Damn. I love it…

NordicTrack 1750

It is huge. It is ugly. So heavy that we needed neighbor to help us to bringing into the house… But, men, I love it.

Some years ago, I really enjoyed running on the treadmill. Getting up in the morning and being in gym before 6 AM when they were opening door. Then morning run for an hour. Maybe little bit longer. And then work. I always was choosing same treadmill. Setting speed and watching netflix on my mobile. I could just go… I really enjoyed it. Couldn’t understand how running on the treadmill could be boring for anyone. I know that you were running in the same spot for long but it was running. Then you could always watch movies, listen to music and don’t stop for traffic. What was really great, at least, for me was that control which you had when was running on treadmill. You were setting running speed as you wanted. So easy to train intervals, uphills, sprints. When doing recovery run there was no chance that on some point you will start to run faster and completely waste recovery session. I think that for me treadmill is a tool to get you better at running. And I like it when gym staff was referring to me as ‘our gym hamster’ 😉 Read more

Christmas time

Shining on with nice

Christmas time. Have spent that time in Poland. Glad that I have visited my Family there. Always good to see them. But will start from the beginning…

I wasn’t too keen on the Christmas visit to Poland. Don’t get me wrong. Time to time I need also to get back to Poland to see my Mum, Sister, Brother in law and nieces but not necessarily during Christmas time. Adding up my running form and mental state I wasn’t sure if visit will be enjoyable. Flight from Dublin. That was a disaster. I was so tired and all I wanted to do was to take a nap. just couple of minutes. But… it was so loud there. Kids were shouting, crying. Usually I don’t mind but this time, cause of Christmas, there was plenty of them and it looks like parents couldn’t handle them. Anyway, I was trying to get at least couple of minutes of sleep. Hoodie on my head, hands on the ears to block the noise but it wasn’t enough. Left the plane tired, half dead. And still had to drive first to my Wife’s Parents house and then back to my Mums. Another 120 km after horrible flight. Good thing was that instead of VW Polo we got A3 (too many cars broken), nice upgrade. First Chociwel. No delays on route, so we were there in less than one hour. After quick hello and goodbye I was on my way to Szczecin. Cause it wasn’t too late I have decided to visit my Sister first. Always better to get useful info before taking to my Mum 😉 we have decided where we will have Christmas Eve, where will be 1st day of Christmas and that I will take my Mum to my in laws for the 2nd day. All decided. After that visit was time to see family home, pass all information to Mum and decide how my visit to Poland will look like. I knew that I will need to continue my running, so already have found near by gym with treadmill. Days should be similar: morning run and gym, helping with Christmas. Of course that would change during 25th and 26th – gym closed. But that was the plan for those couple of days. In theory easy to follow…

In theory… why? Cause I felt sick on the 24th and kind of still am. Lost two days of running during Christmas and missed my one long run as well. Not too good and there was marathon waiting for me on the 30th of December. So, I was running every day on the treadmill for an hour, once added 7 km run with my Sister. Everything squeezed in days where we all were preparing Christmas and still not as much as I would like. Anyway, most important during that visit was Christmas time spent with family. Preparations, preparations… Christmas Eve dinner in my Sister’s house, 1st day of Christmas in my Mom’s and 2nd day with in-laws. Busy days and unfortunately being sick wasn’t helping with that. Plenty of gifts received, you are never short of running socks 😉

After short visit to Poland I was heading home. Still not 100% but good enough or that what I thought. After little bit bumpy flight I was getting straight from airport parking to Armagh. Next day marathon and I was staying with Clive Nesbitt. Thanks Clive for accommodation.

I want to breath…

Precor treadmill

I don’t know if that’s because I run marathon last week or just… because it’s so warm in gym but for the last couple of days I cannot run distance I would like to run…

It seems that I’m sweating now more and I’m losing breath and can’t run any more. I know that after marathon I decided that I need to lower mileage I’m doing daily. Before marathon it was about 30 km daily on the week days (not Wednesday) and about 28 km daily over Saturday and Sunday. Now I would like to ‘downsize’ to 25 km and 25 km…

But unfortunately for last couple of days I cannot fulfil my plan on the gym. It is so warm in gym, seems that there is no air after some time of cardio training (maybe AC not keeping up). Anyway, point is… at the moment I cannot get to 25 km a day, so I think I will change to outside run as well in the evening and just keep treadmill runs in the morning before work…

Still need to prepare for the next MARATHON…