New shoes

When my wife asked me today morning what I dreamt about in the night I  answered "about new shoes" and it wasn't just an excuse :)
After the last 10k race when for the first time in a long time I run so many kilometres on asphalt feeling how my knees hurt I decided that if I am to run 2 half marathons on asphalt I seriously need new running footwear. I wanted to have at least 2 trainings in new shoes before start in Warsaw so I begun my search right away.

Kalenji Kiprun CT

I still weight around 100 kg (need size 48 and am a bit flat-footed) so finding good running shoes is not easy. I checked their website, placed a quick call and drove to Decathlon where despite seemingly large choice I had to choose between 2 models. Kalenji Kiprun CT (especially designed for runner with weight over 80 kg) and ASICS GT 2160. The later cost 50% more so I was expecting to buy Kalenji. Still I couldn't buy shoes in which I plan running hundreds of kilometres without trying them on.

I tried Kalenji first and immediately felt how worn are my old Nikes. The amortization was so much better! I run a bit and decided that cushioning of the heel is excellent. Than it was time to try ASICS.

ASICS GT-2160

I run a short distance and I felt a big difference. Was it possible that it was just my impression caused by the brand and price? I changed shoes again and this time run a longer distance in Kiprun CT, than the same distance in GT-2160. Both pairs felt comfortable, had good cushioning, etc. But it was unmistakable, the experience of running in ASICS was so much better! I tried both pairs a few more times thinking if the difference was really worth the extra price.

Than I remembered how often I thought about this vicious circle: I'm overweight - if I want to loose weight I need to run a lot but at the same time I'm overweight so it's very easy to injure myself when I run a lot. Will I really remember the difference in price in a month from now? 5 minutes before closing time I put Kipruns back on a shelf and went to the register.

I simply cannot wait for my today's run :D

Fat Thursday

After the break on Tuesday I would normally have my run yesterday but as yesterday I had my encounter with Free movement of goods, I had a long run today morning.
When I thought about it yesterday I planned for today a long run, but after difficult beginnings I thought that I'll have to finish earlier. The worst were my calfs - they hurt almost as if they were on fire. Surprisingly it really help when I tried to straighten up, every time I tried to imagine that "I've just swallowed a stick" I felt that not only it was easier to breathe but also the pain in calf and hips was subsiding. I must work on it.
I run to Jaroslawieckie Lake and than I tried to run around it but the path on the other side was so uncomfortable that after reaching the end of the lake I decided to return the same way I came there.

In result I did a bit over 20 km - I guess that I'm quite ready for a half marathon. As it is today Tłusty Czwartek (Fat Thursday - the last Thursday of carnival when everyone in Poland eats traditional donuts called here "pączki", when I saw that I burned over 2300 calories I allowed myself a moment of weakness and had one myself - after all even if it has some 300 I still burned 2000 more :)
Hopefully I'll do a short relaxing training tomorrow and another long run on Saturday.

I'll go than somewhere beautiful so watch this space!

Good beginning of a new week and confirmations

It's becoming quite warm again. When I went out jogging there was around -3C but now the temperature is close to zero. I've opened the week with weight of 103 kg and 11 km of rather slow running. I decided that for the time being I am not going to worry about speed. I will be doing long slowish runs and just be careful to stay in a zone between 120 and 160 bpm. Evidently this strategy has worked so far.

Besides cutting down on sugar and sweets I eat quite normally and definitely don't go around hungry. Still I managed to shed some 3-4 kg. So far I am quite happy with the progress. Hopefully by the time of my first halfmarathon I'll be close to 100 kg.

Btw. I was really surprised on Sunday - after running over 19 km on Saturday, on the next day I woke up almost with no pain in legs but my hands really hurt! I guess that I can't avoid doing some extra exercises for my upper body.

Good news is also that I have confirmation of my registration for 10k run Maniacka Dziesiątka and halfmarathon in Warsaw - March is going to be interesting :)

New week

I've finished the last week with a trip through Wielkopolski Park Narodowy. On Friday night I was falling asleep with one dream only: find a position in which my hip won't hurt. but On Saturday I woke up feeling quite OK. However I decided that running to Jaroslawieckie Lake and back (18 km) could be too much so I decided that I'll take a train to Szreniawa and from there I'll rung along the green trail to Lake Jaroslawieckie and from there along the well known route home.

