Across the Alps 2012 or maybe later...

...my training diary of the last few months? Very briefly: January was good, February and early March pathetic, late March ok, April somewhat lazy and May good again...
June will be a blast and the 25th a real test, since I'll be running the Neander-Trail, the smaller sibbling of the Cro-Magnon (the one I'm doing all this for...). The Neander-Trail 2011 is basically the second half of the Cro-Magnon 2012, i.e. it has "only" 56,4km with 2800m positive and 4500m negative altitude change. I need to finish it in order be allowed to the Cro-Magnon next year. My modest goal for the Neander-Trail this year is hence "qualifying". Any time below eight hours I would consider a triumph...

But here is what happened in the last few months:

A half-marathon in late March I ran in a fairly fast 1:36:41, only to be grounded again by the Vienna Marathon in the middle of April, which I finished in a mediocre 3:40:47. I started too fast and had done too few long jogs - stupid beginners' faults.

Anyway, since May my training is doing fairly well: I have started to run home from work through the hills above Vienna. Running up and down hills is a real game changer, as the strain on the connective tissue is lessened. Hence, last week I was able to ran a total of 100km, something which would have probably brought me into an ICU a few months ago. On recent Sundays I ran 33,3km with +-1300m altitude change up an down a local hill, confuzzling sunlight strollers and betroddling able amblers. People's faces change from ignorance to a rainbow coloured from disbelief to ridicule after you run past them for a nth time. Looking at them you wonder when exactly you became a lunatic and why it feels so normal...

Anyway, lunatic schmulatic - here are the nerdy facts:

January

No of Runs: 18
Total Distance (km): 269,7
Longest Run (km): 30,9

February

No of Runs: 5
Total Distance (km): 42,0
Longest Run (km): ~15

March

No of Runs: 15
Total Distance (km): 233,3
Longest Run (km): 30,5

April

No of Runs: 9
Total Distance (km): 151,9
Longest Run (km): 42,2

May

No of Runs: 17
Total Distance (km): 308,7
Longest Run (km): 33,3


Credit:
Past these hopeful flowers I will hopefully hop hoping I'll make the last few kms on the 25th. Taken @ "Tete de Chien" by Francesco Berlucchi close to the finish...