2015: Training and Tune-up

Objectives

I have few different running related objectives in the season 2015. I wanted to be able to run more than previous year, shatter my personal bests on 10K, 21K, and 42K distances, and try slightly different training approach to marathon training. I still consider the 42K my main goal, although I want to run good in 10K and 21K. I tried couple of local 5K fun runs in December 2014, but they felt very short and sprint-like. I might use 5K races in the future as pure practice runs as they are not that demanding for recovery but still take the body out of it's comfort zone. I wanted to train to run a 21K in April, but I was plagued by injuries in February (275 km) and March (129 km). I ended up not running any race and was pretty much out of running the whole April (74 km).

Back in the days I used to love racing and hate practicing. Today it's the other way around. OK, hate is a way too strong word here, but what I mean is that I have to push myself to want to race more. But I don't always have to be well prepared to race. Racing as a means of practice is called Tune-up Racing, and it's an effective way to push the body to do hard practice. The magic happens once you hang the number to your chest.

Training

Base Training

I got myself back on track with training in May, when I ran 330 km. I had to start building my fitness from lower level than I wanted and first I just ran Recovery Runs and Easy Runs while adding constantly a little bit of length to the training. I was building base for the upcoming 18-week Marathon Training program. Before the marathon training cycle started, I got in 4 to 5 weeks of Base Training with some Medium Long Runs and mileage equivalent of around 100 km per week.

Marathon Training

I included lots of long runs in this season's marathon training. The structure was that on Sundays I ran the true Long Run and then in midweek I ran twice a Medium Long Run up to 24 km. This enabled plenty of aerobic stimulant and endurance training. I started the program 8th of June. The first six weeks were entitled as Endurance training: I built up mileage while getting used to the structure of the program. The Table 1 below presents the second week of the training program.

Table 1: Marathon Training, week 2/18 (RR=Recovery Run, ER=Easy Run,
MLR=Medium Long Run, MPLR=Marathon Pace Long Run).

I ran 415 km and 555 km in June and July, respectively. The second phase of the training cycle was called Lactate Threshold + Endurance. This phase was 5 weeks long. At this point the mileage had been built up and it was time to start doing Tempo Runs and Long Intervals. Not that this training program went crazy with them, the structure of three long runs per week was pretty much intact. I ran up to 142 km on 7th week and 141 km on 11th week. The Long Intervals were ran at 5K pace and Tempo Runs at half marathon pace. Table 2 presents training log of week 11.

Table 2: Marathon Training, week 11/18 (RR=Recovery Run, ER=Easy Run,
MR=Moderate Run, MLR=Medium Long Run, wu/cd=warm up/cool down, 
ELR=Easy Long Run).

Here is a video of my Long Run on week 9:

I am currently at 14th week of the training cycle as I am writing this post. Weeks 13 to 15 are entitled as Race Preparation. That's when I run couple of Tune-up Races while easing up a little bit on the mileage, but still pushing my body hard because of the higher intensity of training. The last three weeks (weeks 16 to 18) before the Marathon Race are for Tapering.

Injuries

I managed to stay pretty healthy for the first 10 weeks of the training cycle. I slowed down for a week (that was enough) when I changed training environment from pancake flat concrete of Buenos Aires to somewhat hilly asphalt and gravel roads of Helsinki. When I got back to Buenos Aires, I started to develop injuries. The pace is fast and pounding is hard on the flat concrete. That might be where I went wrong this season. I should have respected more then change of training environment, let it be the change was for seemingly easier. The legs didn't agree. In just a couple of weeks I developed pain on the right hip that made running longer than 15 km painful, whatever the pace. After fighting it for about 10 days I finally got it better by stretching it and changing the worn out shoes to new ones. Then my left upper thigh and groin got increasingly painful. Currently I feel the pain on every step when the leg is carrying weight. Lifting the leg is perfectly alright. I ran both of my Tune-up Races with this injury. Warming up, cooling down and training is painful, but running a race is not that bad, although I can feel the injury every step. My new masseur found out that it is one of the tendons in my groin that is causing this pain. Next up is doctor's office. This shouldn't be anything serious (*knock on wood*), but it doesn't go away by ignoring the pain or by just stretching and massaging it.

Tune-up Races

I ran two Tune-up Races in this years marathon training. So, I doubled the amount of Tune-up Racing compared to previous year. I must say that now that my base fitness is quite solid, I should add more racing to my practice schedules. Running tune-up races gives valuable information where your running fitness is. It reveals weaknesses and can boost your confidence as you compare them to your previous training cycles' races.

