Catching up

 I got  Polar GPS and raced a 5k race on Sunday (yesterday). It did not go as planned. Not because of the watch, I think the watch helped because it let me know when each km was as the course was not marked. I am posting my workouts on strava as its easier now that I  only have to upload the activity. Basically I got out well for the first 2-3k and then bonk in the last 2kms. I did just under 25 mins I think. Splits as per the watch are: 4:43, 4:44, 4:55, 5:17, 5:07. The first 2 kms were downhill, last 2 were uphill. Anyway, I dont know whats happening, on May and June I ran 5 races and all were in the range of 22:42 and 23:05 because there were different courses. Almost 2 mins faster than now and training one day less per week.

I have come to the conclusion that I run well off 5 days per week of running, instead of 6 runs. It seems that with 6 runs, i dont asimilate the training well, whereas with 5 days of running per week I trained hard but at the same time was fresh and looking forward to my workouts. 

I have decided that for a while I will get back to 5 runs per week and see if that makes a different, as 25:00 for 5k is just too slow (in my case) given that I did 22 a few months ago and my training has not changed much, nor I took months off running, just a couple of weeks due to sickness/ injury. I dont understand.

Today I did 10.56 kms and worked my pace down to 5:55 pretty easy, and in the race I reached 5:17 huffing and puffing, i dont know the reason. Ok, no more complains, back to 5 runs per week and see what happends, the structure will be the same, 2 workouts per week, 1 long run and 2 easy runs. From time to time, will push the long run a little and want to run more than 2 hours. Taking advantage of the cold weather to run long. 

Evening easy recovery run

 Today I ran at 6:30 p.m. in the blasco park very easy to recovery. Felt pretty good today despite the right leg bothered me for the first 200m or so, then it went pretty well. Decided no to look at the watch and just ran easy. Finished the 7.5k total in 47:25. I wore my windbreaker today and I felt pretty good, not cold, not hot. 

Today I finally after a lot of time my brother suggesting me, I ordered a GPS watch for the first time. In my 19 years of running, I have never worn a GPS watch, and on Saturday I will wear one for the first time. I love the simplicity of running and even race my races watchless. However, in the past year I have not improved the way I wanted despite training hard and only resting when I had COVID 19. A watch wont make me run faster, but maybe will allow to analize my training ( DATA)  better, we will see. Maybe I will get tired of it pretty quicky and go back to my 10 EUR basic watch. 

I am even considering racing with the GPS on Sunday 5k race. I wont look at it though, so its the same as running without, but I will be able to see my splits post race and not eating my head wondering is the distance is accurate or not. 

When you are not running in a certified course, it can get really frustrating, you dont know if you ran 4.9k, or 5.1k, or 5.04k or whatever. The GPS is not 100% accurate, but gives a pretty good idea. Also it gets frustrating when you are racing watchless and there are no km markers on the course, you pretty much are running blind, or sometimes there are markers, but you are running with so many people that you miss them.

And last, but no least, here in Valencia you pretty much run in mass races, where you are not really racing, you have so many people next to you, that you cannot focus on one person, or another, its difficult to explain. But head to head competition here is very difficult, unless  its a little race like the run for the oceans that I was battling head to head with a guy in the last km. But other than that, you pretty much are in a parade, and you have to run your own race, because if you compete with other, you dont know if that person went out 30 seconds behind you, or 20 seconds ahead. 

The idea is not to look at the watch, but if for whatever reason I want to look at it, at least I have the option. 

Also with a GPS watch it will be much easier to upload the data on strava. 

Decent evening interval workout: 5 x 1000m

 Today I went to the Turia park at 06:40 p.m. already dark with my brother. We were doing completely different workouts though, but did the warm up together and the cool down. The plan for me was to do 5 x 1000m with 400m jog rest. I had more than a year that I did not do 5  x 1000m as we always do 4 x 1k, but if we want to move the needle we have to push ourselves and its time to to increase to 5 x 1000m. To be honest this workout went much better than expected. I thought that with the disaster that I did on Sunday, 4:45-4:50 would be a real struggle today, but I did much better than expected. Not my usual splits, but not too far either, and I did 1 repeat more than usual, which hurts a lot more. 

I warmed up 16 mins easy and then did some leg swings, and then did 4 x 100m strides at the pace that I wanted to run the workout, splits were 27, 26, 27, 27 and felt easy and controlled. 

Then started the workout. Splits were: 4:36, 4:38, 4:28, 4:31, 4:24. First 2.5 repeats were with  a head wing. 3rd repeat was out and back. Very happy and satisfied with the workout, these splits dont reflect at all my performance on Sunday. I signed up for a 5k on Sunday in a county, I should run better than on Sunday, but given that is not a certified course, I cannot trust the distance, but all in all this workout tells me that I am in much better shape than I showed on Sunday.

Today I wore my windbreaker for the first time. The weather was in 14 degrees, but it was at night with a bit of wind. If I had worn short sleeves, I would not warmed up at all. I think that affected me in the race. After our warm up, we lasted in the starting area for 30 mins and we lose our heat in that waiting. when the gun goes off, you basically are huffing and puffing cold. Another thing, is that I did not do strides and I think that affected me as well. 

From now on, I will incorporate strides at the pace I want to run the race/ workout. That worked pretty well today. 

My brother did pretty well in his 4 x 1 mile with 1 min rest at 10k race pace. He did better than race pace and felt pretty good. 

He is training for a marathon in February and I am his coach. Lets see if I can make him run sub 4 hours. 

16:22 easy cool down to home. Around  10k for the day. I was afraid to wear my wind breaker at the beginning, because I thought that I would fry myself once I warmed up, but that was not the case, I did just fine with the windbreaker and never felt hot, quiet the opposite, I thik that I still ran cold.

I always say that this weatther only helps on long runs and race over 10k. For races under 5k and under , cold can be an hindrance especially for us slow runners that cannot enter the corral within 5 mins before starting the race.

No more complaining, in my book I ran a good workout. 

Evening easy run with 6 strides

Today I headed out at 06:45 p.m. to run to the blasco park. I waited so long, because I was still full from my lunch, which was delicious. Chinese food. Felt pretty good today on my run. The weather was cold, so I felt the cold in the first 5-10 mins, but then felt just fine. Everyone was covered head to toe, but there I was in shorts and short sleeve t shirt. I did 8 laps easy and in the laps 6 to 8 I incorporated 6 strides at a controlled pace. Testing the leg more than anything. Did not look at the watch today and kept the effort easy. The leg did not bother except in the first stride. After the first one, it kind of loosen up and I felt pretty good. 

45:09 total for the 8 laps including 6 strides. Felt fine.

Tomorrow interval work. 

Afternoon run

 As I said yesterday, I am off from work until December, so at  4 p.m. very cloudy, windy, almost raining, the forecast showed 80+ % of rain, I did not want the rain affected the run, luckily it did not rain. Today I just ran easy to recover. Felt better than expected. Thought that I would struggle, but I felt pretty good and although sore, felt somewhat fresh. Kept the effort easy. Went to the blasco park from my home and did 8 laps in 46:33, very confortable. Last couple of laps were in 5:30 per lap. It only shows that easy runs does not have to do at all with your real fitness. I am feeling pretty good in easy runs and the pace is the same (or faster) as when I am in good shape, but in workouts and races I am light years back. Its time to get consistent again, the leg did not bother at the beginning given the cold, which was good, but it bothered me at times in the middle of the run. I could run through it.

7.5k total. Tomorrow I will get in a few strides. 

Awful race but sometimes you win and sometimes you lose

 I could not run Friday and Saturday, because on Friday when it was time to run, it started raining pretty hard so I could not run. Yesterday the whole day raining.

Today was race day, it was a "5.55k race" called volta a peu de les falles which is held in the centro of the city and I had not done that race before and I wanted to do it for fun. My last 5 weeks of training has been very poor with my right leg problem and the inconsistency of the last 3 weeks showed up today. I thought that the Thursdy fartlek was an indication that I did not lose all that fitness, but today´s race suggest quiet the opposite. Did not have it today. The good news is that my brother did decent and that gives him confidence in his training for the marathon which he will run on February.

I warmed up 1k walking to my brother´s house then he gave me my bib which was 666 btw.Then we warmed up to the race. I warmed up 18 mins something and he completed the 20 mins. I did not do strides, just some legs lifts in the starting area. We waited around 20-25 mns in the starting area, which seemed like forever and with the temps in the 12 celsius or so, you get cold pretty quickly, but if you dont get on time on the corrals you are far behind and then its impossible to run your pace, thats one of the cons of being slow, you cannot warm up closer to the starting time. 

The gun went off and I went out what seemed confortable, but then realized it was too fast and after the 800m or so people were passing me left and right, and in the 2.5k mark I was out of the race mentally, I just was in survive mode and wanted it to get done, my brother passed me just before the 3k mark, he passed me at a speed that it seemed that I was walking and he was running, I knew right there that he would defeat me today. First time in 7 years. After that dozens and dozens  of people passed me and I could do nothing about it, after the 4k mark I ran easy for around 100m just to finish easy, but then decided that I would push some more and increased effort again. That did not avoid that people passed me.

The best part of my race was when a kid flew by me in the final 800m and then suddenly he stops around 10-20m ahead, as I was passing him I gave him a pat in the back and told him to come on, only 800m to go, then another man encouraged him as well and he said thanks to us and started like a bat again and dissapeared again ahead. I feel good because we encouraged him to keep going and not surrender to the pain, it worked. When I saw the finish line video he built a gap of almost 30 seconds in around 600-700m. In the final stretch, I move the legs as fast as I can and then turn right to the last 100m and pushed hard to finish fast, but did not have the sprint that I usually have. Finished in 28:02. My brother´s GPS read 5.66k, so I think I did it in 4:58 per km or something like that. I felt awful and I think this is my worst race in around 4 years, but it is what it is, I started out too fast given my current fitness level and I payed the price. I think that I will get back to normal once my training starts being consistent again. I basically ran the same pace for 3.4k more and feeling much better 6 weeks ago. Also I dont like the cold weather in short distance, you never seem to warm up and when you warm up, given that you have to enter the starting are early, you kind of get cold again. Well, no excuses, but it was terrible. I am trying to find true reasons for the bad performance, but I cannot find a strong reason. My brother finished in 27:12, 4.49 per km. When he passed me he was doing that km in 4:35, I probably did it in 5:10, his speed was very superior in that very moment, 

After the race, we talked for about 10-15 mins and then started our cool down to home. I did 17 mins easy running and 1k walking and called it a day. Around 10 k for the day. 