Entrance to the Museum of Agriculture in Szreniawa

Boulder in front of the Museum of Agriculture

The weather was rather cold (-10C) and from the beginning the trip proved to be more difficult than I expected. I had to run some 2 km in order to find the beginning of the green trail and once I found it I kept loosing it quite often. After some 20 minutes I passed the first landmark on my way - Mausoleum of the first owners of Szreniawa - Bierbaums circa 1860.

It turned out that on that day I did one smart thing (besides a few stupid ones) I took with my mobile a picture of a detailed map of that area and on my way I was able to zoom it in and check the trail. This help proved priceless as there were very few marks on the trail and worst of all - very seldom the turns were marked as such so I frequently had to trot back when I realized that I took the wrong turn.

By the time I reached Lake Jaroslawieckie I had already covered almost 10 km and was quite scared how am I going to reach home.

Most beautiful view of the day - Lake Jaroslawieckie behind the trees - at least I knew where I was!

Once I reached Lake Jaroslawieckie I knew more or less what to expect and I begun slow jogging home. The first few kilometres were quite good but during the last 4 or 5 I had only one ambition - to maintain a hart rate of at least 120 bpm.

By the time I reached home my Forerunner was showing over 19 km. As I checked later I burned over 2000 calories - not bad :)

Altogether I run last week over 52 kilometres - I hope that I'll match it this week.

Ghastly weather

Yesterday I  had a day for regeneration, I was planing a long run today but the weather is so bad that I decided that I will stay indoors.
Not only it's cold and snowing but also  there is strong, unpleasant wind - I guess that there is no sense in risking a few days of illness for a training. Still I had a good training  on my rowing machine. I rowed for 1h and deed during that time (if to believe my rower's computer) slightly more than 6 kilometres.

The more I read about running the more I am convinced that it is a good idea to supplement running with other exercises strengthening abs, back, hands, etc. It's not very intuitive but for instance strong abs prevent back pains.

Btw. to make rowing more interesting while rowing I watch movies - I find it much easier to keep rowing when I know that if I keep exercising I'll be able to catch the end of an interesting movie :)

54 days left to halfmarathone

There are 54 days left to the halfmarathone but I feel that slowly I am becoming fitter.
Yesterday I run for 42 minutes and today for 46. I still weight some 105 kg so it is not so much running trotting with a heavy backpack.
Yesterday (Monday) I had a stroke of genius and instead of jogging closer to home I drove to a forest nearby and it was just amazing :) I did the same today and it is so much more fun!
Also running on a soft surface takes more energy but is much easier on knees and other joints what is very important to me.
I also started to jog with a chest-band so I know more or less how many calories I use - 550 yesterday and 651 today. It is quite a lot but when one thinks that 1 kg of fat has some 7000 calories all I burned over the last two days is just some 150 gram of fat!

59 days to half marathon and 38 min. jogging

Today I stretched the training to 38 minutes. My first goal is to reach 1h of continuous jogging even if it meant that I'll go quite slow. After all if I want to run these 21097 meters first of all I need to build endurance.
Besides if I want to avoid seriously hurting myself during trainings and running this distance I need to loose weight to reduce stress on backbone, knees and other joints.
Probably I'll need to think about some dietary sacrifices :(

Translator on the run

New Year Resolution and all that

Ever since I begun translating I have been gaining weight. Finaly I decided that enough is enough.
I begun 2011 weighting almost 110 kg and knew that I must do something about it. As I am not yet ready to starve myself (actually quite the opposite is true) I decided that I must take more physical exercise.

As I have always been fond of jogging I decided that I will try to jog all the spare kilograms. As I always like to have a clear target I decided that I will try to prepare myself to a half marathon in my hometown Poznan. I have begun my training yesterday. As I am very stiff and out of shape I am doing only short trainings. Both yesterday and today I had about 30 min. long slow trots. Hopefully I'll be able to increase it shortly :)

TBC