Caaaatch uppp

 Hello folks, 

I have been running but not that much, pretty much took a break of 3 weeks of easy running and 1 week completely off. I was training hard as you can tell, I assumed that races will be resumed at the beginning of the year so I better was prepared for it. However, mid October corona is getting worse and worse all over the world, especially in Spain where I am at, and even thinking about the possibility of lock down us once again. At that point  I knew that races are not happening any time soon. Some places in Spain are doing races, but starting 10-15 secs apart from each other, what race is that, I want normal races to come back when you can race head to head with other and to make packsof people to help each other. Anyway, I was very dissapointed and decided to take my break right now and then do another cycle until april or may before taking another break. The left glute and hamstring were bothering me in workouts so that break was almost necesary. So here I am running easy at the moment, well sometimes I dont run that easy becasue I start to race some people, as I have no workout to recover from, running easy can become in moderate efforts pretty much every run.

Before the break I did a 3000 meter trial ( yea my last post was minutes before my 3000m time trial) where I wanted to run sub 13:30, but deep down I wanted to get as close to 13 mins as possible, I ended up running 13:20, dropping my brother in the last km where i closed hard. I ran without a watch, warmed up 15 mins, did 5 50m strides and we headed out, I dont know splits, but the second km was very slow and I think that ruined our chances to run a " fast time".  I felt good when I finished and I decided to do 4 x 200m by feel, around 42-43 seconds, I should not have because thats where my injury get worse, the next day I ran easy, but on Friday I did my long run and I felt it, I did 1:36:52 and did a progression, but splits were very slow, it was too cold though, 5k were in 5:27,5:19,5:14,5:07,5:11. It was slow , but it felt the same as when I run 5:08 average pace for the progression.  

The day after that I tried to run a 5k tempo run with my brother, but after the first km in 4:55 I decided to run easy, my left glute and hamstring were bothering me a lot and the cold was not helping.Did around 8-9k total. I had 10 days of running straight. I rested on Sunday because i was in a trip in a couple of towns. Meeting new places.

Ran 8 laps easy On Monday and Tuesday and on Wednesday the injury was not bothering me and I felt relatavely fresh. At 4: pm ( I was still on vacation) I headed out to the turia park to do 5k tempo run. My brother wanted to do a mile time trial, but I prefered to do the tempo as the primary workout, but I also did the mile time trial at 6 p.m. so I ran twice and both times hard. I think that is the first time that I do that.  I had ages without running a double and I try a double running hard both times, what clever!! Anyway, warmed up 15 mins easy plus strides of 50m. Then did 5k in 23:51, with splits 4:32,4:51,4:48,4:55,4:42. Halfway was 11:46. So I ended running a positive split by almost 20 seconds. My legs were quiet heavy at the end. I skipped the 200s because I was doing a mile time trial with my brother on tired legs. Cooled down for 15 mins. Got showered and at 6:00 p.m. I headed out again to the Turia park to warm up 15 mins plus strides, I felt tired, but thought that I could defeat him nonetheless. I wore my watch for that time trial to track my 400s. I ran out of gas pretty quickly. my splits were 1:37,1:44,1:47,1:42. Halfway in 3:22, but finished in 6:52. I felt good on the lugs, but my legs were done and not cooperating. I was running head to head at 1k mark with my brother, but I had to surge several times to catch him and then he pulled away again. I never told him that I had already ran a tempo run, I told him that night before going to sleep hhaha. Ran around 18k or something like that for the day. I thought that I could run 6:30, but my legs did not cooperate. Happy with the effor tthough. That was my last workout of the cycle. As in the next days leg and glute were bothering me so I decided to take my break right there. After that all my runs has been watchless and 8 laps to the blasco park , sometimes easy, somtimes moderate. Before taking the week off last week. I pretty much races a young child for 3-4 laps . In the end I think I ran that run at 5 min per km pace, but I dont know since I did not wear a watch and I wont wear one until my next workout, which it might be on Wednesday. I have run 4 times this week and I was going to run this evening, but I am hanging out with my house mate, so I will probably will skip the run, really does not matter as I am in my break yet. Next week I will be back to my 6 days a week of running and taking it more seriously, but will continue to skip the watch on easy days.

I hope that you running is going well!