Dale Vida 10K

Figure 1: Finishing third place.

This race was scheduled on the 12th week of the training cycle. It was a local race with less than 1,000 runners held up in Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires. I had started to feel increasing pain in my left upper thigh and groin in the week coming up to this race. I rested couple of days to see if that would help with the injury. Well, it didn't. Nevertheless I could run this race and it was like a slap in the face. Humidity was very high (RH 90%) and I ended up running a time of 35:20 (3:32 min/km). That's about 30 seconds slower than my 10K last year. I knew that I didn't have enough Tempo Runs or Long Intervals under my belt to push a strong 10K. But anyway this race served as a very good practice to get that kind of training stimulus. The bonus was that I was placed third in the race and got to the podium first time in 13 years or something!

21K Axion energy Buenos Aires 2015

One week after the 10K I ran the Buenos Aires 21K. This is a huge event with over 20,000 runners. It featured almost all the top Argentinian distance runners. For me the race starts over half an hour before the gun goes off. That's when I go to the start line to get a good spot. Behind you is a massive chaos that I wanted to avoid. My thigh/groin injury was on and I didn't run this week except on Saturday some Long Intervals: 5 x 600 m at 5K Pace (3:20 min/km). The injury allowed me to run 21K almost pain free. Before the race I was thinking that with this injury and all, I'm going out and start running 3:40 min/km pace until my injury gets worse or I otherwise crash and then walk back if I have to. Nice battle plan right? No pressure.

I didn't lose time at the start and quickly dialed to a comfortable but firm 3:30-3:35 min/km pace. I was feeling good and quickly found others around me with similar pace and started to run according to my plan. I noticed I was running very fast for the first 5 kms, and I was growing vary that I might crash on the second half of the race. The kilometer 4 was the fastest kilometer of the race for me, 3:30 min. The women's race leaders passed me at about 7 km and I couldn't keep up with that bunch of runners. My 10 km split was around 36:15 (3:38 min/km). All good so far.

The course turned back at 11 kilometers and that's when the headwind started. I found myself alone at that point and chose to give up a little bit on pace and wait for other runners. My pace was over 3:40 min/km at that point. One train of runners passed me and I couldn't keep up with them. Then at about 13 km two runners passed me and I decided it was time to start revving up the engine so I tagged along. I was drafting behind them and running 3:42 min/km pace for the next few kilometers. Up until we got to the Planetarium (3,5 km from finish) when I decided to kick in and ditched my new crew. The last three kilometers I exchanged places with few runners gaining maybe couple positions overall and finished the race 81st with a new personal best of 1:17:22 (3:40 min/km). Almost two minutes faster than last year! Below is a video taken at 20,9 km.

During the race I noticed that my breathing was light and easy from the start to the finish. It must have been all those Long Runs and Medium Long Runs that I had done. The factor that limited my pace was my muscular fitness. My calves in particular were destroyed when I finished the race.

Five weeks to go until the 42K race, I can't run, I'm injured. So, I'm going to emphasize my training on things that I can do, and that is work on my muscular fitness and find a pool where I can do swimming or water jogging. My aerobic fitness is great at the moment and it would be a shame to lose it so close to the race. But one can just stay positive and concentrate on this that you can do. By the way I was getting sick of running those multiple long runs per week anyway, so doing circulation practice and swimming are good for a change, heh.

Notes (to myself)

• Ease up a little bit for one week if you change training environment, the body needs to get used to different training stimulants. No matter if the environment gets "easier" or "harder", it is the change that counts.
• Don't sacrifice muscular fitness for excessive running. You don't get faster and eventually you end up injured. Although you get a huge aerobic fitness!

Adidas Maraton 42K Buenos Aires Race Report

Introduction

There was technical difficulties with my data collection and sadly I ended up losing all my data from this race and about 3 weeks before it. I wrote most of this post soon after the race when the experience was still fresh in my memory. Then I waited for the possible data recovery, but that never happened. On the other hand, I managed to capture video clip and make a collection of photos for a video review from my point of view of the race. You can see the video at the end of this post.

Figure 1: Finishing it.

This event was my main goal of 2014. Everything I did during the year was ultimately aiming for this marathon race. Earlier in the year I trained specifically for 10K. Then I ran two half marathons during the year: one in Helsinki (June) and the other in Buenos Aires (September). In the end I did emphasize more on the Buenos Aires 21K five weeks before, because I thought I was in better shape for 21K than 42K. At that time, because of an injury, I didn't have enough recent long running under my belt. This turned out pretty good because I could enter the marathon race mentally more relaxed and I could stick to my more conservative pacing plan.

