avg 13

It’s 17:00 and I’m peacefully waiting for huge rain storm to pass. As predicted rain stops right about when I arrive to chosen start area. Today on menu is hill called Golovec. To be honest I haven’t been running on this rout for a while. I don’t think I even visited it this year :(
My mind is set on short run (8-10k) and to survive through lot’s of water or mud in the forest. Who knows what’s waiting for me after such huge rainfall. Thank god the temperature dropped due to rain, it’s perfect 17 degrees. Half of chosen track goes on asphalt roads and half of it is beautiful peaceful forest. As precaution I started running in left direction - the opposite side - to prevent surprises going uphill. The boring part of asphalt was somewhere covered with huge puddles. I nearly felt like jumping hurdles on race track :) After 15 minutes or so I finally make it to the forest entrance. Immediately gravel road goes uphill. Heart rate jumps but I’m used to it. The air becomes so refreshing that I even don’t want to leave that place. The smell of refreshed trees, watered soil… it’s just reviving. Sound of water drops dripping down from leaves gives perfect illusion of rainfall. I continue further up the hill and heart rate goes up as usual.
Somewhere on 4km i had to take short pit stop :) Here I was briefly fighting with lazy pessimism in me - shall I continue full round or turn back. Common sense won this time and I continued full round. Couple more minutes breathing like maniac uphill and I was on highest peak point. Not a second to spare I continued my way. Here going to other side I find the most beautiful forest scenery. Just right amount of mist joins the beautiful water drops and the enchanting forest smell. If I would be on a walk I would definitely take a long one just to enjoy this harmony :) Short after I start to descend and join the road again. The whole forest way I was completely alone. No crazy person being brave enough to go up after rain. Running over narrow bridge through river Ljubljanica strikes my vision to the river itself. It was so still that it looked frozen in time. Shocking view mostly because I would expect it to be flowing fast. I continue down the road for couple more kilometers and I’m back around on start. It all came a bit more than 10k distance.

It was definitely worth being stubborn and choosing to go running and to go whole round. When is next rainy day? :D

avg 02

Po dolgem premoru se spet javljam. V zadnje pol leta se je zgodilo marsikaj. Bolj bom ostajal z besedami na športnem področju. Če začnem z drugimi temami bo tale blog pregorel :)

Torej športno življenje zadnjega pol leta. Ob začetku sezone (če lahko rečem sezona) nisem imel praktično nobenih ciljev ali ambicij. Januarja namesto da bi počival sem odtekel polmaraton v Medeji s časom okoli 1:40. Kasneje nič posebnih treningov ali tekem. Potem je sledil Beograd polmaraton z podobnim časom in za tem še 10ka v Radencih. Ta 10ka mi je dala nekaj zagona saj sem jo odtekel v 42 minutah. Ampak ta navdih ni trajal dolgo. Junija mi je ob običajnem teku na Dobeno dobesedno prekipelo. Stalno neke bolečine v nogah ali stopalih. Kot da sem starček pri 70ih :( Pospravil sem superge in uro in si dal dooolgo pavzo.
Cel mesec nisem praktično nič tekel. Tudi krajši tek z avta do trgovine ni prišel v poštev :) Nič teka in pika. Ok, obiskal sem fitnes parkrat, igral badminton in nekajkrat obiskal šmarno goro. To je pa tudi vse. Zanimivo je bilo to da bolečina v desnem stopalu nikakor ni popolnoma izginila. Z nekim strahom sem se počasi odločal ali bi šel vseeno pogledat zdravniku. Tekaški kolega Boris me je po eni strani skoraj porinil v pregled in tako sem šel po dolgem času na obisk Fuchsu. Kaj je mojster našel na pregledu? Kot prvo me je spet “nalomil ko prasca” ali po modmače naštelal medenico, hrbtenico, vrat… Kot zadnjo se je lotil noge in očitno sem zaradi stare rolerske poškodbe imel postrani gleženj. Super ampak bolečina v stopalu je bila pred poškodbo. Po končanem pregledu priporoča krajši tek in naj grem počasi kot začetnik. Tek?! A si nor? Dobr, on že ve.
In tako sem šel tečt po dobrem mesecu dni.Nekako sem pričakoval ogromen padec forme vendar ne tak šok. Začel sem res počasi in že v prvem kilometru so je oglasila bolečina v petah. Kaj takega, a to zna tudi bolet? No to je potem kmalu minilo in nadaljeval sem z tempom nekje okoli 5min/km. Glava ni pozabila kako teči, le noge so bile malo čudne. Tapravo trpljenje se je kaj kmalu začelo saj se je vreme uscalo kot zmešano jaz pa brez kape in v dresu. In ravno ta dan ko se jaz spomnim tečt :( kot da bi me nekdo kaznoval. Dež ni ponehal dobrih nekaj kilometrov a jaz se nisem dal. Nekje na 4km se obrnil in šel nazaj. Utrujenost se je začela v zadnjem delu, zadnjih nekaj kilometrov. In to taka utrujenost da bi skoraj rekel da sem naletel na zid. Pulz je divjal v višave hitrost pa nikamor. Super, še hujše kot sem si mislil :(
Analiza je pokazala da pri pulzu nad 160 lahko trenutno tečem z tempom okoli 5:25 kar je v primerjavi z stanjem v aprilu ali maju cela minuta razlike. In kaj je najhuje je da me stopalo še vedno boli.
Ponovni obisk Fuchsa je bil bolj pozitiven kot prvi. Pravi da tek po tolikem času ni pustil posledic in naj zmerno nadaljujem. Larifari, kaj pa jaz vem kaj je zmerno :) In tako sem spet po enem tednu poskusil teči in spet ni bilo najboljše. In včeraj spet ista zgodba. Vse skupaj že izgleda patetična zgodba ki se je ponavljala vsako sezono. Hja ali se moram sprijaznit z bolečinami in tečt naprej, ali pa enkrat res dokončno nehat. Zaenkrat bom počasi spet poskušal…

