Watchless Run

I had several months without running watchless, so witht heat that is going on, I ran watchless today and I enjoyed a lot. I focused only on my effort. Sometimes I dont look at the watch when I wear the watch, but its somewhat different when you dont have the watch on. I ran at 7 p.m. today

Its a liberating experience. Probably I ll run watchless again tomorrow as I am bouncing back into the swing of things. The route was the same as the last couple of days, around 5k in around 31:xx mins.

Weather was hot, but I am used to it already. I finish with a very dry mouth/throat though!!

Have a great night!

Tired run

Today I headed out to run at 7:45 p.m. with the sun shining hard, and with temps in 34 Celsius, 15% humidity, so very Little humidity. I felt tired today, the quads sore and tired overall, felt thirst eventhough I drank a lot of wáter today.

Did the same route as yesterday and included a couple of strides in the last 500m, the strides were very controlled though, it was more for the soreness that I tried to loosen up my legs a bit. Finished with a time of 31:29, and the Split of the halfway ( of  my longer versión route) was 17:27, so right there I knew that the time was going to be slower than yesterday,

All in all, completed my run eventhough the heat was high.

Have a great Wednesday night!

Ramping up

Today I ran at 7:00 p.m with the sun shining very hard and the heat hitting strong. I wanted to run 30+ mins today so I did my normal route, but cut it short a Little, once I hit my normal halfway mark in 17:18, which is my normal pace I ended the lap in the Debod temple (without Turning around in the Debod temple) and got back to Guadalupe finishing the run in 31:10.

Felt good but a bit tired at the end. The heat was very hard, but I did not sweat too much, the heat here is dry, as opposed to the caribbean where you are soaking wet within 1 km. I did a couple of strides in the last 500m to loosen up a bit and to test the leg.

The leg is almost recovered, I say "almost" because sometimes when I am not running I feel it. However, during my running I am not feeling it at all. I am hydrating pretty well, and I ll keep taking in fluids, as I think that was the cause of the cramps, dont know for sure.

Happy to run without pain, I really love running!

Have a great Tuesday!

Zapping the zero

Yesterday I decided to rest.

Today I did  2 miles or my 20 min route, today I pretty much did not feel the tighness in my calf, so I am 95% recovered, so I am going to run longer tomorrow. I ran at 7:00 p.m. today with the sun shining hard and did the route in 20:44 with the first half in 10:33. I did not look at the watch during the run, just at the end. I did around  2 strides in the last 500m. The strides were short to test the legs, but fast enough to get the legs moving, the second stride was downhill so I did not have to make much effort to go faster.

I am really happy to be almost recovered, I ll keep hydrating myself very often so that does not happen again, its not pretty when you feel that pain and you are limping walking for 2 days for no particular reason.

Have a great Monday!

Short runs continue

Today I ran at 7:45 p.m., but at that time its very clear and the sun still kicking hard, today it was cloudy though.

I did the same route as yesterday and I did not look at the watch. The calf bothered me at the beginning like in the past days, but once I warm up, I am fine, but I just want to take things easy, because the pain that I felt was no joke, I literally was limping walking for a couple of days. Tomorrow Will be another short run, before going back to my route of 34 mins in my final week in Guadalupe, so I ll have another new route soon.

I did 20:52, with the first half Split of 10:35, just a bit faster than yesterday.

Have a great night!

Getting better

Today I headed out to run at 6:45 p.m. with the sun shining hard, I went out to do my 20 min route to keep testing the calf. I did the route in 20:58, first half in 10:38. Never looked at the watch, but I thought that I was going faster than what I actually ran.

The calf is getting better, but I still feel that tighness when I start running, I dont know if its because I start my runs in a hill, but I ll keep running those short runs till I am 100% . Weather was hot but managable, I kind of get used to the heat already.

Have a great night!

Back in Madrid catching up and injured again

Hello Hello!!

The trip from Boston was great, I really enjoyed Boston and I could meet with my father once again and the program was a blast. However, when I crossed a Street in downtown Boston I pulled my calf hard again and was limping the rest of the way. I lasted 2-3 days limping, so that meant that I could not run after my calf is healed.

I tried to run on Tuesday and only ran 90 seconds before stopping, then continued walking, and after I while I started running for several mins again. I felt the tightness in my calf, not pain, but tighness.

Took Wednesday off, and tried again today (Thursday). As soon as I started I felt the tighness and I thought that I was going to stop again within 2-3 mins, then when I took the flat terrain the calf improved and did not bother me so much, I could finish my 20 mins route, which I completed in 21:12. I felt good, but I have to take it easy. I dont know the reasons of those strains, dehydration maybe? I mean, not drinking enough wáter during the day, I dont know the real reason.

A lot of people say that is because of my excess running, I was not even running when that happened and I dont run anywhere close to the mileage I used to run, so that is not a possibility.