Tired

 Yesterday I went to run at 06:30 p.m. to do my easy run with strides. I felt good in the easy part. However as soon as I started the strides I was huffingand puffing and lasted a lot to catch my breath. I did know what is wrong, but I did not feel good during those and my breathing was out of control. Anyway, did 8 laps and 6 strides from laps 6 to 8. 7.2k total watchless.

Right now I will head out for  a 3k " time trial " with my brother. Yesterday`s run really affected my confidence. I hope to run less than 13:30, but my plan is to run watchless and run with my brother as long as I can and then outkick him at the end. I dont want to run all out becuase I know that I am not in good shape in shorter distances, hence the mile time trial I did 1 month ago. However, feeling is more important for me than pace, I would rather finish feeling good and strong, than to finish like I felt yesterday. We will see how it goes. It should be fun in the last 400m if we are running head to head by then. I could take my watch with me and not look at it, but I would rather to run without, its just about something to just run freely without having to press splits or pause the watch at the end.

Catching up

 It seems that I am posting once a week at least. To be honest  I dont like posting every two weeks, but I dont use the laptop everyday and lazyness as well. Having said that, its much better to post once a day.

Sunday October 4th -  That day we ran early at 7 something I went out so that we could watch the London marathon. I went to the Cabecera park, did one lap there and after that I started my progression, where I ran those 5k in 25:20s confortable. I finished the run in 1:37:49, what I suspect was 17k or something like that. The weather has improved so much, that you are not that thirsty at the end of the run. Pace before the progression was around 6:10 per km or something like that.

Monday October 5th - After work at 7:20 p.m. I did 8 laps in the blasco park watchless very easy to recover from the weekend. Felt good, but my left glute was bothering me. It started bothering me in the fast part of my long run on Sunday.

Tuesday October 6th - After work again, I ran watchless and did 8 laps incorporating 6 strides from laps 6 to 8 laps.  In the first stride the glute was bothering me, but in the second onwards it was fine. Felt good during the run. The weather is getting cooler and its getting dark way earlier.

Wednesday October 7th - Today I had to run my interval workout alone, because my brother wanted to go to the track to watch Cheptegei smash the 10k world record, I said that I was going to watch by TV, I suspected that given these Virus times, it would be difficult to watch it live, so I planned my workout normally. I went out before 7 pm. to the Turia park and warmed up 15:30 incorporating 5  x 50m strides to loosen up. The plan today was to run 1 x 1600m, 2 x 1000m, 1 x 400m, 2 x 200m. All with half distance recovery, except the 200s where I recovered 200m. Splits were 6:52, 4:16,4:14, 1:35, 43, 41. In the mile I felt solid and strong, but after that I felt my legs too heavy and when I finished the 1k repeats, my breathing was very heavy. I had to stop for a bit for my last 200s where I could catch my breath again and finish hard. Its rare that I am that out of breath given the paces, but that was the case today. I liked that 1600m split though. Maybe I should have gone out slower, but you have to go for it. I never looked at the watch during that 1600m, I just ran by effort and pressed the split button in the 1k mark, which was 4:17. 16 mins cool down home. My left glute was bothering me in the first stride in my warm up, it felt fine after that though.

Thursday October 08th -  I left work too late, and on Friday it was holiday, so I could run in the morning, and thats what I did. I skip the run on Thursday. 

Friday October 09th -  That day I am officially off until October 28th off work. On Friday I ran at 9 something am. I ran watchless in the blasco park, did 4 laps easy, but then I had to come home because I had stomach problems, did my thing, then went back again to the blasco park and did another 4 laps, for 8 laps total, but adding the extra distance or coming home and going back to the park and then coming back again, so maybe did 7.8k total. I felt way better in the second 4 laps than I did in the first 4 laps. Much looser. 