3 runs for the week. 

I have been with a strong headache the whole day, my worst post race headache as well with my worst race in a while. At least this day is finishing and from tomorrow on and until December 7th I am free from work, yea on vacations so I could dedicate my mind and body to train a bit, or should I hang them up for good and let talented people run?

Have a great Sunday everyone!

Farlek night workout

 Yesterday was a day off. I said that I was going to run in the morning, but I did not. In the morning my leg bothers me a little and an extra day wont certainly hurt the leg. In the evening I was in the movies and I could not run. I must admit that I have been pretty lazy to run in the morning given that its the coldest of the day at tht time.

Today I ran after work at 7:15 p.m. but already dark. Today I had planned a fartlek workout, but not too hard, just 6-8 x 1 mins repeats with 1 mins easy running in between. I want to play it safe because of the race that I have on Sunday and because of the right leg. 

I warmed up 15 mins easy ( did not do strides) ad move my legs back and forth to loosen up and waited around 2 mins before starting the fartlek. I did 8 x 1 mins fast and 1 mins easy in between. I stopped the watch at 15 mins and was huffing and puffing, but felt really strong and good. The leg behave, but it was bothering me a bit. I did a bit more than 3 laps and averaged sub 5 mins per km including the recovery, so better than expected really. Stayed hungry for more, but given that the race is close and have to take care of the leg I called it a day at 8 repeats. Then did 3 laps cool down in 16:56 ( 5:50,5:37,5:29). Felt pretty good and strong. I hope to feel like that on Sunday, but I have to admit that I am a bit overweight and not sharp enough to run sub or close to 23 mins in the 5k like in May / June. 

Good workout and good evening for running. Shorts and short sleeve. By now dont need to wear more than that, but on Sunday as the race is early in the morning, I probably will wear a long sleeve shirt, although not sure. 

Have a great Thursday!

Easy night run

 Yesterday was a day off. I ate fried chicken instead.

Today I ran with my homemate. We went to the blasco park at 7:20 p.m. but at that time is already pretty dark at this time of year. We did 8 laps in the blasco park at a good clip. I ran watchless today as I wanted to keep the effort easy. I wore short sleeves, but it was cold. No wind though, so I was fine. 7.5k total feeling pretty good. The leg bothered me as usual in the beginning, then I can run just fine, but I feel it bothers me though. In the last 1.5 lap Miguel built a 100m gap until the end. I just decided that I would not try to match his move. Around 45-46 mins according to Miguel´s watch.

Tomorrow morning I will do a fartlek workout as I am going to the movies at night. 

Afternoon steady state run

 Today at 5:10 p.m. I headed out to the Blasco park to do my old 8 laps, starting from home of course. This was supposed to be an easy run, but I felt good after 10 mins so decided to make it a progressive run. I felt good and controlled, but in the last lap I was hufing and puffing and felt like I never warmed up, in fact at the end my ears were bothering me a bit, because of the cold wind. I ran in short sleeves, because for 16 celisus, you dont even need wind breaker. Splits per lap were: 5:33, 5:13, 5:00, 4:56 4:51,4:51, 4:25. Felt controlled until the last lap, then the effort was big. Finished in 42:11, so 4+ mins faster than yesterday. This was not an easy run, but it was not a hard run either, something in between. Thats why I titled this entry " steady state". I must admit that that slow pace of 5:20 per km neuromusculary feels fast, I am getting old quickly. 

The right leg was bothering me in the first lap, but then felt ok, did not bother me much durin the faster part, so that its good news. 

3 runs for the week. The last 3 days of the week, but this is the beginning of a hard training cycle. Back to 6 runs per week. 

Nice weather today, but on weekends its much better to run in the morning, when you run in the evening, you pretty much have that pending the whole day. Time to switch back to weekend morning runs, next week. 

Afternoon easy run

 Today the right leg was bothering a bit in the morning. I did not have plans in the evening so I ran in the afternoon. I ran at 5:30 p.m. in the blasco park. The goal today was to run my normal run which is 45+ mins and not stuck in the 32-35 mins for 1-2 weeks, thats what I did after I was recovering from COVID on August, but now I feel pretty good, so its best to get back to my normal runs right away. I will have to be careful on workouts. Did 46:16 for 8 laps in the blasco park, my 7.5k route. Mentally it was long, but I felt pretty good on the body. The weather helped a ton, I barely broke a sweat. The last 2-3 laps were already dark and basically I was alone in the park exercising. Again wore shorts and short sleeve. I dont know how exercisers can wear long sleeves on 17-18 celsius.  The righ let bothering me at the beginning, but then it felt pretty good, I barely felt it after the half. A good sign. 

Felt good. I hope to get back into the swing of swings quickly.

Back to training after 9 days off

 Today I finally was back to training after 9 days off. It was a mix of lazyness and wanting to heal from the ciatica pain. Today enough was enough and after work at 07:15 a.m. already dark, I headed out to the blasco park and did 35:25 total time. The pace was the same as always and I felt pretty good, the lost in fitness did not show. However, its on workouts that you realize how much fitness you have lost. The pain in my hamstring went away, but my pain in the ciatica has not. Its clear that rest its not the answer. I could run through it, but it was there. I will keep running through it though. Besides that issue, I felt great and weather helped a ton. Running in short sleeves, it would be too hot to run with a windbreaker. All in all a good run and if the injury behaves, I will probably do a race next Sunday of 6+k. Its a race within the circuit of Valencia that I have not run and its in the center of Valencia, in the metropolitan area. I ran a portion of it in the 15k night race, but in the next race, I would run during the day.

I have been eating like a pig so I have put on weight. Its nice to get back to running, because I was moving towards the dark path, I would be lost without running. I would be obese. I eat too much.

 I got to get back to 73 mins in 15k race like in 2019. I will try to run sub 1:15 on February 15k Abierta al mar. This year its in 2 days, but given the circunstances I wont do it this year, I hope that next year they follow their normal schedule and is held in February hopefully. Lets see how it goes, but I wont let that all my fitness gained this year go to waste.

Have a great Friday!

Catching up

 A lot of time without posting. I was in my country from October 16 until November 2nd and I did train there. I have to say that the heat there is nothing compared with the temperature here in Spain. However, once you get used to the heat, you run pretty good and feel good. When I came back here in Spain the weather was below 15 degrees and it was somewhat unconfortable, once you get used to the caribbean. Of course you run better in cold weather than in hot weather. I wanted to do a tempo run there or an interval workout at the same times that I do here in spain, but its a pending homework. 

I ran 6 times on the first week, it was an adaptation week,but by the end of the week I was already used to the heat, but the first few days I was dead and on easy runs and was huffing and puffing.

All my easy runs were 60 mins in duration and the last kms were sub 6 mins per km. I did 2 workouts in the first week: 1 day I did 3k warm up easy in 19:58 ( no strides) to the mirador then did 1x 1600 and then 5 x 400m, 7:17, 1:35, 1:49, 1:47,1:44, 1:41 and 3k warm down in 20:15. I was dead and soaked wet after this workout, as you can see the 400s were way slower than I am used to in Valencia. However, that day was only our 3rd day there and I was not adapted. I ran 20 seconds faster than my brother in the mile, but he defeated in the 400s.

The second workout was on Friday in the mirador as well, did 3k warm up in 19:58 again (no strides), then did 5k tempo run in 25:21, 4:53 first km , half in 12:29,but ran a positive split. I felt good, but did not have another gear, and i was still adapting to the heat. My brother did 25:49, but after the 500m I was alone.

On Saturday, I did 1 hour easy in the conservatory incorporating 6 strides in the last lap, but in the afternoon I was sit and when I woke up I started to limp because of a Ciatica problem in my right leg, that was the reason that I could not do any sustancial workout after that. All my runs after that were limping in the first 5 mins.

On Sunday did 60 mins again, 6 runs for that week and 2 workouts.

Next week did 5 runs, 3 runs of 60 mins in the conservatory ,one run of 40mins ( this was the last run in the Dominican Republic and cut the run short because my ciatica was bothering me a lot) and did a marathon pace run on Friday also in the conservatory, did 15 mins easy to warm up (  no strides), then did 6 laps at marathon pace, goal was 33:00,but did 31:38 with splits of 5:20,5:27, 5:16, 5:16,5:14,  5:05. I am in good shape and this did not take out a lot from me specially in the heat, did 15 mins to cool down. Did around 11k for the day. 

After that last run of 40 mins I did not run until Wednesday to give my leg a break, next run was last Wednesday 3/11 and was the same day I arrive Valencia.  In the evening at 5:45 a.m. , Did 44:44 for my usual route in the Blasco park, Started full because I ate lunch late, but in the last 2 laps did 5:00 and  4:53, so finished feeling good. The leg behave well, but the next day was bothering me and I have not run since then. Its getting dark at 5:50 p.m. so all runs will be run in the dark ( except on weekends).

Today I will get back to it, walking, the leg is not bothering me much although I feel something, lets see how it behave during my run this evening

It was good to see my father and my family again, nothing like home. Both Synday´s run my father ran with us.He still can keep a 6 min pace per km, but he is out of shape, because he is not training often. 

Looking to get back to my home next year again and not injure myself. Glad that I could run consistently and the injury came at the end. 

Catching up

 Wednesday 06/10 - After work I went to the turia park and was feeling very good from the race, the soreness has almost gone. The plan for that day was a 5k fartlek, so 5k with 1 min fast and 1 min slow. I warmed up 15 mins easy ( no strides) and then after a couple of mins I started the fartlek, fist km in 4:53, halfway in 12.34, then negative split to finish the 5k fartlek in 24:51 feeling pretty good. Then 15 mins cool down to home. Weather is improving nicely in fact the last time that was hot was on race day.

Thursday - After work ran easy in the blasco park and did 8 laps in 45:53 incorporating 6 strides to loosen up from Wednesday´s workout. Felt good.

