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.