Monday, April 7, 2008

mission impossible

I badly forgot to mention a "small detail" in the picture of my injury and running plans:

some weeks ago, my wife insisted that we should go to Poland during the May 1st holiday period. (you can assume that she has some reason to go there...).
Our destination (area of Krakow) and the period matched perfectly with the CRACOVIA MARATHON (Krakow Marathon) ...
That coincidence, coupled with running the 10k in 33'30" just few days earlier, drove me to make my entry for the race.
I was calculating that running 5/6 long runs would have been enough to bring me to the start line in decent shape, enjoy a nice run in a nice city and to bring some "running spirit" to the otherwise long and tiring flight to Europe.
So I DID entered and felt injured only few days later...
Only 26 days left to race-day, and I have very bleak prospects. The leg is getting better, but nowhere close to be "pain free".
If I can resume some running, I will try at least to run the marathon as long training run, at least we will enjoy a good family outing in Krakow and have some good carbo-loading in one of the excellent restaurants over there.

I must really recommend this race if you have the occasion to join. Krakow is well connected to many European capitals with low-cost flight and the city is really a jewel in Central Europe. It is very compact, so it really fit a week-end trip (add 1 day if you want to visit the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau).
I did run this marathon also back in 2006 and it is well organized, with a start from the city park, a detour inside the old city and than a long run along the banks of the Wisla river to the industrial town of Nowa Huta and return. Good weather, pretty flat course, runner-friendly organization (a tent for change clothes is just few steps from start/end), not crowded (1000 runners).

1 comment:

Thomas said...

Thanks for your input on my blog. Just to quickly answer your questions:

- yes, the faster paces during the taper might have been a mistake

- I don't think the carbs depletion+loading caused a problem. I never felt low on energy, even during the worst part

- yes, I had tried the slim fast during a long run, 3 weeks before the race. Plus, I had used it during last year's ultra. I'm happy with it, and will most likely use it again.