Suzie, I´ve already booked another double room for you in the same hotel. The price is the same for one or two people in the room. Fifty euros a night.
I expect you all like the hotel and enjoy your days here in Almería.
Andy, the course is going to be changed a little because they are doing works near the new stadium. As soon as the new course is confirmed, I´ll explain what it is like. Anyway, it´ll be mainly flat although it could start a little downhill for around two kilometres to end a little uphill but it is not clear yet.
It starts at the new stadium for the Mediterranean Games. There are one lap and a half. The first lap is a little downhill along carretera Sierra de Alhamilla - it should be written like this although in the map it is spelt without the "h", a big spelling mistake. It goes parallel to the railway lines. Then, we´ll cross an old ring road near the city centre. It is flat. So far, it is about three kilometres. Then, we´ll go up Rambla Federico García Lorca, which is one of the main avenues in the town. It is slightly uphill for around two kilometres as far as Al Andalus secondary school. It isn´t my school. Then, the same distance downhill along that avenue. Then, we´ll get to avenida Cabo de Gata, which is the avenue that takes you to the beaches in Almería. It´s flat and we´ll go as far as Maestro Padilla auditorium. It is about two kms long. Then, we´ll go back along that avenue to go up Rambla Federico García Lorca again but not all the way as in the first lap but one or two hundred metres before, following the yellow line, instead of the red one. Then, we´ll go down Avenida Federico García Lorca to take Avenida Cabo de Gata again as far as the auditorium but going up Avenida del Mediterráneo, which is a bit uphill and then taking the first part of carretera de Sierra Alhamilla now a little uphill to get into the stadium and finish.
It is mainly flat but with little hills, both down and up. The problem is that the last three kilometres are a bit uphill. Although, it isn´t really tough, it may be tiring since we can be tired after so many kilometres. Therefore, it´d be sensible to train long runs ending in hills to be used to it. Nevertheless, in all, the course is quite flat and can be fast. If we´re lucky and it isn´t hot or windy, we can get a PB. Even if it were windy, as there are a lot of blocks of flats, we´d be protected.
If there´s anything else you want to know, feel free to ask me.
Antonio, perhaps you could suggest to the organisers that they move the event to England tio minimise the inconvenience for the majority of the runners.
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
How are you doing with your training? I can´t complain. I´m feeling all right. At least, I don´t feel any discomfort in my calves and I´m training five days a week with one day for 400 metre series or 30-35 minutes tempo run. I´m still slow but it is good to get faster. Last Thursday I did six 400 m series doing between 1´48´´ and 1´54´´. It´s really tiring but I find it good. First, I did 17 minutes jogging and after each 400 m, I jogged for two minutes, except after the third one that I jogged for four minutes. When I finished I did 13 minutes more jogging and some stretching at Emilio Campra stadium, the one where the half marathon ended last year.
I´m going to take part at a half marathon on Monday 6th December. It´s the Constitution day in Spain. We have at school a really long weekend because on Wednesday is another holiday - Inmaculate Conception day. Then, on Tuesday we don´t have lessons at school either. It is called a "puente", which means "bridge". A lot of people travel on those long weekends.
Well, I´m going to participate at a small half marathon in the northern part of the province of Almería. It starts at Overa and ends at Cuevas de Almanzora. It is mainly along paths and the fee, 9 euros, goes to the Cancer association. There aren´t any awards for the winners but everybody gets a bag with plenty of goodies.
Greetings from Almería
Antonio
PS. I´ve already entered Almería half marathon through "Ticket run" but I couldn´t do it with a credit card because there were problems with that system. However, I did it easily with a bank order. If you want me to enter you, you should send me a private message or an e-mail with the following data:
Name - Surname - Passport number - Birth date - Address - Town -
Postcode - Telephone number
Hello Mr Pot, Mr Kettle here . . .
thanks for the offer Antonio. I'll confirm with you next week latest.
I have also yet to book my flight. I'm playing golf and drinking to excess with SP this Friday - should know more (??!!) after that.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
Seriously SP, drop me a PM with your flight details and I'll get booked in.
No probs sharing but if you've already pulled I'll ask Antonio to book me in.
Can't wait!
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
I haven´t understood well if you have already booked the flight and if you want me to book the hotel room for you too. If you do, please tell me and I´ll be glad to book another room for you.
Now that we have just 4 weeks to go until the Almeria Half, I've been devoting some time to devising a training strategy to prepare us for the big day.
