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On the 2nd of September 2018, Alin and I ran on the hilly roads of the Kauai at the Kauai Half Marathon and Marathon. I crossed the finish line of my 6th half, and Alin earned the medal of his 3rd full marathon and an honourable 5th place. Everything you’ll hear about this race is true. They say it’s brutal. That it’s hot, hilly and humid. ALL true. But nothing can bring you down if you prepare for it. Race Expo The expo is open for the entire weekend of the race. It’s hosted at the Hyatt hotel, and even if you’re not running, youRead More →

2h40 marathon blog image

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How many times lately did you dream so big that you are frightened to even think about it? That’s where I am now. Ground zero. Only a dream. A big one! After enjoying a chillaxed 3h10 marathon on the hills of the Kauai island, I had to upgrade my dreams. This story is about how my 2h40 marathon story started. It wasn’t too long ago when Andreea and myself were running our first ever marathon, London. It was in 2016. I crossed the finish line after 3 hours and 49 minutes. Not bad for a first one but I failed my target of 3h30 –Read More →

fitbit alta hr review

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On the fence about buying a FitBit Alta HR? Or any type of fitness tracker? Then this blog post is for you. I still remember my first fitness watch. It was a warm summer morning, I was wearing a bright green t-shirt and my new stylish pixie haircut. I was ready for a morning run and started the activity on my also brand new Microsoft Band. And then I waited… and waited… and then left the house and waited a bit more. Finding the satellites on that tracker was a pain, and it got worse over time. Other than that, the watch was a beautifulRead More →

hitchin hard half marathon blog title

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At the beginning of this year, Andreea and I have pinned down a big dream of running a race in Hawaii. We found the perfect marathon and half-marathon combo on the Kauai Island on 2 September. Perfect, because we could make it the celebration of Andreea’s 30th birthday. Where to climb? If you don’t know already, the Kauai marathon has a particular challenge for the average runner: elevation. Even though it’s a road marathon, the course climbs to some of the island’s peaks. With over 2100 ft total climb, it takes the marathon runner to some impressive views. However, this race is “only” the finalRead More →

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Many runners know now that static stretches are not recommended during warm up. Then what do we do to prepare our muscles for a race or a training run? We used the following sequence many times and it had a positive impact on performance and how the body reacted to long distances. Here’s our running warm up, that we used even if we’re outside, next to the start line, in a hotel before a race or just preparing to leave our house for a training run. Running warm up sequence 1. 3 Sun Salutations (if we’re inside or have a mat) – full body warm-upRead More →

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After setting our goals for 2018 and signing up for the Kauai Half Marathon and Marathon event, we started training. Both in the gym and on the road. Luckily at the beginning of the year, I was allowed to work from home for two weeks, so I was able to join Alin on 2 of his weekly running workouts: hills and running intervals. Here’s what we did and how we modified for my level. 1. Hills workout This is one of Alin’s favourite type of running workout, and he wrote a few times about the benefits. 1. Warm up with a few squats, lunges and hipRead More →

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It’s that time again. Time to look back at the year that went by even faster than the previous one. To be honest, I’m surprised that I could find a few things worth mentioning because 2017 wasn’t our best year. We changed home, I changed my job and developing a new routine has been challenging. Plus, the constant uncertainty of what’s going to happen once the UK leaves the EU added some stress. But still, life goes on. And there’s one thing that didn’t change. We kept running. Races in 2017 1. [Alin] Southern Cross Country Championships Alin started the year with his first XC race.Read More →

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You finished your couch to 5k programme; you ran your first parkruns, maybe a 10k or a half marathon here and there, but you want to be faster. And of the handful of running workouts you can do to achieve that, there is one that’s at the core of speed improvement: intervals. The deal with intervals What is the role of the intervals? Let’s take a single mile as an example. You are currently running a mile in 8 minutes. You can split a single mile (~1.6km) in fairly even quarters of 400m each. When you run a whole mile, your split times for eachRead More →

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I ran the Chester Marathon in 2h 56min. The race review has its own blog post, but let’s also talk about preparation. And today in particular, about having a clear mind and warmed up muscles. Sleep well It’s not only your muscles that need to be in a good form, but also your mind. A good night sleep during the last few nights before the race is essential to keep your recovery on track. Don’t let those days pass and leave it only for the night before the race, you might not be able to sleep as well because of all of the scenarios going onRead More →

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I ran the Chester Marathon in 2h 56min. The race review has its own blog post, but let’s also talk about preparation. And today in particular, about nutrition. As I already mentioned, there are many things that can go wrong while running a marathon. Some of those you can’t do anything about (weather for example). But for a few, you can minimize or even eliminate the risk. Hydration I used the loo before the start at Chester, not because I needed to go, but the queue was reasonably fast, and I wanted to zero the risk of having to wee. But I could have skippedRead More →