The Course

The race was held on the second weekend of October (Spring in the southern hemisphere). The course was almost the same as it has been for the previous years with only small and quite insignificant changes. The course is flat and fast. The humidity can be very high, though. The temperatures during the race were 19C at the start and 23C as I finished the race. There are only a couple of uphills and downhills, nothing too steep nor too long. Those ups and downs give you basically a chance to relax a bit from the otherwise monotonous pounding of flat marathon running.

Figure 2: The Course.

Plan and Execution

Five weeks before this race I ran half marathon in 1:19:01 (3:45 min/km). Based on that result I could aim for a pace of about 4:00 min/km in the marathon race. McMillan's pace calculator predicts a more optimistic result of 2:46:18 (3:56 min/km) for marathon. But I learned a lesson in last year's marathon race (see my report) when I had to abandon at 26,5 km. The lesson was that I am relatively faster at shorter distances than the calculator predicts at least in the range of 10K to marathon. Furthermore I suffered from Nerve Compression Syndrome on my right thigh for 7 weeks during my 20-week specific marathon training cycle (read here). But in the latter part of the training I was running healthy and my form was rapidly getting better. Based on my speedster characteristics, my not so ideal training cycle, and past experience I took a bit more conservative pacing plan. So I decided to go with a plan of running 4:00 min kilometers and trying to do it as easy as possible.

Figure 3: Discussing strategy at the start line.

There was a nice international field at the front of the pack: runners from obviously Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Brazil, Kenya and so on. This marathon is in fact the biggest in South America (over 10,000 runners). I got a good place in the start right behind the Elite. I was carrying one energy gel in my hand and two more in my shorts back pocket. I lost the two gels from my pocket right off the bang. Before we hit the 1 kilometer mark, there were already forming small groups. Some runners were inquiring what pace the others planned to run and started working together early. I hooked up with two runners that were planning to run about 4:00 min/km. But I let them go shortly after and took it more cautiously. They were running 3:55 min/km and I wanted to start easier at about 4:05 min/km for the first couple kilometers. 

Another three runner group formed at about 9 km. We were running about 4:00 min/km and holding back. Between 13 and 16 km there was some headwind and our group worked it like cyclists pulling each other in turns through the wind. We gained on other runners without losing much energy. At this point I was starting to constantly pass on runners by just maintaining my 4:00 min/km pace. I was feeling fresh, I had evaded the pit of too fast start and was now full of strength and spirit to start running the real race.

My halfway split time was 1:25:39 (4:03 min/km) and I was feeling good. Many of the runners around me were visibly more fatigued. But obviously the distance had somewhat started to feel in the legs. Then I experienced some problems with liquid in my stomach between about 24 to 30 kms, and I decided to drink less at the aid stations. My wife was cheering at 25 km and gave me a couple kilometers later an energy gel to replace the ones that I had lost at the start. She then was with me on her bike from 32 km to the finish. From about 32 km I had the green light to pick up the pace if I could or try to hold on. It felt like I was picking up the pace, but in reality I'm not sure if I just held up the pace. Unfortunately I lost the heart rate data and split times so I don't have the data to analyze.

At 38 km I was pushing hard and started to feel cramps. I had to slow down a little bit to make sure I didn't have to stop because of a cramp. The last kilometers I was fighting at the limit of going as fast as I could without cramping. I was strong until the very end and I was constantly passing other runners in the last 10 kms. Here's the video that I made from photos and one video clip:

I finished the race 46th with an official time of 2:49:52 (4:02 min/km). I ran the second half in 1:24:13 (3:59 min/km). That resulted in a negative split of one and a half minute (-1:26) faster second part. I was very pleased with the execution of my strategy. Next time I'm going to carry the gels in hands and maybe try to push it a little bit harder earlier. The season 2014 ended here.

2014 Marathon Training

Introduction

I have considered the Marathon (42K) my main event ever since I came back to running two and a half years ago. In reality I think I am built to run the middle distances, like 1500 meters. In the past, when I was in the juniors, I had enough speed to run sub 50 seconds the 400 meters. But at that time I never ended up taking a chance at training for longer distance. I considered the occasional 10 km Sunday runs as stupid waste of time and energy. I only wanted to get faster. I was sprinting, but I

wasn't a sprinter, I admit it.

Figure 1: Grinding it at
Arnet 21K Buenos Aires.