dec 02

Od septembra, ko so bile intenzivne priprave na Berlin, nisem nič delal na hitrosti. Prav nič. Danes sem se šel poskusit na Žaka, da vidim kje sem s formo. Poleg firbca kako bo šlo so še drugi razlogi zakaj hitrostni trening v decembru :cool: o tem drugič.

Ogrevanje brez težav in kot po planu. 15 minut za 3km. Žak je v popoldansko večernem času lepo osvetljen in tekačev kar mrgoli po ovvalu. Malo raztezanja in že letim. Prvo serijo se še lovim da padem spet v star ritem. Drugo serijo se priključim dvema norcema in ju celo nažgem po ravnini!!! Ali sta bila počasna ali pa sem jaz poln energije. Ostale serije prve polovice čutim da sem malo preteral v drugi, zato malenkost popustim. Spet pavza in že je tu druga polovica. Poskušam držati enakomeren tempo a me vidno pobira v zadnjih dveh serijah. Ja ni čudno, pavza naredi svoje. Halooo ne pričakuj čudežov. Do doma še en lep iztek po temi.

Sedaj doma v miru analiziram podatke z Polarke in opažam da sploh ni šlo tako slabo :) Pričakoval sem povprečni tempo hitrih serij okoli 4:00 a bil je okoli 3:30. Je to kakšno znamenje naj ne popuščam in raje zmerno vztrajam v teku? :?:

nov 30

Bližam se okrogli številki skupno pretečenih kilometrov. V dobrih treh sezonah kariere teka se je nabralo malenkost pod pet tisoč kilometri! Ciljam da bi pretekel okroglo številko še letos, morda okoli novega leta :) In potem praznovanje ter končno počitek od teka.

sep 22

First off this post will be in English so I can share it easily to all my friends from all over :) Local folks who can’t understand English use your best online friend google-translate or you will get my report live eventually.

My running season was full of ups and downs. With all hard training I’ve done in past months I went with clear head to my main goal. To finish Berlin Marathon in one piece with smiley face and maybe just maybe if there will be a chance to finish it below 3:30.