Saturday October 10th - On Saturday my brother and I had planned to run 10k in under 50 mins, I was targeting 49:59. I warmed up 15 mins incorporating 5 x 50m fast strides before starting. I knew that it was going to be hard, but I thought that I could run 49 mins " easily". The weather was fine, but the himidity was high as I was soaking wet when I stopped the watch at 8k. Yes I bagged the tempo at 8k. If I finished the 10k, I would probably have forced more than neccesary. Or maybe it was weakness, I kind of regretted afterward, but my breathing was very forced at that point and the pace was slipping. Thats why I dont wear a watch in races, because if you are very tired and the splits are not helping, personally, that plays with my mind. I would rather run by fee. I honestly was running the tempo by splits, and was ignoring effort level. You live and learn. At least I did the 8k at the prescribed pace and did negative split. The splits per km were 5:00,5:02,4:57, 4:59 ( this is the km of rolling terrain and those hills hurt at fast paces),  5:00, crossed the 5k at 25:00 exactly, I thought that I could run a huge negative split, because I was feeling good at that point, I tried to accelerate and did the next two in 4:54 (29:55  for 6k), and 4:55 (34:50 for 7k), at that point my breathing was very labored and when I crossed the 8th km in 5:02 (39:52 for the 8k), it was a 1 second decesion. I decided to stop and started walking waiting for my brother, but my brother lasted a while to comeby, because he had aborted in the 6th km. We were running together up until the 3rd, then I started to put a gap, but in the 5k he crossed it at 5:12 and the next one he crossed it in 5:27 (30:39 for 6k). At that point I had 44 seconds on him. Anyway, we were both dissapointed with our performances, then I did 20-25 mins cool down to home. Next time I will look at the watch in the first km, and then dont look at it, and listen to the body instead of the splits. Thats what I did in the next day`s progression. Around 12k for the day or something like that.

Sunday October 11th - Yesterday at 6 p.m. I drank 3 beers, but those did not set me too well, but in the moment they were great and those does not affect my run, because the last 2 times that i have drank beer the day before my progression, the progression has been great. The plan today was to do the progression based on how I felt, I felt a bit sore from the tempo the day before, so I wore my watch in case I felt good and that was the case. I even started the progression in the cabecera park with hills and rollin terrain. But as opposed to what I do most weeks, I only looked at the watch in the first km marked in the turia park, then did not look at the watch until I finished the run.The pace was happy from the get go, since I got to the Turia park in 13:35, which is fast ( easy effort of course), we always got there in 14:00-14:20, then the next km marked was 5:54, so right there I knew that it was going to be a good day, still was not sure if I was going to do the progression or not, I did not want to over do it.My brother was right there with me, but when we enter the cabecera park I was feeling good, I did not start the formal progression right there, but the pace was faster than last weeks, then I almost take the wrong turn and lost around 10 seconds or so, but then I knew the route and started to increase pace to my progression pace and kept at that pace for the next 30 mins. I took the splits, but did not look at the watch. Lap in the cabecera park was 11:56. Then did 5k in 5:13,5:07,5:07,5:06, 5:05. To be honest those paces felt relaxed and I was feeling pretty strong, did not have the pressure of time, since I did not look at the watch and was running enteraly on feel. My brother also did a progression and He ran faster than me in the last 5k. Then we ran easy to home and  I finished the same run as last week in 1:33:35. So 4:14 faster than last week. That was because the pace was faster from the get go and we started the progression way earlier today. I could say that I did 6+ kms at marathon effort today. You have to teach your body to run faster when tired. The weather was much better than Saturday and we both felt very strong. Very happy with how I am running my long runs. A 90 min run is not so mentally taxing as before and now I kind of look forward to my long runs.

Monday October 12 ( yesterday) - Public holiday in Spain, but today I ran solo at 6:40 p.m., no morning run today. I was feeling sore and my left was bothering, all muscular of course. Ironically, After the first lap I started to feel pretty good and finished the 8 laps feeling great. Ran watchless and the weather was fantastic. The pace was easy, but not a stroll as I thought it would be given the hard weekend of training. 7.2k total watchless.

Catching up: Solid couple of weeks of training

Yea I have been running, but did not feel like posting much. However, my training is going pretty well. 

Sunday 20/09 -  I went to the turia park with my brother at 08:00 a.m. and did a progression long run. Ran a total of 1:23:30. Incorporating 6k @30:48. Started the first kms of the progression in 5:15, then worked my way down to 5:05-5:07. I think one I did it in 5:00. I felt Good and strong during this run. Solid week of training and 6 runs for the week.

Monday 21/09 - After work at 7:30 p.m. or something like that did 8 laps in the Blasco park watchless as lately just to recover from the prior week. 7.2k totak easy effort.

Tuesday 22/09 -  Basically the same as Monday, but I incorporated 6 strides from laps 6 to 8 and felt Good during those strides. Just another easy watchless day.

