2 months down and 500 km done

Well, after 2 months, 1 training weekend in the Blue Mountain and 500 km on the road I can say that I am back on track for a great running year to come. Bring it on!

The last couple of weekends were hard. Getting up at 5.30am is no fun, nor is running the first 10km in the dark - I normally only take one pair of glasses with me and those are the sun glasses, so I look like Ray Charles hopping along Anzac Parade at 6am on a Sunday morning looking not to fall over. But by 9am I was finished and could spend the rest of the days with my parents visiting from Switzerland.

In two weeks the famous 6ft Track is on the program and I will run this race for the 3 time together with a friend from work - Michael, will attempt this race as his first marathon and the goal for both of us is to finish and use the race a preparation test for the 100km North Face in May.

Someone suggested that we should come back on Sunday morning after the 6ft Track and race in the Sydney Half Marathon - I don't think so...

Happy running

Hot Weekend

Whooo - 35 degrees and rising. A couple of buddies and I spent a weekend in the Blue Mountains preparing for the 100km North Face. What a hot weekend it was - on Saturday we decided to pre-run the Megalong Mega, a 36km race which is a part of the hard 6ft track. We started at 6 am with 4.5 l per person from our house and cruised comfortably to Cox river crossing - by 7 o'clock we reached the very low river where we left a few bottles of water in the water for the way back. The sun was already getting high and my estimate of 2 hours to the top of Pulviometer was spot on as we arrived exhausted at 9am at the turn-around point. A good sip out of the bottle, a few gels and off we went speeding downhill. By the time we were back at the river crossing - with shaking legs - I kind of had it. The heat was pounding down and I knew that it was now another 10km mostly uphill to get back to the lodge. The last 6 km I walked and it took me a full 6.5 hrs to finish 40km - happy I did it and very glad I just had enough water to make it all the way home. First thing I did was to start up the car's air-condition and then I went back to the road intersection to wait for my buddies - I knew they were short of water and would love a short drive back. However it took them for ever to come so I went home for my shower and sent my friend Denis to pick them up. Marathon Man and Michael arrived exhausted and on their knees after 7.5 hrs in the heat. It seemed worse then in the desert in Morocco. Too humid in those forests. We enjoyed a great, long shower and a healthy meal that night. Sunday morning it was up again at 6am for another leg of the race - this time going East towards Katoomba. It was a killer with the pain in the legs and going up those 100's of steps up the cliffs towards the Explorer Tree (start of the 6ft track). We made it and then turned around for a sprint downhill and home - 15km and 2 hours more in the bag.
I feel good and on track with my training and look forward this time to an exciting 6ft track race mid-March. Not sure yet if I can convince my friends to join me - probably have to give them a few days to recover before pushing the subject again :-)
Save training
Markus

On track

Happy New Year and save running for 2009!
Sorry, have been slack updating the blog but certainly not slack getting back into training. After a short Christmas break I got straight back on track 1st January and now I am well into my routine of getting back to Marathon des Sable fitness. Got a couple of new pairs of runners and with the next 5 months pretty much set-up with training weekends and races, I only have to keep my knees happy and stay on my two legs until the big 100km race in May.
End of this month I am off to the Blue Mountains with friends and family to train on one or two stages of the race, just to get an idea of what to expect. It will be good to have that sandy backpack on again....wish it would be for more then just 100km, quite jealous of all the guys heading to Morocco in a couple of month.
Happy training and racing

Signed up!

Done - have signed up for the North Face 100 next May - http://www.thenorthface.com.au/100/.
Now I just have to make sure I don't put too much weight on over the festive season and I can start with my training 1st January (maybe make it 2nd January) with not too many kg's over my running weight.
Looking forward to share some training runs and camps with my buddies Denis, Michael and the Marathon Man...first one will be end of January in the Blue Mountains - Megalong Valley http://www.coolrunning.com.au/fatass/hq/index.php?title=Megalong_Mega.
In March the hard 6ft track is on the menu - http://www.sixfoot.com/index.php - still unfinished business there for me after my DFN this year.
In April it is Canberra for the 50km Ultra http://www.canberramarathon.com.au/ and then we should be ready for a sub 15 hours at the NorthFace 100
Happy training ahead....

Movie Night

Last week we had a MdS 08 get together with some of the Sydney runners! It was great to swap old stories and dream about a new race in the future.

We watched the offical DVD on a big screen followed by the main feature 'The Spirit of the Marathon'. To follow the DVD on a big screen was huge - those sand dunes sure looked much more intimidating then on a normal TV.

It was a great opportunity to invite all our supporters, friends and families and say once more thank you and show them on a big screen what our race was all about!

Over 180 people enjoyed a great night and I am sure that a few found some new inspiration to start a running career and new adventures.

I have to start myself my training again and get rid of those extra kilos I put on over the last few weeks in Fiji sipping cocktails....

The training plan is made, some races locked in - so now it is just up to me to get out again in the mornings and do it!

Save training!

Marathon des Sables on the big screen

It has been a while but finally I am able to show you some footages from our epic race in the Sahara. To say 'Thank you' to all our supporters I have organised with some fellow runners a movie night where we are able to show you the offical DVD on the big screen followed by the main feature 'Spirit of the Marathon'.

Please contact me on 'info@run4vision.com' for details regarding tickets. Movie night is on Wednesday, 12 November 2008 at the Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace in Cremorne and starts at 7.30pm. Tickets are 15$ per person. Seasts are limited so please book early.

Looking forward to see you all at the movies next month.

Save training and happy running
Markus

Octoberfest - 1 year later

It's already a year since I ran Fitzroy Falls Marathon on Saturday and Maroubra Fun Run the next morning....again a beautiful day, blue sky, 27 degrees and plenty of German Beer and Weisswurst waiting for us at the finish. This time I did not have to pace Tasman and after about 3 km I left him at the bottom of the first hill...it was a though run in the heat....and I was very happy to finish in 38 minutes which was 2 minutes faster then last year. Tasman was only a few minutes behind. So we well deserved the few German beers and sausages afterwards. Now it is off to a well deserved rest and then we start again in January for the big 100km North Face and the World Masters Games later that year. Tasman is keen to get into running and try a half marathon next year...looks like we may have another marathon man in the making?
Happy and save running
Markus