The week with the runs and the dodgy squid ran into last weekend and a half marathon in Ferrerúa. I ran this one two years ago two weeks after the marathon in Madrid. Last year I wanted to run but in the middle of a thunder storm en route I deciced that a large coffee and a croisant was a much better idea. This year, come rain or shine, I was determined to run. In the end the sun shone, in fact it was a tad hot at the finish.
I think I have described Ferreirúa once before. It is an aldea, in the South of Lugo, very close to the wine producing area of Ribeira Sacra. For those with good maps, the nearest town is Monforte de Lemos, then 10 km west of there is a small village Pobra do Brollon, then 8 km north of there is a cluster of farms and a few houses, this is Ferreirúa. Not a place one would normally pass through, let alone visit. They do however have this fantastic day with the half marathon, a race of 9.6 km and shorter distances for children. Which all results in around 400 people descending on this hamlet, about 350 people more than the residents I would imagine.
The course itself consists of two laps of 9.5 km then the rest is a mini loop of Ferrerúa. Naturally, its all rural, running alongside farms, forestry plantations and a nice shady river. We passed two bars and a general store en route, whether they were in Ferreirúa or in neighbouring aldeas, Im not sure. Its not a race for personal bests as its up and down all the way, the first and third 5 kms are generally downhill, while the second and fourth quarters are uphill, add to the that the heat we finished with 26°C and in reality, its a tough old race.
What makes it special though is how the whole of Ferreirúa is out there helping, trying to ensure that everyone has a good time. There are two ways to apprach the place, one is from Pobra do Brollon, the other from the direction of Sarria to the north. To ensure that nobody gets lost there were villiagers out there to direct us to Ferreirúa. Next up there was a large field for parking, with marshals directing everything. Picking up the race number was easy as pie, and there was plenty of room to warm up. During the race there was ample bottled water at well manned stations and for those slower runners there was also a guy on a moped with water bottles. En route, which was superbly marshalled (traffic free of course because its in the middle of nowhere, but theyd also kept the cows off the roads), the support was great.
Once finished, there was the tee shirt, bottle of poweraid, water and fruit as per normal. There were showers (refreshingly cold) and then there was the prizegiving ceremony. Again, this is what makes Ferreirúa special, midway through the prizegiving there was empanada, pinchos of ham, cheese and chorizo, plus wine and soft drinks for everyone. Unlike many of tha races Ferreirúa is a family day, there were lots of families there, whether the kids were running or not, at the end, all of them were playing football. The weather helped Im sure, but I cannot think of a better Sunday morning run than Ferreirúa.
Ferreirúa was supposed to be a training run but I ended up running hard for the last 15 km which resulted in the need for a day off on Monday. There was no run on Tuesday as I had to be in Oviedo all day so the training schedule has been a bit haphazard these last couple of weeks. Im now more or less back in line, although Ive concentrated more on distances this week, there will be 34 km on Sunday then next week will look like this:
Monday: 6 km @ 140 bpm.
Tuesday: 8 km @ 150 bpm.
Wednesday: 4 km warm up; 8 X 400m @ 190 bpm; 4 km cool down.
Thursday: 8 km @ 150 bpm.
Friday: 16 km @ 150 bpm.
Saturday: 16km @ 150 bpm.
Sunday: Carriera Popular do Arteixo (12 km flat out)
Arteixo will be special for me this year as the shop is one of the sponsers, although in the publicity I am The Runing Chop which I think I found funnier than the race organizer did.
*** My 34 km run was eventually shorter than I had hoped, ending up at 27 kilometers. No wonder I felt fresh as a daisy afterwards. Next time Ill have to measure the route before I go for the run and not afterwards. Still, 27 km on fresh legs
not bad.
Oh, and by the way, I ran 1 hour 30 minutes in Ferreirua, visit them at
http://www.ferreirua.com
