Maintainance pace "long" run

Today I ran alone in the Turia park. I went at 5:20 p.m. and the plan was to run 12k at an easy pace, but I was not sure if I was going to do the progression in the last kms. I did not want to run very slow either, since yesterday was pretty easy and tomorrow will be easy too.

When I was about to start I decided to try to average 5:50 per km for the whole run so that meant I needed to go out a bit faster than normally, so accomplished that and I felt pretty good the whole run. That pace was easy enough that did not tax my body and fast enough that the kms passed by quickly, as opposed when I am running very easy that feels that I am running forever, that is part of the patience needed in this sport, however, I just wanted to get over it soon today.

Splits were pretty even and felt pretty good, albeit still tired from Friday`s tempo.

Splits were: 6:23 (about 6:05, given the extra 50m of this km), 5:51 (12:14), 5:46 (18:00), 5:42 (23:42), 5:43 (29:25), 5:44 (35:09), 5:42 (40:51), 5:40 (46:31), 5:35 (52:06), 5:38 (57:44), 5:40 (63:24), 5:51 (this is the same case as the first km, more like 5:35, finished the 12.1k in 69:15, then kept running at the same pace/effort to complete the 70 mins.

Felt good the whole run and felt strong, was thirsty at the end though and my left knee was bothering me by the end, lack of long runs for the past 5 weeks, I guess.

Around 12.21k total or so. Good week of training, 6 runs and around 58k total for the week! Averging 5:43/km for today`s run.

Easy evening run

Today I was very tired due to the workout yesterday. At 6:40 p.m. I headed out to the Blasco park and did 8 laps pretty easy. The pace was faster than I felt.

First lap was 5:41 and then did not look at the watch till the end, but pressed the split button at halfway. Halfway was 22:29 and finished in 44:44 for 8 laps (7.2k). Was tired, but at the same time felt pretty good.

Weather was a bit hot, but ok. Last night at 10:30 p.m. I watched the 15k Nocturna Valencia where a lot of kenyans come to run crazy fast times. First place did 41:55 for 15k, first woman 46:52, those were awesome.

My friend Adelino ran it and did a great job finishing in 57:11. Very fun race to watch and great atmosphere.

Evening watchless 5k tempo in 23:28 + 2 x 200s

On Thursday I took my day off as usual.

On Friday I was not sure of doing my tempo run, the plan was to do it on Saturday since I had run my interval workout on Wednesday and I run easy for 2 days between workouts. However, today (Saturday) my brother was going to be out of town, so I had to do it alone, and He was doing him today, so I had the option of take a risk and doing it today on tired legs. My legs felt surprisingly good, not like last week. Were tired, but, no soreness, so I gave it a go. I made the decision at 5 p.m. and We were running at 6:40 p.m. and at 3 p.m. I drank a beer in a bar watching the last set of Nadal vs Federer march in Roland Garros, the French Open. That beer did not affect at all in the workout.

Anyway, I decided to leave the watch at home and just go by effort, I would be happy with anything under 24 mins. I am glad I left the watch at home, since We were running way slower than I thought We were going, I realized after the workout looking at my brother`s splits.

I warmed up 15 mins with 5 x 50m acceleration strides to loosen up the legs. Then We started our 5k tempo. I went out at a good effort/pace, my brother was ahead in the first km by 1 second, but then He started gapping me and never caught him. I felt that if I went with him, I would crash and burn, I waited till the pace came to me. That was not enough to reel him in.

On the second km He had a gap of around 8-12 seconds, kept it till the halfway. In the halfway turn around I lost a lot of time because in that precise moment a runner came, so I kind of waited till He passed, lost around 4-5 seconds. As soon as I turned around, I accelerated to make up lost time, at that point I was feeling good, but not great. My brother by the 3rd km had a gap of around 15+ seconds. In the last 2 kms, I decided to relax and try to accelerate a bit while staying relaxed and that worked, from km 3-4, I bridge some gap and He had around 10 seconds on me and He kept that gap till the end. He finished in 23:19 and I finished in 23:28. When I finished the tempo, I jogged 400m easy and then did 2 x 200m fast, I felt like a truck in these 200s, but its good to run fast on tired legs. After I finished the workout before the workout, my brother told me the times and the 200s were in 41,40 and I was pretty surprised because they felt way slower than that, tried to maintain good form and run fast.