Wednesday 23/09 - After work at 7 p.m. I headed with my brother to the Turia park to do our intervals for the week. I warmed up 15:xx  incorporating 5 x 50m strides and then the plan was to do 2 x 1600m with 800m jog rest in between, then 2 x 400m with 200m jog rest, and then 2 x 200m with 200m jog rest in between. Total distance worth of intervals was 4400m or something like that. I felt pretty strong in this workout and the Splits were quiet solid to be honest. 2 x 1600 in 7:01 and 6:47, then 2 x 400m in 1:34 and 1:31, then 2 x 200m in 44 and 41 seconds. I Will take it. Then did 15 mins cool down to home. My brother did another workout, that I dont remember right now as I type this on October 3rd.

Thursday 24/09 - After work did 8 laps watchless easy in the Blasco park. Felt tired, but after a couple of laps felt pretty Good.

Friday 25/09 -  Planned rest day.

Saturday 26/09 - We decided to mix up a bit the tempos and incorporated T pace intervals like in the old times, I think that they Will trmendously in improving, since I was kind of suck in the 23:50s for the 5k tempos. I think that by incorporating more volumen eventhough a bit of rest in between intervals, they Will give the body the stimulus to improve. We headed out very early in the morning at 7:00 a.m. to the Turia park , at that time it was still dark. The plan for the day was to do 4 x 1600m with 1 min rest. I have forgoteen how they were like to do mile repeats at t pace with 1 min rest. The last time that I did that kind of workout was back in 2009, so is time to revisit. I warmed up 15 mins easy incorporating 5 x 50m strides to loosen up the legs. The weather was a bit cold, since it was early in the morning. The first couple of repeats felt unconfortable and were slow, but in the last 2 I felt loose and the burnt feeling in my quads went away. It was a decent workout and basically I averaged a pace faster tan in the normal tempos, but with more total volumen. Splits were 7:40,7:38,7:25,7:19 all with 1 min rest. The last 2 felt way easier tan the first 2. I skipped the 200m repeats today and after the 4 repeats started the cool down. My brother kept his reps in the 7:30s range. So basically we did the first 2 togeteher, but in the last 2 repeats I was all by myself ahead. 15-16 mins cool down to home. Around 11k total I would say.

Sunday 27/09 - Today we went out at 8 something am to the turia park to do our long run. Today we had planned to do one lap in the Cabecera park, that is a park that is located at the end of the turia park that has a bit more than 2k one lap, and there is a race of 3 laps which my brother has raced twice, but I have not raced not even once, in fact, that day it was going to the second time that I run in it, and I wanted to revisit. It has some hills that Will make you stronger and the terrain is not the best to run in, which makes it difficult, its concrete, but its not like running in the road. Anyway, we would run one lap there which we did in 13 mins something, and as soon as we left the park I started my 5k progression at maratón effort. We were Rolling at 6:05-6:10 per km before entering the cabecera park . Splits in my5k faster were 5:08, 5:15, 5:05, 5:07, 5:08. In the first km I decided to back off a bit, since I did not want to run 5:00s because that is not maratón effort, anyway ,I always end up running 25:40s or 25:50s for the 5k and I Will take it. I think that develops my aerobic capacity and teach me to run tired, because I had done a tempo the day before. I have not injured doing that, so I Will continue to do it. Did 1:36 total time for my run and I would say I ran around 17k which is my longest run since 2009. That means that my training is going really well and if things go as well I might consider running the Valencia maratón next year. Finished the run feeling very strong and Good. My brother did 90 mins, but he does not do progressions. The weather was pretty Good,so that helped a ton, did not get as thirsty as 1 month ago.

6 runs for the week and solid week of training.

Monday 28/09 - Watchless run after work  at 7:15 p.m. 8 laps easy peacy. Felt tired, but Good. Its starting to get dark at 7:30 p.m., so half of the run are basically already dark.

Tuesday - 29/09 - After work had to go to the dentist and I ended up running at 8:00 p.m. already dark. The weather was pretty Good. I did 8 laps watchless and from laps 6 to 8 I incorporated 6 strides. Felt Good today. 7.2k total.