Friday - I ran in the morning at 6 a.m. and I ran alone, lately I am running alone. Did the maximo gomez route feeling pretty good. Finished the 8.3k in 52:12.

Saturday - That morning at 7:30 a.m. I did a 6k tempo run in the harbor, I was supposed to do it with my brother, but He bailed so I had to do it alone again. I warmed up easy 17:16 to the harbor , again no strides. I just started my workout after a couple of mins walking. I only checked the first km in 4:50, huffing and puffing a bit, but I felt that I could sustain the pace, as opposed as my last tempo on the Turia park. Then did not look at the watch again, but pressed the split button in the halfway. Turned around feeling good but breathing hard, but did not felt like dying. Hang in there and finished the 6k in 29:36 with the half in 14:39. So 18 seconds positive split, but finally I could break 30 mins with a lot of margin. Next step is sub 29 mins though. 16:57 cool down to home.

Sunday - At 7:30 a.m. very dark, I went out to do my long run alone again at the port. Felt pretty good and the sun never hit hard. The weather was pretty good. I think that I averaged sub 6 mins per km, Did 2 mins negative split. 90 mins total feeling strong.

6 runs for the week and 2 workouts, though that I was going to be tired from the race, but felt pretty good.

Monday 11/10 - Planned rest

Tuesday - Tuesday was a public holiday so I ran in the morning at 08:30 a.m. when it was clear. i was going to do an interval workout, but my brother was doing a 11k run at marathon pace which on paper is 5:30 per km. I did not feel like running intervals alone, so I decided to do 10k at his pace to work on aerobic threshold. I warmed up for 18:30 to the Turia park, no strides, no nothing, only 18 mins of easy running and the goal was 10k at 54:59. First km was in 5:33 feeling easy, second was 5:35, we were slower than the goal, so I started to speed up a bit to make up the lost time, but my brother did not respond, so from then on, I ran alone until the end. 3rd km came in 5:23 (16:31), 4th km came in 5:27 (21:58), I was feeling pretty good at that point, but did not want to run alone. Halfway came in 27:23, so 5:25 for that km, then I turned around and encouraged my brother, but after the halfway I just started running less than 5:20 per km without even trying, 6th came in 32:40 (5:17), 7th came in 38:01 (5:21), felt pretty good although started to feel thirsthy, but my effort was very controlled like an almost an easy run. 8k  came in 43:18, and that point I knew that I could run sub 54 mins if I just kept that pace. 9th km came in 48:36, then just tried to keep the same effort until the end, but was very thirsty. Finished the 10k in 53:51 feeling very strong and good. The weather was ok. In the second half it heated up some. My brother passed the 10k in 54:58 so he did negative split, then did another km. He is training for the Sevilla marathon, but He confesed that right now he could not sustain that pace for a marathon. 18 mins for cool down to home, I was feeling thirsty, so I wanted to get home asap. Around 15.6-15.7k for the day. Felt solid. And the workouts in the past two weeks show that I did a bad race in the ibercaja 10k, I know I can run sub 50 mins. I already sign up for the 10k Ibercaja 2022 on January, but times cannot be comparable, because you cannot compare the weather on January and on October.

Wednesday - Ran at 06:00 a.m. with my brother, did the maximo gomez route in 54:50. Was just rolling pretty easy to recover from the workout the day before. It was not too taxing, but it was not an easy runs by anymeans. 8.3k.

Thursday - Ran at 06:00 a.m. with my brother, but this time we changed routes, I went to his house and did 4 laps to the 1.6k block that they have. Total time was 51:39, so I guess it was just over 8k. Felt pretty good.

Today ( Friday) - I went out at 5:53 a.m. I did not want to run easy as the last 2 days had been pretty easy, so I went to the turia park and did 4 x 1000m instead. The weather was pretty good. Warmed up easy 15:40 to the Turia, then stopped for about 5 mins and then the 4  x 1000m with 400m jog recovery started. I felt pretty good on those, I am sure the weather helped. On the first 2 I think there was a head wind and in the last 2 a bit of a tailwing, but all in all felt good. Splits were 4:28,4:26,4:16,4:16. I d love that at least some of them would be sub 4 mins, but thats all I can give at the moment. Then did 15:04 to cool down to home. Total was around 6 miles for the day.I  got home even before 7 a.m.. Nice workout and very happy with effort and execution, but not necessarily for the times.

Tomorrow I ll rest, because it will by a travel day. I am vising my father and family to Dominican Republic , I have not been there in 4 years, so its time to get back, We will be there for 2 weeks, so it should be fun, also its going to be nice to run again in the parque iberoamerica and parque mirador, both mentioned a lot of times on this blog. 

We will see how it goes. Also I had been running 6 times per week since I beated Covid and I could run again on August 1, so for the last 10-11 weeks I had been running 6 times without fail. I love being consistent.

Have a great week!

Catching up and Ibercaja 10k 2021

Wednesday 29/09 - After work at 07:00 p.m.  I did an interval workout. The plan was to run controlled and thats what I did. Warmed up 15:30 including 5 x 50m strides and then did 5 x 800s with 400m jog rest in between. 15 mins cool down to home. Splits were 3:40, 3:37, 3:30, 3:24, 3:19. Started controlled and worked in crescendo. Felt pretty good and strong. 

Thursday 30/09 -  After work ran in the blasco park 8 laps, did 48:01. Was tired from intervals the day before so I took it easy. Pace felt faster though.  Got dark very early in the run.

Friday - 01/10 - Up early, went out at 06 a.m. to do a short run. Did a shorter version of the Blasco Maximo Gomez route. Completed 40 mins easy.

Saturday - 02/10 -  This is the run that nobody wants to do, the run before a race. I went out at 8:45 a.m. to the blasco park and did 6 laps in 33:13 and completed 45 mins. In the last 2 laps did 6 strides and the last 2 laps were done in 5:04 and 5:05 ( the lap).

Sunday  - 03/10 -  This was the Ibercaja 10k -  This is the race that I have been training for basically for the last 2 months. I was dissapointed with the result, but its what it is. Did 50:45 and I was shooting for sub 50 mins. I race without a watch, and if I would have worn a watch the result would have been much worse and I would have been frustrated by halfway. After the race I saw that I crossed the halfway in 25:01 and the second half was done in 25:44,but in the 3rd km I knew that I did not have it. My brother ran the race, and he passed me in the first 1.2k, then built a gap of 50m or so for the rest of the race till the 9.1-9.2k, where I finally caught him and gave him encouragment, but I really finished hard, He also finished hard as he finished just only 4 seconds behind. I did not want to sprint with him, thats why I built a gap as soon as I passed him. Overall felt strong and finished feeling pretty good, the thing is that I can talk normally during the race, but the legs wont move any faster, contrary to a lot of people that they are breathing hard like they are dying, but passed me. It was a fun race, the course was ok, although I liked more the 10k sanitas course and the 15k nocturna course. In the first km I had a lot of problems, I had to dodge a lot of people and sometimes had to slow down to a jog, that really affected me, but no excuses. I wanted sub 50 mins and I missed the goal and I really had to finished really hard and that saved me to go over 51 mins. You win or learn. The good news is that I am not so sore and tomorrow ( I write this on Tuesday 05/10) I will do a workout, a bit sore, but feeling ok.

Monday - Planned rest day

Tuesday -  Today I woke up early and was out with my brother to run at 06:00a .m., We did the Maximo Gomez route which I finished the 8.3k in 53:31. I want to get back to my morning runs, it seems that I was running better running in the morning. Also have the evening to do other things. Anyway, the important thing is the end is the consistency. Sooner or later I will be back to sub 50 mins the 10k. I only had 2 months of preparation for this race when I was cured from COVID so I am glad that I can train normally. A lot people could not see the next day.

Have a great night!

So far so good

 Monday 20/09 - Planned day off

Tuesday 21/09 - After work did 8 laps in the blasco park starting from home as usual. From laps 6-8 did 6 strides. Started raining hard at the end so I had to finish the run at home. I usually walk some mins in the park to enjoy the scenery. 8 laps in 45:46, then ran some more to home to finish in 49:22 total time.

Wednesday 22/09- After work went to the Turia park to do my interval workout, my brother did a workout on Tuesday so I had to do this alone. Did 1 x 1600m@7:12, 800m recovery, then did 2 x 1000 @4:15, 4:16 and finish with a 400m in 1:34. Decent workout. Did not like the mile nor the 400s, but the 1000s were good.  A bit tired from the race still. Did 15:20 warm up including 5 x 50m strides and then afterwards did 15 more mins to home to cool down.

Thursday and Friday were runs after work and did the same exact same route at the same exact time. On Thursday did 47:18 and on Friday evening did 47:09. Did not want to run on Friday evening, because I was not going to have much rest for Saturday morning tempo run, but as I did not wake up early enough to run on Friday morning, I had to run in the evening.

Saturday - At 7:20 a.m. still dark went to the turia park to do my 6k tempo run. The goal was simple, to run under 30 mins. Given how I ran in the 15k race in the first, I thought that it would be easy, but it was not. In the warm up, I was tired and sluggish, and even though I felt good in the first km, then I slowed dramatically. The idea was to do it in the harbor, but there was a triathlon, so I did not want to sabotage my workout. I played it safe and went to the turia park, even if that meant to eat all the hills between the 3-4k. Did 15 mins including 5 short strides to warm up, then did the 6k tempo, first km was in 4:50 so I thought that I could run low 29 mins as I felt good, but then started to feel tired and never looked at the watch again, but pressed the split biutton at halfway, which was in 14:55, so did those 2k in 10:05, which did not feel very easy, finished in 29:57. Accomplished my goal, but that was not easy, and I am not sure if I can run sub 50 mins on Sunday 10k race. I will try for sure. I dont wear a watch so I will go by feel and compete hard. 15 mins easy cool down home. I was soaked when I got home, the humidity was crazy and my singlet and pant was like if I was in the pool. Almost 11k for the day. Good training, but I want to get back to sub 29 mins on my 6k tempos. Patience I guess. My brother ran a 10k race and did 50:43 in the evening, so we have the same fitness, it will be a good battle on Sunday.