I will mostly stick to Berlin Marathon experience from runners perspective and not from some touristic point of view. After all we went the to run :) Drive to Berlin took us 10 hours on friday with all pit stops and congestions along the way. We drove directly to expo place to pick up numbers. Thank god we did because already on friday afternoon there was huge crowd of people there. Cant imagine how it was on saturday. After all it’s almost 41.000 runners + several thousands of family and visitors going to same huge airport being used for expo. Anyway we picked everything up and then a bit of browsing through the massive exhibitors area. We found that offer itself is fresh and interesting but the prices were a chapter for itself. Not even one percent of discount nowhere to be found. It’s like all prices were crazy skyrocketed for no particular reason. At the end I bough 2XU compression calf guards in white color and put them on immediately for next few hours just to adapt to the feeling. These compression products are supposed to be helpful and high quality. I trusted my friends recommendation. Till now I’ve been using compression socks from CEP but usually these didn’t help enough with my weak calf muscles. After whole year of preparations and trainings I’m still having calf issues :( So I said to myself this 2XU will be the last thing to try. Thank god for this decision.
On saturday some of friends went on morning run organized for everyone. With this free run one can already get the feeling of how big is this event. River of thousands of people running to the Olympic stadium. I didn’t want to run and instead of running i did some walking through the city. I planned to join friend at the stadium but after getting lost in the city and geting back on track at the end the organizers wouldn’t let me in the stadium :( Back in hostel I felt tired but still had energy for going out to lunch. After lunch we rather stayed inside to just relax and get mentally prepared for the race. Last glimpse on weather forecast wasn’t promising, it was said it will be sunny all the day and up to 25 degrees :(
On the day of race I overslept because my phone-alarm died out of battery during the night :( Woke up at 6:15 and had to leave hostel at 6:30. Ahhh and had nothing prepared :( Rushing through things I needed to pack I didn’t have a chance to eat a proper breakfast. Only 2 spoons of cereals :( Not a good start at all. Almost running to S-bahn and catching it at the last second I didn’t even had a ticket. Driver just waved his hand and didn’t complain :) Finally we made it to start area which was getting slowly packed with people from all sides of city. It was quite cold before the start that’s why I didn’t wear running equipment yet. We split up with friends in the wardrobe area. Last minute decision was to pack my heart rate monitor belt. I felt I don’t need it and I felt I can go without heart rate readout. Last chance for toilet and off to starting box. It was getting too crowded so one could follow herds instinct to get to right place :) After all it was a huge pack of 41.000 runners on the street all waiting for the same goal: to reach the finish line of 42km run through Berlin. I managed to squeeze forward so I had only about a minute of walk to reach the start line. After start line it was running all the way. Ok a bit of crowd during first kilometer but other than that no problems.
I fixed my eyes on ideal line being drawn on the road. Second what I tried to fix was my steady pace. I knew I should run like chicken without head and I should relax and just go with the feeling. On 9km it suddenly started to hurt in left Achilles tendon. The pain would not go away for next 6 kilometers but I set my mind to different thoughts just not to think about the pain. On 10km distance I ate first sport gel with some water and Basica refreshment drink. On 14km which is one third of race I noted time 1:05. I said to myself oh god this is too fast I can not hold this pace till finish. From 15 to 20 I slowly decreased speed and on 21km I had time below 1:40. Still too fast for my feeling but it didn’t feel hard. Yet :) At that time I ate 3rd sport gel and this 3rd one was some new one I have never tried before. I know it’s typical mistake I should have tried it before. Anyway the gel was special because it had also some proteins inside but the taste was terrible. Even the density was wrong and I could hardly swallow good portion of it with lots of water. It’s all for the good I though. Man was I wrong. It took some time for this crap gel to kick in. And when it did I started to suffer in stomach pain. From 23-27km I was feeling sick all the time almost throwing up. I knew I have to hold on somehow just for my digestion to fight this gel. And it did. From 30-35km I kind of took it easy because I knew I had already good time in my hands. But, there always is a but, things can change. At 35km I got hit-stopped with so called wall. It’s like running out of energy with increased heart rate and faster breathing. Maybe the high air temperature contributed to this as well. Legs were tired but they could go on. I decided to keep running till next kilometer mark and then walk a bit just to lower my heart rate. I used this technique in previous hard runs already and I knew I will not loose so much time. And during this time I already started to calculate if I’m going to make it till finish under 3:30 or not. It didn’t matter anymore as long as I finish this misery. I lost about one minute per kilometer in that period of problems. It’s all in the mind.
At 40km mark I said to myself this is it you have to wake up now and finish it with glory. From the very distance I could already see the famous Brandenburg Gate which was a sign of 42km distance. Not the finish itself because the finish is at 42,192km :) So I rushed to the finish line with smile on my face. My official time on big clock was just about above 3:30 but that’s gross time. I knew my net time is below my wishes so at the end I made it! It was 3:28:53!!! Feelings were indescribable. I was so happy like a little baby getting it’s first candy :)
Immediately after finish I felt extremely exhausted even with slight headache. I took some cups of drinks and went straight to some grassy field which was in shade. I just laid down there for some 15 minutes to finally gather what I just achieved and to start feeling my muscle pains. Did some stretching and then to the wardrobe tents and to the friends reunion area.
With getting colder and calmer I started to feel the Achilles pain again. It was coming back but this time it was multiplied to the point that every step was hurting me. We then went celebrating with big and late lunch and in the evening some drinking :)
Thank god I had so many massages last week. And thank god my calf muscles didn’t complain at all. Yesterday we drove back and now I’m still in relaxing stage. I can fell my thigh and other muscles especially going up and down on stairs :) Achilles is still not in good shape and I just hope the pain will go away during this week.

