10KM in 53:09 & Chicken Pox

The weather was horrible with 10 to 15 m/sec wind, but I ran the race and finished in 53 minutes and 9 seconds. Here is the official result, I was planning to run another 10KM race the following week but as my luck would have it I got Chicken Pox, I can assure you that this was the MOST HORRIBLE experience of my life. I felt like I was trapped in a twilight zone and my worst nightmare together.

I had breakouts through out my body, my face, my head... you name it and I had a break out. The fever ran almost all the way upto 42 degrees centigrade. Doctor came to my house as it was a contagious disease and they had to give me a combination of painkillers and fever reducers to prevent my fever from getting to dangerous levels.

I have been in bed from January 10 to January 17. I am glad it is over. The best part of this is disease is that I have lost about 3 kgs, now I just need to maintain my weight and get back to running. I tried running but I was too weak, I will get back on the running trail again... wish me luck!

Gamlárshlaup ÍR a.k.a Old Year Run 2007

Registered to run the December 31st run, last year I did this run in 51 min 59 sec and was not very happy with the result. I am going to try to break the 50 minutes barrier again this year, however it looks like the weather Gods are not going to cooperate, according to the Icelandic weather forecasting the wind is going to blow at 10 m/s which is not that much compared to what it has been yesterday, it was close to 25 m/s and it has been raining. I think this is probably the worst condition that I have ever seen in Iceland.

Anyway, I am going to run and hopefully do it in a respectable time. Wish me luck :)

iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS)

Well, for the past couple of weeks I have been suffering from iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS). I think it is probably due to a couple of reasons:
1. My right leg is 4mm shorter than my left leg
2. I increased the total distance to 60km per week the week before I got the pain on my knee
3. My legs are not that strong

I have been addressing point 3 by doing strength training, mainly weight lifting and cross training. But could not do anything about the fact that I got it. Today I had a good 9.56km run in the treadmill and I have been stretching a lot and doing a number of exercises to strengthen my iliotibial band. April 22 is approaching quite fast and I feel like I need to do a couple of long runs so tomorrow I am planning to do 30km very slow maybe around 6 min 30 sec pace per km.

I found a good blog post on the strength training exercise for the Iliotibial Band.

Hardest workout session ever!

I ran 19.76km yesterday (Jan 13,'07) in -5 degrees celius and 10 to 12 inches of snow! It was my hardest workout ever and I was extremely glad when it was over :) but my running group was maybe 15 minutes faster than I was and they completed the same distance sooner. I don't want to make excuses so I thought I could have done better until I saw my heart monitor my max heart rate was close to 205 bpm which is the highest that I have recorded so far so I guess net net I pushed myself quite hard and I am quite happy about it.

It was extremely nice to spend some time in the spa after such a tough workout, we spent maybe 15 mintues in the hottest sauna, then dipped our legs to the hip in ice-cold water for about 5 minutes and rested in a lazy-boy sofa for another 15 minutes.

To top off the day, my bank had our New Year Gala party for customers in the evening and I can say that it was the party of the year yet!! Hats off to the Events Team of Glitnir Marketing!!!

Happy New Year!

I cannot believe that it is 2007! It was a great new year in Reykjavik, more fireworks than last year and it was incredible. On December 31, there is a traditional 10km run in Reykjavik and I participated in it, I did the 10km in 51 min 59 sec... my personal best but I wanted to run it within 50 minutes. Oh! well it was a good year of running and I am happy that I was able to stick to the plan. My personal new year resolution list:

1. Not to take myself too seriously

2. Work on being more patient

3. Take life as it is and not make things more than they are

4. Improve on my running

Started my training for London Marathon

I woke up at 4:05 am as I could not sleep due to the anticipation of starting my training again. I guess that is a good thing. I ran 10.15 km in 1 hour and 12 minutes! it was pathetic and I was struggling half way.

My buddy Villi was going to run 10 km with the running group in the evening and I decided to join them, I have never run twice in a day, today was the first. The weather was nasty it was drizzling sideways and the temperature was 1 c but felt like -5 c. Anyway I completed running 10.28 km in 57 mintues 28 seconds... I am planning to average about 30 to 40 km a week for the next month and then I will gradually increase it to 60 to 70 km.

Oslo Marathon: 4:27:19

I finished the Oslo Marathon in 4 hours 27 minutes and 19 seconds. It was the toughest run that I have ever done as I was running with the Flu and I was cramping all over my legs. I am not going to use that as an excuse for my poor performance, so I have a lot to improve with regard to training, my diet and mental discipline. I have promised myself to work harder for the next marathon.

Here are the official results from the Oslo Marathon.

The Night of Oslo Marathon

Well, I am up at 3:30 am... I have been feeling awful, I don´t know how I got the cold. I was feeling funny when I woke up after my short nap around 4:45 pm yesterday and my throat was itching and my nose was running. I could not believe it, I have been so careful with water, trying to eat carefully and keep myself warm. I think it was the change in weather yesterday, everything was great until around 12pm and then it started raining cats and dogs.

I am really worried about tomorrow but I am positive and I am going to smile even if I feeling miserable. I woke up because of a dream or rather more like a nightmare! I was late to the start of the marathon and I was struggling after the 3rd kilometer :( anyway, I should be sleeping and I just cannot go back to sleep.)

But the night before I ate
1. Plain Pasta
2. Grilled Chicken
3. Green Salad

The dinner was great, almost everyone part of the Glitnir Marathon team was there with our CEO and it was a lot of fun. We shared a lot of funny stories and the mood was very positive. I like Oslo a lot... we had dinner at Brasserie located in Aker Brygge. We were also very close to Glitnir's new Norwegian headquarters. It is a great location in Aker Brygge and we had tour of that by Bjorn Richard our managing director of Corporate Communication.

1 week before Oslo Marathon

I cannot wait for the Oslo Marathon, I am really excited to run again and feed on the energy that everyone will exude there.
Some numbers
1. Total distance run from 8/20 to 9/24 = 165.22
2. Average Pace = 5 min 45 sec per kilometer
3. Average Heart Rate = 159 bpm
4. Average Speed = 10.44 kilometer per hour
5. Total Calories burnt = 19,873
6. Max Heart Rate during training = 190
7. Total Run Time = 15 hours 26 min 20 sec

Ultra Marathon Man -Dean Karnazes

I have started reading a book by Dean Karnazes titled Ultra Marathon Man. I never knew that a human being is capable of enduring such physical hardship. If he can do that I can at the very least be happy and maybe run the Reykjavik Marathon.
You see I have started thinking about running the marathon but have not started the preparation. Maybe I need to remind myself not to procastinate. Anyway, I am hooked... Be on the lookout for my running plan and progress. Reykjavik Marathon here I come :)