My week in sports #1 2020

6 Jan 20206 Jan 2020 by runningella In My week in sports Leave a comment

The start of 2020! Let’s hope this year brings a lot of running, with the ultimate goal of running a marathon… This week was my first training with Leiden Atletiek. An article about my marathon schedule and training plans will follow this Friday. For now, let’s have a look at my last low-key sports week.

Monday – 30 December

Tomorrow I’ve got an important running test, so I decide to take a rest day. Briefly doubted going to yoga, but work ran a little later than planned, thus I didn’t make it in time. Oh well, just some core exercises at home and off to bed early then.

Tuesday

Test day! A couple months back, I had a physical examination to check if running a marathon is possible for me. (You can find the article in the ‘running’ folder!) All cleared – yay – but I did get the advice to work on my breathing technique as it was quite shallow, quick and inefficient. I decided to go for a five-weeks training program with guidance from ConTest and the program ended with a new test. Results will be up next week!

Type: Running!
Duration: 10 minutes warm up, 3 minutes 11.5 km/h, 3 minutes 13.5 km/h, 5 minutes cooling down and another 5 walking
Distance: indoors and without a watch so no idea 🙂

Wednesday

Doing something really cool today (which I will tell you all about very soon!) which involved some interval running and a lot of walking. Had a great day! Some core training, again, when I get home. Getting there…

Type: Running and walking
Duration: 4 hours
Distance: 11k

Thursday

The very first training with Leiden Atletiek. I was a bit nervous beforehand, would I be fit enough for this group? The warming up and cooling down were in the neighbourhood around the track and we did technical training before the interval on the track. We did 2000m in 4.55′, 600m in 4.30′, 1200m in 4.45′ and a final 300m in 4.15′. I had some issues deciding whether to lap my watch per 400m or per interval distance, but other than that, I had a great time!

Type: Running
Duration: 90 minutes
Distance: 7.5k

Friday

Core training and stretching at home. My muscles feel good after yesterday and I am tempted to go for another run, but I will also be training tomorrow so I decide to be sensible (a new me!) and stick to the plan.

Saturday

Running clinic! Robert Lathouwers takes us along for a 2.5 hour clinic in Leiden and as always, I have the best time! After the warming up, we spend 90 minutes working on running posture. You can never do enough of this, and I learn something new every time. On the even brighter side, I seem to be improving on using my arms, yes! After the technical training, we do a short interval of 4x1min and 4x30sec. I decide not to give it my all and get through it quite well.

Type: Running!
Duration: 150 minutes
Distance: 4.5k

Sunday – 5 January

Now that my running training has started, my other classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays will end for now. I decide to have one last training with the guys on Sunday morning. The Supercycle class never disappoints, I manage to enjoy myself for 60 minutes while pushing my limits to 94% heart rate. Definitely a good training and good for my legs. Will miss these classes!

Type: Indoor cycling
Duration: 65 minutes

So… Running again! The week total is a very modest 15 kilometers, but we all need to start somewhere right :). The core training is also getting more into my routine, a good sign I would say. Next week, I’ll be running three times as well, slowly increasing the mileage. Hope you had a good week as well and that you all survived New Year’s with all fingers, hands, eyes and other stuff you can loose…