The Engineered Boulderer

In danger of turning into a fitness blog I recently took a maximum heart rate test. I was concerned about the accuracy of my maximum heart rate. Since I’m in the middle of a heart rate based training program, I need to be sure that the heart rate zone I’m in matches reasonably well.

I finally did it. Yesterday I completed my first marathon, the Copenhagen Marathon, in the time 3:59:55 (five seconds below the four hour mark).

Honestly, I don’t know now whether I will run another marathon. However, given that I am already–the day after–looking at possible races, I think it is very likely that I do run another marathon. If I do run more marathons I also know that I will strive for the Boston Marathon. There’s only one hitch in that you have to qualify for the Boston Marathon. For my age group it means I must complete a marathon in 3:10:00…

Thinking back to yesterday this entry describes how the race unfolded from my point of view with a few lessons (hopefully) learned thrown in for good measure.

Today I ran a half-marathon. The aptly named Helvede I Nord, or in English Hell In the North.

I’ve expressed my frustration with the Nike+iPod system before, listing both shortcomings and improvement ideas. After declaring my marathon goal I have become even more aware of those shortcomings, and those frustrations topped Sunday last week when I ran a new personal best in a 10 km race. After the race my iPod, which I had calibrated just the week before, said I had run 9.47 km. That’s a 5% deviation.

Having wanted a Garmin Forerunner 305 for a while I finally decided to just buy it. I had just learned that my next bonus would be quite reasonable, and my birthday is just next month. Of course, it was only after talking to my mom a couple of days later I realized how stupid it was to buy something off my wishlist this close to my birthday.

Yesterday I ran the Sparta Marathon Test 1. A 10 km race in and around Fælledparken in Copenahgen. As with the Marathon Start Op race in October my goal was to run the 10 km in 45 minutes. A goal I feel short of last time, finishing with a time of 46’24” (which was still a personal best by-the-way). This time, however, I felt better prepared, even if the run was at 9:30 on a frosty February morning.

I felt really good throughout the race, and although I had periods where it was hard going, I did have energy to sprint the last 100 meters or so. So, what time did I reach? Well, I’ll tell you, I crossed the line in 45 minutes 3 seconds!!

Although I missed my goal by a measly 3 seconds, I am still very happy with that result. Of course, I am now setting my sights higher for my next 10 km, but I don’t think that will be until the autumn. In the meantime my next focus is Marathon Test 2 which is 15 km, a couple of half marathons, and of course the marathon in May.

Today was the first day in the common traning, that Sparta holds over the winter, to let runners prepare for the Copenhagen Marathon in May.

There are 12 groups running at different paces, from 4’10” to 6’30”. My plan is to run in group 6 which corresponds to a pace of 5’00”. All paces are of course minutes per km.

Today we ran ca. 12.5 km in beautiful November weather: 5°C sunny and clear blue skies. It’ll be interesting to see if I can feel as motivated in January when the sleet is thick in the streets and the northern wind is blowing hard.

The marathon distance has always had a mythical quality to me. I have often considered the possibility of running one, but previously I had never run any great distance and have brushed it off. After I started running in the fall of 2005, however, I found that I did enjoy longer distances, and the thought of running a marathon entered my mind again.

So today was the day of Eremitageløbet, 13.3 km in the company of 17,000 other runners. As with previous races I had a goal time, as well as a time where I would be satisfied.

I knew from the previous year that the 17,000 runners mean that I would not be able to run as fast as I can, you spend a lot of time weaving in and out between other runners. Also, the route is extremely hilly. I ran the 10 km race in Nærum two Sundays ago in 47 minutes 32 seconds, and figured I would take it a little slower.

My final goal was to run the race in 5’00” per km, however, due to a calculation error I ended up thinking that amounted to 1 hour 5 minutes. I then decided that if I ran in less than 1 hour 10 minutes I should be satisfied.

On Sunday I am taking part in the largest organized fun run in Denmark: Eremitageløbet. On Sunday approximately 19,000 people are going to run 13.3 km each. As I wrote earlier I received my start number a little over a week ago. Today, I had agreed to run the route with my brother since he had never run the route, and I just needed to get out an run a bit.

Eremitageløbet is the largest race in Denmark, usually with around 20,000 runners. With that many runners they are forced to group runners according to the time they ran the year before. This means that runners who compete for the first time end up in the grey group and all the way at the end.

I just received my start package for this year. My start number is 7495 which puts me in the middle of the fourth (blue) group. Should I achieve my goal of running the 13.3 km in one hour this year I will surely move up, but I guess I should start by going running.