Of Gains & Explorations

Training Diary Weeks 20–21 of the Rebuild

Back to start and a rough sense of where I came from to the rescue for the second half of the run. Kamp-Lintfort, November 20, 2020.

The last time we spoke about running, I’ve left it with the goal to regain consistency after a few disruptions (and exploring a few new routes).

The last two weeks have been on point: consistent run schedule, consistent and gradual increase of weekly mileage, and a bit of speed work mixing up the types of runs.

Read on for more details and one new-ish route; a run that was both a bit troubled and exhilarating.

Stopped for a couple of seconds while crossing the river Ruhr for a more stable shot of sunrise over the city. Mülheim, November 10, 2020.

The week began with a relaxed 90-minute Ruhr river loop. I even stopped for a couple of seconds on the bridge to capture the winter dawn glory above.

It’s a bit hillier (for flat city territory, that is) than other routes I’ve got on my list. So it was not quite as efficient as I had hoped. But it was still a super relaxed run, and it was a smidge faster than planned as well.

The traffic after returning to the city was a bit on the heavy side. But a good start to the week.

Clockwise from the top left A bit later, winter dawn is slowly being replaced by winter sunrise on the bike expressway nearing the city center; the final stretch of the 13 km loop includes typical city running scenes, which include dealing with traffic on and off the sidewalk; but even city scenes can be quite beautiful, just as this sky view while passing a Turkish supermarket en route from Mülheim back to Oberhausen; yes, a power walker with shorts on what even I would say is a rather chilly morning. Oberhausen, Mülheim, November 10, 2020.

Paces are a bit fluid in this phase (which is a good thing), so the second run also ended up being a wee-bit above target.

Feel and being in the ballpark of what I’ve planned is the main goal.

In the end, quite an enjoyable effort with a blue-hour atmosphere that makes even dull city passages pleasing to the eye.

Clockwise from the top left Darkness encapsulates the sidewalk next to a busy street that’s next to a busy autobahn; a trash collection truck leaves a narrow path out of the wetlands; dawn approaches on the way back home; a city at dawn; one traffic lights stop that can’t be avoided a few minutes before the end of the run; the end of fall and the end of a run. Oberhausen, November 13, 2020.

I aimed for a moderate increase that week, stepping up from five to five and a half hours.

That goal leaves only the Sunday long-run on the table.

I opted for the same route as last Sunday, extending it at the end to make room for a nice progression push to the paces.

It might have been a bit harder of a push than planned, but as long as it feels good and is somewhat in the neighborhood, I don’t mind. Starting easy for an hour, going slightly faster for the second hour, and ending with a nice half-hour tempo push. Feels so good.

Clockwise from the top left More than an hour has passed before I grab the camera for the first time on this long-run. This is the path at the canal, just past the Kaisergarten; construction everywhere these days; a glance back at the calm of the canal at dawn; back to the city for the closure of the loop; dawn has faded, revealing the city more clearly; sunrise over the city after climbing up one final bridge; the homestretch sunrise view. Oberhausen, November 15, 2020.

There aren’t too many useable pictures thanks to the morning darkness creeping further into the day now. For the long-run, I didn’t even grab the camera before the second hour.

In the end, I enjoyed a solid week. I reached the planned weekly duration and can feel the progress. The long-run felt much better than last week, paces are in flow, legs are happy. And, most of all, I have fun in the chilly morning darkness.

A breakdown of the three runs in week 20.

In preparation for Friday’s undiscovered country run, I had planned a slightly unfamiliar route for Monday. The goal: testing my makeshift navigational aid.

Three decent climbs turned the otherwise easy-peasy start of the week just a smidge harder. But for the most part, a very relaxed hour, crossing from city to city to city (or from Oberhausen to Mülheim to Essen back to Oberhausen).

The tech-side-of-things was OK. A bit of a wobbly start dealing with the phone (the makeshift navigational aid) and camera, but it all worked out. And the phone battery lasted long enough to indicate to me: all good for Friday’s 90-minute route where I really needed the aid. We’ll get back to that in a minute.

Clockwise from the top left City lights before dawn; trying out a makeshift navigational aid and a route that’s a smidge hillier than thought make it harder to keep the run super easy; more construction on this loop that starts in Oberhausen, crosses into Mülheim, Essen, and back to Oberhausen; when you go up, you’ve got to go down at some point again. Here the descend begins with more construction obstructions; back in “lower territory,” a traffic lights stop awaits. Oberhausen, Mülheim, Essen, November 17, 2020.

