Jorg's Brain Log

I like snow and I like running, but the two just don’t mix together. I’m trying to keep myself to my running schedule and it goes pretty while, but because of the heavy snow fall in the last weeks in the Netherlands, it’s pretty hard to up the speed and get some serious mileage in my body.

Running on snow, and sometimes part ice, is pretty tricky. While it is not as slippery on snow as you would expect, you’re still running with some additional tension to the muscles which your normally don’t have. I noticed this today after a good run of 40 minutes. When I came home I felt muscles in my feet and legs I never felt before after running.

Let’s hope there will fall a fresh pack of snow soon or that it melts away soon. The icy stuff that’s on the floor now is really messing up my running schedule.

And here is the new planning overview for week 45 in 2009, or short 2009/w45. Let me see how I can tweak this in such a way that it becomes easier and easier to follow and log at the same time.

Daily

The things that have to be done daily and can’t be planned:

• Sleep
• Eat
• Read
• Business Habit
• Music
• Write: iJorg
• Write: Shark Freediving

The above things can be marked very easily by okay or not okay. Everyday is the same, I did it, or I did it not.

Weekly

My weekly stuff consists of the following points:

• Write: The Next Web / Appetite –  3 times a week
• Write: Jorg’s Brain log –  3 times a week
• Write: Life Skills – 2 times a week
• Write: Sharkbait –  1 time a week
• Write: Book
• Sports: Running – 3 times a week
• Sports: Stretching – 3 times a week
• Sports: Track & Field – 1 time a week
• Sports: Freediving pool – 1 time a week

The weekly writing stuff can be done whenever I feel the most creative. Sports is different and should be planned accordingly day to day. So it looks something like this:

• Monday: stretch
• Tuesday: run – 30 min / 5k
• Wednesday: stretch
• Thursday: Track&Field / Freediving pool
• Friday: run – 30 min / 5k
• Saturday: stretch
• Sunday: run – 30 min / 5k

Running

To be a little more specific on the running part: I want to be able to do 90 minute runs within 12 weeks time. That means around 14k. Around 8 weeks I should be around 10k.

Today was time for my first running competition. Together with Marieke, girlfriend of Sanne, we appeared at the starting line. Sanne and my kids were there as supporters cheering for us.

The start of the race was in Bladel at 10:00 in the morning. As the race would be through the forest, a cross-run, I was thinking about going on spikes, but in the end I was glad I sticked to my new shoes.

The organizers changed the lap length of the  race in the last week. First it was 2000 meters and you could do 1 to 4 laps during the race. I decided 2 months ago I wanted to do 6000 meters, or 3 laps, but when I noticed that it was a REAL Forest run and the laps were 2240 meters, I changed my mind.

Getting nervous about all the hills and the high knee impact route I decided to play it safe and do 2 laps, which was 4480 meters, which is around 1k less then my normal running routes on the road in the last 8 weeks.

And after all the preparation, there was the start shot at 10 am. First turn to the left was already a big hill climb with a steep descent. I remember thinking that I hoped the whole route wasn’t like this. But thankfully around 75% of the route was a normal forest road through the leaves and nature.

I started with an easy pace, to make sure I could make it for the full 2 laps. My main objective was to keep running and not stop for some walking. Getting to the starting point was great. My kids were cheering like crazy and that gave a real boost to go on. At around 3,2 kilometers, with 1,2k to go I still felt pretty good and decided  to turn on the pace somewhat.

Thankfully from that point on I had no other runners in front of me, so I had enough vision on the road to take on the higher speed and still see where I could put my feet down. The last 100 meters I made a small sprint and then there was the finish. The speaker with the microphone mentioned my name and I pretty felt good. Tired, but good!

4480 meters in 26:28 minutes. That’s around 10,2 kilometer per hour. Around 1,5 kilometer per hour slower then on the road. Still very happy with that speed, because of the difficult route. Not bad for a 120 kilo person!

It was fun to do, but next competition will be on the road. Marieke and I decided to do a 10 kilometer run in 2 months time. So up to the next 8 weeks of training!

After 7 weeks of intense running, tuning technique and stamina, I finally found the problem of my running pain. Or so I hope.

Few months back I got myself a brand new pair of running shoes; Brooks Beast. This is a special shoe for heavy runners and I’ve used the same model for already over 8 years or so. I was always pleased with it and it worked well for the small runs.

Now that I’m running on a regular basis for longer runs and preparing for competition and even a marathon, everything has to be right. So I noticed in the first weeks of running in the summer that I had some blister problems that occurred after running for more then 25 minutes. I decided to start all over and fix my not so pretty running technique.

It took a lot of time and effort to find the problem, but in the end after some weeks of tuning I found it. Now that I’ve fixed my posture it’s clear that my left foot especially needs a little bit more on the left side to be stable. To compensate for this little angle in my running I always put more stress on the left foot on the left side, and therefore created pain in my lower back and pain in my left foot and calve.

Today I visited a specialized running store. It’s been a while since that I had my running analyzed and videotaped. It’s reassuring to hear from a pro that I now have a good running technique and despite my weight run very light, which he was very surprised by. He confirmed my analyzes about the left foot and told me I was using the wrong shoe. Damn, there goes the money for the Brooks Beast I just spend.

Even worse. He told me that in all these years I have used the wrong shoe size! I have size 43,5, that’s US9,5 for normal shoes. He told me that a running shoe has to be at least one size bigger and for me and my weight even more! So he gave me a new Brooks Addiction (version shoe, size 45 (US11) and we did some testing. It was amazing! It was like running on a cloud! So soft, so easy. At the same time I felt my left foot really being corrected by the new sole.

I was sold! To compensate for my loss on the other shoes he gave me 10% discount and some from running socks from x-socks. Tomorrow night I will go out and test them. I’m so curious how they will hold with a 30 minute run on concrete.