It became quite a long summer delay in this blog. The normal routines were broken up by family life and many short travels around in southern Sweden. The training has not been very intense, but regular. My previous ambition to increase my rounds to 13 km has not really been successful. Instead I tried to run by the hour. I'm running for 30 mins and then turn back again. I was thinking that you could the "see" your improvements by the extra meters you would gain over time. Well, it doesn't improve that fast any longer. Anyway, I've kept to this training routine just for a change, I think I'll manage something like 11,5 -12,5 km depending on the track profile (and outdoor temperature).
There will be more challenges after this summer. I'm leaving my job position after 12 yrs at the same place. We will do a "total make-over" of our house including tearing down the middle part of the H-shaped house and also add an extra part on the north side. I'll probably be quite occupied by all these changes but I think that the running will be even more essential in order to make place for mental and physical restoration. I will also start regular gym training again, one reason is purely vain. I've noticed that my calfs have increased in size (39 cm in diameter) by the running and that is nice to my leg shapes - but they are now 1 cm larger than my biceps! Personally, I think that could do for female bodies but not for a masculine body sculpture. The other reasons are of course more normal - I need to keep the quadriceps very strong to stabilise my knee. Running helps a lot but not for short, heavy loads. Fx., last weekend I got some help to carry my wooden jetty that the last winter storm brought up on the landside. It was very heavy, I'll guess > 150 kg and we had to carry it over a slope of rock, at least 100 m. I was afraid of course to miss one step and slip away. I almost did, but I "saved" myself by hitting my leg (with the heavy piece) right beneath my bad knee. That has now become a problem during my running, in the last round I felt knee pain after 7 kms. I hope not my plan for the S:t Erik half marathon is in danger.