The quarter-milers and marathoners have quite similar somatotype or body structure (read here my writing on body composition and somatotype). The 5K and 10K runners tend to be more lanky and slender than marathoners. While the elite quarter-milers' tend to have a major portion of fast twitch muscle fiber, the elite marathoners have a lot of slow twitch muscle fiber in their muscles. A 400 meter race is mainly anaerobic event and the marathon race is almost exclusively aerobic event. In fact 800 meters race (or 2 minutes of maximal running) is a 50/50 anaerobic/aerobic event. The modern elite marathoners run the 42K distance in almost 2 hours (2:02:57 is the new current World Record). They have more fast twitch muscle fibers than the past marathon champions who ran times like 2:12.

We are all born with a certain ratio of fast and slow twitch muscle fiber and we can't change it. But the fast twitch muscle fibers can be taught running economy and other tendencies of the slow twitch muscle fibers by practice (and vice versa). I don't think I will ever again be as fast at sprinting as I was when I was 20 years old, but I have already more endurance than I have ever had after training continuously for two and a half years. I still have years in me to try to run my best times in the Marathon. Aging certainly makes us slower. But in my opinion and experience so far before we hit about the age of 40 years, aging makes us more prone to endurance. I am now 32 years old so I can't yet say when my marathon times started to deteorirate.

Training Plan

My initial plan was to train specifically for the marathon for 20 weeks. My plan had three training periods: Introductionary, Fundamental, and Sharpening. The Introductionary period was planned to last for the first 6 weeks. Followed by Fundamental training period of 10 weeks training. And finally 4 weeks long Sharpening training period. The Introductionary period prepares the body for the tough practices in the Fundamental period. While Base Training is almost exclusively running at low intensities, the Introductionary period includes moderate pace running and Fartlek. The body is not ready yet to take on the tough Tempo Runs of the Fundamental period, but the Moderate Runs and Fartlek Runs make good work of preparing for them. Progression of the training is important during all the training cycle. In marathon training this usually means that every practice just becomes longer, but the pace stays the same.

During the marathon training cycle all of my key workout practices eventually started to look a like, and simulated more and more the demands of a marathon race. Besides the key workouts I run Recovery Runs and Easy Runs. When I started the training cycle I was in a shape of running 9-10 times per week and planned to run close to 150 km per week. But all that had to be adjusted when I injured my right thigh. That is when I had to change drastically my plans and first try to get me back on the road from rehabilitation. It turned out that I lost 4 weeks of Fundamental training due to injury. The injury bothered for 7 weeks in total, but I tried to run through it at the cost of losing quality in my training. In the end I found out that my body could deal with running 7 times per week and still had the energy to fight through the key workouts.

Table 1: Tempo Intervals on Tuesdays.

Key Workouts

Table 2: Tempo Runs on Thurdays.

The three weekly key workouts are shown in Tables 1-3. The progression is visible in each workout from week to week. All the key workouts progress towards imitating the demands of marathon race. The injury stagnated my development and I think I was actually in better shape when I ran the Helsinki Half Marathon than the Arnet 21K Buenos Aires (see Table 3). My race execution was just better in Buenos Aires and the course was faster.

Table 3: Long Runs on Sundays.

The tables lack the last two weeks of Sharpening because I am writing this blog entry 13 days before the Marathon Race. But my marathon training is now done and the priority is now to heal up blisters and aches, and get rested before taking on the Marathon. That does not mean I will quit running for two weeks. No, I will just ease up the intensity and length of the practices. Only the last few days I will run very little.

Injuries

The main injury that I suffered and that kept me from running was the Nerve Compression Syndrome I had on my right leg and lower back. I think I developed the injury by not giving myself enough rest after Helsinki Half Marathon as I proceeded with the training right on. I was also doing very high mileage per week for me: up to 146 km. I have described this injury here on one of my previous blog entries. Other nuisance that I had were a sore right leg Achilles Tendon. I think both of these injuries were caused by suddenly starting to run downhill as my training environment was changed. After returning to flat Buenos Aires I didn't suffer from injuries, except I strained mildly my right calf and had to quit the current practice and take a rest the next day.

Figure 2: Cycling as a form of cross training.

Cross Training

While I was unable to run I could not just stay in bed and wait to heal up. I looked for replacement exercise forms that would not put the injured part of my body under strain. It is important, but demoralizing to find substitute exercise activities when you are injured. The aerobic condition that you have worked will vanish if you stop exercising. The cross training activities don't necessarily take your conditioning forward, but they have done their job when they don't let the aerobic condition to collapse. I did cycling, swimming and aqua running while I was sidelined from running. The cycling raises the heart rate and it is fun while you can do cycling trips to quite far away. The longest trip I took was 100 km. But the cycling also started to put strain on my right leg so I decided to switch to water sports: swimming and aqua running. Aqua running in particular I found to be pretty boring even though I listened to music. I did it not only in a swimming pool but also in a lake!

