Catching up

 On Wednesday 17/02 - I was out at 5:35 a.m. and was out at 06:00 a..m. to do my interval workout with my brother.We headed out to the turia park. The plan was to run 1 x 1600m, 800m jog recovery, 3 x 800m with 400m jog recovery. I warmed up 15 mins including 5 x 50m strides. Then the workout started, the plan for the mile was to run well sub the 7:31, that I did 3 weeks ago. The real goal was to run at sub 7:15. I did 7:11, and my brother did 7:15. I crossed the first  km in 4:33 still cold, but it seems that I warmed up nicely over the last 600m. The breathing was more labored than I would have liked, but felt overall nonethe less. Then did 3 x 800m in 3:26, in the second one I mistakenly stopped at the 600m mark, but once my brother shouted at me, I realized that I was wrong and started running again until completing the 800m. Time of that repeat including the stop was 3:23- 3:25. It was dark and I set my point that the stopping point was that for that repeat, generally that is the point where we stop when doing 1000m repeats, yes I am getting old and mindless lol. In the last repeat I pushed it a bit, but maintained good form. breathing was a bit fast, but I felt fresh overall for the workout, so I consider that a success. My brother was very happy with his splits also, He did sub 3:28 all the 800m repeats, which is faster than we should, but we alwas have trained faster than we race. Did 15 mins cool down to home. Did 10-11k total for the day.

Thursday 18/02 - I was up again at 5:35 a.m. started running at 6:05 a.m. with my brother and we did again the "Maximo Gomez" route. Felt pretty good and easy. Did 52:20 for 8.2 - 8.3k. Felt pretty good. Kept the effort easy to absorb the prior`s day workout.

Friday - OFF

Today I was up at 6:10 a..m. Did some business in the bathroom so I ended up going out at 7:10 a.m. The plan for today was to do a 6k tempo run in the port with my brother. We are liking that route for our long runs, so we gave it a try for our tempo runs, trusting his GPS watch. We did pretty good and the terrain is pancake flat, perfect for tempo runs. I warmed up 19 mins total, icluded 6 x 50m strides to warm up fine. We started near a big watch ( like the ben watch in London) and then did 3k out and 3k back in the maritime path. Great views and enviroment eventhough there is not a lot of people that early. The first km was very slow in 5:05 or so for me, my brother was a couple of seconds back. We started the first 400-500m very conservative, but after checking that it was that slow, I accelerated inmeediately and found my rythm. I no longer looked at the watch though, just told my brother to let me know when we had to turn around, He passed me after the 2.5k so he was making the pace, I was just a step  back and when he said to turn around I did, then tried to speed up a bit for the second half or at least keep the same effort. He was ahead for 5-6 seconds in the 5k mark, but I catched him with 400m to go and stayed at his side and we basically finished together in 29:39 for the 6k. Although his watch marked 29:41. First half according to my watch was 14:52, I pressed the split button without looking at halfway point. I felt pretty good. The breathing was a bit labored, but I felt good overally and pancake flat terrain helped a lot. Sometimes in the Turia there are ups and down and the terrain is not that even and flat. Also the views here are much wider, you can see a lot fared, so when you have 600,m to go you can see the finish line. In the turia park you can basically see 100-200m ahead at the most. I really liked the experience. Its the first time we do a tempo run outside of the Turia park and the blasco park. Very satisfied with this workout. Did 17:42 for cool down and felt great in the cool down. The last 5 mins were at a good pace ( at my normal easy pace or even faster and felt very strong). Around 12k total or so.

Tomorrow again we will do 1 hour and 45 mins in the port views. Thats the beauty of the morning runs, you basically have the city for you!

