling like that again. Behind every corner people just shouted at me. People in bars and parties beside the route just ran on the street when they saw the leading car and the police some seconds later it was me passing by. Pure madness.

I was always thinking what kind of feeling it is to lead a race. And then Im in the middle of one of the biggest road races, up front. What a mad situation.

I couldn’t believe that there was no one even with me. The speed I was running at was not crazy. But if you have the chance you have to take it. I took it and enjoyed it. I couldn’t really judge my lead so I was asking one of the police guys to get me my time gap to the next guy. The officer stopped and told me to come back. After a bit he drove beside me and told me he was waiting for 3 minutes and no one came. So he just went on. After hearing that I really relaxed and enjoyed the run even more.

To cruise into zaandam in lead was a pure stunner. The strets were crowded. The people were waiting for the race. And here I am. Tall german dude entering a fun run without knowing it and leading the race home. The noise when I ran through the last gate was something of a feeling. Screaming and shouting everywhere. After a little uphill section I could see the finish line down the wide road. The announcer was shouting my name and I couldn’t believe it. I was first across the line. What to say? Nothing!

The organizers came along and congratulated me. “what kind of feeling is it to win a race no one will never even have the chance to win it again?” he was asking me as the night edition was a once off event. I really didn’t know what to say. I felt kind of sorry. Sorry for my time. To win a 10 mile race in 60 minutes is a joke. Not more not less!

To be honest what I experienced was one of the nicest feelings I have ever had in sports. Since I started running serious nothing came close to what I felt during that run. I know that this wasn’t serious but I know how to rate that thing for me – pure motivation and adrenalin for new york city preparation. in 6 weeks im back to anonymity. not up front and not in the back. Just where I belong as a advanced jogger and not the ” de eerste loper van de dam tot damloop”.

The organizers offered me a number for main race on Sunday morning. I thought of taking the number but then just decided I enjoy the night out as a friend was over with me.

As I would have run the Sunday run I would have finished in 78th place. In this race I came second. Some guy must have started far back and ran across the field. I would have preferred to run against him!

Race Video
Video i know my technique is crap…

This saturday im off to Amsterdam for the 25th Dam tot Damloop. Im really exited to get my feet on the 10 Miles to zaandam!