This is what I've come up with:
Week 1:
Mon, Wed, Fri: 100g chocolate, small plate of tapas, 2 bottles San Miguel per day
Tues, Thurs, Sat : 100g pasta, 3 glasses of Rioja Crianza
Sun: 500g paella, churros, 1 bottle Rioja Reserva
Week 2:
Mon, Wed, Fri: 200g chocolate, large plate of tapas, 3 bottles San Miguel per day
Tues, Thurs, Sat : 150g pasta, 4 glasses of Rioja Crianza
Sun: 1 kg paella, churros, 1 bottle Rioja Reserva, 4 bottles San Miguel
Week 3:
Mon, Wed, Fri: 300g chocolate, large plate of tapas, 6 bottles San Miguel per day
Tues, Thurs, Sat : 200g pasta, 1 bottle Rioja Crianza
Sun: 1 kg paella, churros, 1 kg chocolate, 1.5 bottles Rioja Gran Reserva, 6 bottles San Miguel
Week 4: taper.
Take it easy this week lads. Suggestion:
Mon, Wed, Fri: 200g chocolate, small plate of tapas, 3 bottles San Miguel per day
Tues, Thurs, Sat : 100g pasta, 3 glasses Rioja Gran Reserva
Sun: the big one.
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
I see where you're coming from but I may have to deviate slightly.
Will my performance be greatly affected if I substitute Guinness for San Miguel? Otherwise I intend to adhere strictly to this excellent strategy.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
Guinness would be an excellent substitute, Sweder. Few right-thinking people would doubt that the black stuff is a superior brew, but one has to balance that against the need to prepare for the available fluids in Spain. One wouldn't want to be culturally traumatised at such a key moment.
Similarly, feel free to substitute churros with treacle pudding and custard, or perhaps Waitrose Extra Rich Hi-Cal Hi-Fat Christmas Pudding. It's probably being sold off cheaply at present.
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
A very good diet to get carbohydrates, Andy, but we shouldn´t forget some fruit such as mandarins, oranges, apples and so on in order to compensate the extra pounds we´ll gain if we stick to that diet. Although as we are going to exercise a lot, we´ll burn a little fat, too.
I´ll tell you what I have in mind for the weekend in Almería. If there´s something you´d like to do or you prefer doing another thing, don´t hesitate to say.
Saturday afternoon
I´ll pick you up at the airport to take you to your hotel.
At about 6.00 pm "Merienda" ( Tea ) - We can have chocolate and churros, coffee, tea, cocoa milk and bums, toast whatever you like.
Later. A walk in the city centre to digest the "merienda".
8:00 pm. We can go to the stadium to pick up our race number and bag of goodies.
9:00 pm. Pasta dinner at the new stadium
10:00 pm. Drive along the half marathon route to study the strategy to follow.
10:45 pm. We can go to have a few drinks and tapas at the city centre and enjoy Almería "la nuit".
Sunday
8:00 am. Breakfast
9:00 am. We can go to the stadium to pick up the chip and warm up.
10: 00 am. The race starts.
12:45 pm. We can go back to your hotel.
2:00 pm. Lunch at a good restaurant with a view to the sea in Almería. It has two course menu with dessert for 9.60 euros, drinks not included. Most Sundays, you can choose paella among the three options.
4:00 pm. Drive to Cabo de Gata natural park.
5:00 pm. Merienda and a stroll and sightseeing in the city centre.
7:00 pm. We can go to several bars to have drinks and tapas.
Any other suggestions or anything that you´d like to change?
Your itinerary looks very tempting for the Saturday but seriously, I probably won't be eating any chocolate and churros the day before, and certainly no alcohol or late night tapas unfortunately.
Speaking for myself, I like to have a pretty restful day before a race. I'd be very happy to have a good pasta meal and I don't mind watching other people eating cakes, and the idea of going over the course sounds good (though will we all fit in your car?), but I wouldn't mind an earlyish night as we will have had an early start to the day.
Your Sunday schedule sounds great though.
That's just my view. If I'm over-ruled, that's no problem. I'll be around for a few days of course, but the others may be keen to cram in a few more things in the limited time.
What do the others think??
Just remind me. Should we register for the race in advance, or leave it until the day before? We're happy to pay up now if that's a better course of action.
Let me know if there's anything you want us to bring over from the UK.
Cheers
Andy
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
Almería half marathon. 30th January 2006