Now that I’ve accomplished my big goal for this season I had enough of running for some time. There is still NewYork to be conquered which I’ll take it easy just for fun with no ambitions.

Big thanks to everybody supporting me along the way. Without you I could not achieve all these goals. Thanks again!

My run snapshot from Polar running watch (with no heart rate):

Iz Berlin
sep 17

Nekaterim dolgujem malo pojasnila in tudi spodobi se kaj napisat o tem.

Torej tik pred glavnim dogodkom sezone sem se v nedeljo odpravil na nek tek ob Krki. Vzel sem ga kot nedeljski lahek trening in zato se tudi nisem uradno prijavil. Šel sem pač zaradi treninga.
Še danes ne vem kaj mi je bilo, zakaj sem z vsakim kilometrom pospeševal. A sem hotel kaj sebi dokazat da mi pa le gre, da še znam tečt hitro? Mudilo se ni nikamor a kljub temu sem pretiraval. Najhujše kar sem naredil je bil 6 kilometer kjer smo se lepo spustili za dobrih 70 metrov. Tukaj sem imel kilometerski tempo pod 4:00 in povprečno dolžino koraka 150cm. In ravno to je pomojem bilo vzrok za nastalo sranje v desni mečni mišici.
V cilju je sprva še vse normalno zgledalo a potem ko sem se začel ohlajat je nastopila bolečina. Čutil sem vsak korak in komaj čakal da pridem domov na obkladke. Hlajenje, elektrostimulacija in domača masaža v nedeljo ni nič pomagalo.
V ponedeljek se odpravim na profesionalno masažo in čez noč poskusim z zeliščno oblogo. V torek sem se počutil precej bolje. Cel dan sem bil na nogah in proti večeru ni bilo niti časa za kako savno. Sreda je tudi minila poslovno a zvečer sem se odpravil na fitnes na bicikel. Po polurnem pedaliranju še savna.
Danes zjutraj (4 dni po nezgodi) je bolečina praktično izginila. Mogoče sem še malo čutil na pritisk. Sredi dneva sem si zadal nek krajši trening teka da vidim kje sem z nogo. Na 4km sem že začutil ostanke poškodbe v obliki blage bolečine. Super. Kako bom zdržal 10kratno razdaljo v nedeljo nimam pojma :( Potem sem popoldan šel na klasično masažo in zdaj moram reči da je spet v redu. Za koliko časa…

Jutri prevoz gor, sobota počitek in nedelja dolgo pričakovani Berlin. Čeprav že zdaj vem da ne bo šlo kot sem si želel bom vsaj dal to končno čez. In potem mir, dovolj, nič več! Dobesedno.

sep 11

Danes sem po planu odtekel zadnji pravi hitrostni trening. Na začetku moram povedat da meni bistveno bolj paše hladno vreme. Če se spomnim trpljenje pred dobrim mesecom na 30 stopinjah je tole danes pravi balzam.
Brez težav sem odtekel vse intervale še hitreje kot je planirano. Pripravljenost je na vrhuncu. In še bolj mi je bilo všeč vreme. Na štartu 14 stopinj in rahel dež. Nekje do polovice treninga se dež okrepi in drži vse do konca. Majica brez rokavov je bila hitro premočena. Počasi sem čutil vsako kapljo dežja kako počasi prebija skozi superge do nogavic. Samo čakal sem kdaj bom plaval. In potem še znameniti mestni avtobusi na Celovški ki vozijo po robu ceste da ja ujame velike novonastale luže. Val usrane cestne vode se dviga do 2 metrov višine z hitrostjo 60km/h. Kako naj se človek temu umakne :) Končno voda prebije čez nogavice in že čutim kako se pretaka po supergah. Super samo še kak žulj mi manjka ha ha. In najlepše kar je bilo so pogledi mimoidočih ko vidijo na pol golega norca teči hitro po dežnem nalivu. Ni čudno da me gledajo kot vesoljca…

Domov sem prišel ves usran in premočen. Kjerkoli sem pogledal je teklo od mene in to ne čista voda :) Ampak se je splačalo.

