Stress Fracture Is a Pain In The Ass

So, yeah, it's been awhile since I ran a meaningful distance without feeling like I've stepped on a nail. I've managed to either stress a bone with too many deadlines and too high expectations, or it has cracked a bit because of too many miles, too soon. It really sucks since I've gotten to a nice weekly total by this point and the spring has finally arrived leaving the trails inviting and safe - the aggressive skiers have packed in and brought forth their rolling death machines menacing the pavements instead.

I guess I've realized why the 10% rule is mentioned in every long distance running training program there is. Of course, I will not heed such warnings before it's to late. And even though my weekly mileage weren't way off the 10%-increments-per-week rule, I probably did cram too many kilometers in the weekends because I didn't manage to get enough runs during rather hectic weekdays. Instead of spreading them out with more walking in between, I've became too eager and went full out on some pretty long runs. Oh, well, now I know.

So what do I do instead?

I have to keep up if I'm going to reach my goals alive. I mean, it is only six months left, and I can't afford any more easy weeks. Being slow and generally dimwitted I went out for a run only a week after the injury, since it felt ok and I didn't think it was a fracture. Thankfully I brought some spare change for some reason(I usually don't, for the same reason) and when it felt like I had stepped on an icepick again I was only a limping distance to the 06 Bus to Humiliation.

Now, the snow and ice is melting and it safe to venture out on the roads, and the temperature is getting more pleasant so it's time to get my 'rusty old bike out(the T has ironically rusted away during the winter, the break on the back wheel is shot, so it's a bike can't trust anymore; hence 'rusty. Clever, eh?) and get some nice biking session on. Except it's been awhile since I've biked. Yeah, you never forget how to do it and all that. It's just a certain part of me got a little sore. Yeah, that shameful part.

I bike everyday to the train station for my commute, so it's a means of transportation - it's something I do to get from A to B. Just biking for the sake of biking is something I've rarely done. I can see that some people think the same way about running, but come on! Running is fun.

Now I try to bike around as long as I would run, but I when I finish the usual routes at a quarter of the time I would have run it, I get bored and it is a struggle to keep going further. I guess I'm never going to become a triathlete any time soon.

Well, I really don't have any snappy ending to this, or even a point, I think. So the totally improvised morale of this is don't be stupid, but be smart. One step at a time. Know your limits. My butt hurts because my foot hurts. And so on.

Hopefully I'll get back on track sometime during this week. I'll take it easy and slow. And pay attention to the 10%-rule, goddammit!

Bar Runner Team Signs Thomas "Keiko" Wilthil

24.02.2012 Bar Runner Head Quarters, Drammen, Norway

Today the Bar Runner Team announced that they had signed the Strawweight Barfly Thomas "Keiko" Wilthil, who is famous for the infamous Thomas Talking pop-duo, drinking St. Brendan's Irish Cream Liqueur without being ashamed of it and being deceptivly fat.

-He will be an addition to the team, says the Bar Runner President without revealing too much of the reason for the signing.

Thomas Wilthil is world famous for many things in Drammen, especially Øren, but has no experience in long distance running. The former boy band super star has finished a 10 K run in Oslo in 2011 with the impressive time of 53:14, for which he came in second in his Diet Soda Dependent-class.

- A rising zeppelin, the Light Soda Appreciation Society Norwegian Branch called him after awarding him with the Pepsi Max Athlete of Year prize for this achievment. The winner was disqualified after testing positive on water. He was later banned form LSASNB.

There has been a lot of speculation of what he would do next and according to a secret source he has been offered a six-pack of vintage Tab Extra as a signing-on bonus.

- I have no comment, the Bar Runner President said when confronted with this.

Other experts has pointed out that this is an effort from Mr. Wilthil's PR-team to rebrand him after the "The Highland Fairy"-incident that left him disgraced and led to the dissolution of Thomas Talking. His short lived solo career as The Lord of the Highland Dance was a critical and financial failure after it was known that he still drank Saint Brendan Irish Cream Liqueur. The Higland Dance Associaton revoked his scottishness licence and he had to cancel his UK-tour.

- Nooo, ah willnae comment on the St. Brendan-drinking, ah've apologized and mooved on, the half Scottish Wilthil said earlier when asked about it.

- I'm positive he wont be doing that kind of stuff anymore, he made a promise and that's all I need. He was a kid and made a mistake over 10 years ago. Let's move on please, said the Bar Runner President.

He'll be hoping to focus the White Owl for Helteløpet in september. It is expected that Bar Runner will sign up more runners for the event, to be announced shortly. But the main goal will be to avoid any scandals that can affect the team, with the addition of Børresens Biggest Wuss.

