Good Bye Boston

stats of the week: run 54km, gym 2h

Disappointment of the week: I missed the Boston Marathon qualification by 20 seconds. Early bad motivation for 2016.

But I am happy to be back to a decent mileage. However, I didn't get the feeling to be able to run fast. Finished the local 10K race after 47 min without groaning but far away from former speed.

PS. Still don't like to see my bike.

Back to the roads

stats of the week: run 31km, cycled 159km, indoor cycling 1h, gym 3h
stats of the week before: run 11km, gym 3h

10 days did it take my strains and muscles to recover from the painful half marathon. Probably my body needed some time to rest. Now I'm happy to be back on the roads and hope to build up the weekly mileage close to 50km. I don't yet know if I will get a place in the NYC marathon but just in case I want to be ready for the day.

Tomorrow I will try to get into Boston marathon 2016. I beat the qualification time by just 2 minutes. Maybe too slow because they take the faster qualifiers first until all places are gone.

Last Sunday I was happy to accompany C to her first sub 30min 5K race. Good fun!

Sports disappointment and mountain success

stats of the week: run 21km, hillwalking 5 days
stats of the week before: cycled 236km
Oetztaler Cycling Marathon: DNF

Even after a week to think about I am still highly disappointed about my first competition within 30 years that I wasn't able to finish.

After 3 mountain passes and 186km covered I had to admit that it was a too high challenge for me. Almost half way up the Timmelsjoch there was no power left and I found it most important not to risk my health. Only later I noticed that it was still my 4th longest bike ride ever. Obviously my cycling history didn't qualify me to stand such a challenge. However, I failed to call myself a proper cyclist.

Two days before we had a glorious day on the Zugspitze, Germany's highest mountain at 2962m, and polished Uwe's memorial plate like we do yearly.

The following week was filled by high level Alpine walking. Highlight was the ascent of Similaun (3,599m).

After all I could have foreseen that my running performance could not be at its very peak. But I refused to abstain from starting at the local halfmarathon. And I got my punishment. Legs hurt a lot and the final lap of 6km was pure pain. Tendons and muscles still moan the next day. Time: 1:44:49. I lost 3 minutes within 6km.

Look how short my stride is at the end.

Time to taper

stats of the week: run 25km, cycled 254km, gym 2h

I put in some more hills on the bike to get ready for the cycling season's highlight. Unfortunately one of my feet preferred to show it was enough now. It started to hurt the next morning after Sunday's usual run. Program now is to rest for nearly whole of the week.

Friday will see me doing the yearly climb of the Zugspitze, Germany's highest mountain that is half Austrian. However, way down is by cable car.

Sunday is the big day. My biggest clycling challenge awaits. The race of the races. Organisers advertise: "I have a dream." My dream is to get to the finish line.

Mud in the woods

stats of the week: run 40km, cycled 194km, gym 2h

After 3 months of concentrating on cycling I felt the need to get back to proper running and entered one of my most loved little race events. It has a history of 40 years that ended now due to the lack of volunteers and participants.

So I ran the 20K through local woods one last time and was surprised to be 46 seconds faster than 2 years ago. I beat the aging process, hooray!

It was a wet and muddy day. I enjoyed it. Very much.

Going South to the local hills

stats of the week: run 18km, cycled 332km

Choosing your cycling route in my area you always have the option to ride flat to the North or hilly to the South. I always go South. And so did the organizers of the 5th "Sauerland Extreme". Taking part in this tough event meant my longest cycling tour ever - 254km including 4,000 meters of altitude difference. It took me 12 hours thereof 10:53 h of sitting on the bike! Surprisingly sitting was no problem but feet and shoulder still hurt the next day. I found the many short steep climbs much harder than going up a proper mountain for hours. First impression is: I don't have to repeat this ...

More London

stats of the week: run 24km, cycled 233km, gym 1h

London's weather made up for the wet day last year and we had glorious sunshine at this year's London Ride 100. No excuse to slow down. Target was to ride the 100 miles sub 5:30h. Way was to go the distance without any stop. Success! Half way I still doubted to make it but the final 25 miles I was able to accelerate and finished after 5:11h. The organisers keep telling that it is not a race so there is no ranking. More than 25,000 cyclists made it to the mall thereof 5,000 women!

Anyway, it was a great day out with good fun and a cold beer by interAir in Green Park. Compared to oncoming challenges it was a time to enjoy.