Sofico Marathon Ambassador Program

The cold days are over (unfortunately)

With February being incredibly warm, I once again noticed that I prefer training outside on colder days. I feel like I have more energy and I genuinely enjoy running in the snow.

Longer runs and having to change my diet to not feel exhausted too early

With the runs getting longer I had to change my eating habits, since I was experiencing having less energy during the long runs. Changing my eating habits meant: eat more because I became a lot hungrier lately, especially on running days. I am usually content with only eating one or two bigger meals a day ( I am not a fan of breakfast) . This changed to eating three meals a day and also adding more carbs to my meals. The problem here for me is that I don’t really like the taste of most carb foods. So I needed to figure out what to eat to still enjoy my meals. Now I eat a lot of sweet potatoes and couscous with loads of veggies.

What I still want to improve until the half-marathon:

Improve my sleeping habits
Losing a bit of weight until the half-marathon (but then again… I am not a loser 😊 )

Recovering from my injury and getting back on track

After 1.5 months of not being able to be active due to my injury, I was very eager to work out again. To be frank, I was too bored and frustrated, so I talked to my physio therapist to at least start with dancing again. Going back to sport greatly improved my mood and before Christmas, after consulting my doctor again, I slowly tried to go on short runs, alternating between running and walking, to test if I can run without pain again. Thankfully, the runs where painless, so I kept going. I am still doing daily core exercises, to make sure I prevent further injuries.

Plans (not resolutions) in terms of sport for the new year are:

Start going to the gym with a friend to build up muscle
Getting properly back into rugby to be able to play in an international tournament in May in Rome (Italy)

A new start into a new year

Since running seemed to work out just fine, I figured I could start the year strong by also going back to rugby training again (without tackling or other body contact until the half-marathon!). Since it we are officially on a winter break in rugby, training consists mostly of playing touch games, which is a great HIIT training.

On January 5^th I went on my longest run so far (10.10 km). It was the first time since starting the half-marathon training that I experienced somewhat of a runners high. After reaching the goal of the day, I just felt like running so I kept going at a comfortable pace. It was a pleasant experience, since even after finishing the 10k I didn’t even feel too tired.

Now it has started snowing again in Munich, but loving cool weather and snow this won’t keep me from going on frequent runs. They will be even more fun, since I tend to have more energy when it is cold and to either dive into untouched snow after finishing a run or diving into the Isar river to cool down.

I am really looking forward to improve my running, it is getting more and more fun and relaxing to go on a run.

Edit: I always see that people tell that they lose weight after they started running. I only lost keys 😊

October 31, 2023

Then it happened, some days after my last 7s Rugby match (2^nd place!) I hurt my back. I could not move for several days without intense pain. The doctors were not helpful in trying to find the issue. Thanks to good connections I promptly got an appointment for a MRI a day later, where they found the exact issue. Now I am seeing a good physiotherapist, who is helping me getting back on track. I am really hoping that I still will be able to run that half-marathon, even though I am and will be out of training for quite some time!

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Annika Haase

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