Rising heart rate

stats of the week: run 37 km, cycled 57 km, gym 2 h

The mileage is below target due to a minor foot problem. I did some cycling instead so the overall exercise is still sufficient.

On Sunday I took part in a nice 10 K city race at Hamminkeln, a small town in the Rhine area. My goal was to test my half marathon speed. With a finish at 53:47 under very hot conditions and after a 5 K warm up this was successful.

But the main finding was that my heart rate was surprisingly high. At a level of 145 I was able to run fairly relaxed while before the heart repair this level was my utterly limit where I was no longer able to breathe. Can I hope for a better performance at an even higher heart rate?

Anyway, for the half marathon next Sunday I set my target at a pace of 5:30 min/K. We'll see if this is possible including a surviving finish.

Proper week before forced rest

stats of the week: run 42 km, gym 3 h

This week was still on schedule but the new week will end below target due to a minor foot problem. I hope this will be gone after 2 days of rest and I will be able to test my half marathon speed of 5:40 min/k at a 10 K race on Sunday.

Overfulfilled week

stats of the week: run 53 km, gym 2 h

53 km is my highest mileage since April. So it looks like things are going well. There were 10 km more than scheduled but this is due only to an easy local charity run I added. The key for more progress now is to extend the weekly long run in direction of 20 km.

One strange effect of taking anticoagulants is the frequent appearance of hematomas. Most time when I discover a new one I even can't imagine where it resulted from. Sadly I was told to take his drug for the whole of a year.

Slowly increasing

stats of the week: run 42 km, cycled 78 km, gym 1 h


I set up a training schedule leading to the Berlin Marathon. It makes very clear that there is not much time left to build up a sufficient mileage. However, my only target is to finish and get the medal.

So far I am happy that I met my schedule this week what was the highest mileage since the heart issue. I have not yet developed full confidence to my body and have to be cautious while increasing volume and speed.

Hikes and climbs

stats of the week: run 11 km, cycled 75 km, hiked and climbed 9 h
stats of the previous week: run 38 km, cycled 79 km, hiked and climbed 12 h

Hiking and climbing was the main activity as we spent our holiday at Lake Garda and later the Zugspitze, Germany's highest mountain. However, I hope to establish running weeks of at least 40 km from now on. It's 5 weeks to the local half marathon in Bochum and 9 weeks to Berlin Marathon so I have to move to proper training. Not too strenuous of course, I will try to approach cautiously to higher mileage without any speed work.

Via ferrata Fausto Susatti with great views of Riva and Torbole.

Via ferrata Burrone Giovanni has the advantage of a descent by cable car.

For the yearly climb of the Zugspitze we chose the rarely taken ascent

from Riffelriss train station to Wiener Neustädter Hut

and then the well known climb to the top.

Close to the ridge down of top of Zugspitze

Yearly cleaning of Uwe's memorial plate

Sobered days in Italy

stats of the week: run 10 km, cycled 347 km (am 5,430m)
stats of the previous week: run 23 km, cycled 84 km, gym 1 h

My first impression that my performance got improved by the repaired heart seems to have been an illusion. May be it's too early to decide. But at the moment I feel kind of injured more than repaired. May be it's too early to go through a holiday training camp in the Italian hills of the Piemont and around Lake Garda.

Training consists more of cycling than running now but this has to be changed soon. Only 7 weeks to my home town half marathon in Bochum and 11 weeks to the Berlin Marathon where I was happy to get a start via the lottery. What means I have to take my chance.

The medical check was okay but I don't really trust it. I made it up to 250 Watt where I was told to stop. I could have done more. But the check is no guarantee at all that you are fit to do a marathon.

Low key training

stats of the week: run 25 km, cycled 193 km, gym 1 h

Well, it looks like a decent week of training but I have to admit all is very low key. Cycling is mostly quite okay but running is a different thing. I am still not able to jog up the hill at my doorstep like I have been able to do for 25 years.

The hottest June ever doesn't make it easier to get back to former performances. On Thursday I undergo my first medical check-up after the heart incident. If the result will be okay I hopefully become more confident to challenge my body again.