Arnet 21K Buenos Aires Race Report

Introduction

My preparation for this race was nowhere close to what I had initially planned. You can read the full story from my previous blog entry: My Route to Arnet 21k Buenos Aires. But at the moment I could be doing some important discovery about how to train myself. I am very interested to see where my current training will take me and if there are things to learn about it to make better plans and decisions in my future training. I entered this event with just 6 weeks of running after being bother by a thigh injury for the previous 7 weeks. In my key-workouts I could feel that I was stronger every time than the last time. My specific-endurance, the event specific ability to run a certain distance at certain pace, was getting better rapidly. I don't think I have peaked yet, but this kind of shorter Fundamental period of training might suit me better than longer training plans. At least running feels good and strong now, but if you'd ask me 5 weeks ago, I would've told you it feels like shit.

Figure 1: The Course tracked by my Polar GPS.

The Course

This was the second time I ran this race. Last year this race was my best race of the year. My time then was 1:23:17 and my position 197th. This year the Route was close to the same with just a couple of minor changes. There are only three uphills on the course, which are not steep at all. It is a very good course to run a fast time. 

There was a major problem in the organizing the runners in the start area. I tried to enter the start area 10 minutes before the race starts and there was no way of getting in close to the front of the pack. The runners had been asked their goal times and been given a wristband accordingly. But when you arrived at the start area, there were no entrances at your time groups and if you arrived "late" you should basically go all the way to the back of the 20,000 runner bunch. Well, we all started climbing over the fences even though the organizers were trying to prevent it. I got over the fence about 3 minutes before the race start. Not in the front but maybe 20 seconds back in the bunch. After all this episode didn't ruin my race before it even started, but I'm not so sure that every one agrees on that. This has happened pretty often in the races over here. You have to be elite or get there in the start area 30 minutes before the bang to get a good spot at the start. The rest of the course and organization was great and the weather could not been any better. We enjoyed the rising morning sun, the temperature at about 16 C at the start, and only a slight wind during the race.

Plan and Execution

My plan was to start running at a controlled 3:45 min/km (1:19:xx result) pace for the first 10 km. Once I'd get to 10 km I would start running by feel. Go slightly faster if I felt so, or just maintain the current pace. The last 5 km I would have a green light to go as hard as I still could and hopefully end the race running strong. I planned to take just small sips of water and Gatorade at the early aid stations and later just fly by them.

Table 1: My Split Times and
average Heart Rates.

I got trapped somewhat in the bunch at the start and had to pass a lot of runners in the first kilometers in the heavy traffic. But I kept calm and managed not to ruin my race in the first kilometer. My first kilometer split was 3:54, and that was the slowest kilometer of the whole race. I lost some energy there running like I was in an action movie. After that I was passing runners at a constant flow but I could already dial my own pace and didn't have to make those insane moves and tricks anymore. I found my rhythm and ran the second kilometer 3:37. Faster than what I had planned. The running felt good, my legs were light and the 3:45 pace felt something I could do for a long time. At about kilometer 5 we were running as a big continuous bunch but now everyone around me was running pretty much the same pace. I could start drafting behind their backs and slowly but surely picked up positions. Up to 10 km I was running easy and felt strong. I was working with couple of runners together and seems we got excited as there was crowd cheering as we arrived in the center of Buenos Aires (Obelisco and Casa Rosada). My fastest kilometer of the race was the 10th kilometer, 3:26. I got some personal cheers at 10 km from my old workmate, Vero. I felt like I was flying. 

Figure 2: Running at the 18,5 km.

The important psychological turn point was just before 11 km. That's where the course physically turns to go back. At about 12,5 km I started to feel some aches in my stomach and I didn't drink anything after that. My legs were also starting to pay the price of running past the halfway. I eased up just a little bit and tried to draft as much as possible, still clocking constant 3:43 kilometers. At 16,5 km I started my attack for the finish leaving behind the runners that I've been running with. I ran couple of strong kilometers at 3:40 pace and found myself alone for the remaining 3 kilometers. My wife was cheering for me right there where I started to feel the pain and the strong running turned into survival to the finish line. I picked up a couple of exhausted runners and got passed by one runner in the last 2 kilometers. The last 500 meters were great. The crowd was very close on the street and cheered as I tried to put my final sprint. It was like in the Tour de France mountain stages. I wanted to give them their "money's worth" and pushed myself to a long sprint. Lots of pain, but still it feels so great. I finished the race pumping my fist to celebrate my new PR and the great execution of the race. My chip time was 1:19:01 (3:44 min/km) and the official time 1:19:21. My position was 75th. A total of 15354 runners finished the race. After the race I enjoyed some complementary massage to initiate the recovery.