Sunday - Up early and out at 07:30 a.m. dark to do my long run, went to the harbor with my brother very easy as he was recovering, he insisted to go to the harbor eventhough there was a triathlon. As we expected we had to do a variation of the route that I do for my long runs, the way out was almost equal as we normally do, but in the way back we had to take another route and I finished the run doing around 4 laps in the blasco park with the last lap in 4:50-5:00 feeling pretty good. The weather was much better than the day before. I hope to run on that weather in the 10k next Sunday. Total time was 1:30:46, the pace was very easy as my brother was in recovery mode and I did not want to push too much.

6 runs for the week and a solid week given that I raced a 15k on Saturday night. I am surprised that I could run a workout that solid on Wednesday.

Monday 27-09 -  planned day off

Tuesday 28-09 -  today after work I did 8 laps in the blasco park, which is my bread and butter route in the evening. From laps 6 to 8 did 6 strides. Total time was 45:19. Felt good in the strides and felt good on the run. Tomorrow a workout and then easy until race day.

Catching up and 15k nocturna race

                           Finishing the 15k nocturna

Monday 13/09  - off

Tuesday - 14/09 - After work at 07:00 p.m. I went to the blasco park and did my 8 lap bread and butter route and did 6 strides from laps 6 to 8. Ran some laps with my brother before he left. Did 45:36. Felt good, but a bit tired. Used the new kicks for the first time, older ones were worn down, so I had to buy some cheap ones.

Wednesday -  After work went to the Turia park with my brother to do some intervals, the plan was to do 1600, 2 x 100 and 1 x 400s, but that varied once I suggested that my brother after the first mile to do a second mile to test the body and mind, then did 2 x 400s. That worked turned out well. Splits were 7:04, 7:05, 1:35, 1:32. Finally a decent workout and getting back to my times pre covid. Used the new sneakers and they did help a ton, if a new simple sneakers help and I cannot imagine the nike next percent and all that stuff. Very happy with the workout. 15 mins warm up including 5 x 50m striders and 15 mins cool down home. Around 10k for the day.

Thursday - After work it was raining hard so I had to wait until 20:10 to head out to running, I headed out to the bread and butter route of my brother near his home. Took me 49:41 if I recall correctly. The weather was pretty good, once it stopped raining I felt really good. The down side is that the road was pretty wet.

Friday -  I ran at 06:00 a.m. and did a short variation with my brother of the maximo gomez route, Did 40:59 total. I cut the run short, because I was racing the 15k nocturna the next day at 10:45 p.m. which was the time of my start. There were 6 starts, mine was the 4th one. I had not told anyone that I was racing, even my brother. I told him that I raced it once I was back home at 1 a.m.

Saturday  - I woke up a bit late than usual, since I wake up early on weekends to do my workouts, it was nice to not have to wake up so early. I was not nevious, but I had respect for the distance, and actually was happy that I could enjoy a "long" race in the city and in the center of Valencia at night that sounded cool but at the same time I only did 3 90 mins runs prior to this and they are at an easy pace, so I knew that it was going to be tough. I ate my normal breakfast, and ate lunch at 14:30, which is a bit late for me, ate a spaguetti plate, cheese , salsa and 2 cans of tuna. So carbed up good there, then started watching a series in Netflix, actually watched all the episodes and finished 1 hour before I had to leave for the race, I left at 21:00, so that helped a lot to not have my mind thinking about the race and to relax a bit. Again, I was calm and I trusted my training, I am in bad shape, but I have been very disciplined the last 6 weeks, so that gave me confidence. I knew that sub 80 mins was possible. I dont race with a watch, so I would not know the time until the end. In fact, I realized about my time, 1 hour after I got home. My time was 1:18:57.

I warmed up around 8-10 mins, dont know exactly as I dont wear a watch at races. It felt nice to run in the harbor at night for the warm up, reminded me of the tempos that I did every Saturday. I included 5 x 50m striders at the pace that I wanted to go out at. That was around 9:30 or so and my start was at 10:45 p.m. so I pretty much was cool again when I went out, but as the race was long for me, I would warm up in the race. Finally we started and I went out at a controlled pace, probably faster than I should, but that felt ok. The weather was hot, nothing compared to Thursday. In the first km, I was already sweating, and I knew that it was going to be a long day. Kms passed very weekly, and in the 5k mark I was already thirsty but felt pretty good I even shout " where is the water" to the people around me jeje, almost in the 6k (not marked) I saw the water station and when you run with key in the hand its difficult to open a water bottle, running. I finally open it and the water is not cold, I poured it on my head, I lose some contact with the people that I was running that I could never recover from, I was running good until the 8-9k mark, then people started passing me, when I crossed the 10k, I knew that it was going to be a long stretchto the finish line and everytime that I drank water I could feel my stomach screaming, but my body needed water as I was thirsty, that is something that I have to work on training. After the 11k I knew that if I pushed the pace more I would feel bad and probably throw up, so final 3-4k were easy just to get it done. A bit frustrated with that, but at the same time happy, because I had the courage to sign in and participate in life instead of watching from the sidelines, myself 10 years ago probably would not have run it due to being in bad shape, etc.  I am much stronger mentally now, although slower. Anyway, I was running pretty relaxed enjoying the crowd and I even high 5 a kid in the last mile of the race, I could not even hear my breathing so I know that I am in good shape. I finished in 1:18:57, which I realized after getting home. Happy with the effort and happy to have completed the run without stopping, again its good to participate in life and not to watch from the sidelines. A lot of people cannot run eventhough they want to. I really enjoyed this race and enviroment. A bit late for my taste, but its call 15k night for a reason. After watching the results, my splits  per 5k were: 25:13,  25:58, 27:46. In the first 5k I was running at my current tempo pace, where I only run 6k very tired and in the race at that pace I felt strong and relaxed, I slowed down after that, but as I said the last 4k were pretty much easy, so I did not slow as much as I thought. 10k were passed at around 51:11, I thought that I could not run that pace in a 10k right now, but given that I did it with 5k to go give me a lot of confidence for the Ibercaja on October 3rd. So maybe I can run sub 50 mins as I had planned after I surpassed the Virus. A lot of people really collapsed and was lied in the middle of the run, so conditions were not that easy, we were running in 27 celsius, which is not cold by any means. 

Satisfied with the time and even more running the 4k easy, but this shows that I am in better shape than I thought, but I need to run faster on tempos. When i ran 1:13, I was doing 6k tempos in 28:35, last saturday I did 30:11 and aimed sub 30 mins. I am sure that other runners, new shoes and the great asphalt all helped. Also when I did 1:13, temps were in 10 celsius, not 27. Anyway, Heat dont affect me much time wise. If I had worn a watch and had seen the first 5k split, I would have panicked because that is my current 6k tempo pace and I had 9k left to run. At the moment it felt pretty relaxed.

A good way to finish a Saturday!

Sunday -  I went out to run  a 8 laps run in the blasco park at 09:00 a.m. I ran as relaxed as I could in order to recover, but after the first lap, the pace was the same as always. Did 48:05 for 8 laps- However today (Monday)  as I type this, I am very sore and tired and fortunately I rest on Mondays, I hope to start my week normally tomorrow and to get in a workout on Wednesday, very sore now though. 

Catching up

 Monday 06/09 -  Planned rest

Tuesday  - Afer work did an easy run. Did 45:33 for 8 lps in the blasco park. Included 6 strides from laps 6 to 8. I got the second shot of the vacine that today. Did 7.5k.

Wednesday - After work went to the turia park to do my interval workout of the week. Was not feeling at the top of my game, because of the vacine, but got it in anyway. 15 mins warmup including 5 short strides. Then did 1 x 1600m 800m rest and 6 x 400m with 200m rest. Splits were 7:07, 1:40, 1:37, 1:38, 1:39, 1:40, 1:37. I felt a bit full, because at 17:00 I ate a peanut butter sandwich and a banana. I felt with energy, but the stomach was bothering me a bit. I am not happy with the 400s splits, as in the past cycle I could close in 90 seconds without much problems, but today I just could not.

Thursday -  Ran in the morning and did the Maximo gomez route. Did 51:42 easy to recover, did not feel that tired from the workout. 8.3k total.

Friday -  Ran again in the morning and did the exact same route as the day before, but much slower. Did 53:26. Felt much tired than Thursday. All in all, a good easy run. 8.3k total.

Saturday -  In the morning I headed our alone to the harbor to do my 6k tempo run. The plan was to do 29:xx for 6k no matter what.  I thought that I was going to do it easy, since last week I thought that I would sleep too much and ended up running much slower because I let the pace slip too much without realizing. In the end did not accomplish my goal of sub 30 mins. I ended up doing  30:11 feeling very tired and with positive split. Was very thirsty at the end and the cool down was a struggle because I needed water. Too hot this days eventhough the sun was not shining that hard. I saw the splits at every km. 18:00 easy to warm up and did drills and 2 x 20 seconds strides to start loose, but did not start that loose. In fact, first km was in 4:58 and felt very fast, at tha point I knew that it was not going to be easy. 2nd km came in 9:56 or something like that. 3rd km came in 14:56 and then I turned around, thinking that I could maintain the pace, but then the pace started to get slower, 4th km came in 20:01 and I was tired I knew that the goal sub 30 min was out, unless I would turn that into a race. 5th km came in 25:12, and I just wanted to stop. Then find another gear in the last km and could save something, did the last one in 4:59 to finish in 30:11 huffing and puffing. Very thirsty. Then did 17:05 cool down home tireeeed! I even broke my pant doing the drills, I probably wont do them again, I would run easy and do some strides to warm up, I really dont like doing drills and for the paces I run are not necessary. I dont want to break another pants again. Around 11.5k total. 19 seconds positive split.  I doubt that I can run sub 50 mins in the ibercaja 10k , so i need to readjust my goal even if I dont like it. I race without a watch, so I dont know at what pace I will go out. But my effort level lately does not translate to a sub 50 mins 10k. My brother ran an 8k race at night in 5:07 per km. That was the reason that I had to run alone.  I think we have the same fitness these days.

Sunday - Was out at 7:05 a.m. still dark to do my 90 mins long run. I felt much tired than last week and got to the halfway point in 44:08, 28 seconds slower than last week, then came back in 1:26:06, I ran the second half 2 mins faster again, then kept running until I completed 1:30:41. So I ran 40 seconds slower than last week, but feeling more tired, because the saturday tempo was more intense. I felt strong, but after the 50 mins I start to get very thirsty and after the 70 mins I just want to stop because I am dry and soaked in sweat. Thats the only problem with long runs in the heat. I dont carry water, so after the 60 mins it gets ugly and I have to do a lot of mental tricks to get me to the finish of the run. All in all, I completed the run and I hang in there tough!! Once I drank water felt pretty good.

