Zapping the zero with an easy morning run + 6 x 20 seconds strides

Today I woke up early at 7:00 a.m., for me that is early these days, but that Will change. I want to become a morning person again, thus a morning runner. I remember that in Madrid, I woke up at 7:05 a.m. Monday through Friday, because breakfast opened at 7:15 a.m., and I wanted to be one of the first people to eat breakfast, I liked that solitude and the quietness of the morning. I did not run that early though, I ran at around 11-12 a.m. because I had classes in the evening, also so that I could digest breakfast.

Once you are out and running, morning runs are great, the only issue is the waking up part, but I do think that if you go to bed early ( I went to bed at 11 p.m. yesterday, which is very early for me), so that means 8 hours of sleep, which is more than enough. Eventually, when I start working, I ll have to run like in Santo Domingo, at 6 a.m. or after work at 7-8 p.m., but when I am working I prefer the morning runs, because after work you are just drined and tired. An easy run would reléase stress after work, but I personally would not motivate myself to do a workout on a regular basis after work.

Anyway, I really liked today`s morning run. Here in Spain start getting clear almost a 8 a.m. these days, so 7 a.m. wake up time is very dark, which is the same as Santo Domingo, when I woke up at 5:30 a.m. to run.

After waking up at 7a .m. today, I did not run right away, decided to turn on my computer and start applying for Jobs, got the most of that quiet time before going out to run.

I headed out to my run at around 8:15 a.m,(earliest that I have run in Valencia)  with 4 degrees Celsius, I wore my windbreaker and my hat, I felt very cold walking to the park. I did not eat anything before this. When I run first thing in the morning, I dont eat anything. On Saturdays I eat something because I wake up at 8:30 a.m., eat breakfast at 9 a.m. and start running at 11 am, so have around 2 hours to digest, also  I would be so hungry if I dont eat anything during that period.

However, as I know once I warm up on my run (after 10 mins), I feel just fine. Today I had planned to do 8 laps to the Blasco park easy. Legs felt much fresher today and when I crossed the first lap in 5:48, I knew that it was going to be a good day. Anyway, I just kept the effort easy, did not look at the watch until the halfway point which was 22:59. Kept the effort easy , but decided that in the last 2 laps I would do 6 x 20 seconds strides.

On the 6th lap the watch read 34:19, I felt really good and was surprised that I was running that "fast" at that easy effort, I bet the weather has to do something with it. On the last 2 laps did 6 x 20 seconds strides (3 strides per lap), and the last two laps were in 10:14 (5:11, 5:03). Felt pretty good in the strides. I did the strides so that the soreness could go away at last. I am still a bit sore from Thursday, but I know that tomorrow I ll be ready to tackle some intervals.

I finished the 8 laps in 44:33, my fastest time on that route at an easy pace. Then continued to run until I complete the 45 mins. Felt awesome at the end. Run is in the books!

Have a great start to the week!