Sedaj še nekaj krajših tekov naslednji teden in potem končno Berlin. Samo še 9 dni!!!

sep 01

Kmalu prav kmalu se bližam proti vrhuncu sezone. Celo leto neumornih priprav bo končno pokazalo rezultat.
Sedaj me čakata še 2 naporna tedna treningov vsak po 60-70km teka. Še to zdržim in potem zares. Belin, končno boš moj!!!

avg 17

Nekateri (jaz, Tini, Veterv laseh in Mitjas) smo včeraj tekli poldnevno varianto zadnje etape Trans Slovenija v solo režiji. Natančno od Kozine do Pirana kar je naneslo 47km.
Štartali smo nekaj čez 7 zjutraj. V tistem času je prav lepo prijalo teči po praznih cestah in v nekaj malo senčke. Črni kal je odličen trening hitrosti seveda če si v spočitem stanju :lol: Po črnem kalu se je začela pripeka in naprej sva tekla samo še z Mitjo. Tini je imel že precej vročih kilometrov za sabo v tedni in vetra je zagrabilo v stegnah. Še dobro da smo imeli mobilne postojanke vsakih 5km ker drugače je nemogoče teči v teh pogojih. Do Kopra sva še zdržala brez problemov. Tukaj je bila prva daljša postojanka da sva se normalno zadihala in napojila. Od kopra do izole je izjemno lepa trasa. Tisti vonj po morju, valovi, lepa potka… mislim kaj češ bolšega :) Definitivno pridem še kdaj na morje tečt. Tukaj sva kar še lepo držala tempo in v Izolli komaj čakala da najdeva postojanko.

Še en daljši postanek. Sedaj sva bila na točki dileme ker bo do portoroža težko speljati postojanko predvsem zaradi kolesarske poti. Suvereno rečeva “bova že” kar se nama je kasneje maščevalo. V izoli sredi nedelje gavioli na veliko nabija muziko za uboge after napsihirane poslušalce. Dobesedno par kilometrov sva poslušala glasbo (če je to glasba) tok je bilo glasno. Končno doseževa kolesarsko pot D8. Nekaj slabega makedama nama ni spustilo volje in nadaljujeva do nepričakovanih klančkov. Japajade dajmo malo hodit. Mitjin bidon je hitro pohajal tako da sva bila po 3km že suha. To je bilo že krepko čez 30km skupne razdajle. In najhuje je bilo ker nisva vedela kok je še do portoroža, 4 ali morda celo 6km??? Usta postajajo suha, noge težje, sonce neusmiljeno pripeka. Mene je že mikalo da bi prvega kolesarja z bidonom na okvirju kar ustavil in žical za pljunek vode ali karkoli že ima v rezervi ha ha. Tukaj me malenkost zagrabi psihološka kriza morda celo zid zaradi pomanjkanja cukra, vode ali česa drugega. Prvi predor je blagodejno prijal a kaj ko je do drugega spet nekaj klančkov. Končno zagledava drugi predor ki dejansko meji na portorož (to je taisti čez katerega gre solinski tek). In kot božja prikazen se pojavi veter v laseh z tremi flašami v rokah. Jaz sem že mislil da haluciniram kot v kaki puščavi :) Oooo hvala končno. Na vrhu predora spet dolga postojanka. Do cilja je ostalo le dobrih 5km. Sedaj ni poti nazaj in odstop ne pride v poštev. Nekaj me začne špikat v prsih tako da spet malo hodimo vsake toliko časa. Od začetka Pirana do cilja še čisto malo teka. Končno v cilju s svojim najdaljšim tekom in najdaljšim tednom!!! Veselje nepopisno. Hvala vsem za družbo in posebna zahvala dragi za potrpežljivo organizacijo postojank. Sem sam na svoji koži občutil da je tudi support eno garaško delo.

Kar se tiče nog je bilo vse v najlepšem redu. Brez kakršnekoli bolečin sem odtekel. Končno se vidi da se trdo delo kdaj pa kdaj tudi poplača :)

Sedaj še en mesec trening naprej po programu in potem končno Berlin!

avg 15

Tek po Zagorski je bil uspešen. Presegel sem lanski rezultat in v cilj pritekel še poln energije. In kaj je najboljše brez poškodb. Bil je dober test kako se obnesem na hitri progi.

Jutri bo zadnja večja priprava na Berlin. Grem od Kozine do Pirana kar bo zneslo okoli 45km. Moram prebiti razdaljo 40km da sem siguren ali bo vse ok. Tudi če kaj odpove imam do Berlina še dovolj časa za rehabilitacijo. Počutje: dobro :)

Iz Trans Slovenija - 2 dan