I was not dissapointed about the tempo, but I was not happy either. 2 seconds faster than last week, eventhough We started way slower, glad I did not know splits at the time. After reviewing my brother`s splits at home, I realized that I ran around 4:45 for the first km, which felt way faster than that, halfway was around 12:00, since my brother ran 11:49, I thought that I was going faster than last week, where I crossed in 11:39. 3k were in 14:10 for my brother, I crossed in around 14:25-14:30, which felt way faster than that, I thought that I was running sub 14 mins, However, in the last 2 kms I really put the hammer down, my brother ran 9:09 for those 2 kms, if I had to take a guess I ran around 9:00-9:05, which really makes a difference compared to other splits. Well thats one of the reasons that I dont wear a watch during races, not seeing the splits that I want could mess with my head pretty badly.

Overall, a solid workout, felt much better than last week, could add 2 x 200s and it was 2 seconds faster and I only had 48 hours to recover, so this was a success.

Weather was pretty hot, as I had a pretty dry mouth when I finished. Did around 1.7k easy for cool down and We did around 10k total for the day.

Wednesday Interval session: 1 x 600s, 3 x 800s,4 x 400s, 2 x 200s

 On Wednesday I did the interval session with my brother. The real goal today for me was not pace, I wanted to feel good, strong and tomorrow feel like intervals on the past cycle, where I was tired, but not sore like I was the past week, pace was secondary.

The plan for today was 4 x 800m, with 400m recovery in between, then 4 x 400m with 200m jog recovery in between and 1 x 200m to complete 5k worth of interval running.

The plan went as planned, except for the first 800m turned into only 600m, due to a crowd of people starting " a race " in the Turia park, they had the path completely intercepted, my brother was going way ahead and He stopped the watch at 600m, so I followed through. After that I did the interval session as planned, but on the 3rd 800m repeat I had problems with the crowd as all the people were going in the tiny little running path of the Turia park.

I felt good and controlled in this session, did not struggle. However in the 400s and 200s I was tired, but could keep good form and finished the workout strong. What I did to make up the missed 200m of the first repeat was to add another 200m repeat at the end, so 2 x 200s after the 400s.

My brother aborted the planned workout after the 2nd repeat, within the first 400s of the 3rd repeat, He could not run with all that people, I made my way and could make a hole to pass, the rhythm was over the place though.

Splits were: 1 x 600m@2:30, 3 x 800m@ 3:24,3:22,3:14. 4 x 400m@ 93,90,92,90. 2 x 200m@ 42.10, 41.43.

I felt good, but I think that I have lost speed, I struggle to run those times in 200s, anyway, I think that is a good thing, so that I don't peak too early. It seems that my body was not adapted anymore last week with that month off of interval work. I write this on Friday and my legs feel pretty good, no soreness and pretty much how I felt after interval workouts, so my body is adapting quickly. I am happy with the splits, but I would like to run sub 4 mins per km already at the same effort. I will have to wait I think!

Watchless easy run

Today I was supposed to do the intervals, but I am still tired from Sunday`s walking in Barcelona and maybe the Saturday`s workout as well. I decided to move the workout to tomorrow to be more rested, as I said, I don't want to dig a fatigue hole.

I ran by myself today at 5:40 p.m. today since my brother had run in the morning and I am going to the movies tonight to watch "Aladdin". I ran watchless today and did 9 laps to the Blasco park to complete 8.1k. The idea was to do 8 laps, but in the last lap decided to add one more lap since I was feeling pretty good. Although my hamstrings were a bit sore and tight.

