Catching up

As I told last week I was going to compete with my brother in  Valencia in a race called San Silvestre de Valencia which is held at 8 p.m. too late for my taste, because you have to be all day anxious about that and controlling your nutrition.

Howerver, that was not the case this time around, We ate like pigs and drank a lot of soda, anyway, 3-4 hours before the race I ditched any food or drink, except wáter. We had not decided if We were going to race or We were to run the race as an easy day. In the back of my mind, I wanted to race, but the thing was that apparently ,  We were not be able to run properly due to the big crowd, but We arrived early to the race and positioned in the starting line, We were in the front row just behind the elites, so no excuse of not giving our best. At least I was Racing the race, my brother also raced. We warmed up 2.6k to get to the race, I felt good , I warmed up with my brother, Adelino, Willy who is a friend of Danilo and myself. The weather was in 18 Celsius, when I ran the 5k in Madrid it was in 5 celcius, so that might affect performance.

I did not wear a watch and when the gun went off  I just went out hard, Adelino was going to run at our pace, He is an accomplished runner that can run 18 mins or less in a 5k right now. Willy took off  ahead and never saw him during the race, He finished the 5.3k race in 30-31 mins, according to Adelino We passed him just before the 2k mark. He went out very fast.

I crossed the 1st k ahead of Adelino and my brother, but I could hear the voice of Adelino very close, I was feeling good at that point but not great, just before the 1k mark I had my right show untie, first time that that happen to me during a race, that got me out of concentration, but I never stopped to tie it, I finish the race with my right shoe untied.

After the 1k, Dan and Adelino caught me , but then I took off again for 1k or so, then they passed me again, and I was feeling really tired just before the halfway point, they built a gap of around 20-30m on me, but I could maintain pace, then again I caught them, and started to build a gap on my brother and never saw him again till the finish, Adelino then went with me for the second half of the race, which  was very difficult for me, it was a dead march and never in my life I had finished a race so tired, I could not even sprint, I was just holding for dear life.

The crowd was very supporting the whole race, but I just wanted to finish, Adelino really pushed me and was supporting me, but the legs did not cooperate, I was waiting for my brother to pass me, my last km was very slow, on survival mode.

Adelino took the time and I finished in 26:30 for 5.3k, which is 5 min per km or 8 min per mile, I was frustrated because compared to my last race that is very slow, I also finished much more tired in this race than in the last race. I dont find an explanation, but I am fatter and my trainin in the last month was not ideal, I also quit the gym, the gym apparently was helping a lot, I do better resume that.

My brother finished in 27:15, so I finished 45 seconds ahead of him, He ran very poorly timewise also, He want a revange but I told him that I am retired haha.

Then hang out for a bit, then We did again the 2.6k cool down to home, so it was 10+k for the day.

On Sunday I convinced my brother to do an easy run in The Turia Park, We ran at 11 a.m. 6k in 39:26,  the pace was very easy. This is the first time I do  measured run in more than 2 months.

This run finsihed up my week with 5 runs which was the plan.

Rested on Monday and Tuesday. I was so sore that even when I walked I was limping, again, I had not finished a race that tired.

On Wednesday evening at 6:10 p.m. I went out to do my usual route and finished in 37:06, just running pretty easy to clean up the lactic acid.

On Thursday evening, did the same route at 6 p.m., but this time I was much more recovered so sped up a bit more, crossed the halfway in 17:02, which is my normal pace, then after the 21 min mark, my watch`s batteries just died, so watchless runs wait ahead, but I think I did 35 high for the route.

I will run in about an hour, I have decided to lose a few pounds because I surely am fat, I am at 195 pounds and my face is like a baloon, I have decided to quit regular soda and drink diet soda instead,not the healthiest, but at least it does not contain any calories, also I will eat a bit less, I was just eating like a pig without control and I can pound the weight too easy and fast due to my consumption, I think eliminating the sugary calories is a good place to start. I wish I could just weigh 170-180 pounds again. We will see how it goes!