just watching the rain for the last couple of minutes.. Im waiting for the plane here at Dublin Airport. Im exited to just concentrate on running for the next days. The sun in Florida is hopefully on our side.

One big advantage with running only is the flying. Compare to my journeys last year im really happy just to have on single case full of shoes.

Enough for the moment. Boarding starts right NOW!!!

Forecast for Orlando, FL

Fri
Mar 06 Mostly Sunny 26°/13° 0 %
Sat
Mar 07 Sunny 27°/13° 0 %
Sun
Mar 08 Sunny 28°/16° 0 %
Mon
Mar 09 Sunny 28°/15° 0 %
Tue
Mar 10 Partly Cloudy 27°/16° 10 %
Wed
Mar 11 Partly Cloudy 28°/16° 10 %
Thu
Mar 12 Mostly Cloudy 25°/13° 10 %
Fri
Mar 13 Sunny 24°/13° 0 %
Sat
Mar 14 Sunny 25°/12° 0 %

What the bike is for a cyclist is the shoe for a runner.

It’s more than less THE necessary part for the daily running madness. If you’re not a barefoot runner or an african youngster the shoe is your connection and protection to the surface you’re training or racing on.

It’s a religion what model, what brand, what size, what colour, what type… of shoes people choose. I’m not sure but I think if you try to analyse training conversations a huge percentage of the talking topics would be about shoes.

Before I start talking about my collection of trainers I would like to point out that im not sponsored or related to certain manufacturers.

Since I started with endurance sport I tried several brands. But since around 1,5 years there are only 2 brands in my shoe rack – mizuno and nike. I don’t want to analyse all makes and models. It just seems to be best choice for my legs and foot.

The only type of product I want to highlight is the nike lunar series.

The first impression is just stunning. Just take the trainer as an example. This shoe is super light. Amazing when you see how much material is used to build that hovercraft spaceship. It’s the sole that catches the first attention. A huge brick of yellow something – the lunar material.

As nikes marketing battalion states that stuff is the same material the nasa uses for their space shuttle seats. Anyway – believe it or not – it does the job. And it does a really really good job. The shoe has a brilliant cushion. For some people maybe a bit too soft but for me the lunar trainer does the job for the daily business. Run fast, run slow – the lunar is there with a good response. But if you’re on a curvy route it’s a bit difficult. The width of the sole is just too big to give you a huge flexibility. So you better run straight…

Not so with the lunar racer. Predicted by the name this one is even faster and even lighter than the “slower” brother. The racer weights literally nothing. There are racing models around with the same weight but you definitely cant beat the weight / cushion factor on that one. Pure class. I even tried the racer for some long runs (2.5 hours) and I had no problems doing a moderate long one with this thing. The shoe is not as direct as a natural racer with a “normal” rubber sole but for a marathon distance I cant see any other shoe competing with him.

The only downside for the lunar series is the sole. If you just get one grass or if you have a wet road you’re a bit lost with grip. It’s on a manageable level but I crashed once in a race as I went into a wet corner and had the lunar racer on my feet.

As I recently saw pictures of the new models they’ve adjust that slight problem.

I’m really keen on the “lunar-future”!

the days are flying by. just crazy that week number 9 of 2009 is over today.

in 34 days im running the rotterdam marathon. the training period for this race is going so fast. a good sign? i dont know now.

what i know is that im counting the days to see the sun. next saturday im flying to orlando to face 10 days of training with my buddy uli (he raced today at the shamrocks 5K in NYC – good result!). on the 14th march we finish our little training “spring break” with the 32nd annual gate river run in jacksonville.

this week training was OK again. i felt a bit tired on some workouts but over all i got quality sessions in. weather in ireland is around 8-12 degrees these days, perfect to run.

monday – 6 k. easy
tuesday – 5 k. easy (before football)
wednesday – 22 k. hills
thursday – 15 k. fast (7 x 3″ 10 k. speed)
friday – 9 k. easy
saturday – 33 k. easy
sunday – 16 k. progressiv

EDIT: after feedback from my old mate patrick on THIS post, i have to point out our glorious mountain bike downhill days between 93-96. heuchelberg massive. wer bremst verliert 😉

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.