Catching up

 Sunday 14/02 - I went out at 07:00 a.m. still dark to do my long run, At the 5 min mark I joined my brother and the goal today was to run 1 hour and 45 mins, which is my longest long run timewise in training since 2005, so 15+ years. I took the route of the port, beatiful sunrise, and beatiful landscape. The long run passed by quicky, the pace was very conversational, but the last 15 mins were a struggle because my legs were a bit uncoordinated. I was very happy to have accomplised the goal and in 3 weeks I want to be in the 2 hour mark, something that I have not done since 2005 and I think that was a missing piece in developming my potential. When I ran my prs my longest run was only 10 miles. The pace was very easy, around 6:10 per km, but we got the job done, We covered around 17k. We were tired from Saturday`s workout, the last 5k were sub 6 mins per km pace though. I am feeling good in my training and really loving my morning runs, something that I did not do before.

5 runs this week. As I said I am running 5 times per week, probably will increase to 6 times once the races start. At this point we dont know when we are going to race again. In the meantime we are doing time trials once in a while. On 27/02 we will do another Mile time trial, but I think my brother wont run on that one. 

Monday -  Planned off day.

Today I was up at 05:35 a.m. and was out at 6:10 a.m. with my brother. We did the "Maximo Gomez" route. This time we started faster from the get go, I was feeling very fresh. In the 3k mark ( or so) we did it 1 min faster than we usually run, at that point I knew that it was going to be a good day, I did not force the pace though, since it was an easy day, but I let myself go a little. At the 38 mins or something like that I threw my usual Monday strides. I did 6 of them. Keeping good and form, but trying to keep the cadence fast. The glute is behaving very well, and for that reason I have been able to get the those fast workouts. Time for today was 49:41. 3-4 mins faster than usual and feeling very easy and strong. Tomorrow morning an interval workout.

Morning R pace Intervals

 Yesterday I took the day off. As I said previously I am running 5 times per week and its working very well for me, I am progressing nicely and doing better each workout and feeling fresh going into my workouts. Also increasing my long run every 3 weeks. 

Today I was up at 6 a.m., but headed out the door still dark at 07:00 a.m.The plan for today was 1 x 800m at mile race pace or faster, my brother wanted to do 3:10 or less and then we would do 400m repeats at R pace ( R pace is around mile race pace). Knowing the that first repetition would be the 800m and it was going to be fast, my normal warm up was not going to be enough since as I get older I need more to warm up. Instead of doing 15 mins including 5 x 500m strides. I did 25 mins easy and after those 25 mins, where the last 10 mins were easy, but faster than normal to loose the legs. After those 25 mins were over, I did 6 x 15 seconds with 45 seconds rest walking before starting the next one. I generally do 5 x 50m strides ( around 15 seconds as well), but I dont walk between them, I just jog between them and I include them within the 15 mins. This time, I did the strides after the 25 mins were done. After the strides I waited for my brother to finish his warm up for 5+ mins. 

Then the workout started and we went out hard, He went out harder than me and basically was ahead of me the whole repeat, he beated me by one step. My goal was to run fast, relaxed and without losing my form. We did 3:04. His watch read 3:05, its weird because he beated me by one step. I was huffing and puffing a lot and after the 500m my legs were heavy,the last 200m were a struggle, but I did not lose my form. I also found that I was not enough warmed up, but I think that is part of myself getting older, I was not that cold either the extra easy mins of warm up plus the strides helped. I normally start very slow in the first repeat on my intervals despite doing strides within the warm up.

After the 800s we jog 800m to recover and then did 6 x 400m with 400m jog recovery and I felt that as the workout went by we were feeling better and getting looser. My splits were 1:38,1:36,1:31,1:33,1:33, and in the last one I was feeling loose enough and I wanted to crack 90 seconds, I did 84.42 and I had to divert from the path as there were people going my direction and people coming, so I had to run in the grass and I think I lose a second, but no biggies, still pretty surprised with that split and how good I felt. I am sure the long recoveries between the repeats really helped. I am very satisfied with this workout and finally feel that I am making progress, I did not run sub 90 seconds in 400m probably in almost 1.5 years. Then did 15:30 for cool down to home. Total volume was around 12k. My brother said that we did 6k including the recoveries, plus my 4k warm up + 2k cool down. We did pretty good today and I felt very strong. Very happy for my brother as he was very happy too. I think he can run much better than the 6:34 he did 2 weeks ago. Weather was fine.

Those morning runs are really helping and I am enjoying them a lot as well. 