6 runs for the week again, but I think this consistency cannot outkick the covid that I had 7 weeks ago, and the lack of training because of that after my last race on June 20. I am trying though, and even if I cannot accomplish my goal, I will be back sooner or later. I just got sick in the wrong moment. Very greatful that I can run normally and to be alive. Not so much people have been that lucky!

Catching up

 Wednesday 01/09 - After work headed to the Turia park and did with my brother 5  x 800m with 400m jog rest. He had run in the morning and he was going to do just 1 repeat for fun, but he ended doing all 5. Not only that, He beated me in each repeat. 15 mins warm up inc. 5 x 50m strides, splits for the 800s were 3:32, 3:31, 3:31, 3:28, 3:22. I just did not have it but somehow in the last 2 repeats I could really run decent. Much better paces than previous week. 15 mins cool down to home. Happy with this workout.

Thursday -  After work did 47:16 in the Blasco park. Did 8 laps easy to recover from the workout.

Friday - Ran in the morning at 6:10 a.m. with my brother. Did the Maximo Gomez route. Ran pretty slow, the time was 54:59 for that route which I think is the slowest that I have run. Anyway, was just an easy run. 8.3k total

Saturday -  In the morning at 7:30 a.m. I met my brother in the harbor where we start the tempos. I had warmed up 17:50 including 5 x 50m strides. I should say that this run was a failure, this is the first time that the interal clock is so off and I suprised big time when I saw the watch when I finished. I dont know what happened. I did not look at the watch during the tempo, my brother told me afterwards that I would have run the first km in 5:33, which felt like 5:00. Dont have an explanation for that, I think I just was out mentally, my brother staying behind did not help, He aborted after the firs km, because he was very full. He had eaten a lot the previous day.I did what I could, but I felt strong, I thought that I could get away with 29:xx feeling almost easy. When I saw 31:27 with the first half in 15:50, I said loud, what???? I though that I had run 29:xx, the only positive is that I felt pretty good, but it was very slow and the pace felt much faster. Next time I will look at the watch in the first km to avoid this to happen again. I almost try it again on Sunday, but thought better of it, did my planned long run instead. 16 mins cool down to home. Around 11.5k for the day. My brother ran with me for about 600m in my last mile, then he stopped and went home walking.

In the afternoon I walked more than 15 kms watching the fallas in Valencia and walking in the city with friends. My inner part of the tight were chafing a lot and I was hurting with each step. Burned a lot of calories that day.

Sunday -  was up at 6 a.m. and was out at 07:00 a.m. for my long run, my brother did not run, so I had to do it alone. At first the chafing was bothering me, but then felt fine. I hit the halfway in 43:20, so 2 mins faster than last week and the run was 3:30 faster than last week feeling better. I think that the slow tempo the day before helped to feel fresher today as I averaged sub 6 mins per km at an easy effort. Felt pretty good, but thirsty. Did the route to the Patacona in 1:25:14, so I had to complete the extra mins until reach 90 mins. Sweated a lot. At halfway I was soaked and the sun had not gone out fully yet.

Solid week of training again, 6 runs for the week.

Monday -  Planned rest day and an opportunity to the chaffing to heal a bit. Will have to pour vaseline.

Tuesday (today) I ran after work at 7:10 p.m. and did 8 laps in the blasco park easy, from lap 6 to 8 I did 6 strides, the first one felt like  a truck, but got easier and smoother by the last stride. 45:33. My brother ran there, but we ran togethere when I ran 30 mins, and did 1 lap pretty much together, but then when I started my 2 laps of strides, built a gap. Also I got my 2nd shot of the vacine today. I think I have walked 10 kms today besides the running.

Tomorrow will do a workout in the Turia in the evening. Lets see how it goes. 

Morning run

 Yesterday was a planned day off.

For today I had planned to run in the morning, and thats what I did. Was up at 05:30 a.m. the alarm clock woke up, weird, because generally I wake before the alarm, yesterday was one of those days that I slept continously. Was out at 06:00 a.m. to do the Maximo Gomez route that I had not done for a couple of months, because its almost impossible to do that route in the evening, traffic is too crazy.  In the early morning you have the road for yourself. Felt good and incorporated 6 strides fast but with good form. Finished the 8.3k in 52:12 feeling pretty good.

Another good week of training

 Monday -  Planned day off

Tuesday -  After work, did 8 laps in the blasco park and 6 strides in the last 2 laps, did 45:46. Felt good, but a bit tired.

Wednesday -  After work headed to the Turia park to do 4 x 1000m with 400m jog rest. This is my first workout in the Turia park in the evening since last year. I had forgotten, how much people run at that time, Its good to see people, but when you are doing a workout is not that funny that you have to dodge people literally every 20m. The splits were slow, but the effort was there, in fact, that left me very tired for the rest of the week. Warmed up 15:10 to the Turia including 5 x 50m striders. Splits were: 4:32,4:31, 4:30, 4:27. My legs were fried afterward and sweated like a pig. 15 mins cool down to home.That was my 5k pace 3 months ago, but on cooler temps.

Thursday and Friday were easy runs after work doing 8 laps. Felt tired on both days, but much more tired on Friday than on Thursday. Times were 47:11 and 47:28 respectvely.

Saturday  -  I forced myself to wake up early and headed out to the Turia at 7:20 a.m.alone to do my tempo work, my brother was out of town. When I finished the warm up I was already sweating a lot. 15 mins warm up including 5 x 50m strides. Then did 5k tempo, but was very tired within the first km, did not look at the watch during, but pressed the split button at the half. I almost dropped out with a mile to go, but stayed strong. Finished in 24:45. I wanted to do some 200s afterwards, but given that I finished that tired, I just skipped them and headed out home for the cool down. Halfway was 12:17, did 10 seconds positive split, but did not have it since the first 500m. Those 1000m repeats really took out a lof from me, but I will adapt. 15 mins cool down afterwards, swating like a pig, eventhough the sun was not shining hard yet, but the humidity is aweful.

Sunday - Woke up even earlier and was out the doot at 6:58 a.m., to beat the sun, but not the heat. Ran until the patacona at the end in the harbor in 45:51, then turned back and came back in 1:28:43,then completed the rest to do 90 mins. I thought that I was going to finish much tired, but I was very prepared mentally, sweated a lot and the sun did not hit me hard because I was out early. Finished very thirsty nonetheless. Felt strong overall.

Nice week of training, 6 days and I am feeling better each week. Long ways to go to be where I want to be at.  One step at a time!

Good week of training

 Mondaiy - off 

Tuesday -  After work ran easy alone in the blasco park. Did 8 laps and in the last 2 laps did 6 controlled strides. I think the time was 46:33 or something like that. Felt good

Wednesday - I ran again after work, got out with my home mate, but he was full and he pretty much aborted in the first 15 mins of the run. I did want to do a light  fartlek workout, so I warmed up 15 mins easy including 5 x 50m strides to loosen up. This was done in the blasco park. Then did 7 x 1 min fast and 1 min off, then did a 17 mins cool down. I felt pretty good in the workout, I thought that it would be a struggle, but I felt pretty good. although very thirsty at the end. Around 50 mins for the day.

Thursday - After work again easy in the blaco park, did 8 laps in 46:55. Very easy, felt good.

Friday -  After work, did the exact 8 laps in the blasco park at almost the exact time. Did 46:54

Saturday in the morning -  I headed out around 7:30 a.m. to the Turia park to do a 5k tempo run with my brother. The goal was simple to feel good running at 5 mins or a bit faster / km pace. The first tempo back its always slow and painful, but I felt pretty good and strong on this one, but the pace was slow. Did not look at the watch, just at the half way because I accidentally stopped the watch instead of hitting split button. Did 19 seconds negative split and finish the 5k in 24:59. My brother did 23:57, but in the second half he did a fartlek, he is in great shape eventhough he is not training that much. Its a shame that in races he cannot perform. Did 15:30 warm up including 3 x 50m strides and 1 x 100m strides. After the tempo did 15-16 mins easy to home.

Sunday -  In the morning, I headed out to the harbor at 7:05 a.m. and the plan was to do 75 mins. I started very slow, but in the second half did it in 3:30 faster than the first half. I only ran 30 mins with my brother because he had to turn around sooner, I told him that I would turn around when my watch read 38:30, not sooner. Felt pretty good in this long run and strong, despite having drunk 5 beers the night before. The weather was hot, but in the harbor it was pleasantly good, the sun had not gone out entirely yet, so I took advantage of it. 75 mins total, maybe 12k.

Pretty good week of training 2 workouts and feeling much better than last week. Doing what I can with the time given, only about 6 weeks for the Ibercaja 10k. The goal would be to run sub 50 mins, we will how the trainig goes until then.

Today is a planned day off and tomorrow I will get back at it, hopefully feel better than this week and the workouts are faster. 

Catching up

 Another run of 6 weeks. For me is good given the work load that I am having in the last few weeks. I supposed to start workout this week, but the heat is treating us bad and the first 3 weeks of the week were not that easy for me. I started running with a new homemate, and the kid runs fast. We just run 5 mins per lap which is much faster than I am used to go on my easy runs. I had tired legs on those 3 days.

Monday -  off

Tuesday - 8 laps in the blasco park after work starting from home. Time was 41:33, it was not easy for sure. home mate did 31 mins at a faster pace and he runs with a mask on. The kid got talent.

Wedneday -  Same route as the day before in 41:38, but feeling much better than the day before. The kid again defeated me by 40+ seconds.

Thursday - Again the same route as the day before in 42:24, I just took it more easy, because I had feeling tired. My home mate did 26 mins as he was tired. I tried to make some moves during the run, but he would match those moves easily and even built a gap. These days the heat has been strong, but you got to do what you got to do.

Friday - Again after work, this time alone, I ran at my normal easy pace, but I was feeling very very tired from the get go. I only felt good in the last 2 laps or so of the run. Did 8 laps in 46:37.

