spontaneous 5k PB

Today I went to do a bike-run session at the gym, which was supposed to be an easy one, which it was, until I after some 40 minutes of pedalling went to the treadmill, aiming to finish off with a 20 min run. You know how it often goes.. in 20 min I can do 5k.. and the tempting thing on these treadmills is that there is a fixed "5k"- button.. so I  hit it and speeded up to 16,5 km/h at once. Off we went, sometimes when you just feel like it, you go. "I can make it sub 19min, can't I...?" It was a bit painful but I held on, had to adjust down a bit and then back up again to finish as strongly as I could manage, and finished off in 18:30. I have actually never done a 5k all-out test, so this is now my "official pb", albeit on a threadmill. Would be very hard on the street, on track it should be manageable. Have to try it at some point. 

This was maybe not ideal for my barely recovered legs.. but nice to have one power session made for the week. Rest of the week will be easier, with focus on sunday long run. 

I have been thinking to try a spring marathon at Holmestrand marathon, which is 6 weeks from now. I may not be in record shape but very close. The smart thing to do would be to just run it as a long training session sub-4 hours, did that 2 years ago preparing for Ironman Nice and it worked great. So let's see what the following weeks bring and we'll be smarter about that!

Rest day - at last!

I kicked off the new year with a fair portion of training, as january consisted of 50 hours of activity. Today is the first complete rest day in 36 days..! Last week was scheduled for a lighter recovery week, but as the snow has kept pouring down, there was no leaving the skis unused! Hence this week i skied home from work every day, and last week 4 days out of five. It just is a great deal of fun, plus fantastic all round training for your body and you get to enjoy the nature. We usually do it together with my boss, and nothing beats beating a norwegian on skiis on his home soil :D but this casual after-work skier is a tough nail I can tell you... :) So the last week too the hours stacked up to a bit more than planned, but intensity was kept on the easier side for most part and included some weight work as well. Anyway, this week started a new 3 week building block, but yesterday I felt quite tired on the skiis so today was definitevely time for rest. Tomorrow we're heading out on an easy sunday skitrip with my wife, so starting next week energy levels should be up again. 

I have decided to almost certainly not participate in any crosscountry skiing competition this year. I did the Birkebeinerrennet last year, and Finlandiahiihto the year before, which are both fantastic and massive events, and good tests to see your endurance level this time of the year. This year anyhow, I don't see it necessary in that regard, nor am I that a super-enthusiastic (no to mention skilled..) skiier, so I'll just keep on skiing for the training sake of it. One fun detail, I got to have a brief chat with legend Juha Mieto at Finlandiahiihto two years ago and there should be a photo of us in an earlier post :) what a great man. And he's HUGE!! :) 

Just watched the Ironman TV- episode from Kalmar last year, nice to get a closer look at the venue I will make my second full distance next summer! It sure is flatter and cooler than Nice where I made my debut, but I sure got the goose bumps and the humbling feeling towards the distance again. We've got a long way to go, but as of now, things are really well on track!