Good workout and an easy run

 On Tuesday (yesterday) I was up at 5:30 a.m. and at 06:00 a.m. ( This is the earliest we can go out due to the curfew, I would like to go out earlier on workout days) headed out to the Turia park with my brother. Planned workout was to do 4 x 1000m with 400m recovery. The same I did 3 weeks ago. I can say that I have progressed nicely over the last few weeks. I warmed up 15 mins including 5 x 50m strides, faster than in previous days as my glute is behaving quiet well. My brother did drills so I had to wait a couple of more mins before we actually started the workout.

I was surprised, I thought that I would start aroud 4:40 per km I was doing in my last interval workouts because I was so cold at the beginning. However the weather is getting warmer. My 1000m repeats were 4:24, 4:28, 4:15, 4:10. The first 2 repeats were against the wind and the last 2 repeats with a tail wind as they felt at the same effort as the first 2 repeats. Very satisfied with this workout. I had not run that fast (4:15 and 4:10) since July or August I think. I have to admit that I was very unconfortable, but I toughed it out and could finish each repeat with good form. My brother also ran good, He did 4:28, 4:30, 4:20, 4:15. He also was very happy with this workout. Then I did 16 mins cool down to home. Around 6 miles for the day.  I was talking with my brother that I run as good as if I were running 6 times per week, with just 5 days per week. I feel that I got to every workout fresher. I am doing very good with 5 runs per week, but as soon as they announce some races, I probably will get back to 6 runs per week, or perhaps stay at 5 runs and start to do strength training to build some muscle as I dont have any, lol.

Today ( Thursday) I ran with my brother at 06:05 a.m. and we did the Maximo Gomez route, I dropped him at the 15 mins mark because he was running very slow. I finished the 8k+ in 52:55 and felt pretty easy and confortable. Tomorrow I will rest and on Saturday we will do some R pace work.

Have a great Thursday!

Getting back to the online blogging

 Hello folks, I have been taking time off from blogging, my training is going well. We did a 5k time trial on December 31th and I finished in 24:05, so it was an awful performance. Raced without the watch, and given that I was not doing any workouts, I ran poorly. I went out too fast for the first 500m, and that payed off in the second half. 

This past Saturday I ran a tempo run in 24:10, feeling much better than in the " time trial". Since January 1st I have been running all my runs in the morning. Weekdays at 06:00a .m. and on weekends around 08:00a .m., I find that I am much more consistent and feel much better in the morning. The hard part is to get out of bed, but I have been handling it very well. On Wednesday Feb 3rd I did a 5k fartlek with my brother. First half was very slow, was in 13:10, but then I tried to run faster and do the recovery faster, thats when I dropped my brother and finished the 5k fartlek (1 min fast and 1 min slow) in 25:23. So did the second half of the fartlek including the recoveries in 12:13 so both halves were in (13:10 and 12:13), my brother finished in 26:15 or something like that. I really opened it up in the second half and felt pretty good overall. This one was at 06:00 a.m. in the dark. I am loving these runs.

I am running 5 days a week, resting on Monday and Fridays, given that there are no races, I am running 5 days, doing 2 workouts and one long run per week. I got back to intervals 1 month ago and ironically my glute and hamstring problems are improving and feeling better in every workout. I have done 4 5k tempos in the past 5 weeks: 24:55, 24:38, 24:43, 24:10. After that 24:10, did 4 x 200s in 43, 44, 44, 42. I have been improving my 200s as well. Feeling better and better. My long runs is at 95 mins, and this Sunday we want to do 1:45 in order to break some mental barriers and to see if we can run a breakthrough improving our endurance.