Figure 3: After the massage. Trying not to step on any living things.

Summary

My average Heart Rate during the race was 162 (88%). That was pretty good intensity for me for 21K. I think I ran close to optimum. I made my new PR: 1:19:01. That's over 4 minutes faster than last year! I think I have found my style of running the 21K: to avoid the pain until 16 km and then embrace the pain for the last 5 km. This time I will give my legs more time to recover from the race to avoid getting injured again. I take couple of easy days and then rock on again. I have 5 weeks time to get ready to run the 42K of Buenos Aires.

My Route to Arnet 21K Buenos Aires

Introduction

I considered running the Helsinki Half Marathon as just one tough practice, but nothing more. Maybe I should have respected it a bit more and not run my new weekly record of 146 km the following week. I did not recover properly. To further go over the top with the training load on me was the change of training environment from pancake flat Buenos Aires streets to up and down Helsinki gravel routes. My right thigh got over exhausted and tight up for not giving up on running quantity and going even harder as I ran the half marathon race. As I scroll back my training log the first time I mention pain in my right thigh area is on 20th of June. That is 13 days after the half marathon race. I developed an upper thigh pain that hurt every fast or slow running step I took. I think running the downhills was the main cause of the injury as they were too violent for my current flatlander legs to handle.

Figure 1: Finnish Summer in bloom.

It SUCKS being injured. Often you feel you could overcome the pain and just push through it, but sadly that does not solve the problem. On the contrary it might prolong the injury and make it even worse. But an athlete can't stop every time she feels pain. Therefore it is an important skill to be able to judge when it is time to push through, slow down, take a rest day or stop running for some time. Having a good coach would be very useful in this matter.

Figure 2: Sartorius muscle.

The Nerve Compression Syndrome

I ran two weeks through the pain waiting for it to get better. On the second week I got a diagnose and sports massage on my thigh. My right leg sartorius muscle was very tight. It was almost in a chronic cramp. I gave up on running for couple days to see if I could heal the injury by self massage and rest. I continued running but the thigh was like before. I gave up on running and started cycling to keep up my aerobic fitness while being unable to run. The thigh was "ok" while riding bike except when I pedaled standing. After doing exclusively cycling for one week (314 km) I had to give up on that activity as well. I then took a complete rest for one week. I tried to return to running, but the thigh was still hurting. Then I started aqua running, 45 minutes every day. I did it in swimming halls and lakes. Finally at the end of July I went back to my masseur and he figured out that my lower back, buttocks and thighs had been so tight that they were compressing the nerves. It's called nerve compression syndrome and that was what caused the pain in my thigh. The massage helped to ease some of the pain and my masseur gave me advice to stretch my leg muscles once every hour or two to release the tension of the muscles and the nerves. The next day I was already running again, eager to get on with my training. I could still feel some minor pain in my thigh but it got better in a few days after intensive stretching. The pinned nerve(s) had been released. This injury bothered me for total of 7 weeks.

Running Again

My training plan was adjusted dramatically while being injured and I had lost time battling with the thigh injury. I made a new plan to run the 21K Buenos Aires (7th of September) and 42K Buenos Aires (12th of October). I was able to squeeze in 6 weeks of Fundamental training (instead of 10) and the 4 week Sharpening period for the Marathon. My running fitness had taken a hit and I had to get going again. I decided that my 21K would be the main event although I was doing modified marathon training. That was because my gut would tell me that I would not have the time to get enough long running under my belt for the marathon. But for the 21K the Long Runs would be sufficient and I just had to get me in shape for running 21K. That can be achieved in less time. And of course I had already built up a nice base condition during a couple years of running.

Table 1: Tuesday Tempo Intervals/Intervals pace @5K.

Table 2: Thursday Tempo Run pace @10K-mara.

Table 3: Sunday Long Run.

In the three tables on the right are presented my key-workout progression after returning to running. I did three key-workouts at different paces per week: Tuesdays at 5K pace and faster, Thursdays at 10K to marathon pace, and Sundays the Long Run. Let's see where this kind of shorter training period takes me. I feel that this might work out pretty well for me. I feel I develop the specific-endurance pretty fast. This might turn out to be a really useful experiment how to train myself. Last year I had already peaked before my marathon and had to abandon the race at 26 km. The speedsters usually peak faster than the endurance monsters and indeed that might be my case as well.