- I can't believe how a press conference of only one person can turn this hostile, said The Bar Runner President and stormed out.

- un[expletive]believable!

Kongsberg - Drammen

I decided to run home from a political convention last weekend. People would call me crazy, stupid or liberal, but apart from not understanding why anybody would endure a whole weekend of political, well, stuff(I'm not sure if we actually accomplished anything worthwhile), I got some surprised reactions. It really isn't as far as what people think, and my god, after being inside a stuffed conference room the the entire weekend running 38 K is a welcome relief.

But it was a great run and I couldn't help myself smiling at times.

The start wasn't all that great though, I felt heavy and slow in the climb out of Kongsberg, but it passed after a few K's when I was more preoccupied with the icy roads on the descents. I should probably have worn the trail shoes instead of the road ones. Or microspikes. Or waited until spring.

I really started to enjoy myself when the terrain levelled out and I could see the snowcapped mountains far away. I lucked out with the weather as well, especially with the sunset that painted everything in a bright pink. The Eikern lake was a treat and the area looked like a terrific hiking/fishing area. I guess I got an new place to explore this summer.

The temperature was good, though I could really feel the change when I ran in to some woods while the sun dipped beneath the horizone. Though I had been smart and packed a soft shell for that, I hadn't packed smart - a banana had desintegrated and left a mess in the back pack. I smelled of ripe banana the rest of the way. Thankfully I didn't get molested by hungry and vicious monkeys who are known to roam theese parts.

I had planned a slightly shorter route, but when the darkness fell and me being self-aware enough to not trust my direction finding skills I played it safe and followed the roads straight north to Hokksund. Where I kind of got lost so I had to ask some of the locals as to where the shortest way to Drammen was. I think he thought I was some snobby asshole or something, because it wasn't the straightest route, but I wasn't about to argue with someone in this notorious lawless hellhole so I kept pressing on along the river.

The rest of way home was rather uneventful, I scared the bejesus of a known eccentric of Mjøndalen just by running past him and I managed to splash through a puddle that had disguised itself as an ice sheet. But apart from feeling a bit tired and sore I maintained a decent pace almost all the way to my doorstep.



In the end I ran 38,21 kilometres in 4:26 with an average moving pace of 6:47 min/km. It seems crazy, and guess people try to expose the irrationality of this by asking the simple "why?", but I counter with the really cheesy and sooo Nike slogan-ish "Because I can," then I turn around and limp away majestically [cue dramatic music and fade out].

Week 2 review

Run Distance: 20.65 km
Run Time: 2:06:54 min
Meters gained: 162
Meters lost: 163

2 runs logged

Well, not an ideal week, though it is difficult to log my runs from the soccer training when the the runtastic app doesn't work and it is difficult to get a exact distance and time when you do intervals. I guess I did four or five on tuesday on a 30 min. interval session with God knows how many during playing. Though I did run for almost an hour then. On a synthetic pitch. Which, for the second time in a row, didn't go well for my lower calf. This time it was my left achilles.

I had to take Wednesday off because of that and taped my leg for thursday when I lead two groups of the soccer kids to some stair running, I did two 30 min session taking it easy with first group since I didn't want to aggravate the leg. I did get carried away with the second group and ended up doing a few sprint duels with them. It was fun, but I really felt my hamstrings on friday so I struggled through a sluggish 10K. They felt thight and I generally felt wooden and slow.

Today I skied about 6 K's which was quite an effort because of poor technique and not being used to skiing. A great exercise and I'll feel my shoulders and triceps tomorrow. After that I spent most the soccer training using the vocal chords with only a few minutes joining the kids on the warming up and cooling down.

Then I had a meeting in the city centre and thought I'd squeeze in a run. I ran the same route as friday, but this time I was flying. But after the meeting my lower calf felt raw and fearing a strain I walked most of the 2 K's back.

Hopefully I'll get more mileage next week, I'm aiming for a 60K week and hopefully I'll get some good long runs on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. perhaps 15, 15 and 20, because I think I'll get 10 K's in the training on Tuesday and Thursday.

