Less than 60km to go, to the marathon. A race preview.
Now it's all about counting down the last easy kilometers before the marathon. Today was the last faster run (2x3 km around the lake in 10:12/9:58). Somehow it felt not so easy and I hope the first kilometers (at least) in the marathon will feel a bit easier.
The weather on Sunday should be pretty warm (over 20°C) and sunny - maybe too hot, but since it's a championship race everyone will have the same conditions. Especially in the latter stages of the race it might get really warm and having a good pacing strategy is important. Now, I am a real fan of running negative or even splits, but with the heat and the profile of the course it will be a difficult task to run 2 similar halves. As you can see from the picture, there are 2 hills (bridges) at km 21 and 28.The race favorites (for the overall ranking) come from the Ukraine, Poland and Romania and they are aiming to improve the course record of 2:13:56. Stefan Koch is the clear favorite for the german title and he is even aiming for 2:13h. Even with a personal best of 2:17:17 (in his debut last year) and some german titles in halfmarathon and 10K that aim seems to be unrealistic for me, but we will see. The first candidate for 2nd place is Florian Neuschwander, who proved his good shape with a vice title (1:06:37h) in the German Halfmarathon Nationals earlier this year. Those are the race favorites for the German Championships, but there are some other contestant such as last years marathon vice-champion. I might go as one of the dark races and I'm fine with this role. It will be my first marathon and I will have to learn a lot. At this time I still have a huge respect when it comes to the kilometers after 35K.
The race will also be covered on German television at SWR for 4 hours, but I think there will be no live streaming.

Last test before the marathon: Pentin Pinkaisu 10K in 33:10 (3rd place)
Today was the last "competition" (or fast training) before I'm going to run the Mainz marathon next weeks' Sunday. The race was a 10K on a hilly course and I was riding bike to the competition site (approx. 13km each way). That's one reason why I didn't expect something spectacular. The other reason was the marathon training of the last weeks; I hardly did any speed workouts and the fastest pace in training was about 3:20min/km for the medium-long tempo runs.
In the race there were some fast guys (Miika Takala, Jaakko Kero, Tuomas Puttonen). Miika set an high early pace and was joined by Jaakko after couple of kilometers. For me the pace was just too fast and I made a second group together with teammate Tuomas. At the end Miika could win with a new track record (31:45) ahead of Jaakko (31:45) and I could beat Tuomas on the last kilometer, finishing 1 second ahead of him. Altogether it was an ok competition even though the time could have been a bit faster and it seems as like there are some "gears missing" when I want to run faster. The pace was a bit faster than my marathon pace is going to be and I hope with fresh legs and a good tapering next week I can survive my first marathon with a reasonable time. Maybe the missing speed will even help me, not going out too fast for the first kilometers of the marathon.

Tomorrow will be Hamburg marathon, with 3 Germans (Beckmann, Cierpinski, Steidl) trying to run the qualification time for the Olympics (2:13:00h) and also 3 of my club mates are running (Jari, Matti, Jyrki). Let's hope they will broadcast it on internet (9.30-14.00 finnish time).

For now that's all from a super-sunny Suomi.

Marathon training
The final preparations for the marathon are on it's way and in 2 1/2 weeks it's "showtime". Yesterday I had a looong run; I'm pretty sure that it was the longest run in my training history. 38-39km or 3 times around Jväsjärvi and a clear message: Marathon is way different than halfmarathon. For the last 10km I really had a kind of feeling that I would hit the wall. I was planning to increase the pace towards the end (maybe up to close to race-pace of 3:25min/km). However my legs got really tight and all I could do was a 3:50 pace. It was such a strange feeling: I just couldn't increase the speed anymore, whatever I was trying to do. So I can say that I learnt another message and that I am better prepared for the marathon (especially for the last painful last kilometers) now. Next weeks' long run won't be so long and maximum will be 35km.
After yesterdays long run I took it easier today but still made 8(morning) + 13(evening) plus some strides to get rolling again. With less than 20 days to go till the marathon it's all about the fine tuning and staying healthy. Nevertheless I already know, that I will have to do more longer runs (35+ km) in preparation for my autumn marathon.

Racing season
As spring is approaching (well, in Jyväskylä it was snowing again today), both the international and domestic road running season is on it's way. The weekend saw 2 great marathons in London and Rotterdam. While London saw a German victory on the woman's side with Irina Mikitenko running a new German record (2:24:14h), Rotterdam was the place to be, for Finnish marathon running: Janne Holmen set a new Finnish record on the mens side in 2:10:46h, finishing in 9th place. Congratulations to both! Of course there was a lot more action in those races to write about, but other websites already did the job.
I myself also had a race (on Saturday): it was the district championships in road running of Central Finnland (Keski-Suomen PM-maantiejuoksut). The competition was a 12,3 km race on a rather hilly loop, which had to be run 5 times. I took second place in 41:00min (inofficial) the splits for each round being 7:57/8:10/8:15/8:21/8:17. I could feel the calves from last weeks halfmarathon already early in the race (~after 3K) and that's why I didn't push the pace. At the end I didn't really want to challenge my clubmate Tuomas, who made the pace pretty much the whole race and finished 3 seconds ahead of me. Anyway, I don't know if I had won even if I had given everything for the last 2kms. Tuomas is in really good shape and he can for sure go for a 1:08h in next weeks Finnish Halfmarathon Nationals if the conditions are good.
Probably I am not allowed to run in this Finnish Championships because there were some problems and strange regulations for participation (since I am a foreigner and might have a shot at the medals they are scared it seems :). I was a bit upset about those news, because it would have been a nice way to see where I am in Finnland - last year my time of the German Nationals would have been indeed only 1 second short of the bronce medal. Anyway, now I can focus even more on my 2nd "big race" this spring: The German marathon nationals in Mainz. There are only 20days left!