Wednesday 30/09 - My brother and I decided to do our Interval sesión n the Blasco park as We did not know what sesión to do, He suggeted a fartllek and thats we ended up doing. I warmed up 15 mins including 5 x 50m strides to loosen up, some legs swings and was ready to start the fartled. which was 1 min, 2 mins, 3 mins, 4 mins, 4 mins, 3 mins, 2 mins 1 mins, all with equal time of recovery. That workout might look easy on paper, but its very hard . Total time including the recovery was 39 mins something, so this a long workout. In the 4 mins repeats I did the laps in 3:53 and 3:52, which is not bad, but I was already tired. Difficult fartlek and a Good variation of the estándar intervals. We started the workout together, but I treated the recovery more like an easy run pace and thats why after the first repeat was running alone ahead. I basically did the workout alone because my brother was running the recoveries very slow for a fartlek!. Finished very tired, but did 3 laps for cool down in around 18 mins. Total time including everything was 72 mins so everything but easy.The weather was Good and I finished soaking wet nonetheless.

Thursday 01/10 - I did 8 laps easy after work without the watch. Just kept the effort easy and felt tired today, the left tybia bothered me sometimes. 7.2k total watchless.

Friday 02/10 -  Planned day off.

Saturday 03/10 - Today we headed out to the turia park at 09:30 a.m. He did not have clases today, so we started running a bit later today. The plan for today was to do 2 x 3200m with 2 mins rest, so the same volumen as last week, but today it was going to be more difficult, because you have to run more distance continuosly, basically our weakness. If I felt Good I would incorporated 2 x 200m because last week I did not include it and those for me are important. I warmed up 15 mins easy including 5 x 50m strides and some legs swings. The weather was very cool today, so I started somewhat cold eventhough I warmed up properly. We started the workout together, but soon I was running ahead and it was like it for the rest of the workout. My splits were 7:35 and 7:41 to finish in 15:16 the first 3200m repeat. Recovered for 2 mins and started the second one already tired, but the legs felt much looser in the second one as I did not feel the legs burning as I felt in the first couple of repeats of last week and as I felt in the first repeat of today sesión. The recovery helps a ton to clean my legs. Second repeat was 15:05 with splits of 7:33 and 7:31. I really wanted to run sub 15 mins for the second repeat, but that would take my a bigger effort and that was not the purpose of the workout. then recovered for 400m and then did 2 x 200m in 42 seconds both repeats with 200m jog rest in between. It was a decent workout for me, last week was faster, but I think that today`s workout was more difficult. Awnayy, the effort was there and the work was  done. My brother`s splits today were 15:39 and 15:42. He did not do that well today, since  he wsa supposed to run with me and run the times I did. But He agrees with me and said that this workout was difficult. After the 200s felt really strong. I cooled down 16 mins to home. Did around 11+k today. Felt really Good and strong. Hard workout but a great confidence booster.

Tomorrow is the London maratón so we Will have to run our long run earlier than planned to watch it. Have a great Saturday!

Catching up

Sunday13/09 - 83 mins progressive. Started at 8:50 a.m. to the turia park and was running 6:20s for the first few kms, then my progrression started, and the plan was to do only 5k, but I ended up doing 5.8k at maratón effort. Splits were 3:12 for the first 600, then did 5:15, 5:10, 5:08,5:04, 2:02 (400m), 2:03 (400m), 2:05 (400m). Then ran easy to home and completed 83:01. Ran the first 4+ kms with my brother before taking off with my progression. Felt really Good and the mile TT the day before did not leave me tired at all. Had to run with an old shoes, because the ones that I was wearing when  I was putting them on my feet they broke. So I ran with my old asics that were already a bit broken, but you could run on them. Felt nice as they were my size. The one that I was wearing post quarantine were not my size ( more Little).

Monday 14/09 - Ran watchless after work at an easy pace. The first 6 laps were easy, the last 2 not su much, because I was Racing with another guy, of course at a controlled effort. I am sure he was Racing my as well, because normally he does not run that fast. Its a guy that passed me often and on Monday I said that enough was enough and when he tried to pass him I did not let him. The thing was that I did the lap longer than he did, and every 400m I had to push harder to catch him and he built a gap. Anyway, only it was 1.8k. I started the run on my home. Probably ran 7.5k total for the day.

Tuesday 15/09 - Ran watchless again and did the same route as yesterday after work. From laps 6 to 8 did 6 strides. Felt Good on the strides. 7.5k total again.