Overall, felt real good and the effort was very easy, should be ready for my intervals tomorrow. Weather was hot, but fine.

Easy evening run + 6 x 20 seconds strides

Yesterday as I said was my day off running, but it was not rest day by any means. I was in Barcelona with my brother visiting my uncles, the bus departed at 2:30 a.m. and We got there to Barcelona at 7 a.m. and from that time till 10 p.m. that it was the time to get back to Valencia We walked the whole day, but it was a blast, I loved Barcelona, I had lived there, but I did not remember since I was a kid, I remembered the Ramblas though. It was good to see part of family!

I went to bed at 3 a.m. and I woke up today at 9 a.m., did not run till 7 p.m. with my brother, We were both tired from all the walking yesterday, but I felt really good once I started running.

We did 9 laps easy and incorporated 6 x 20 seconds strides from laps 6-8, I only looked at the first lap in 5:58, then did not look until the end ( I looked in the strides, but only at the seconds), finished 9 laps (8.1k) in 50:48.

Weather was good, felt tired from yesterday and Saturday, but felt better than expected.

5K Tempo run: 23:30

This morning   I ran fasted (and drank a couple of beers after dinner yesterday). I did my 5k tempo with my brother at 10 a.m. The idea was to do it earlier, but I woke up at 4:45 a.m. and I could not get back to sleep till 7 a.m., so We moved the workout to 10 a.m., I started running from home to the Turia park, then ran some more there till complete 16 mins for warm up. In that period incorporated 5 x 50m or so acceleration strides.

I felt tired in the warm up, was still sore, but was going to do the workout anyway. My brother told me He wanted to the 5k in less than 23 mins, so much faster than his current 10k race pace. My goal was not that ambitious, I wanted to run 23:15-23:30, around my 10k race pace.

From the get go He was ahead of me, but I was running my pace, crossed the 200m in 54 seconds, I was running a tad faster than expected, then eased into my goal pace, first km was in 4:38, right where I wanted to be. At that point my brother was more than 8 seconds ahead, I tried to keep the same effort/pace, but after the mile, I started to feel tired,2k came by in 9:20 (4:42 for that km), halfway came in 11:39 (that 500m in 2:19), then lost around 3 seconds in the turn around. My brother crossed in 11:28 or so, so He was running strong, but I was gaining on him little by little. I crossed the 3k in 14:00 (4:40 for 3rd km), I was keeping my pace and it felt sustainable, but at that point I was running close to the pace I ran in my 10k race 4 weeks ago, I wonder if I could sustain that pace for 10k today and the answer was clear, no!! I was huffing and puffing already and the pace was difficult to maintain after 3 km, after the mile I felt sore and its obvious that I was not recovered from the hard interval session I did on Wednesday evening,

I was gaining on my brother very fast, in the 4th km which I crossed in 18:49 (4:49 for that km, after that I knew that it was not my day), my brother had 3 seconds on me, but as soon as We crossed the last km, with around 900m to go I passed him, I tried to regroup in the last km, but did not push the pace, just tried to relax and tried to maintain my effort, no point in pushing a pace to dig yourself in a tempo run, stimulus in these workouts its whats important. I finished the 5k in 23:30, running 4:41 for the last km. My brother finished in 23:43.

I felt really tired and huffing and puffing. This is the first time that I do a positive split in a tempo run, positive split the thing by 12 seconds. My brother did for 45 seconds, so He hit the wall very hard.

Weather was very hot today and sun was in full force today. However, as I said I felt tired even before starting the workout. All in all, I think that I did a decent workout, right in the range that I was hoping for. We jogged 1.7k or so for cool down to complete 9.2k for the day.

Tomorrow We rest since We are traveling to Barcelona to see family. We will walk a lot tomorrow I expect. I almost run a second run today, but thought better of it, better to rest for Tuesday workout and be as rested as possible. Tomorrow will be a rest day off running, but definitely all that walking will be quiet a workout!