Saturday -  Another evening run, but this time at 6 p.m. and drank 3 beers in the morning. Despite the strong heat I felt good and felt fresh, even incoporated 6 controlled strides in the last 2 laps. Did 45:07 for the 8 laps feeling pretty good. Did this one alone.

Sunday -  I did not want to run in the evening, its hard to run in the evening on weekends, so I beated the bed and was up at 6:30 a.m., but was out at 08:10 a.m. waiting for my brother. At that time the heat is already high. The plan for the day before was to do a tempo run in the harbor, but I just was flat and tired, so I decided to do 60 mins easy instead. I did this one with my brother, but he did around 50 mins. I did 60:25 sweating like a pig and the sun was hitting hard in the harbor. I felt happy because I had more than 6 weeks that I did not run for 60 mins so thats progress. Was very thirsty at the end though.

6 runs for the week, so I am liking the consistency, but I am very tired and the legs are trashed, I hope to adapt quickly.

Today was a planned off day and tomorrow I am back on the road.

Another 6 runs for the week

 This past week I ran 6 times. All short runs, but it was just to get back into the swings of things. 

Monday -  off

Tuesday - 32 mins in the Blasco park after work. Too hot, felt ok.

Wednesday  - 6 laps in the blasco park starting from my home after work. Total time was 35:27 or 35:37, dont remember well. It does not matter really.

Thursday -  I had to cut my run short, because some friends were waiting for me in a bar, I was caught by surprise just before running. I ran 20 mins with the first 15 mins " fast" 5  - 5:10 per km average, the last 5 mins were easy as I had to cross a street. This was a short one, but better than nothing. Hot. I was very sweat at the end eventhough it was only 20 mins.

Friday -  Again after work, I did 35:11, then did 6 x 20 seconds strides off 40 seconds recovery standing still. This tired me more than a workout, so that shows that I am in very bad shape. On Saturday I was even a bit sore in the hamstrings.

Saturday -  At 5:30 p.m. I did again 6 laps in the Blasco starting from home and it was very hot and the sun shining hard, but I was confortable nonetheless. I did 35:22 for 6 laps.

Sunday -  Ran at 6 p.m. and it was cloudy and was not that hot, so I felt pretty good. I took advantage of the good feeling and decided to do 8 laps in 46:02. This is my longest run in the last 1.5 month. Very happy to get back to 6 runs per week. I felt really good on this run, the best I have felt in weeks. 

All the runs in the evening, but given my work load right now, with some coworkers on vacation, I am getting work extra early, so I am leaving the runs for the evening, and also those are short runs, but by the time everything settle down, I will start training in the morning again to hit hard workouts.

Today I took the day off, it was planned. Looking forwards to tomorrow`s run. 

one run for the week

 This week I only ran today, but it was not purposely, but the reason I wont tell it on this site. I really wanted to run, but I was not able to. 

Finally today I could finally get out and hopefully I wont lose more time of training. I have lost a lot of fitness in the last  6 weeks.

I woke up early today at 06:30 a.m. and was out to run at 7:20 p.m. to the blasco park, did 30:35 total time. Felt good and the weather was pretty cool, not the heat that you will face in the evening.

Next couple of weeks work will be crazy, so I will have to get to work very early so the runs will have to be in the evening. 

Hope you had a great week of training!

6 runs for the week

 Today I ran again in the evening. This time I waited until 7 p.m. to run. Luckily it was cloudy so I did not face the strong sun, but the humidity was high. I did today 35 mins total and the pace was a bit faster than yesterday at the same effort. I felt confortable, but it seems that I had not done the digestion, so I felt somewhat unconfortablee, because I felt full, but effortwise and pacewise it felt pretty easy. Did the same route as this past week, but completed almost an extra lap to reach the 35 mins. pace was around 5:30 per lap, so 6:05 per km or so. 

6 runs for the week. I am happy with how this week went. I need to ramp up to workouts quickly because I dont have much time to get in shape and we have several good races in October. 

Tomorrow I will rest, and I hope to run 6 times again next week. 

Hot afternoon run

 Today despite I woke up early to run, I did not go out until 5:20.pm., to do the same route that I have been doing for this whole week, but today despite it was hotter, I managed to run 30 seconds faster than yesterday at the same effort. Started somewhat tired, but then felt better and better. Felt good despite the temps and humidity. To be honest, outside is fresher than inside the house.  Around 5k total in 31:20. I dont know if the distance is accurate, but something along those lines. Most important now is to get back to consistent running and feeling better. 

Next week I will incorporate a light workout.

Have a great Saturday!

Better and better

 Each passing day I am feeling better and better. After work today at 7:30 p.m. but with the sun shining hard. I did the same route that I have been doing, 5 laps in the blasco park starting from my home,but today I did 31:41 total to simulate the full 5k instead of 3 miles. I started a bit sore and tired, but I felt better and better as the run went by and finished feeling pretty good despite the heat. I kept the effort easy and forced myself to not speed up not to increase distance. 

The plan is to run 6 times this week, not ideal, after 16 days off, but no much time left for the fall races. 

Getting back to it

Today after work at 7:30 p.m. I went out again to the blasco park to do the same route as yesterday. 5 laps in the Blaso park starting from my home so I think around 3 miles. I did 30:06 today, so 19 seconds faster than yesterday, but feeling much better. Felt actually good at the end. Building back slowly.

Running through the motions

 Today I ran again in the evening after work at 07:30 p.m. I did 30:25 today. The first 15 mins were ok, but the last 15 mins I felt totally flat and had no energy. Kept the effort easy though. I hope tomorrow is better, today was a very bad day, but at least I got it done.

Around 3 miles total. 

Back to the wagon

 Today after  16 days of no running, it was time to get back at it. I have been sick. I thought that I would feel weak running, but that was not the case. Actually felt pretty good. Did 25:15 to play it safe and felt pretty good. Ran at 07:25 p.m. after work. It was too hot, but that did not affected me too much.

Its time to ramp up the training little by little. I signed up for the biggest 10k in Spain on October 3rd and I have lost 1 month of training exactly. 1 month of my last race, but in the past month I have rested 1 week, then ran 6 times the other week and then rested for the other 16 days. I have lost a lot of fitness in that month, but I will train as smart as I can to get back my fitness at least o where I had it 1 month ago.

25:15 in the blasco park. Tomorrow I will run 30-35 mins.

Setbacks

 Monday was a planned rest day.

Tuesday -  The plan was to run in the evening after work, I woke up feeling good, but after lunch time, I started to feel very weak and sick, when you feel when you are get the flu. I skipped the run and watched football, I slept 7 hours and I sweat a lot, my bed was wet.

Today I woke feeling much better, but still no great, but wanted to do a short run in the evening, but I started to feel down again, not as bad as yesterday, but when feel hot, and you start caughing a little. Again I skipped the run, I dont run when sick, it does not worth it.

I dont know when I will be back , maybe on Friday or on the weekend, lets see how I feel tomorrow. But  rest and recovery is the goal now.

It sucks when you are going to start running 6 times per week and then the momentum stops. Thats life.

I hope your running is going well.

Catching up

 Thursday - Ran in the morning at 06:10 a.m., but had to cut the run short because I had strong stomach problems. Did 35:23 total time. Legs felt off once again. And again much slower than normal.

Friday -  I ran in the morning again at 06:20 a.m., this time alone because my brother raced a 7k at Friday night. Finally found my legs and felt pretty good, no stomach problems. Did my normal 8.3k route. Did it in 51:03. Felt pretty good.

Saturday - I ran at 07:20 a.m. a.m. to the harbor and the plan was to do 60 mins, but I ended up running 64:39 and then did 6 x 20 seconds strides with 40 seconds walking rest. I did those In the street of my home. I ran with my brother on the run, since he ran a race on Friday night, we were running pretty slow for a lot of the run, but then once we got to the harbor, I started to pull way, on my way back I ran again with him, until He finished his run. Felt ok, but not as great as on Friday. Around 6:20/km.

Today I ran at 09:05 a.m., because I went to bed at 2:30 a.m. because we had a small party here at home yesterday, I dont remember the last time that I went to bed so late, so I knew that the 07 a.m. run was not happening, as I wanted to sleep. I drank a lot of beer, but I tricked myself, meaning that between beers I drank around 3 glasses of water, and I woke up feeling pretty good today, no hang over and no nothing and actually felt pretty good on the run. I ran with my brother and we went to the Turia park today, the heat was hitting hard and in the harbor there are no shades, so we opted to the turia this time. A lot of runners there as always. I did 61:27 total time, around 6:15/ km ,  running easy. Felt good.

Ran 6 times this week, which was the goal. However, I did not do any workouts, so this week I have to get some stress work. The next couple of weeks will be hard workwise, because one of my colleagues its on vacation, so the work load will be higher. However, I will run on morning or evenings, but need to keep the training going.

Have a great Sunday you all!!

Zapping the zero

 I was going to run tomorrow, but ended up stuffing myself with fried chicken. DNR.

Today I ran in the evening at 7:50 p.m. after work with my brother in the blasco park. Felt good, but in the last almost 3 laps I had to speed up for 2 laps because a guy that runs regularly there was going to pass me, I told my brother that he was not going to pass me, so I sped up. Its an indiscipline, I know, but I am sick that that guy pass me. As I have run in the morning for the last almost 7 months, did not have the opportunity to run with him. He often runs in the evening, anyway, he never got to pass me, but I was running harder than I thought at a slower than tempo pace. I am not very good changing the pace from easy pace to a " fast" pace. Ran 50 mins total. Around 8.5k or something like that. Ran laps in the blasco park, but did not count them and we started running from my home, but finished there until the watch read 50 mins. All in all a good run.

The plan is to run everyday for the remaining of the week.

Sunday morning run

 Today I headed out at 7:10 a.m. with my brother to the port. The plan was to do 60 mins of running. I did 62:15 or something like that. Very confortable run, but cramps in my left ankle. The glute and hamstring are behaving quiet well, but now that cramp make me start limping, then it gets better and I can run normally, but I dont know why I have that cramp, because in my last day of running ( race day) I felt awesome and even after the race, next days I did not feel any soreness or nothing.

The training for fall races has started yesterday, so workouts start on Wednesday. No time to lose. Yesterday started doing push ups as well, for upper body strength. Did 4 x 5 repeats, its a shame, but better to start easy and do it consistently than doing 4 x 10 and last 1 week sore. 