The gradual increase in duration means it’s back to four runs this week. And the legs feel ready to handle a bit of speed work as well.

So, a day after the relaxed outing, it was time for some strides in the dark of the park, sandwiched between two moderately fast commutes to and from said park that were each about 20 minutes long.

I could feel the progress on the commutes. And it felt really good getting the legs moving fast again during the light workout at the park.

Clockwise from the top left En route to the park for some turnover work; it’s dark even when the work has been completed and the cool-down back home begins; while traffic lights stops are annoying, they’re fun photographically; the colors of the city at dawn. Oberhausen, November 18, 2020.

Both runs so far turned out to be a tad longer than planned. To keep the weekly goal in check, I had a decision to make: cut Friday’s exploration a bit shorter and keep the long-run the same or keep Friday as planned and cut the long-run down a bit.

I opted for the former.

That Friday was a bit of a weird day, though. A bit unrestful. Cold. Driving to the place. A disrupted day and a disrupted run routine.

And the route features almost exclusively unstable forest trails with quite some ups and downs.

And the phone was acting up, dying on me after a whopping 30 minutes, not even cooperating with fresh juice from the power bank I had on me as a safeguard. Aging phones aren’t much fun.

Long story short: the easy effort I had on the calendar was out the window. So I decided to make it a speed work/endurance day. Fun, of course.

I can’t show you the route as I had planned it, obviously. When it had become obvious the phone wasn’t springing back to life, I had only two tools left to make sure I got home in time: my limited orientational skills in the middle of a forest where every trail looks the same and the back-to-start function of my watch.

Despite all of those issues, I truly enjoyed the run. And while easy wasn’t happening, I made good progress on the more intense spectrum.

Clockwise from the top left A special route for run three of the week. A hilly course with unstable ground and quite some tech issues turned an easy run into speed and endurance work; up the hill into another section of the forest with the makeshift navigational aid at the ready — as long as the battery plays ball; back to start and a rough sense of where I came from to the rescue for the second half of the run; one slightly wrong turn leads me to the edge of the forest with the wide-open view of the rural Lower Rhine area; while generally nice and quiet, a few dog walkers here and there along the route — and sometimes a dog who’s trying to catch up with its owners; in a “lockdown light” it’s face-covering up when fellow humans appear in front; once in a while, checking if the general bearing is still on point is part of the spiel for this troubled but still enjoyable run; back to the forest for the final km or two; as the sun begins to set slowly, I enjoy pushing the paces on the homestretch. Kamp-Lintfort, November 20, 2020.

But now it was time to take it easy for the slightly shorter long-run. And while Sunday felt like someone had stolen the sun — it was just not getting bright — , I had a solid and relaxing easy-peasy run through the drizzly, chilly darkness along the canal, adding a lap through the Kaisergarten park, and throwing in a quick lap through the marina before the end.

Temperatures are now at a point that I need gloves; my hands are my weakness when it comes to the cold. But it’s all comfortable during the run; except if you’ve got 15 minutes to kill before the bus arrives that gets you home.

Clockwise from the top left Sunday felt like someone had stolen the sun. It just wasn’t getting bright. Crossing the canal in the earlier stages of the long-run, the dark was still expected; no imagery from the long-ish stretch along the canal because it would have been just a pitch-black pixel mess. Here’s the passage after crossing the canal and heading back the direction I came from. More signs of construction make pictures a tad easier; shortly before reaching the canal again, more construction; before the “full return” to the waterfront, a quick lap around the Kaisergarten park; a whee-bit of blue hour goodness as I leave the park behind and approach the final minutes of the run; swirly-blurry canal trail passage; the second half of the run went so well that I had a few minutes to spare at the end. So I decided to take a quick extra lap around the marina. Oberhausen, November 22, 2020.

At the end of another two weeks of training, consistency is coming along nicely. And that’s what I hope I can continue to enjoy in the upcoming weeks.

I might have to put some of those new routes on hold, though. We’ll see.

A breakdown of the three runs in week 21.

That’s it for this running training update. The next one could drop in two or three weeks; we’ll see. Later this week, I’ll post a fresh batch of reading recommendations.