Five Things Running: Issue #28
I have a huge Muskelkater and I like it.
Do you know what the German word Muskelkater means? Let me break it down for you. Muskel means muscle, that was easy. And Kater means tomcat. Confused? The term Kater is derived from the latin Katarrh or Catarrh, which we all know is an inflammation of mucous membranes in one of the airways or cavities of the body, usually with reference to the throat and paranasal sinuses. At least that’s what Wikipedia says about this. If you have a Kater in German, you might have a male cat, or a hangover after too much drinking - I don’t think anybody still knows what the original meaning of the medical term is or that Kater and Katarrh are connected. If you have a Muskelkater, than you have sore muscles, or your muscles have a hangover, so to say. Isn’t German an interesting language?
Anyhow, I have a huge Muskelkater in my quads today. On Friday I made a business trip to Munich and managed to squeeze in a nice 10 km run in the sun along the River Isar in the heart of Munich. Amazingly beautiful as well, also lots of naked people on the banks of the river on a lazy Friday afternoon.
On Saturday I got up really early and took a train down to Schliersee, about an hour away from Munich, to run around a beautiful lake and up a mountain to a peak at 1250 meters. The total altitude gain was more than 800 meters, which is more than I usually do in a month of running. This was so much fun, but also a lot of times just to steep for me to run. Also, all the beer and the pork roast and the dumplings the night before didn’t help, either. Still, I enjoyed all the 21 km I ran on Saturday, so much fun running up and down the mountain.
Anyhow, here are the Five Things Running you want to read this week:
UTMB: Up close and personal at the biggest, wildest trail race in the world
The is probably the best article about this year’s UTMB in Chamonix that I've read. It really captures the spirit of the event and shows the importance for the entire sport of running.
The Hyperspecialization of Trail Running Gear
As trailrunning keeps on growing as a sport, the gear gets more and more specialized. Can there be too many options? We all know about the paradox of choice and I just spent a few weeks looking for just the right pair of shorts, until I finally found one, much too the relief of my wife who just couldn’t understand the fuzz I made about a pair of black running shorts. I got these from fe226, highly recommended!
Shoe Selection for Healthy Runners
I don’t think I should even try to explain the essence of this article to my wife, hoping she’d understand that I need so many more pairs of running shoes. Also, I try to keep it simple as I usually just run on easy trails in the forests. But it’s really impressive how the author laid out the decision making process for getting the right shoes for the right occaison that suit your running style and your body.
Is It Time to Replace Your Running Shoes?
This is probably one of the questions most runners ask themselves every few weeks, or at least when they read the next announcement for a really cool running show.
gives a rundown (haha, great pun, I know) of all the arguments involved. As a heavier (and older runner) I tend to replace my shoes as soon as I think that they lost their pop, which usually coincides with a nice discount for a shoe I had an eye on for quite a while.My Training For UTMB Canyons 100k
I have run marathons and I’ve been thinking about running longer distances than that, but I don’t think I can invest that much time into running (and sleeping). It’s really impressive for me to read from folks who ran 100k about how they trained and what this all involved.
That’s all for now!
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