Why not? lap intervals (900m) in the Blasco park

Today I left work at almost 8 p.m., I had been thinking about doing a workout today, but since I left work so late I eliminated that possibility. I had zero motivation, but since I did not run yesterday, I forced myself to get out the door at 8:40 p.m. to at least run easy. However, when I ran 1 easy in the Blasco park in 6:02, I felt better and better, in the second lap I decided that I would try a workout, no need to run easy again. I incorporated 5 x 50m strides in the second lap and completed 14 mins of warm up, then stopped for a 1 min or so before starting my 4-5 x 1 lap in the Blasco park, around 900m. This was a good workout since I have done this workout every once in a while, so its easy to track improvement. So today I improved in all fronts, ran the repeats faster and ran a 5th repeat. In the previous 2 occassions that I have done this workout I did only 4 repeats.

I got out at a hard effort, but an effort I could sustain for 4-5 repeats. First repeat came in 3:48, not bad and I knew that as soon as I warm up, I would run faster and faster and fortunately, that was the case.

2nd repeat was 3:46, was feeling pretty good at that point, 3rd repeat came in 3:42. At that point I was surprised with the splits, because the effort was high, but very controllable. 4th repeat came in 3:
44, I eased up on this one so that I could run a 5th repeat faster than the rest. 5th repeat came in 3:30 after pushing, but without losing form. That was a 17 seconds PR for lap repeats in this park. Last time I did that workout, I was really pushing to run 3:47, but today I could run 17 seconds faster at the same effort, that is motivating and all of that after a full day of work.  Recovered between repeats 3:30 at an easy pace. After the 5 repeats, I did 2 laps for cool down and completed 14 mins. I did around 10.5k or so, so it was a long day at the office and it was not planned, since I had eliminated the possibility of running a workout today.

When you put your mind into something, you really can do it, and today I showed that even when you dont feel like it, you can run an excellent workout by just showing up and trying. Of course, if I would have started the workout and felt like crap in the first repeat I would have aborted the workout, but to be honest I felt awesome and fresh the whole workout, never felt heavy legs or lactic acid, so I am pretty satisfied. The weather at that time was cool, so the heat did not bother  me much.

Tomorrow Will be an easy run just to absorb today`s hard work.

Zapping the zero

 Yesterday I ran after work at 7:30 p.m. or so.  I did 9 laps in the Blasco park for a total of 8.1k. Included 6 x 100m strides from laps 6-8, and the last lap was something like a cool down.

First lap was 5:57, never looked at the watch till the 8 th lap, but pressed the split button at halfway in 23:07, 8 laps in 44:16 and last lap in 5:32. Felt tired today, the strides loosened me a Little, but overall felt tired. Happy to have run though.

Today I took the day off, as I have said before 5 runs per week is more than enough, when you spend most of your day working. I ll try to do a hard workout tomorrow , I Will see at that time I leave work.

"Long run" in the Blasco park with my brother: 68 mins

Today I ran with my brother in the Blasco park at 6 p.m. The plan for me was to do 10k in around 63 mins or so, just easy enough to recover from my tempo yesterday. I felt pretty good today though, no soreness from the workout, so I kept the effort easy, but let myself go after the first half. I looked at the watch at every lap just for fun, but never reacted to it, just guided the run by effort and always kept the effort easy, even though I was running way faster in the second half. 1st lap was 5:52, first 4 laps were in 22:53, 8 laps were in 44:59, so 47 seconds faster than the fist half, 9 laps in 50:20 (5:21), 10 laps in 55:41 (5:20), 11 laps in 60:57 (5:16),12 laps in 66:15, just kept running till 67:45, that was the time that my brother`s watch read 11k, I would say We ran 11.1k or so. Last 4 laps were in 21:16 or something like that, so the last 5 laps or so were way faster than the first few laps, the effort felt easier running faster. Felt good overall despite the heat. I am in good shape and these weeks without quality training have not made me to lose fitness, I am feeling good and running strong, so I can`t ask for more.

Good week of running, 5 runs this week and 2 stress workouts, the ideal is 6 days of running, but with all this work, 5 runs is fairly decent.

Tempo run: 25 mins in the Blasco Park

Yesterday I took the day off, because when I left work I had to cook dinner with my housemate, so no time to run in the evening and as I pretty much run in the evening on the work week, I missed the run.

