Week 18: 16 km.
Week 19: 15 km.

I ran 12 km today which marks another milestone on my road towards the half-marathon. I also tried some hill intervall training this week so overall it’s been a good week for running. Total distance this week: 30 km.

The map above shows my new running track. The yellow section is 4 km (one way), which makes for a good warmup/cooldown for the hill-interval section. I guess it would be better if it was closer to 1-2 km, so I could use more time for the intervalls part of my work out, but I can’t find a more suitable hill closer to where I live. The green part of the track shows the 400 meters long uphill section. The hill is called “Kvarnberget” and is actually tall enough to host a ski-lift. The height difference between the start and end part of my hill section is about 25 meters. The angle of incline increases as you approach the top of the hill which makes the last part especially hard. Running at maximum intensity I can barely manage 3 repeats.

A typical work out on this track consists of a 4 km warmup followed by 3×400 m uphill intervalls (mostly aerobic exrecise) and 3×100 m intervalls (mostly anaerobic) on the steepest part of the hill and finally a 4 km cooldown. The long intervalls take about 6-8 minutes (including rest and the run back down). The short intervalls take 2-3 minutes each.

This was the first week of school but I still managed to squeeze in 22 km of running. Homework takes precedence over exercise obviously so chances are that I will not be running a lot this fall. My legs are feeling a lot better/stronger now than in the past month so that is a big plus. I ran 10 km today in the rain and to my surprise I ran the distance 10 minutes faster than usual. All of the walking I get from when I go to school and back and when I walk from class to class up and down stairs really helps my muscles recover in between runs. I think my legs are ready for some hill training next week. I’ve scouted just the perfect hill too. I can hardly wait!

The temperature has dropped considerably during the past couple of weeks so right now it is just perfect for running. But it has also become more humid so I have to be careful not to catch a cold. I’m not sure what I should do once the temperature drops below freezing though. As I see it, I have 3 options:

1. Continue running outdoors during the winter.
2. Get a gym membership.
3. Invest in my own thread mill or exercise bike.

Running outdoors has the benefit that it would help build my stamina and general toughness. (I really want to try running in deep snow. Like Rocky in Rocky 4. It can’t be anything but great.) On the other hand, running in sub zero temperatures and on slippery roads could be dangerous and that is a big risk to take when I have important deadlines to keep.

Going to a gym to work out seemed like a good idea at first. Not only could I get on a thread mill, but there would also be other exercise equipment there that I could try. Spinning/Cycling for instance seems like a good alternative/compliment to running. But upon consideration I figure the 2 km walk/bus-ride to the gym and back could become a big de-motivator, especially with the tight schedule I have for the fall semester. I’m also not very comfortable exercising with a lot of other people. The roads on my way there would obviously be just as slippery as for option 1. It’s also a bit on the expensive side – especially since I’m not sure how often I will have a chance to exercise this fall considering the massive amounts of homework I’m expecting.

The third option, to buy my own exercise equipment, seems to solve the problems of going to the gym at the expense of versatility. The problem, obviously, is the huge initial investment.