The Easter Flu

• Wednesday 4.4. The flu continues.
  
• Tuesday 3.4. The flu begins.
  
• Monday 2.4. Half an hour trial of cycling in the dark. Nice & not so safe, I guess. Windy, rather cold weather.
  
• Sunday 1.4. -24K- 1 h 16 min - Long run. Easy and pleasurable. And yes, the run was shorter than planned...
  
• Saturday 31.3. Some "beneficial excercise" like hacking wood etc., no runs.
  
• Friday 30.3. - 9K - 45 min - Easy run in the evening.

Ache in the head, ache in the muscles, ache in the bones. And some cold, too. It is of course the Easter flu.

Empty is good for you

• Thursday 29.3. -16K- 1h 22 min- Steady state run. Late evening. Getting cold after a very sunny and warm (+15 C) day. Wearing gloves & feeling empty. Nothingness rules.
  
• Wednesday 28.3. A 5K sunny afternoon walk.
  
• Tuesday 27.3. - 7K - 33 min - More "speed" or effort than usual. Steady state.
• Monday 26.3. Walking in the city of Helsinki some 1.5 hours. What a noisy milieu. Recovery versus Stress.
  

"Having no occupants or inhabitants, vacant" says the dictionary. And "to unburden, relieve". So was the feeling during and after today's run. Empty. A real good feeling, indeed.

3rd Week

• Sunday 25.3. -13K - 72 min - An easy one on the next day after the long run. The easy one could be a little longer next week. Or the runs should happen in reverse order. The idea is to include two rather long runs in he weekend. They should cover some 40-50 % of the kilometres of the week.
  
• Saturday 24.3. -22 K - 2 h 4 min - Warm weather, +10 Celcius. A slow, long, enjoyable sunset run on a dust road and asphalt.
• Friday 23.2 -No run, no exercise, rest.
• Thursday 22.2. - 9 K - 46 min - Easy run in the dark.

TO REPEAT, yep, this is the innovation of long slow distance running. Do it once, do it twice, do it a couple of times, do it for ever. A rather simple innovation to generate multiplying endurance orgasms called self-transcendence.

Now, in the very beginning of this path, I made a low profile trial with two moderately long runs in the weekend. The latter one was actually not a "long" one at all, but anyway it was there after the long, on my current scale, run.

The third week had over 80 kilometres of running in it, if you count from Monday 19.3. to Sunday 25.3. This was caused by two long runs in a week.

Next week (plan): A three hour long run. And some cycling, perhaps.

Spring rain

• Wednesday 21.3. -12K -58 min- Real Spring in the Air or at least Less Snow on the Road! Easy jogging with very cautious speeding in the end.
• Tuesday 20.3. Rest. Two hours of physical logistic work in the evening. Moving snow from one place to another place.
  

Found a book at flea market.
Tanahashi, K. & Schneider, D. (1994) Essential Zen. Castle Books: New Jersey
Here's an example:

"Sound of mountain
sound of ocean
everywhere spring rain"
- Soen Nakagawa

2nd week

• Monday 19.3. -25K- 2h14min - Wet wet wet after the run. Cold horizontal snowing. Southern wind. A rather hard wind.
  
• Sunday 18.3. No exercise.
• Saturday 17.3. -11K- 53 min - Run in the afternoon. Went to bed at 6 pm Friday eve and woke at 10 am Saturday morning. 14 hours of sleep.
  
• Friday 16.3. No exercise. Intuition of flu or something like that, no overt symptoms except exhaustion.
  
• Thursday 15.3. No exercise.

"Happy" training...? Perhaps "lazy" training would be better. Or perhaps "wise" training.

I got really tired and felt some nausea on Thursday and Friday. Then slept for fourteen hours. It fixed the situation, I assume.

I'm really happy for today's long run in the snowy, rainy, south-wind tempest weather.

Another Plan (Synopsis)

• Wednesday 14.3. -12K- 62 min - Lighter every day, but still dark at 8 pm. Somehow I managed to sleep too long in the morning. Evening is the most "natural" time for me to run and the night to work ... anyway schedules under the last two weeks have been kind of an organzation task. This situation will change from the beginning of the next week and then I have more options to choose my running times.
• Tuesday 13.3. -9K- 50 min - Really dark, slippery road (ice, +-0 Celcius). Silence. Really nice feeling to run after the long run. Easy, tasty & free.
• Monday 12.3. - Rest, no running, no exercise except some walking in the city.
  

