A trail race with a historic background: Efialtes trail 2014 (Anopaia Atrapos)

This is a trail race that I had in my sight for several years. But every time something was keeping my away from the starting line. So this was the time to do it.

Equipment used in this race: Shoes, Pearl Izumi EM-N1 Waist Belt, Ultra Aspire MBS+Quark Bottle, Ultra Aspire Human 8

Just after a month from my spring marathon and with limited trail time on my legs, I was happy to be in this race taking place on the unique historic trail through which Efialtes is supposed to have led the Persian army at the back of the Spartans who were defending the Thermopyles pass. The race is mostly downhill on technical terrain and there are many chances to sprain an ankle. The start is uphill through forest road initially and trails later on. But the last 10kms are all downhill taking runners from an alt of 1100m to almost sea level.

Even though this was not a key race for me, and the distance is quite short for my taste, I tried to push a lot from the start, and test my body against the fatigue from the training sessions I am having recently in preparation for the 180kms ultra run (Aethlios) that I am having in less than two weeks time. It worked out well. I was close to the leader throughout the uphill part and fell behind in third place at the downhill part, but not too far behind. I finished third overall in a field of more than 220 runners and happy for my effort. Also very happy that my legs were still in one piece after the brutal downhill. Quads were just a bit heavy after race, but that was all.

Time to slow down now in my tapering period before the Aethlios ultra on 16th of May.

Rotterdam Marathon 2014 - Back in action!

This was my second visit to Rotterdam for the well known city marathon. It was back in 2010 the first time and it was then that I broke the 3hrs mark for the first time in my running days. This year was also special in some ways for me. It is just 6 months after my serious injury - accident that affected my back and kept me almost 2 months out of any kind of training. My preparation for the marathon started mid January and had to fight with some pains at my back as well as my demanding daily (and many times weekends as well) work schedule. Since I follow my own protocol in preparation for the marathon, and I do it every time for the past several years, I could tell from start that even though my endurance was still there, I was not as fast as I used to be. My accident has affected posture and technique. Main objective was to get my motivation up and enjoy this period as much as possible. I also tried to stick to my protocol with the intervals and long runs without overloading my schedule. from start it was obvious that i was about 4-6 secs slower for my 1000m reps. I kept my focus on my running form and kept any bad thoughts out of the way.

When I stood at the starting line, I knew that my best possible time for this marathon would be in 2:43 and change to 2:47 and change. I started with a nice weather and kept a comfortable pace for the first 15kms. I was running in the area of 3:49/km even though the wind was slowing us down in some segments. This was a nice pace for me. Crossed the 1/2 marathon in just over 1:21. I kept going at more or less the same pace till the 34th km. Then I decided to give it a try for the fastest limit that I knew i could achieve. My legs were fine and still had juice left in them. But just a few hundred meters after I had this thought, a tightness at my right hamstring made me reconsider. There were still 7kms to the finish line. A muscle injury at this point would become much worst if I kept pushing it for 7kms. So I decided to slow down just enough to feel comfy till the finish. And so I did. I kept going at a 4:10/km pace till 2kms before the finish. I picked up the pace a bit when I was close to the finish and there was no risk. I was happy to see the 2:45 on the stopwatch when I crossed the finish line. 1 minute slower than my PB and the same as last year in Boston (which I consider as my best marathon considering the difficulty of the Boston course).

After the race I recovered very fast. Legs are back in shape with just a day of rest after the race. And looking forward for the next race!

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