7th place and PR of 1:07:42 in German Halfmarathon Nationals
Now it's for sure: Erik is back in the running scene. After accomplishing my 2 goals of placing TOP 10 and setting a new PR I am very pleased and the work I put into the sport paid off. Amazingly it took me 5 years to improve my personal best in the halfmarathon (previously 1:08:06h).
Here are the results of the race.
About the race itself (it was held in Calw on Sunday, April 6): The course was fast but not like a pancake - I already ran on faster courses, e.g. last year in Bad Liebenzell (only 5km away from Calw). The temperatures of around 6-7°C were just perfect and during the race there was no rain but the streets were wet from the rain that fell the night before. The race started as usual with some guys overestimating themselves (or just having too much adrenaline) and I was around 20-25th place after the first kilometer. After around 3 km the field was already a bit clear and a lead pack of 5 men already gapped the chasers, including me in the first chase pack (place 10-15). As usual I tried to stay in the back of the group and save some energy. We went through 10K in around 32mins, that was a bit faster than planned but the pace was feeling really relaxed plus in a championship race it's easiest to hide in a big group. The first time I pushed the pace was between kilometers 12 and 15 when I went to the front of the group and wanted to close the gap to the 2 runners in front of us (place 6 and 7). During those 3 km I made up around 70 meters and the 2 guys I wanted to catch were only 30 meters in front of me. However, I sensed that there were still some guys behind me in my wind shadow. I looked over my shoulder and indeed saw 4 other guys. At that point I decided that it would be better if someone else would make the pace, because I did not want to be the train for the other guys. So I shifted back one gear and settled in the group. But just as I was in the group I had a really scary moment. A runner behind me hit my leg with full power and I was on the way to hit the ground. I was really lucky that another runner in the group pulled me back back with his arm while I was on the way to dive into the asphalt - my head was already on the high of the other runners hip and he even had to lean forward to "save" me. One step later and I would have had a bloody nose and bloody knees. Puuuuh! After this incident I had of course some troubles to find my rhythm again. It took me around 1 km to get back to the normal stride and the good flow.
So there I ran: Around 10th position, 4 km to go and only 40-50 meters in front of me place 6 and 7. I knew, if I would wait until the last km I would not have the best chances, because there were faster guys with more leg speed. My only choice was to increase the pace steadily and that was what I did at around 18km. First I was surprised that noone of the group could follow me and I was alone at km 19, running in 8th position with those 2 other guys still in front of me. At km 19,5 I passed 7th place and he had not much to oppose my attack. At km 20 I closed the gap to the 6th place and tried to push to the limit. The maximum lead I could get on him was 5 meters, but he always came back. With 200meters to go he started a furious sprint and I had no answer to it. Still I was not unsatisfied crossing the finish line because I knew I was under the first eight runners, that are usually called to the award ceremony. However, I also realised (too late) that some guys from the (early) leading pack faded a lot and in the results you can see that it was only 12 seconds to 4th place!!
That's it for the race report. Next days I will maybe write something more about my 4-day trip to the competition and the conclusions about the race (I guess I still have to figure it out myself and process the race myself).

start of the race (me in the right of the picture)

the last step

crossing the finish line

The advantages and disadvantages of getting grounded
Yesterday was the last fast workout before the German Halfmarathon Nationals - and it went horrible. I planned to do 2 x 5K in race pace, but ended up doing 3 + 2K (on treadmill). Apparently I overestimated myself and the speed was too high. Furthermore the whole system of legs, breathing and mind was not playing together - shit. Immediately afterwards I was struggling "quite a bit" with this disappointment but now I'm already one step further and got the right consequences from this workout: Now I know that I will not go out too fast for the first kilometers. In fact a time of around 32:30 minutes for the first 10K would be just perfect - let's hope there will be some guys running the same pace. Anyway, I have to give my very best and it won't be a piece of cake to go as close as possible to my PB of 1:08:06h.
Tomorrow will be the last day with "normal" mileage (25-30k) and from Thursday on I will taper off with maximum of 20k per day. I will fly to Germany on Friday night, with the race being held on Sunday 9.30 (german time). Further infos about the race you are available here and here.