Also on January 30th, we did a mile time trial and I surprised myself, did 6:25. My brother did 6:34 and JOrge did not finish, but went out like a bat, crossed the 500m around 1:50. I thought that I was going to do around 6:40 because my intervals were  at 4:40 per km the slowest and 4:20/ km the fastest. The week of the time trial did 1 x 1600m in 7:31, then did 6 x 400s in 1:42,1:37,1:39,1:37,1:37,1:31. Started very slow, but once I warmed up  I felt fine. I did that wotkout at 6:00 a.m. On the time trial, I warmed up 37 mins and included 3 mins uptempo (5:10 per km) and  6 strides, and then did the time trial. I warmed up a lot because on previous time trial I found that I was going out cold and that was affecting my finishing time, so in this one I tried the extra warm up and that felt fine. Never felt cold when I went out. In fact the first 400s felt " easy". I never looked at my watch, but I crossed the 1000m in 4:02 and then worked my way down to 6:25. First 400s according to my brother`s watch was 1:38, so I started slower and picked up the pace gradualy. On past time trials, I did not warm up well, but also was going out too fast. On February 27th we are going to do another time trial and of course I want to run sub 6:25.

Yesterday was a rest day, as I said I rest on Mondays and Fridays for the time being, I will back to 6 days of running once races are announced again and I think that the reduction of 1 day is actually helping my glute/ hamstring and my performance and improving ( certainly the reduction from 6 days to 5 days has not affected my performance at all).

Today I was up at 5:35 a.m. and was out with my brother at 6:15 a.m. and We did the Maximo Gomez route. We did it faster than normal today, but it was pretty easy still. After the 40 mins I included 6 strides and I felt really good on those. The glute bothered me a little, but after the second one felt pretty good. I finished the 8 +k in 50:38. These past two weeks I have been running this route in 52 - 53:30. Effort is easy, so on this runs pace dont matter much, in fact my workouts has improved eventhough I have been running my easy runs slower. Again this is not a goal, I just go out to run easy and given that I am too cold the pace turns out to be very slow.

I am enjoying these morning runs and feel much better in the morning. Sometimes I was at work and felt pressured, because I left work late ( already dark) and I was hungry and I had yet to get my run in. That does not happen in the early morning, because I am energized and once one warm up its all fine. After 2 p.m. you feel tired, but you already got your run in and you can go home relaxed knowing that you already ran. 

Catching up

 Tuesday - December 8th  - Tempo at 4 p.m. with my brother, that day was holidays in Valencia. Warmed up 15 mins + 5 easy 50m strides. Then did 5k in 24:33. Brother defeated me, he did 24:20, but pretty much went ahead within the first 100m and I could not match the bridge. First km was in 4:43, too fast compared to past week, halfway was in 12:13 ( did not look, but pressed the split). Felt a bit tired, and I really wanted to improve the 24:16 of the previous week. 15 mins cool down to home to complete 6 miles total.

Wednesday 09th  - After work, did 8 laps in the blasco park ,but starting from my home. Did 49:36. 

Thursday 10th - After work, did the same as the day prior,but included some strides easy and controlled, did 48:32.

Friday  - off

Saturday11th   -  At 11 a.m. did the new route that I have been doing, doing 1 lap to my brother`s route and did 51:08.

Sunday 12th - At 4 p.m. Did 35 mins within the new route and then went to the turia park and finished my run 75 mins. This run was a good pace, it was a 5:30-5:40 average pace per km. Really pushed in the last 300-400m. 

5 runs for the week, decent week of training.

Monday -  off -  went to a birthday and ate delicious food.

Tuesday - Did 8 laps in the park starting from my home. Did 5 easy strides from laps 6 to 8. This run was done after work. But heck running after work when you have a ton of work its not motivating, you pretty much have to rush from work because you have to run and its already dark.

Wednesday -  off again. No motitavation and I was pretty hungry.

Thursday - After work. Did 32:31, did 5 laps in the blasco park starting from home. I had to cut it short, because I was going to a chinese all you can eat.

I have not run since that day, really no motivation. I have been very busy and if I did not run in the morning, I pretty much lose the run. Given that there are no races in the near future ( I could not care less about virtual races), my training has no meaning, especially with the glute and leg problem that i have been experimenting. Anyway, tomorrow is a new week and I do better start moving my butt again, because I am eating like a pig and I will pretty much get back to 200 pounds, if I keep up with this eating. Eating is something that I do pretty well, as opposed to running, lol. In all seriousness, I should start training again, so that when races come, I am ready to start racing.