Today I had planned to do a 5k tempo or something like that, I am feeling good this week, so it was a good idea to include my usual workouts, the intervals that I did on Wednesday and today a tempo run. I slept in today so I did not run in the morning. I ran in the evening when the heat was not so high, but it was still high, there was a nice breeze though, so the heat did not bother me so much. I headed out at 7 p.m. to the Blasco park, and the plan was to do 2 + laps (6:00 and 5:28) easy including 5 x 50m strides or so to warm up,completed 14 mins, then stopped, did some walking and drills and I had planned to do a 25 mins tempo run, I was expecting to run the 5k around 24:00-24:15 today since I have not been doing any workouts lately and the mileage is pretty slow, I thought that that pace would be enough. I would 25 mins worth of tempo running no matter the pace, I started out at a pace that was challenging, but that I could sustain for the 25 mins and beyond that, since I evaluated myself and put an effort that I would maintain for the 10k. The workout turned out great, I felt great throughout and it was a great tempo, much better than the last 28:37 that I did in the 6k, felt much better and was 1 mins, if I would have finished the 6k. First lap of tempo in the Blasco park was (900m) in 4:10 and feeling under control, then tried to keep the same effort pace without losing form, 2nd lap was 8:21 (4:11), at that point I knew that I could sustain that pace and I was not slowing down, 3rd lap came in 4:09 (12:30), at that point I said, in the 25 mins I have to do 6 laps, 4th lap came in 16:37 (4:07), I was getting tired there, but felt very strong and I knew for sure that I would maintain that pace till the end of the 25 mins, I was feeling relaxed and the pace was way faster than expected. 5th lap came in 20:47 (4:10 for that lap), then in the second half of last lap I put the hammer a bit without struggling and finished the last lap in 4:04 to complete 6 laps in 24:51, I kept running though to complete the 25 mins, so I did 5.4k in 24:51, which is 4:36 per km pace and the 5k in 23:00. I could have not asked for better workout. Last tempo I felt flat from the get go, today I felt fresh and fresh, that is due to the low mileage as well and myself adapting better to the stresses workout, that tempo was slow, but put my mind into it and salvaged what could have turned into a disaster. After the 25 mins today I walked for a couple of mins before starting the cool down. Then did 2 laps easy to cool down in 5:38 and 5:30, man those felt very easy and was surprised because those were fast given how slowly I was moving, then decided to complete the 14 mins of running such as the warm up and called it a day. Total was around 9.6k or 6 miles. Felt very satisfied and happy with this workout, today`s workout indicates that I have not lost any fitness. Today I felt like in the 10k race where I surpassed my own expectations.

Running is the best medicine

Today I left work at 7 p.m. and honestly I did not have motivation to run, but I forced myself to do it, because I dont know if I ll be able to run tomorrow, but I will try. Anyway, I have learned that no matter how bad you feel before a run after you warm up you feel much better, These days take me a lap to feel much better than before starting. The plan today was to do 8 laps in the Blasco park at an easy pace to recover from yesterday`s fartlek. First lap was 5:45 feeling very sluggish, but then felt great and the pace got quicker without trying after that I started running 5:30 per lap like clock work, first half was 22:21, second half was 21:59 feeling pretty good and easy. Did not feel too tired from yesterday`s workout which is a good sign. The weather was much better today, thats because it was getting darker and darker. These days of summer, you see more runners at 8-9 p.m. out running than at 6-7 p.m. Felt great after the run, " running is the best medicine". All in all a good run to recover!

Kenyan fartlek workout: 12 x 1 mins fast and 1 min slow

Yesterday I rested because I left work late and was hungry and tired by the time I got home. Today I left work early at 6:15 p.m. or so, but was very lazy and hungry and was not motivated, but you have to do what you have to do and got out at 7:30 p.m or so to the Blasco park. I wore my workout shoes because I wanted to do a workout today, but the heat was very high and motivation was very low that I would decided after the first lap if I was going to do the workout, I ran the first lap very easy in 6:05 and decided to give it a go. After 2 laps in 11:41 including 4-5 x 50m strides to loosen up and running in place to run till 12 mins. I was ready to start my workout that the plan was 10 x 1 min fast and 1 mins slow, so around 4k worth of running including the recoveries. The effort was around 3k race pace and I felt pretty good, Increased effort after the 5th repeat and just before the 8th repeat decided to do 12 repeats instead of 10. So I did 12 mins worth of fast running . Including the recoveries did 23:00. Around 4.6k or so. For cool down I did 2 laps very easy in 6:02 and 5:33 or so, that 5:33 felt really easy, did a total of 46:36, dont know exactly how many laps, I was so focused on the workout and the watch that lost count of laps. Anyway, the laps within the workout were 4:17-4:28, so less than 5 mins per km pace including the recoveries. Not bad, given the lack of workouts lately and the high heat.

I felt strong despite the heat and could have kept going, but decided to not over do it and stopped after 12 repeats. Felt really good and strong, maybe I have not lost a lot of shape in these past 2-3 weeks of no intervals and low mileage. Doing what I can!

Monday evening run

Today I left work early at 6:15 p.m., and was out running at 7:00 p.m. in the Blasco park. The plan was to run 8 laps at an easy pace, but I felt good so I threw 6 x 100m strides at a good pace without losing form. First lap was 5:44, then did not look again till the 8th lap in 43:27, pressed the split button at halfway point in 22:32, so second 4 laps were 20:59 or so thanks to the strides. Then did 1 lap easy to cool down in 5:20 to finish up 8.1k (9 laps ) in 48:47, Felt good today and felt very smooth in the strides. That is a good sign. Weather was hot, but I am used to it already. A good easy run!