Arnet 21K Buenos Aires

The Route to the start line is seldom straight, but after all there I will be tomorrow and even healthy. The race starts tomorrow morning at 7:30 AM right after the sunrise. It has been raining pretty hard last couple mornings, but for tomorrow morning the forecast is of clear sky and the temperature at about 10 C with a wind of 12 km/h. Those are some good conditions to run a fast time on the flat streets of Buenos Aires. Oh and I have a secret weapon: Racing shoes that my old friend Atte (Thanks mate!) donated me. The shoes will premier tomorrow.

Figure 3: The Runner's Kit

Helsinki Half Marathon Race Report

Introduction

Figure 1: At 18,5km: Grinding it.

The Helsinki Half Marathon was held for the first time. The race was held on Saturday June 7. I didn't prepare specifically for this race. This race was preparation for something else. The purpose of running this race was to have some fun (as you can see in the Figure 1) and to test my current level of running fitness. I am now on the second week of 20-week marathon preparation. I feel like I am at home in the races in Finland. I grew up running races in Finland. The Finnish crowd appreciates running and sports in general, and they cheer and clap their hands for the runners.

Also the Finnish summer is great. You can run free in the woods. After running one can take a dip in a lake or river. There is a nice network of running and biking routes in the capital, Helsinki. The parks are more like forests, because the Finns love the forest. I am no exception. There is something magical when you run here in the summer: it doesn't get dark, not even in the night. Any moment is a great moment for going out for a run.

The Route

I traveled to Finland four days before this race. My first observation and reminder while running here was how hilly the routes are in Helsinki and generally in whole of Finland. I have been running on almost perfectly flat terrain in Buenos Aires. The hills don't necessarily make a course harder, but they do slow down the pace. Running on flat is monotonous and relentless pounding; the downhills give the occasional moments of easing off.

Figure 2: The Route.

The weather was nice for running: a cloudy 19 C. The wind was light, but drafting was still useful in some parts of the course. The race started at 10:30 am. According to my Polar GPS there was 112 meters total of climbing on the course. I lost to everyone around me on the downhills. About one third of the course was on gravel and the rest was on asphalt. The course had some pretty steep corners as well. But overall it was a nice route to race and run, but not a route for really fast times.

There was also nice crowd cheering over the course, various music performances, even cheerleaders and big thumbs up for all the volunteers in every corner (except one corner, heheh) making sure we didn't get lost. Lots of them were immigrants and being an immigrant myself as well I can relate to them and say that being involved in organizing sports events is a great way to get involved, to participate and to get to know how things work here.

Plan and Execution

My initial plan was to start out running at 3:40 min/km pace and see how I feel at the 12 km mark where the route turns left and starts heading back. I knew this route well. Some parts of it I knew like my pockets. But still the hills slowed the pace down more than I anticipated. I have ran too much flat lately. Any hill is a mountain for me. Downhills in particular: "Hey guys wait up, why are you all sprinting?"

The start of the race was rather flat and I controlled my pace according to my plan. Then between kilometers 2 and 3 the first uphill started. I decided not to worry about pace anymore. I was running quite comfortable but hard and I decided to run in the bunch and use them for drafting and pacing. I tried to get through the first part of the course as easy as possible. My plan worked great. There was an uphill part and then downhill part with pretty steep corners in the Pasila neighborhood. The 6th kilometer was the fastest of the race for me, 3:35.

At kilometer 7 we got to the shore, where the Vantaa River flows to the Baltic Sea, and there was some headwind blowing against us. I was running in a bunch of 5 runners at places 8th to 12th. I tried to draft as much as I could to save energy. This part of the course was gravel road. We were gaining on one runner ahead of us and caught him before the 10 km mark. He made a sudden burst of speed as we caught him, and left us behind again. But a few kilometers later we caught him again, for good.

Figure 3: Heart Rate (red line), Pace (grey line).

My official 10K split was 37:55 (3:48 min/km) and I was running at 8th position in a group of 3 runners. The gravel road by the river turned to asphalt and started following the railroad at about kilometer 12, when we started heading back. A psychologically important detail. That is where I had planned to see if I could kick it up a bit. But I was running at pretty much the best pace I could produce that day. We were again a bunch of 5 or 6 runners, at places 5th to 10th. The leader of the women's category was running strong and got ahead of the group at kilometer 14. That started to split up the group.

Figure 4: Helsinki Half Marathon Top 10 Results.

