Only Six Weeks To Go.

[Riazor Blue]

41 days to be precise. I am pleased with the training so far. This week will be a hard one. The following will be easier with a mini taper for the half marathon on the 28th, then one last hard week before a nice 2 1/2 to 3 week taper.

Antonio's right, the marathon will be quite strange this year. They say that the race numbers will have a black ribbon printed on them, and all organisers, helpers etc will have black armbands. There will be a minute's silence with the release of doves of peace before the starting pistol.

Yesterday, Monday, I had a 13.5 km trot in the afternoon. The sun was out, so that meant that all the 'olduns' were out paseando - which meant that the esplanade was a bit like a slalom course. Good for agility.

I went out late in the afternoon today aswell, from the Riazor to the police and back. 20 km in 1 hour 40. It actually felt easy, so the training seems to be working. It wasn't my intention to be that fast.

As for the rest of this week, I think it's going to be about mileage, with a speed session at the weekend. The speed session is a race - one of Galicia's strange distance races, 7.6 km. I can do that in the morning and get back to La Coruña for lunch.

[Riazor Blue]

Another 20 km this afternoon. It has been a glorious afternoon here, 19 degrees said the indicators on the seafron, although I reckon it was a little cooler. There were even people sunbathing today. Spring must have arrived at last. I will have to start training in a vest soon. I want to get a bit of colour on my shoulders before the marathon. My friends reckoned that I was really vain last year when I started doing the same. That was until I pointed out that Madrid can be very hot and sunny at the end of April and I did not fancy getting burned to a frazzle during my 4 hours on the streets there.
I am still in two minds for the 7.6km on Sunday. If I do my long run on Saturday, which will be the hills of Zapateira, I should take things easy on Sunday. That's the problem with this marathon training, I end up missing lots of races because they don't fit in with the training schedule. That's one of the reasons I think this will be my last marathon for a couple of years. Missing races and the time it takes to fit in all the training.
I was thinking about this during my run this afternoon. I missed quite a few races last year in the lead up to San Sebastian and it's happening again now. There was nothing in January, February or the beginning of March. There are quite a few lined up from this weekend and all through April. Next year I'd like to be able to enjoy some of those.
All the more reason to put in the training for Madrd as this will (hopefully) be my PB for two or three years.

[El Gordo]

I agree about races while training, RB. Even at my slower end of the field, despite resolving to take races very casually indeed, they are still exhausting. Not just physically either - they expend a lot of emotional energy that has to be built up again.

Envious of your temperatures, though there is definitely a spring-like turn in the weather here in the UK too. It's a great time of year to be out there, especially early in the morning.

Good luck for the last two or three weeks of heavy training for you and Antonio. It will all be worth it.

Cheers

Andy

[Antonio247]

Hello, Brian

I´ve just seen at http://WWW.carreraspopulares.com that there´s a 30 km race at Cangas de Narcea in Asturias, which is not too far away from La Coruña. It is next Sunday and it is free. Perhaps it could suit you for your marathon training. If I lived nearer, I´d go because it´s very hard to run such long distances alone. The first 23 kms are flat and the last ones uphill.

Good luck!

Antonio

[Riazor Blue]

I only saw that about the 30km yesterday. Too late to enter. I have been telling myself that it was too far away anyway. It's about a 3 hour drive from La Coruña to Cangas de Narcea. I would miss my lunch with the in-laws !!!

I have definately resolved to run more races locally after Madrid, starting with a half in Ferrerua the second weekend in May, then another in a place called Betanzos at the end of May.

I'm looking forward to a few 10ks or there abouts this year. Next objective is to break 40 minutes for 10Km. Now that will be VERY tough.

No running yesterday as San José is a public holiday in Galicia and we spent the day visiting people (purely by coincidence all were called José - the fellas anyway).

It's time to head off into the hills in Zapateira. I will report later.

It was good to see Real Madrid lose out on the King's Cup again this week. It reminded me of two years ago when Deportivo beat Real in the final held at the Bernabeau on the official centenary of Real Madrid. Everybody was there to see Real pick up another trophy on their anniverary and little Depor from the backwaters spoilt the party (tee hee). The Deportivo fans at the match commiserated with Real Madrid by singing 'Happy Birthday to You' as Fran picked up the trophy.

[El Gordo]

Good to see that Real occupy the same kind of affections in the bosom of the Spanish people as Manchester United do here, or Bayern Munich in Germany. When United conceded a last minute goal to be dumped out of the Chanpions League a couple of weeks ago, you could hear the cheering all over the land. For some reason, there seemed to be more people smiling for the the next day or two.

Watch out for Arsenal, who are playing some sublime football this season.

Cheers

Andy

[Riazor Blue]

Arsenal vs Deportivo in the final? I think the Arse are more likely than Chelsea or Madrid. Deportivo have a tough one against Milan, but play better against the big teams, they'll probably beat Milan then lose against Porto. They have already lost a pre-season friendly against them this season. Still, Porto are a bloody good team.

23.5 km of hills done and dusted this morning in 2 hours and 30 minutes. Time now for a few beers...

[Riazor Blue]

That's week 6 out of the way. 83 kilometers in total. There wasn't much speedy stuff done in the end. There was one 13.5km, 2 x 20km, one 23.5km and 6km recovery yesterday (32'57"). I did not go to the race on Sunday, I want to be fit for the half next weekend. I didn't have lunch with the in-laws either, so it was a very quiet, lazy Sunday in the end.

I was reading an article about tapering the other day which says that an effective taper should consist of a bit of speedwork, a bit of recovery stuff and about 60% of the normal mileage. I will have to sit down and work out an ingenious and effective taper for this week.