A very short synopsis of my training plan: some ten weeks of "normal" marathon training with increasing intensity till the end of May. About 5-6 runs a week, 70-80K, one long run a week plus another longer than usual run during the week. Two runs with some speed/intervals, two easy runs.

After the ten weeks' basic period a two or three weeks' period of rest with low intensity training. After that a marathon in June (Suomi -Juoksu, 9.6.) . After the marathon begins the 8 week period of ultra training, meaning a lot more distance running and cycling than before.

The 1st Week Follow-Up Stats

• Sunday 11.3. - 27K - 2 h 31 min - The first descent long run this year, +4 Celcius, spring in the air, hilly route (road) near Nuuksio National Park
  
• Saturday 10.3. - 13K -66 min - nice run in the middle of the day
  
• Friday 9.3. - 7K - 39 min - morning run - these have been quite rare because of my lazy bones, but afterwards it feels so good !
  

The first week, from Monday to Sunday (5.3. - 11.3.), of the "Follow-Up" included five runs. Altogether approximately 67 kilometres. I have not measured the routes, so there is at least 1-2 (about one mile) confidence interval in my evaluations. Anyway I ran more than last week and the long run today was pleasurable and long, indeed.

Plan of the next week: two and a half hour long run, maybe the same route as today. Also another longer than usual (about 16-20K) run during the week. Slow speed as usual. Maybe some intervals during the spring, but not yet. I do not use any kind of pulse meter, so this follow-up takes place on a firm unscientific basis, which you already mght have noticed.... The Firm Basis means that I'm telling the truth without any disturbing technical detail :-) .

Baseline & Motivation

• Wednesday 7.3. - 12K (about 7.5 miles) - 64 minutes - Keywords: Dark hours 20-21, Country Road in Southern Finland , Headlamp, Melting Snow, +2 Celcius, Warm Wind, Putting one's Mind at Ease
  

One of my baseline characteristics is the age of fifty. A couple of years ago I fancied about running a standard marathon in under three hours time. Well, the result was six minutes and 30 seconds more. That PR took place when I was 47. In fact I started jogging at the age of 44. Now, during the seventh year of mostly regular, light jogging and running, I feel like mature enough to begin my school of endurance.

On my finnish page (http://www.uta.fi/~psjuha) I use a "motivational slogan": "Feels good, opens your senses and shows your (own) nature". These are the reasons for my running. Never mind the Three Hours, there's plenty of more (time) to come ... and go!

Decisions

I made the decision to participate in Masochist's Dream, a 100K run, in January this year. The race will be held on August 11th.

It's about five months to go.

Some very short background (and some plans): I've run 15 marathons earlier, but my current weekly running is about 50 kilometres. The gradual increase in running should be 100 %. Some of it could be compensated by cycling. Anyway, the next step is to run a two hour run this week and a 2:15 run the next week. When physical, psychological and spiritual endurance are the domains of ultra exercise, there are of course plenty of things besides the training kilometres ... I'll try to speak about them, too.

This blog aims at describing this Masochist project. My other decision is to forgive to myself my English, the poor one, and also to completely forget my excessive self-criticism. You'll see.

6.3. Tuesday. About 8K run in the morning,41 minutes. Minus five degrees, kind of fog, birds, lonely kids waiting for schoolbus. Two words to describe the feeling of the run: Balanced Touch.

5.3. Monday. Rest. Occupied with work from ten a.m. to eight p.m.

4.3. Sunday. The so called Long Run ... anyway only 19-20 kilometres, took 1 h 44 minutes. Warm weather (+2 C), ice, some birds singing somewhere. The Finnish Spring is coming!

3.3. Saturday. A short before the long, seven kilometres, slow speed (38 minutes). Just around the nearest small lake.

During February: some 110 kilometres running, lots of walking, very cold weather. Decided to participate in Masochist's Dream as my first ultra.

Earlier: Fifteen marathons between 2001 and 2006