Wednesday 16/09 - Today was workout day and I had planned to do in the Turia park 1600m, 1000m, 800m, 2 x 400m and 1 x 200m for a total of 4400m worth of intervals. I did 15:30 warm up incorporating 5 x 50-60m strides at a Good pace. Then I was ready for the workout and I was actually happy with how I feel and with the times. That Mile TT really opened my stride. I started the workout, but we only ran 800m together as he was doing another workout. My splits were 7:00@ 1600m ,800m recovery, then 1 x 1000@4:12, 400m recovery, then did 800@3:22, recovered 400m, then did 2 x 400m in 1:35 and 1:34, then to finish did 1 x 200m in 42. Felt very strong in this sesión and Good. Then did 15 mins to home to cool down. It was hot today as I was soaking wet, not as bad as 1 month ago though. Nice sesión.

Thursday - After work did 8 laps in the Blasco park watchless at an easy pace, just to recover from Wednesday`s sesión. Felt Good.

Friday - Planned day off.

Saturday (Today) -  I was up at 6:20 a.m. after going to bed at almost 1 a.m. my brother had class at 09:00 a.m. so thats why I headed out at 7:10 a.m. when it was still dark, I headed to the turia park with a cool breeze after 10 mins did 5 x 50-60m strides to loosen up, then finished the warm up at 15 mins. My brother was already there waiting, but his warm up last longer as he is doing all the drills, I am skipping drills, just doing strides. The plan today was to do  a 5k tempo run. His plan was to run 23:40, mine was to do 23:50, I dont run these for time, so pretty much run at the effort that I always run that puts me in 23:50s. 2 weeks ago I built a gap before the mile and never looked back, but today we were running head to head, he sometimes went ahead, but I matched his surges, but just before the mile to go mark, He put a surge ( He was running by splits every 400m, so he was looking at the watch every 400m so there were often surges). I only look at the watch in the first km, and as the pace was slow I decided to never look at it until the run is over, that way I am not Racing the watch during the run or frustrated during hte run, just put the right effort and see the time at the end. I was dissapointed in the first km as it was only 4:48, so one has to run faster than that to hit 23:xx. My brother was a couple of seconds ahead in the first km, then in the 1200m mark I put side to side and we were running head to head, then after the mile he surged again, and built a gap that I matched again in the 2.2k. He turned around a step ahead in the first half. Then I run ahead and I thought that I would drop him by that point, of course I am not Racing, but I am working hard, if I sped up more than that I would turn this workout into something else but a tempo run. I think when we had 2 miles I think he looks at the watch again and speed up at that time, I was already tired and I was maitaining an even pace (later found out) and at a Good effort. He built a gap of 10 seconds in the 4k mark and he kept that until the end. He did 23:43 and I did 23:54. So again He kicked my butt, but his breathing does not suggest me that he was all that confortable, anyway! I hope that when he put a number on his chest he could keep that same level of fitness. I felt Good and strong, but as soon as I started I felt somewhat tired, maybe those intervals of wednesday, maybe because the last 2 days I have not slept too much, anyway. Did not do a disaster, so I am satisfied and the splits were almost perfect. Splits were 4:48, then did not look at the watch, 4:47,2:23 500m (halfway in 11:59), 2:23 other 500m, 4:48, 4:42. Then after 400m jog recovery,  did 2 x 200m in 43, 43. Tired legs on these. Then did 15 mins cool down to home. Decent workout and the weather was cool. This cool weather does not help in short workouts or short tempos. I m starting to understand why I am run so bad in the mile TT. I could swear that I felt better in the first km on wednesday at 4:19 a bit hot, than I felt today with the cool breeze at 4:48. Anyway, it is what it is. Around 10 -10.5k total.

Today I bought another pair of running shoes, another asics colt2, that was the more cheap that I could find. I hope that they last. I bougth them 11 1/2 US. This past week I had been running with my old ASICS that were a bit broken. So I am going to use the new ones for the first time tomorrow in my long progressive run.

Catching up

Sunday September 6th  - In the morning at 8 a.m. I did 83:12 for my long run and did 5k at maratón effort, this time I felt pretty Good and the pace felt kind of easy. Ended up doing 25:44 in the fast portion. Splits were: 5:17, 5:07,5:04,5:00, 3:11 the first 600m and 2:02 the last 400s. Felt really strong during the whole run and the weather is behaving better.

