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.