Yesterday I stumbled upon Kilimanjaro Marathon, and after a
bit of browsing and reading I decided I want to participate. It’s being held
for the 12th time and this years date is the 2nd of March 2014. Today I booked the event, hotel and flights. I'm off 2 the day before the run and will return to Lusaka the day after.
Why?
I have had "run a marathon" on my bucketlist over a period of time now, so it's time to just to it.
How?
My longest run since May 2013 is 8km (34 minutes), so this will be hard. I lift weights 7 days a week, and I am sure I will have to reduce the amount of resistant training. I will set up a program where I run about 5 times a week, as well as train the core and stretch (which I'm not very good at). Here in Lusaka it's about 25 degrees, so the heat in Tanzania shouldn't be a problem, as well as the elevation (Lusaka is 1500 meters above sea level, while the run is between 800-1200 m abs).
My longest run since May 2013 is 8km (34 minutes), so this will be hard. I lift weights 7 days a week, and I am sure I will have to reduce the amount of resistant training. I will set up a program where I run about 5 times a week, as well as train the core and stretch (which I'm not very good at). Here in Lusaka it's about 25 degrees, so the heat in Tanzania shouldn't be a problem, as well as the elevation (Lusaka is 1500 meters above sea level, while the run is between 800-1200 m abs).
I've consulted with my younger brother who is a long distance runner and got a few advice.
Training?
The training starts today! I'm going to run a 10k to at 14km/h and see how it goes. Tomorrow I will run a Hash-House-Harriers run in the woods (everything from 3 to 8k).
I'll keep the blog updated.
I want to run about 5 times a week, with a lot of long-slow-runs as well as 2000k intervals (4 or 5) and some 400m intervals (20-30).
I will try to run on tarmac a couple of times a week, but most of it will happen on a running track or the treadmill.
Injuries
I am a bit worried about injuries, and with a knee which I operated in 2007 I am a concerned all the running will damage it. But it's important to listen to my body and have a break when I need one. It's no point coming to the marathon limping.
Goal
At the moment my goal is to run it within 4:20 hours, but I am sure I will adjust this as closer as I get to the event. I would like to be on the top 3 European (the 3rd best last year ran into 4:08) participants
Last year
No Norwegians participated, and 243 participated. The fastest at 2:14:58, and the slowest 6:45 (the track closes after 6 hours this year).
At the moment my goal is to run it within 4:20 hours, but I am sure I will adjust this as closer as I get to the event. I would like to be on the top 3 European (the 3rd best last year ran into 4:08) participants
Last year
No Norwegians participated, and 243 participated. The fastest at 2:14:58, and the slowest 6:45 (the track closes after 6 hours this year).
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| Last time I ran in Norway, with my two younger brothers. 2010 (the middle guy won) |