There was some up and downhill and I found myself running at position 9 when we got to the highest point of the course at 18 kilometers. The last 3 kilometers were downhill and then the final kilometer on flat. I was drafting behind the 8th runner until we hit the flat at kilometer 20, and then I released my finishing kick. He couldn't answer as I ran a pretty strong last kilometer (3:40) finishing at 8th position with a time of 1:20:28 (3:49 min/km). There were total of 1435 finishers in the race. My race execution and pacing was good and even. On this course I think this was quite close to the maximum that I could produce today. Check out my even heart rate and the results in Figures 3 and 4.

Figure 5: Running in the bunch at 13K

Summary

My heart rate was pretty even during the whole race, average at 160 bpm, which is exactly my half marathon intensity. My personal estimate is that I can currently run the half marathon on a flat course 3 minutes faster than today. But who cares, the experience is more important than the numbers, right? Or maybe...

My Old Friend, Panu, was cheering for me and took this great photo at kilometer 13 (see Figure 5). I think it's time to wrap this up, because there's a barbeque after-run party starting. The event is not over yet. So far, it has been a nice, well organized event with a good personal performance. Can't ask for more. Running is great.

Base Training and Quadriceps Strain

Base Training

Figure 1: Going out for a run.

I started my 5-week Base Training on week 17. This training period aimed to increase the running distance I could handle per week by running at pretty low intensity: mainly Easy Runs and Recovery Runs. I have signed up for Helsinki Half Marathon (21K Race) on June 7th. That is why I ran one Tempo Run at goal half-marathon pace per week. I also did on my easier days (Monday and Friday) Steep Hill Sprints twice a week. I think it is very important to increase the weekly running distance at quite low intensity before cranking it up. Although my marathon training is not intense at the beginning of the training cycle. My current training goal is to be able to go out and run 10 times per week and cover over 150 km at the peak of this Marathon Training cycle.

Figure 2: Base Training.

I felt pretty good dropping down the intensity and emphasizing again on quantity in my training. My legs seemed ready to take the increased pounding of running more distance as I ran my new weekly record of 126 km on fourth week of Base Training. "It is the speed, not the distance, that kills." Check out the happy runner guy in Figure 1. But then the next day, on my Monday hill sprints, I strained one of my left leg quadriceps muscles. The same muscle had already stopped couple of times my hill sprints by cramping slightly. The hill sprinting is different than running on flat: one has to lift the knees a lot more. Hill sprinting makes your legs strong and help you run faster and with less injury on flat, but there is also quite high risk for me to get injured while sprinting the hills. Since my comeback I have already gotten several times hurt more or less in my hills practices. The positive thing is, that by running hills, my hamstrings are now much stronger than before. So my fifth and final week of Base Training was cut out because of a strain on my left quadriceps muscles. My Base Training progress is presented in the Figure 2. The green week is a recovery week.

Quadriceps Strain

On the sixth repetition of seven hill sprints I felt sudden sharp pain in my left leg quadriceps muscles. I wasn't even doing the repetitions aggressively, because I had had sensations for some time in that same muscle. I felt two snaps in my thigh and had to stop immediately. I think my injury is a mild grade 2 strain. I tried jogging but it was too painful and I felt I could just do more damage to the muscle if I jogged back home (about 3km).

Figure 3: The quadriceps muscles.

A grade 2 strain is a partial tear of the strained muscle. I strained one of the quadriceps muscles on my leg left. The muscle is called rectus femoris. The initial treatment for a strain includes icing, compression, and elevation to prevent further internal bleeding. If the strain is left untreated, it will just take a bit longer to heal. When a muscle strains it will try to protect itself from further damage by contracting. That's why gentle stretching is to be started as soon as the strained muscle allows it without pain. This way the muscle does not scar while being contracted and shorter. After a couple of days of rest and icing I started stretching the quadriceps and doing very easy strength training. I returned to very easy jogging 4 days after the incident.

At first, I thought this injury was similar in severity to my hamstring strain in January, but it seems that this one is less severe. I need to strengthen the quadriceps and hip muscles. I noticed that I haven't been doing drills like knee lifting and such. I will be picking up the pace gradually as my thigh gets better. It remains to be seen if the strain heals enough to run the Helsinki Half Marathon in two weeks. That race would serve as a measurement of starting level fitness at the beginning of my 20-week marathon training cycle.

Current Races on my Calendar:

Week 23: June 7th - Helsinki Half Marathon (21K)

Week 36: September 7th - Buenos Aires Half Marathon (21K)

Week 41: October 12th - Bank of America Chicago Marathon (42K)