6 runs for the week and 3 solid workouts.

Monday - After work did 8 laps without a watch in the Blasco park at an easy pace, felt Good. 7.2k total.

Tuesday - After work did 8 laps watchless again, but from laps 6-8 did 6 strides. Felt Good.

Wednesday - After work headed out to the Turia park to do a solo workout, decided to do 5k of fartlek, 1 min fast and 1 min slow for 5k. So around 13 mins fast in total and 12 mins slow. Did more than 5k because I crossed the 5k in 24:21 feeling Good. First km was in 4:45 and halfway in 12:19, so did negative Split, despite in the second half I was more tired. Felt really strong at the end. 15 mins warm up including 5 x 60m strides and 15 mins cool down. Felt awesome overall. My brother and I had planned since several weeks ago to do a mile time trial on Saturday, my goal was to run sub 6:20, 6:20 would be the slowest range of the goal.

Thursday - After work I did 8 laps again easy to recover from the previous day workout and to get ready for my time trial on Saturday. Felt Good at the end. 

Friday - Planned day off

Saturday -  Today my brother and I as I said were doing a mile time trial, I need more warm up so I warmed up 22:30 including 5 x 60m strides fast. We did this around 7:50 am, but I was up at 6:00. I even wore my short shorts that I only use on races. I went out after it, but the wheels came off and it ended up being a failure. I ended up doing 6:27. My brother did 6:32, but from the get go I went ahead and remained ahead until the end of the time trial. I am very dissapointed with this result given that I am doing 200s in 40-42 seconds, not easy, but I thought that I would run sub 6:10 and if the stars aligned I could run  sub 6 mins. After all I have run 5:29 and I am training very hard these days as well, but I am much slower and today was proof of that. I never looked at the watch, but pressed the Split button on my watch on each 400s. I went out on target pace, but soon after that, the wheels came off and I knew that I had slowed down to around Interval pace, the legs would not give more. All in all, I tried. My brother is ok with his time, but to be honest I am not with mine. Last time I did 6:34, but did not gave my all, this time I ran with much more intention. Anyway, it is what it is, and it seems that I no longer have the speed that I had 10-13 years ago. I have become much stronger runner though, and probably could run much faster in the 5k than in the mile right now. Splits were 1:30, 1:40, 1:39, 1:36 because I ran hard the last 200s whatever my legs could give. Then rested for around 5 mins and then did a cool down of 26:30 to home. As I type this at mid day I dont feel any tiredness or soreness, so I am ok with doing my normal progression that I do on Sundays, but this time I Will run 6k insead of 5k.

Catching up

Monday 24/08 - Watchess run after work . 8 laps easy in the Blasco park.7.2k total

Tuesday 25/08 - Watchelss run after work again. 8 laps easy, incorporating 6 strides from lap 6-8. Felt like crap that day even after doing strides, low evergy, etc. But got it done.

Wednesday 26-08 - After work at 7:30 p.m. I did 5 x 800s and 2 x 200s in the Turia park with my brother. He did 6 x 800s. I warmed up 15 mins incorporating 5 x 50m strides. I think that is the warm up that suits me well, drills dont really do much for me honestly. Recovery was 400m between repeats. Splits were 3:28, 3:31, 3:24, 3:22, 3:23,  the 200s in 43 and 42 seconds. Solid workout. Felt like crap before starting, but in the actual workout felt decent. Maybe the slide of bread and peanut butter that I ate gave me energy. 15- 16 mins for cool down. Around 10-10.5k for the day.

Thursday 27-08 -  Watchless run very easy to recover in the Blasco park. Felt Good, but kept it easy.7.2k very easy After work.

Friday -  Planned day off as usual

Saturday - Morning 5k tempo run at 08:00 a.m., I had to do it alone this time around. The weather was much better than last week. Warmed up 15 mins easy incorporating 5 x 50m strides with the last one being fast while smooth. Then did some legs swings and started right away. Did 23:50, but started out very fast I think. Splits were 4:39,4:49, 2:23, halfway in 11:51, 2:25,  4:52 and 4:41 to finis in 23:50. Then did 2 x 200s in 42 and 41 seconds. The legs were not that heavy after the tempo, but the breathing was very fast after each 200m.Then did 15 mins cool down. Felt very happy to have run 26 seconds faster than previous week, although that Saturday was much cooler than previous week. I would have finished with my brother, because that time or a bit faster He ran previous week, of course previous week I did note have it. I only looked at the watch in the first km during the tempo run.