My Races

27.09.2009, Oslo Maraton 21K, 2:05:17 - my first race
07.11.2009, Lørenskog Halvmaraton 21K, 1:59:58 - PR

04.09.2010, Helteløpet 21K, 1:45:07 - new PR
26.09.2010, Oslo Maraton 42,2K, 3:59:26 - my first marathon

Goals for 2012

Fredrikstadsløpet 25.03.2012 Fredrikstad 21.1k Road

Påskemaraton 09.04.2012 Drammen 42k Road/gravel path

Nordmarka Skogsmaraton 15.06.2012 Oslo 42k Trail

Ulvådalen Ultra 12.08.2012 Elverum 51k Trail

Helteløpet 08.09.2012 Rauland 21k Road

Oslo Maraton 22.09.2012 Oslo 21 k Road

Nordmarka Ultra Challenge 29.09.2012 Nordmarka 82k Trail

I guess it's easy to tell that Normarka Ultra Challenge is the main focus for this year. It is a milestone and a real challenge. Even though theres a quite few races this year, in fact, there are more races this year than I've ever done. Which, to be honest, isn't a lot. The reason it is my focus is that it is totally different from the the roadrunning I've been doing. I'd like to get out more on the trails, considering how blessed we are with forests just a few beer bottle throws away.

Yes, Born to Run did inspire me to aim for an ultra and go minimalist. After reading up on Scott Jurek and Anton Krupicka I've finally gotten some minimalist shoes and started to work on my foot-strikes. It is liberating as it focuses more on the enjoyment of running. Since I finished the Marathon I originally thought of doing a couple each year, with New York or maybe even Boston as goal further down the line. Perhaps the thought of only being able to improve my own records at the same distance and my preoccupation with training plans made me loose some inspiration. It really wasn't just to put on my shoes and go for a run when I felt like it, it had to fit in the plans and have specific reason.

Now I just need to step out, run for an hour or two, keeping a decent pace and exploring my surroundings.

But it is 80 k's. I need to train. A lot. So I've found a good many races to getting the mileage and race experience in. The Fredrikstad half is ideal for starting the tapering for the Påskemaraton here in Drammen a fortnight later. That marathon is one that I've wanted to do for a few years, and this year there's nothing stopping me. Even though it is a looped course, it is, almost literally, in my backyard.

A couple of months later I'll get my first crack on a trail race, a full marathon no less, in the woods outside Oslo. It is a big event and I'm really looking forward to that, especially since it's opportunity to get to know the area of the Ultra.

In august I get my first Ultra in Elverum, which is a 50K trail race. Unfortunatly I really haven't found out much about it yet, but it's timing and distance is ideal. Hopefully I'll learn a lot from that experience for the main event.

After that there's Helteløpet in Telemark, which I really loved two years ago, I broke my half marathon time with 15 minutes and the nature was spectacular. I really should have done it again last year. Hopefully I'll get some more Bar Runners to run with me this year. It will be a blast.

I got the Oslo Half in as tentative one, because I'm not sure if a Marathon just a week before the Ultra is a good idea. I'm not even sure if I want to do the half, but it's the biggest running event in Norway and a great day out for runners.

Then there's the challenge of my life. It will be hard, I have no illusion about that, but I'm confident that I'll finish. It will take every ounce of willpower and a few hundred kilometers of training. When I finish that, a whole word will open up. The Comrades in South Africa, a few 100 milers in the states, the UTMB, Trondheim-Oslo, who knows? I guess that even though how unrealistic all of these races sound, I know it can be done. I mean, I really would never have thought about finishing a marathon three years ago, but here I am. Step by step I'll get there. This year NUC, next year the Comrades, after that Leadville 100 or one of the others in the states.

But first a quick run before a beer drinking interval session.

A new start

Well, it has certainly been a long time since my last entry and a whole lot has happend. I finished the Oslo Marathon in 3:59:26, running for my life the last 500 meters when I realized that I could get under the magical four-hour mark. It was pretty emotional when I crossed the line. And of course I had a few beers at Pavarotti afterwards and I donated the medal to the Bar.

After that I kinda lost interest in running, or I had trouble getting back at it, because I had a rather long wishlist of different races I wanted to compete in, but after a few weeks of resting I struggled getting back at it.

As the year of 2011 I got on and off running, following personal and national heartaches; I guess the running followed the ups and downs of the year. And there were many.

When the fall came, I had added a job as assistant coach for youth team in football and getting a couple of gigs in City council comitees to my already packed calendar. At first I felt that I had enough obligations that it would be hard to get good mileage during the week. Though for a period I managed to get few K's a week, but no way near enough.

So winter has arrived and after having my mind blown away by the truly inspirational book Born To Run by Christopher McDougall I'm back on track.

I had a sensational run on monday where I emphesized on getting a good front foot strike and proper form. The K's went passed and I really enjoyed myself on the icy roads without any idea where I was going. Suddenly I decided I was going for a real climb up the hill to the forrest edge and I flew up. The smile got wider for every vertical meter. I felt full of energy and kept going until I realized I had to get back to home since it was pretty late in the evening.

It was my first Runners High in quite some time and I knew I wanted to feel that again. So here's to new start.