š Moinsen, everyone!
I really enjoy writing these newsletters, to be honest.
Although thereās not much direct feedback apart from a bunch of ālikesā here and there, I have no idea which of the parts you find most interesting, and which you donāt. Let me know! Just reply or hit ācommentā. Thank you!
š½ Training Update
Five more weeks to go until I will try again to become a Sub-3-Hour Marathon Runner. As a reader you might remember, in April of this year I came incredibly close with 3:00:40 hours, so it should be possible.
Training is tough, though, no surprises there. I enjoy it a lot to see the progress and do these speed sessions which nearly completely drain my powers. A bit too much, apparently. During the previous week, I accidentally did three speed work session, which is arguably too much to digest. Most training plans advice for one or two per week at the most.
Monday was a mix between tempo and intervals as I did 2x 5,000 meters at race pace of 4:10 min/km
Wednesday, I did long intervals: 4x 2,000 meters at 4:00 min/km
And Friday evening, there was a 7.5 kilometer race which I finished in 5th place (of around 100 participants Iām guessing) with an average pace of 4:00 min/km again.
While I managed to do quite well on all three and hit the pace targets, I got the bill during the weekly long run on Sunday. Those three hours and 35 kilometers took everything from me. This wasnāt productive, I realized.
So I decided to dial back my training plan slightly and favor less speed work, but make that more intense and faster. This week, I started Monday with a really easy 5k, recovering from the 35k. On Tuesday I tested my new trail running shoes during a 7k, and on Wednesday, my friend Mathias and I went out for 13 kilometers while talking and enjoying the scenery and weather. Itās been great running.
Thursday, I was ready for intervals again. And that plan worked out pretty well: 6x 800 meters at 3:40 min/km was the plan, but I did them in ~3:35 steadily. The fitness is definitely improving and Iām looking forward to this weekendās long run. Iām sure it will go down a lot better.
š New Gear: Speedgoat 5 & Polar Verity Sense
I am really happy about these new additions to my running gear. The HOKA Speedgoats are my new go-to trail running shoes. I donāt do much of trail running at the moment, but winter is coming and with it, the 106 kilometers of the Templiers Endurance Trail race at the end of October. I desperately needed new shoes for it because the old ones were done. Hoka had supply chain issues āĀ especially concerning my size of shoes: US 14 / EU 49. Thankfully, finally, they arrived. The first few runs in them were great.
Next up is a new sensor to measure my heart rate. For speed training itās highly informative to take a look at the development of the heart rate during the weeks of focussed training. So I usually used the standard device to measure it, which is a chest belt ā quite uncomfortable, especially on long runs. The GPS watches can measure the heart rate via infrared cameras monitoring the skin on the wrist, and while thatās more comfortable, the data is notoriously unreliable. Along comes Polar Verity Sense. A kind of mix of both worlds. Itās a strap which is meant to be worn around the upper or lower arm and also works via infrared. Somehow they have improved the technology so much so all the tests and reviews approved high accuracy. What Iāve seen so far from my own tracking is that it seems to produce good data. Tip of the Week! And thanks to my friend Rasmus (š) for telling me about it!
šļø Ultra Trail du Mont-Blanc LIVE
While Iām writing these words, on Friday night, I have the great livestream of one of the biggest (maybe the biggest) ultra trail races in the world running. The UTMB. With 170 kilometers and 10,000 meters of elevation gain plus 10,000 loss, itās not just one of the toughest, but one of the prettiest, too, circling the massive Mont Blanc. The worldās best trail runners come here to compete. This yearās favorites, Jim Walmsley (USA) and Kilian Jornet (ESP) are currently running next to each other, a few hours in. They are running through the whole night and a huge part of Saturday before finishing the 170 kilometers back in the town of Chamonix. And we can witness it live, which is great and highly unusual for a trail race. When you read this on Saturday after itās published, take a look! They might be on the course, still. Incredible athletes.
š§āš» Website Updates
Iām still having too much fun working on improving the website, teesche.com these days. New this week:
New navigation look. Itās modernized, streamlined, and requires less clicks / tabs now. Find what youāre looking for, faster!
The start page has no book reviews anymore, only the articles / posts. Books can be found, like before, in the /bookshelf page. The previews of the posts look nicer now, too.
New updated /about page. I took the time to write down my motivations for starting the blog in the first place and parts of my journey towards it. This might be a bit self-indulgent, but itās a personal website, so I think itās fine! Let me know what you think.
New typeface: š¤ I came across a great new typeface on a technology blog which immediately screamed at me to use it. Itās called āInterā, and itās beautiful, I think. One of the best features of it is the ambiguity removal option, which makes capital āiā look a lot less like lower case āLā characters. Same for the number zero and the letter O. I think a font is great when itās simple and letters are unambiguous. It must be easy and pleasant to read. And thatās what āInterā does perfectly. I hope you like it, too! Itās now everywhere on the website.
š New Book Notes
I took a little break from the heavy and smart Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, at around 40% of progress. I love it, but itās long and I needed a break. So I started reading lighter books ā by the guy I mentioned last time, Derek Sivers.
I finished his short book, āAnything You Wantā and published my notes here, as well as recorded them as a podcast episode for you. Itās a book about his journey as founder of a small company which then grew to 85 people before he sold it. He offers lots of wisdom and lit a new spark in me for my own business with it.
Afterwards, I immediately went on to read his newest book, āHow to Liveā, which is funny, but equally full of wisdom. Almost finished it by now.
šŖšŗ EU Marathon of the Week
For this week, I chose Prague in the Czech Republic. šØšæ
This is one of those marathons I would immediately run again. Not only because it was an exceptionally pretty city with great crowds, but also because I unfortunately had to battle a cold while I ran it, which made it not so enjoyable at the time.
Thereās always a reason to visit Prague, and a marathon race isnāt the worst one.
Thatās it for this weekās newsletter, I hope there was something in it for you ā please let me know what you thought and what you would like to read more of!
All the best to you and have a great week, enjoy the last few days or hopefully weeks of summer in case youāre on the northern hemisphere, and take care!
ā Teesche