Sunday August 30th -  The plan was to do a progression long run as usual, but I ate a lot last night and I was having stomach problems during the run, so within 30 mins into the run, I decided I would skip the " fast " part because we were very far away from home if you know what I mean, so we kept the effort easy at 6 mins per km, feeling pretty Good, finished the run in 83:12 feeling pretty Good, its incredible how easy its when you dont have to run a progression. Those progressions made me very strong. Around 13+k for the day.

6 runs for the week, which is great given the hards week at work.

Monday 31/08 - Watchless easy run in the Blasco park after work. Did 8 laps and incorporated 6 strides from lap 6 to 8. Felt decent and Good in the strides.

Tuesday 01/09 - Watchless easy run again in the Blasco park after work. Did 8 laps very easy and did not feel as Good as the day before. Anyway, got the run in.

Wednesday 02/09 - After work I went to the Turia park with my brother to do an Interval sesión, I did 4 x  1k and He planned to do 5 x 1k. No races in the horizon, so 4k worth of intervals its Good at this point and after the 4th km worth of fast running I incorporated 2 x 200m. Felt like crap in the warm up and before starting, too much stress at work with another co worker on vacation, but you got to do what you got to do.  Splits for me were 4:21,4:21, 4:18, 4:08. I felt decent during the workout. Kept the effort controlled and in the last km let myself go a Little. My brother was a bit slower today. In the 2 x 200s I did 43 and 42 seconds and felt much faster, but I was tired from the Interval sesión. I did 15 mins for cool down. Around 10k total for the day.

Thursday 03/09 - Watchless run very easy in the Blasco park to recover. Kept the effort real easy, easy boring miles, but it is what it is. 7.2k total.

Friday - 04/09 -  Planned day off.

Saturday 05/09 today -  I was up at 6 a.m.  drank a lot of wáter and did my thing, Ended up going out at 7:20 a.m. to the Turia park 16 mins of warm up including 5 x 50m strides and some legs swings. But then had to wait 20+ mins for my brother to appear, so I did around 1 more min of easy jogging. The plan was to do a 5k tempo run and I wanted to revange myself from 2 weeks ago where he ran 23:48 and I ran 24:16 leaving me in the dust. I was determined to run again 23:XX and to match every move he made. In the end I was the one doing the surges and never looking back. He went out faster, but I put myself to his side in the first 650m , then threw my first surges to go ahead. Then we were running side by side in the first 800s, I cross the first km one step ahead and when I saw the Split in 4:49 feeling like 4:20, I decided to throw another surge to get rid of him and at the same time to wake up my legs, I decided to not look at my watch for the rest of the tempo, since we probably were going to run 24 mins, I kept pushing at times and I felt Good overall, much stronger than in previous tempos, but not easy necessarily, however, if my brother caught me I was feeling Good enough to not let him to defeat me. After the 1100m I was ahead and never looked back. Crossed the first half 17 seconds faster than him, I ran negative Split, but I only defeated him by 8 seconds so his negative Split was much bigger than mine . However with 300m to go I made a sign of come on! Inviting him to catch me. These workouts give me confidence and make me realice that the training is working. Now as I type this at night I dont feel tired at all and not soreness, of course I Will realice when I am in my progression long run tomorrow. Finished today in 23:51, less than a second slower than last week, but honestly felt better and more controlled than last week. My brother finished in 23:59. My splits were very different than last week eventhough the total time was almost identical. Splits were 4:49,4:47,2:22 (halfway in 11:59), 2:22, 4:48, 4:41. Negative Split by 8 seconds. I only looked at the watch in the first km, so after that was purely by effort and throwing surges strategically to break my brother mentally. Then did 400m jog rest and then did 2 x 200s in 40 and 41 seconds. Were very surprised because those did not feel that fast.

We are doing a mile time trial next week I think, thats way I am doing 2 x 200s after my workouts so that the mile pace feels easier. 

Tomorrow a progression long run of 80-90 mins.