2 runs for the week. No pretty!

I hope that your running is going well!

Catching up

Sunday November 29th - At 4 p.m. I did 70 mins, To the Turia park, mostly was easy, but in the last km I pushed the pace a bit. Did a negative split of 80 seconds of something like that. Weather was pretty good and I felt good.

Monday 30/11 -  That day I went back to work after 2 weeks off. When I left work I was very hungry so I skipped the run.

Tuesday 01/12 - After work I wanted to do  tempo run in the turia park, and thats essentially what I did, but this time it was at night, since its already dark at 6 p.m.. I started the run at 7:20 p.m., warmed up 15 mins to the Turia park with 5 x 50 easy strides, I am doing the strides very easy, since I still feel my glute and hamstring bothering me sometimes, and thats why I am not doing intervals. No competitions in sight, so its better to take things slowly. Well, the plan was to run a bit faster than last week, and I felt pretty good overall, the weather was just great. I am only looking the watch in the first km , split halfway without looking and then look the watch the end. First km for the 5k tempo was 4:53, halfway in 12:10 ( did not look at the watch), then finished in 24:16, so negative split again for 4 seconds. Felt better than last week and was not sore at all the next day, so I am heading the right direction. That first tempo run back sucked. 15 mins cool down to home.

Wednesday 02/12 -  I was pressed for time when I left work, because I had to eat dinner with my house mates, so I only had time for 40 mins, started at home, and then when to the blasco park, did 6 laps and back home.

Thursday 03/12 -  When I left work at 7 p.m., I headed out to the blasco park from home running, did 8 laps and back home again, that took me 50:51, laps were around 5:35-5:40. Very easy effort and the pace was very easy. Weather was great. With this weather you dont even break a sweat.

Friday -  off  - I drank beer instead lol.

Saturday -  At 09:00 a.m.I headed to do my longer run of the week, 70 mins. I did that on Saturday, because on Sunday was the Valencia half marathon and marathon and I wanted to watch it. This run was basically the same pace as last week long run, but I felt much slower. I started faster than I though, but did not look at the watch much, only to turn back. Ran around 80-90 seconds negative split, but without pushing much the pace in the second half. Felt pretty good.

Sunday - I went to watch in the streets of Valencia the marathon and half marathon live, watching those guys run live its a dream come true, they dont look like humans. First 4 guys broke the HM world record. In the marathon they ran pretty solid 2:03:00. A lot of guys dropped out, the weather was great in my opinion, but not much fans and spectators, and a lot of people running alone. That must be very hard when you are in the 30k, no spectators and battling with the wall and inner demons. American Emily sisson ran alone the whole way, but she was like running that there was no tomorrow, She was shy by 2 seconds off her PR. 67:26. If she would have someone to run with, I think She could have done it. It was an amazing experience. Personally I thought that Rhonex Kipruto would win, but I also thought that Kandie could make it. That Kandie has run 58:xx in the half 3 times this year. I watched Kiplimo and Kandie in the 20k head to head battling to home. Man, that is racing. I laugh at the term virtual racing, sorry but I dont buy it, a true race is head to head competition. The intention of virtual racing is good, but it will never be like an actual race, no matter if you do a PR in that virtual racing.

With the inspiration and motivation from watching the marathon, I ran at 5 p.m. in the route that I ran last Saturday, which is nice, a lot of intersections, so its best to do it on weekends, then I headed out to my brother`s route and did 1 lap, then back home. Stopped the run at 52:13, so 8k something. Felt pretty good and strong. Again, the weather was good and I barely broke a sweat.

Given that I did not run on Monday, 5 runs per week, but I am training very lighly, since no races on the horizon.  Just a tempo run once a week at the moment.

Monday -  off -  I was going to run, but my brother showed up at my home, so I decided to skip the day and eat kebab instead, yea, what a discipline!

Today is a public holiday here in Spain, I will do a 5k tempo run with my brother in the afternoon at 4 p.m. I am not worried about time, but I hope to feel as good as last week We will how it goes!