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Viana do Castelo (2005)
For the keenly obsevent amongst you, I ran this last year aswell.
I was hoping that this would be my first race as a veteran, but this year it did not coincide with the Almeria half (I see, by the way, tha Gebresellasie has decided to join the Running Commentary awayday weekend - it's probably cheaper for him too!!)
So, my last race as a senior then.
It was a good day to run, cold but sunny. Eveything was the same as last year, the course, the organization, my parking space...
I was wearing the HRM again for the race. After my scare in December I wanted to see what a hard half would produce.
The first 4km were flat, run around the port, then we started on the long out and back part of the course. The outward part is mainly uphill, although there are dips aswell. I grabbed a bottle of water as I passed 5km in 21'32.
The road now was straight, I was somewhere in the middle of the field. I noted wryly that the main sponsor of the Porto Runners Club is McDonalds.. I think I would change club. Like last year, this stretch of the course was well supported.
10km came along at 42'53, so that was the second 5km in 21'20. This was not bad as it was uphill. My reasoning for pushing on, and I did, was that the return part of the course was mainly downhill, so would (hopefully) be easier.
We turned around at about 13km. The leaders had passed me after about 44 minutes. There was a 1/2km uphill run to reach 15km in 1h04'31. That 5km being 21'37 then it was more or less downhill to the finish.
Owing to the terrein, and perhaps the lack of any speedwork in January, this run felt alot harder than Ferrol in December. The quality of the field seemed to be stronger in Viana aswell. That is to say, the quality of the field in my part of the race. Most of the field around me were veterans, many of whome I could not hold off in the last 6km. I managed to hold my position by overtaking a few runners, but needed to work very hard near the end.
3km from the finish we hit the cobblestones which cuts the speed down sharply. Running downhill on a very uneven collestone street in lightweight Asics Verdicts is hell and I tip-toed my way to 20km in 1h26'09.
Using the pavement wherever possible to save my feet and ankles, the last kilometer and ninety metres were run in 4'31 to leave me with a total of 1h30'40.
The HRM informs me that my average for the race was 181bpm with a maximum of 190. Given the info from the HRM, I'm thinking of running the next half I do - Porriño - by heart rate. I have to think up a strategy.
Facts from last year - Weight 82kg , time 1h39 ish, this year, weight 71kg time 1h30'40. The training level is similar, about 50km per week at the moment.
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