Basically a rest week this week with only 2 runs. Goal for next week are going to be 6 runs. 

Today I did around 6 miles for the day. Around 6:20/km pace, so very easy.

Back on the wagon

 I rested  6 days from running. The plan was to rest 2 days, but one rest day bring other. I decided that it would be my " break" from the season to feel less guilty. At the same time, it marks an end and a beginning. On september / october there are a couple of good races. I even signed up for the 10k Ibercaja, one of most competitive 10k in spain, generally around 20 000 people run, but this time there were only room for 6000. Race is October 3rd and I signed up on Wednesday, because it will run out quickly. Today I put a rest at my rest.

But contraty to popular believe, rest is not always good for you, in fact I today started my run with cramps in my ankle, and my calves were very tight, as if I was very still, if today was a workout/ race day it would have been a disaster. I felt good in the first 10 mins, but then after that I felt horrible and dragging to complete the 45 mins.

At 7:10 a.m. today I headed out to the port 23 mins, then turned around and got home in 45:15. My brother and I met at the port. I explained to him, that sometimes rest can be detrimental to your fitness. 

Or maybe I just eat too much, and when I dont run for 6 days that extra calories adds up quickly, oh well. 

Today is the start of a new cycle of training. I hope not to lose what I had already built until week ago.

Have a great Saturday!

5k PONLE FRENO VALENCIA

 This was a very fun race and the route was great. The only bad thing is that it was not an actual 5k race, it was a 5.11k according to several GPS watches. I dont wear a watch in races, but the 5k mark was well ahead of the finish line.

However, if that would have been a 5k I again ran 23 and some change, so I did not get sub 22 mins I think. I felt pretty good and strong. What stole the opportunity to get down from 23 mins was that We headed in the starting line well back and in the first 800m, I had to dodge a lot of people, thus running from one side to the other so that made me lose a lot of time. Ran hard and strong and in the last stretch of 600m really increased the pace and passed a lot of people, finishing in a spint, but not as strong as last week`s race. 

I enjoyed the race and route, felt pretty strong and could have kept going, the thing is that I cannot find another gear to run faster in the very moment. The heat was not as strong as last week. Total time was 23:32 or so, in the results the clock time is showed and I appears like if I ran 24:10. My brother ran 24:04 and I beated him by 32 seconds. Never watched him in the race.

Good effort, but run 23.00 or over for the 5k let me a bitter taste in my mouth. Right now, I am taking a mini break of 3 days off and I will run this evening to start a new block of training for the upcoming races. Maybe I wont race more until August as I cannot find another race soon. However, I have to put racing in the back burner for a bit and start training hard again.

I have run 5 races in 5-6 weeks which is plenty. Time to rest a little. From next week also, I will ramp up from 5 days of running to 6 days of running. I have been training 5 times per week for 7 months now, and its time to get back to 6 days per week to see if I can improve my performance like races pre covid.

I will updated photos this evening. 

Shake out pre race

 Today I was up at 06:10 a.m., but headed out to run at 7:15 a.m. to the blasco park. Did only 40 mins easy, but then did 6 x 20 seconds strides with 40 seconds rest in between. Felt better in the last strides. In the beginning of the run felt the heart at 1000 beats per minute and felt tired. Then after the 20 mins started to feel better. Did several laps until complete the 40 mins. My brother was there doing an easy run, but he showed up late so when he showed up, I only had 10 mins remaining or something like that.

Tomorrow I will race another 5k called ponle freno Valencia. I was not going to run it since I have done a lot of racing in the past month, but on Monday I registered, that 23.00 really let me a bad taste in my mouth. I hope to break 23.00 tomorrow. I already did one month ago, but I want to do it again in the heat. My brother will race in this one. On Thursday he did 23.38 in practice with a lot of heat. We will see how it goes, maybe we can work together during the race.

I hope I feel better tomorrow and ready to rock and roll. 

Morning easy run

 Today I was up at 05:30 a.m. and sleep good so I woke up and headed out at 06:10 a.m. to do the Blasco ibañez route. I thought that I would feel pretty tired and with the hamstring and glute bothering me. That was not the case. I felt pretty good and the glute and leg did not bother me at all. The weather was much fresh than in the evening, but still hot. 51:31. A bit slower than I wanted, but I will take it, the effort was pretty easy. However, I can feel some tiredness, maybe its from all the racing that I have done in the last month.

Second evening run of the year

 Today I again ran in the evening after work. I started the run at 7:15 p.m. with the sun shining hard. The plan for today was to do a recovery run of 48-50 mins to simulate my morning easy runs. I did a lot of laps in the blasco park, first one was 5:34, last one in 5:22, all the rest in between those ranges. Felt good really, but the sun and the heat bother a lot and I sweating a ton. However, generally felt good.  The reason I ran in the evening today and yesterday is that I am waking out of no where at 4 a.m or before and I cannot get back to sleep until 1+ hour later. These days are stressful at work and sleeping less than necessary guarantee a headache the whole day. A headache at the work place leading with stress is not good. When I get up at 07:15 a.m. I hardly ever suffer a headache, but when I wake up at 5:15 a.m. on workout days for example, the headache is guarantee. I will get back to the morning running of course, because its much more convenient, but sometimes you have to adap for your own particular situation. Sometimes is not easy to do a hard workout in the morning and then deal with a very stressful day at work. Likewise, is not easy to do a hard workout after a hard long day at the office. You have to find what works best for you and that might change from time to time. The most important thing is to keep training consistently no matter the time of day.

49:10 total for the day sweating a lot. I would guess it was around 8 -8.1k. Did not felt sore at all from the workout.

Another thing that I forgot to mention is that yesterday the hamstring/glute bothered me a lot in the second half of the tempo, I almost quit, but then felt better. Today It bothered me a lot in the office. When I was running I could feel it, but could run easy without problems, but the pull / strain is there.

Evening 5k tempo run : First evening run since December 31 of 2020

 Rested Monday and Tuesday. I am running 5 times per week, but lately I am resting Monday and Tuesday and then runni from Wednesday until Sunday. I dont like it so much, because its better to rest on Monday and then rest on Thursday for example, that allows for more flexibility. Anyway, its my fault because I have been lazy sometimes to wake up early. 

Today I did not wake up early either, so given that my 2 rest days budget was over I had to run in the evening. Today was my first evening run of the year. I had not run in the evening since December 31, which was a 5k time trial with Jorge, his brother, Danilo and myself. 

I did not want to run easy today, because I had rested 2 consecutive days and today was a workout day so no point in running easy. 

I headed out at 07:30 p.m. to the blasco park to do my warm up, at that point I did not know if I was going to do a 5k fartlek of 1 min fast and 1 min slow, or a 5k tempo run. When I finished the warm up which was 15 mins including 5 x 50m accelerations after the 8 mins. I opted for the 5k tempo, which was 5.5 laps in the blasco park. 

Honestly it was pretty hot, but I felt good. The pace did not feel hard and I thought that I would finish more tired. The goal was to do a controlled effort, maybe 24:45-24:50 for the 5k. I finished in 24:17 accelarating the last 500m (no sprint). Unlike, my tempos in the harbor, I checked the watch on every lap today.

At the end, I was a bit tired, but even running easy was hard today, it felt like a sauna.

Splits per lap (900m or so) were: 4:22,4:28,4:20,4:30, 4:24, 2:13 ( last 500m), I checked the last lap ( I mean exactly one lap until the point that I finished and I did it in 4:13.

then stopped for a couple of mins, then started my cooled down which was 17:30 of easy running and very thirsty. I did around 6 miles of total running today. Not a very hard workout, but hard enough that stress my body.

It felt nice to run in the evening today, you see a lot more people than in the morning. However, on a regular basis is better to run in the morning, because its something comes up in the evening, the run is out. Luckily, I planned my run very well today and I was going to do my workout today no matter what.

Have a great night!

5k Marta Fernandez de Castro: 23:00

 It was a fun day. However, I wanted o run 22:59 for the 5k and ran 23:00. doing a mega sprint in the last 200m, probably I closed in less than 40 seconds in that 200m. I was very happy because I thought that I had run 23:00 in 5.2k, because initially the race was supposed to have that distance. Well, in the end it was a 5k race and I felt short from my goal. The race was not easy, you had two climb a couple of bridges and the weather at 26 celsius. When last week you ran at 17 celsius, running at 26 celsius, you really note the difference. No excuses though, I tried during the race to throw an extra year, but the legs did not go any faster. In fact I suprised myself when I did that sprint, because I thought that I would not have the strength to do so. I race without a watch and I really feel good doing so. you really get in tune with your body and know when to push and when to hold back. I climb the hills very slowly, but I catch runner back up in the downhill.

I started from my home, warming up easy until the starting line, then ran some more and did 6 x 80m strides or something like that. Controlled, but faster than  race pace. Then I lined up and was in the 3rd row.  I tried to go out as controlled as possible, in the first 100m a lot of people were passing, but I tried to maintain composure. I was not feeling pretty good at the beginning. Felt somewhat hot and thirsty, then felt better, but legs would not want to move. I am frustrated, but a  couple of women defeated me by 90 secons in the last 5k race and yesterday they only defeated my 50 seconds, so I think  it affected everybody. I think I did not run that bad, but that 23:00 really left a bad taste in my mouth. 22:59 looks much better. I am not really sore today, it seems that my body is getting usted to being sore from races, or maybe I did not push enough yesterday in the middle kms. Oh well, it is what it is. Did what I could. After the race ran around 15+ mins easy to home. I seldom see nobody doing cool downs except the faster runners, but medium pack runners dont do cool down. I have the behavior of an elite, but I am very slow lol. They say you have to copy what elites do, so I will keep doing what I am doing. Some photos from the race:

I think the fist photo says it all. 

Easy run and pre race shake out

Yesterday morning, I was out at 6 a.m. to do the blasco route again, I felt much better than on Thursday. Basically ran the same time, just 1 second slower than on Thursday. Felt good, but the heat is increasing and the race tomorrow ( I type this on Saturday) will be hot. I will give my best though. Did 50:45 for 8.3k.

