Karsten Pinno

New marathon PB

Ten weeks of training - intervals, pace, long sessions - were nearly over. In the period of tapering you can not improve your condition. There is only the opportunity to lose everything of your strength. I tried to become not ill the last week, but exactly this happened. My throat was hurting since Thursday. The night before the marathon I had to inhale because I could not breath through my nose. At 7 a.m. everything was fine. I eat some rolls and listened to some motivating songs. I do not have much memories of my race. I went to the start, said 'Hello' to the guys and then the first k was nearly gone(3:30). I went for a fast pace the first kilometers. I had some problems with my back and my right tibia. I was about to go out of the race. But then the next ks went really fast. There was a strong wind from the back. I took an gel(HIGH5 Isogel) at k 8,15,22,27 and 33. My half-marathon time was about 1:20(really fast). The wind on the Magdeburg water bridge and the way back was very hard. I don't even looked at my watch, because I felt like running on the spot. But I became better and better, took two in front of me and had only a 38s lag for the 3rd(90s at k 38). Especially for the last ks through the little forest I did an 3times 5k session about one week before the marathon. Last year I failed here. But this year my legs and brain were strong(Think of ono...) At the end of the day there was a new marathon PB of 2:45:41, a 4th place overall and the knowledge that a time of below 2:40 is possible.

I want to thank Holger for beleaving in me and the biking part, the supporting Ihleläufer-guys(and of course girls) and of course all people at the way.

For those guys interested of my training: My ten week training

About two weeks until race day

On October 24th I'll stand at the start of the Magdeburg Marathon and I'm really looking forward to. After a long season and many races this year my legs feel strong and I'll try to push for a new PB. As good as my running year was as bad was the year for triathlon. I could not save the good bike conditions from the beginning of this year. So my race at Challenge Roth(ironman distance) was slower than last year. I'll not join a long distance for the next two years focussing more time on swimming and my university stuff.

New half-marathon PB and 3rd place at Elbebrückenlauf

Last two weekends I joined two half-marathons at Hannover and Magdeburg. The fast track in Hannover has led me to a new PB, which now stands at 1:17:54. I dreamed of a time near 1:17:00 but maybe the first kilometers were to fast. The 10k time was 36:24(also new PB!!!). Last weekend I repeated my third place of last year at Elbebrückenlauf in Magdeburg. The situation was nearly the same. No opportunity for first or second and no one behind having the chance to catch myself.

New marathon record and first marathon win

My new marathon record is 2h48min and 28 seconds. It was a great run in Tangermünde[Link]. I achieved nearly two time identical parts which I (since now) failed all time. Beside this I won the marathon with a nearly 12 min lead. I want to thank Holger for the biking part, Maximo Park writing "Books from boxes"(I've often sung it in my mind.), Bryan Adams writing "summer of 69"(remember QCR 2009), Reese Witherspoon for her fascinating part in "Just like heaven"(I watched this film the day before.), my supporting running team [Link], the girl of the physio team and never the less all people supporting this event.