Things are improving, but my fitness in the last 1.5 month has been crap, I am fatter because of that and my excess eating. I really ate like a pig in Boston.

When I do have more time I ll upload photos from Boston!

Cheers!

Tempo run with Erick

Today  I ran with Erick at 11:30 a.m. and the goal was to run easy, but I knew that I had to be prepared to run faster because his easy pace is 8 min per mile or less. I wanted to push the pace a bit though, since I have been running easy for the last + month due to the injury.

We started at a good clip, I tried to stay as relaxed as posible, We crossed the first mile or what I guess is a mile in 9:35, so almost a min faster than my normal pace, I knew that the final time would be around 31-32 mins for my classic route, faster than I have run in over a month or 2.

I felt pretty good at at times I pushed the pace but staying relaxed, halfway point came in 15:48, I was surprised with that time since I thought We were going to run around 16:15, when I saw that Split and the second half is usually faster, I contemplated the idea of running sub 31 mins, but I wanted to stay as relaxed as posible.

I took advantage of the downhill and tried to increase my turnover, with around 7 -8  mins to go I tried to increase my pace to see if I could drop him , but I just could not He was running very confortable . After We climbed the big uphill I was huffing and puffing but I felt good at the same time because I shortened the stride and kept the same effort as in the flats, when We climbed the hill I tried to make up for the lost time, in the end We ran 30:46. which is around 1 mins slower than my tempo pace.

I felt very controlled but tired at the same time, maybe my increase in mileage since my last tempo run payed off, because the pace felt easier compared to those times when I run alone, maybe it was the company, that I felt the pace very controlled due to the other guy running next tome.

All in all, satisfied with the effort given my Little running the last month, this is my final run with Erick, at least by now. Tomorrow I fly to Boston to a MBA program and when I get back He Will be in the Dominican Republic already.

It was nice to share moments and runs with him, I ll miss my roomates for sure!

I ll take another week off due to my travel, I get back to Madrid on Saturday July 14th and I ll run on July 15th  because I ll get here very tired or maybe who knows I ll run.

Have a great week all, this week I ran every day so far, so 4 runs for the week!

Getting consistent for the inconsistency

Yesterday I ran at 6:30 p.m. and ran to the temple of Debod, crossed my usual halfway in 17:18, but my plan was to finish up there when I had 20-21 mins and came back walking. I stopped the watch when I had 21:23 and called it  day. The caughing continues a lot, but I am feeling good on runs, then walked the rest of the way.

Today I planned to run another 20 mins, but ended up being longer because I was running with a roomate called Erick ( I had run with him once before, but He trains way faster than me) and another girl Paola who surprised me with her good endurance, She hit the Wall very hard in the second half but She kept going and could finish, tough girl!

We got the El templo de debod which is basically my route, I crossed my usual halfway in 17:12, but instead of turning around We kept going to the point where We entered the park, so basically We did 400-500m less tan my first part of the bread and butter route.

After the big hill Erick and I waited for Paola running back to cátcher, We encouraged her to keep going and She did a great job! We finished the run in 34:01, this is my longest run since June 9th that it was the day I pulled the calf.

After that We played 1 hour of basketball so the exercise today was on point. Tomorrow I plan to run with Erick and probably Will be my last run with him here in Madrid since I am off to Boston on Friday and come back on Saturday July 14th, Erick Will be gone by then. All my close Friends and roomate are going, its a shame, but that is a part of life! I wont run in my stay in Boston, so more inconsistency, but I wont lose much, because at least I have been running 20 mins for maintinance purposes.

Have a great night!

Life gets in the way

I thought that the test runs were over, but on Monday I was sick with fever and the flu, and I pretty much dont run sick, I rested till Thursday where I did another 20 min run, the actual time was 21:02 and ran with Katherine. Felt out of shape and tired.

Rested on Friday.

Ran 20 mins on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday I did 20:34 in my 20 min route. I am caughing a lot, but improving a bit each day.

On Sunday I went with my roomtes to play basketball, but while they were playing basketball, I decided to run 20 mins in the court, at 15 mins I was sick of doing laps in the court and in the last 5-6 mins I was doing loops in a bit larger space tan the court. Total time was 21 mins. The pace was easy, but when I finished I could feel that was huffing and puffing, my lungs are still recovering from the flu.

Yesterday, I went out to do my 20 min route once more, when I crossed the halfway in 10:22, I decided to push the pace in the second half, not all out, but not easy either, finished the route in 18:48, so did the second mile in 8:26, and then completed a couple of mins to finish the run in 20:22. Its good to run faster again, today legs are a bit sore from that "fast " mile, but that shows how out of shape I am.

3 runs for the past week, this week I ll run 4 times, since on Friday I travel to Boston for a week. Running sometimes have to take a back seat, but I ll be back stronger than ever.

Today I wll run in the evening.