BACK TO BERLIN: WEEK 1/2/3

“I hold it to be the inalienable right of anybody to go to hell in his own way.” 

― Robert Frost

Berlin Marathon 2012
My first and most memorable marathon

The Story of Berlin Begins...

In my search of finding an inspiring quote about individualism, I found the one above!

The words made me laugh, and I thought it is the best way to start my blog series on my way to going "Back to Berlin"!

No, I don't see running a marathon in Berlin as going to hell. :D Even though the process of the marathon training can sometimes be hellish - specially the mental process, in my case!

I feel the quote is apt for introducing the first 3 weeks of my marathon training because the sentiments of the words echoes, how I will be training this year: in my own way, no excuses and no feelings of accountability to anyone but myself.

You will read in my previous blogs about my (semi) "social abstinence", about how I will be sharing blogposts links, here:  a new FB page for this blog, 

The Life Behind Running 

DETOXING Happy Feet: On Blogging, Simplifying and Decluttering 2017, is part 1 of what hopefully will be a series of "what else is happening in the mind of a runner" training for a marathon. A runner, who has bipolar disorder.  

I would like to remember, when and how I separated, what I used to squeeze all together in my blogs.

This separation (of rambling posts and details of my training posts) is a good solution in dealing with  the persistent writer's block, which I constantly encounter in my attempt of consistently documenting my marathon training process.

If you read DETOXING Happy Feet, it will give you a whole picture of who I am as a runner.  Let's say that series is the chaos in my mind, which I constantly deal with, and this series of blog posts about the (technical and not technical) details of my training is my structure, which gives me peace of mind. 

Let me add, you do not necessarily have to read the Detoxing Happy Feet series,  and can simply follow this series, which will be "pure and simple" (I will try to KISS it! :D ) documenting of the details of my actual marathon training.

I leave it up to you!

I wish I were a cat or at least have the life of a cat...sometimes! Lazy but always limber. :D

The Statistics

Week 1 This week, I biked to warm up to running again.  It is my first week of biking after 4 weeks of break.  I need to build up slowly towards my running training to prevent past mistakes (i.e. burn out, injury!) from happening.

It was cold and freezing on the 18th of January!

16.01.17, Monday : biked 10 km   P brought M to school

17.01.17, Tuesday: biked 20 km

18.01.17, Wednesday: biked 20 km

19.01.17, Thursday: biked 10 km J picked up M from De Meenthof 

20.01.17, Friday:  REST

Jillian brought and picked up M from school

21.01.17, Saturday: 4 km leisurely walk with the family at the Zaansche Schans

Spending Saturdays with the family outdoors is the sublime meaning of quality time!
21.01.2017

22.01.17, Sunday: REST

Total: 60 km biking &  4 km walking  after  7 weeks of no running and 4 weeks of no biking



Week 2 This week, I accelerated my biking speed for my preparation to regular running routine. I am aspiring to run at least 4X a week.  This year, I will NOT permit myself to feel bad, if I don't reach this weekly goal; it is all about the quality of the run in the week rather than the quantity.

Abs are made in the kitchen. ;)
The September 2017 question: will I have abs to show in Berlin?! :D
My lunch last Saturday, 28th of January

23.01.17, Monday: biked 10 km  J brought M to school


24.01.17, Tuesday: biked 20 km

25.01.17, Wednesday: No school/ REST

26.01.17, Thursday: biked 20 km

27.01.17, Friday: REST   J brought and picked up M from  school

28-29.01.17, Saturday/Sunday: REST

Sunday lunch date with the extended family.
Celebrating what would have been the 100th year birthday of P's (my husband) father

Total: 50 km biking / 8 weeks of no running

Week 3 This week, I will start using the Zombies, Run! application as motivation for my come back to the running routine.  My running stats will still automatically be recorded with my Nike+ Sportswatch and synched online via Nikeplus.

If you are curious, which marathon training plan I am following, I am using the MyAsics personalised plan (for structure) in combination with what I have learned in the past 5 years of running.

I hope this year to be able to shed more light on how I train, than I have done in previous years.

I discovered this app on the 25th of January

30.01.17, Monday: biked  20 km / ran 4 km (average pace 7:21 min/km - 29:24 minutes )

How I fuelled my first run of 2017!

31.01.17, Tuesday:

biked 20 km  /
ran (well, actually I hobbled! I had massive muscle aches due to skipping on stretching, after my Monday run, my first for 2017 ) 6.72 km (average pace 8:19 min/km -  55:59 minutes )
blogged to get over building up anxiety***
slept last night - 4 hours

Detoxing Happy Feet Part 2 *** 

01.02.17, Wednesday:

biked 20 km/
RESTed from running (even though I would like to - runner's high craving is back! :D )
slept longer last night, than yesterday - 6 hours
Still On the Agenda* (will update later, if this got done*: NOPE, I did not get it done, today) : a session of Stretching* DONE Sunday, 5th of February

I am trying to give up coffee because it is not good
for my moods and nerves but this morning I gave in to my craving!

Zombies, Run app is absolutely fun!
I am thinking of making a separate blog series to document on
how it is motivating me to go out  and get my run done.

02.02.17, Thursday:

NO biking mileage today for school drop/pickup (K is bringing and picking up M from school!)
run plan: 5-6 km build up pace ( average 8 min/km)
OR training for tempo 4 km (7:00 - 7:30 min/km pace) RESTed from running

pre-run breakfast today at 08:58

slept bad again, last night -  5-5 1/2 hours (PMS'ing messes up my brain)

03.02.17, Friday: biked 10 km/ ran 5K  (average pace 8:45 min/km -  43:47 minutes )

Happy!!! 3rd run this  week.

My view right after I ended my run in our back garden

04.02.17, Saturday: Strength and mobility exercises (using BLACKROLL)

My phone was loading, so I did not have a cute picture of M, while she did the exercises with me and cheered me on.  I will try this  Saturday to make sure my phone has a full battery for Saturday morning fun!

Picture was taken on Sunday, 5th of February.

I placed it under Saturday because I did not take any photo of our brunch.

This photo is to remind myself how happy this weekend made me feel!
We all slept in until 9 am and had brunch togehter, excited to experience and share as much weekend as we can. all together.
I'll probably blog all about this @ My Daily Mooosings in the Netherlands.
In case, I don't get to though, I am taking a note, how it warmed my heart that eldest daughter, prepared brunch for Saturday and Sunday.

05.02.17 Sunday:

biked with the family 8 km in the afternoon

ran 5.16 K ( average pace  7:27 min/km - 38:29 ) accompanied part of the way by my beloved P and beloved M/

stretched -  1 hour session before I went to bed

Snippets of our Sunday below . . .

SO proud of myself! Thanks to Zombies, Run app, I managed to complete my goal of running 4 times this week!

In my fourth run, I tried the Race mission feature of the app and ran a 5K.

We snacked after my run before we all biked home.

Happy Harry, "Oh man, she is back with photo journalling!" :D

Total:  78 biking km / 20.88 running km


A great 3 weeks!!!


UPDATED  6th of February

NOTE TO SELF: The date of the post is when I started the draft, and at the bottom right of the page is the date I published and/or updated the blogpost.

06.02.17 18:36Monday