Today morning, I was out at 7:15 a.m. to the blasco park and started doing laps till the watch read 40 mins, then stopped and did 6 x 20 seconds with 1 min rest or so. First one felt very slow and then felt better as the strides went on as usual. Then jogged a couple of mins to home. The strides and the jog home took me 8 mins, so I did 48 mins for the day. Did around 7.6k or so total.

I am feeling a bit tired, and feeling a crap in my left ankle. It seems that the left leg is a mess these days. Maybe I am getting old. No excuses though, I will run my best. Also trying to lose a few pounds. 

Easy does it

 Today I was up at 5:25 a.m. and out at 06:00 a.m. alone to do the blasco route. Glute and hamstring was bothering me a bit. I felt good cariovasculary, but I thought that I was going was faster than what I did. Did 8.3k in 50:44. Had stomach problems eventhough the dinner was light. Go figure! A bit hot today as well.

Back to the blog

 I have decided to get back to my blog and leave Strava behind. After several months using it, its not for me. This blog is more personal. I have been training very well and have raced 4 times in the last 5 weeks. These races have been:

5.7k in 26:35

 Valencia corre 5k in 22:42

5k for the oceans in 22:37, this was 100 m short and the headwind was very strong for 2+ kms. This was a fun race though and the next day we could get a long run in. Race was on Saturday.

I will race this sunday in a 5.2k race. The heat is going up and a couple of bridges on that race. I will give my all though.

I have been training 5 times per week, did 2 hour long runs for 8 weeks or so. Then Given that the races are short I am doing my long runs of 90 mins and its amazing how easy these 90 mins feel once you have gone up to 2 hours.  Intervals on Wednesday and tempos on Saturdays.

Today I was up at 5:07 a.m. and was out at 05:50 a.m. to the Turia park alone, my brother cut his finger and cannot run for the next several days, maybe he wont race either. A bummer. His finger will be fine in the next week or so. 

I warmed up 15:40 today easy to the turia park and there I did 6 x 15 seconds with 45 seconds rest walking. Then did 8 x 400m with 200m jog rest in between. It was hot this morning, and this workout was slower than the one I did 3 weeks ago, but I felt controlled though. Splits were :1:38, 1:40,1:35, 1:37,1:34, 1:37, 1:35, 1:32. If i recall correctly this was the splits. A bit slower than last time, but it was hotter today and I was somewhat tired from the weekend of training eventhough I rested on Monday and Tuesday, so that means that I will run for the rest of the week to get my 5 runs in.

All in all I felt good with this workout and the effort was there. 15:14 easy cool down to home. Around 9.5k or 6 miles for the day. 

Now easy until race day.

Weekly update

 Monday  - Planned day off

Tuesday - up at 5:35a a.m., out at 06:05 a.m. with my brother Blasco Ibañez route, or as I call it the Maximo Gomez route -, I wanted to do 6 strides, but only could do 4 strides, because I experience some stomach problems. Did the 8.3k in 50:04.

Wednesday -  up at 5:30 a.m., out at 06:00a.m. and I did with my brother an interval workout. He would do 5 x 1000m, and I did 4 x 1000m, I dont want to peak too soon as there are no race in the horizon. I did not run good today, splits were slower than I expected and the effort was farly high. My splits were: 4:27, 4:23, 4:16, 4:17. Very tired. Warm up was 15 mins incorporating 5 x 50m strides and cool down the same to home. Around 10k for the day.

Thursday -  Up at 5:35 a.m. and out at 6:05 a.m. the same thing as Tuesday without the strides with my brother. Did 51:13. I think I did that exact time last Thursday. Felt good.

Friday  -  Planned day off.

Saturday 06/03 - Up at 06:10 a.m. and out at 07:10 a..m with my brother to the port. I did the warm up at my normal easy pace, and when I finished my 17 mins of easy running, did 6 x 15 secs strides with 45 secs recovery still. Then did our 6k tempo run in the port. The idea was to run faster than 2 weeks ago 29:39, I started feeling a bit heavy, but about the 700m mark started feeling bettter and took the lead, and stayed that way until the end. Just looked at the watch at the 1st km mark, which was 4:50. I thought that I would do 29 or 28 high for the 6k, but when I finished, I did 29:24, halfway in 29:42.84. So 1 sec negative split. I felt good, but it was not easy. My brother was sit behind the whole run, in 29:35.I finished strong, but it was not easy or confortable. Then did 17mins cool down to home. Around 11.8k for the day, something like that. Happy to have run 15 secs faster than last tempo, but a lot of work to do yet. 

Today We did 2 hours, I had since 2005 that I did not run 2 hours, but its time to surpass our mental limits. I am happy that I could accomplish the goal and run 2 hours. The last 10 mins were hard mentally, but phisically I was strong the whole way. Today it was a rainy day and it was slippery at times. We headed to the Patacona ( they opened it since it was close for the past weeks, basically, hindering 1 mile or so of the total run), then we headed to the other extreme of the run as usual and then headed to home, but near my home I had to run around 2-3 mins to complete the 2 hours. We averaged around 5:58 /km and we did 20.1 kms or something like that. I am breaking barriers as I have said I have not done that since 2005. Very happy, but have to adap. I want to eventually run 3 hours. That would be crazy for me and I guess it would bring positive results to our fitness. The company of my brother makes it easier, since you have someone to talk to and when you talk time flies by. I am not so sure the time would fly running alone. Weather was rainy and road slìppery, but we got it done.

58 kms for the week on 5 runs this week. I am feeling great and love the consistency and the progression in long runs. 

Sunday morning long run with my brother

 Today I was up at 06:10 a..m, but was out running at 07:05 a.m. still dark. Today I ran my long run again with my brother and we did the port route. He has become  my running partner for the last month or so. We do every run together and that has helped a lot. The plan today was to do 1 hour and 47 mins again like the past week. To be honest I wanted to do it faster, but at the same effort, without forcing the pace. It was basically the same pace like last week. Last week there was a lot of wind, so today was easier and today I felt awesome at the end. I could have gone much longer, but my knees I think would not support that just yet. I am liking this runs, the views in the port are awesome. 

I finished in 1 hour and 47 mins, for the first hour I experienced some stomach problems, but after the hour started feeling better and better. Aroud 17.6 kms total. 57.5 kgs for the week on 5 runs, which is pretty good for me. I am loving how I am feeling with my training and with the consistency. I am loving these morning runs, and they have helped to step up in my volume of training. 

Great week of training. Next week we will do 2 hours. I have not run 2 hours since 2005, so its time to do it again.

Morning R pace workout

 Yesterday I took the day off as I am doing in the last few months, resting Monday and Friday.

Today I was up at :6:00 a.m. and was out  at 06:45 a.m. I warmed up 25 mins at an easy pace, but faster than my usual warm up pace as I wanted to be ready for the 800m. After the 25 mins, I did 6 x 15 secs strdies with 45 seconds walking. I warmed up alone, and then joined my brother for the workout. The workout would be exactly the same as 2 weeks ago, 1 x 800m, 800m jog rest, then  6 x  400m y with 400m jog rest in between. All the hard part at R pace, or roughly mile pace. However, the 800s we wanted to do it sub 3 mins. I have to admit that we are not on that shape just yet, or at lest in the first repetition, because we always run our fastest in the last one.  Long story short, workouts was slower than 2 weeks ago, but I felt better and stronger. However, the legs were very tired after those 800m. Splits were 3:06 ( first 400s 1:31,  second 400s 1:35), 1:37, 1:38, 1:37, 1:34 ,1:33, 1:24. In the last one I wanted to run sub 90 secs. I did not know that I had 1:24 in me today, because I was going through the motions on every repeat, because my legs felt tired. My brother really surprised me today, I just beated him in the 800m by 1 sec, but he beated me in all the 400m, yea, including the last one where he ran 1:22. Very happy for him. I feel that I never truly warmed up, weather was around 8 celsius today and I wore short sleeves, in fact I have always worn short sleeves and shorts for running in the last 6 weeks or so. No excuses, keep working hard to run that 800m sub 3 mins at the same effort. 15:30 cool down to home.

Around 12.8k total

Morning easy run

 Today I was up at 5:35 a.m. and was out at 06:15 a.m. with my brother to do the " Maximo Gomez" route. We started out very slow, but then I started to heat up and increasing the pace, but of course, keeping the pace fairly easy. I dropped my brother from mins 13-14 until 26-27 mins where he sped up to catch me. Finished the run feeling pretty good. 51:13 for 8.3k. No strides today.

Zapping the zero

 Monday  -  planned rest day

Tuesday -  Yesterday I woke up at 5:35 a.m. was out with my brother  at 06:05 a.m. and I did the " Maximo Gomez route", He did a bit more than me. The pace was easy and I included 6 x 100m strides after the 40 mins. I finished the run in 51:02. Felt strong at the end. Short sleeves, in fact I do have 1 month wearing shorts and short sleeves. I feel that there is more cold in the evening than early in the morning. Around 8.3k total.

Wednesday -  Today was up at 5:30 a.m. and out at 06:00 a.m. to the turia park. My brother and I would do an interval workout. He would do 4 x 1200m with 500m jog recovery. I did 3 x 1200m with 500m recovery and 1 x 400m fast. I felt pretty good, but had some stomach problems before starting. Did not bothered much during the workout luckily. Splits were: 5:16, 5:18, 5:08. In the last repeat of 400m did 1:31 as usual.

Warmed up 16 mins including 5 x 50m strides and the cool down was around 18 mins. Around 2.6-2.7k for the cool down. Total for the day was around 10.5k .

Long run

 Yesterday I woke up at 06:10 a.m. and was out at 07:01 a.m. dark to do my long run, I met my brother at the 3-4 mins mark and then we ran together until I had 1 hour and 42 mins. I did 1:47:00 total. We went to the port, but when we arrived the port there was a strong head wind and we were running at 6:40 per pace due to the wind. It was hard and you have to put a lot of effort to " beat " the wind. All in all, I felt very strong and good. Felt very strong when I finished. The weather was good. Average pace for the run was 6:05 per km and the distance covered was around 17.5-17.6k. I want to ramp up to the half marathon soon. I never have done long runs like that, so I have to give it a try before I run out of " improvement".

5 runs for the week. Felt pretty and feeling better and better with each passing week.

Today 'Monday I rest. Resting Mondays and Fridays.