week 16

[Antonio247]

Week 16. 5th - 11th January.

My weight is 82,1 kg. Nearly two more kilos than when I started this marathon schedule. I think I´ve eaten too much at Christmas, mainly “mantecados” and “turrones” and also the fact that I don´t have to work makes you get up later and rest more. I hope I´ll manage to reduce one or two kilos in the next weeks before Almería half marathon on 25th January. I think I should have a light dinner based on fruit and/salad and continue with mornings on only fruit. Besides, avoid sweet things such as biscuits, cakes, Christmas products and so on.

On Tuesday I went to Aguamarga http://www.indalia.es/playas/cabogata/ca...a=cabogata to go for a run with Riccardo, the Italian friend I went for a run with last Sunday. I went with my wife and son. They went for a walk with Riccardo´s wife, Anna, while we went for a run to Cala Enmedio, a beautiful beach near Aguamarga. We went along a ground path that you take one kilometre ahead on the left on the road towards Almería. It was a wonderful sunny day with no wind. It´s a bit hard because there are some pebblestones which make you slow down or even walk but it is good because you get less tired. Besides, there were tough uphills and sometimes, the ground turned into sand. I felt very well in that landscape free of buildings and people, surrounded by mountains and sometimes in the background the sea far away. We felt far from the maddening crowd in that loneliness. By the way, I like Thomas Hardy´s books about rural England quite a lot. Then, we got to the top and went down to Cala Enmedio. After stopping there one minute and watching that hidden empty cove, we went up again and finally came down to the village. It took us 82 minutes doing about 11 kms. Then we went to Riccardo´s house where they offered us a cup of tea and some biscuits. We had a very good time together.

[Antonio247]

Thursday 8th January. Oh, Christmas holidays are over. Here I am again waking up early to go for a run. It´s quarter to seven and I climb down the building stairs to get to my usual starting line. I have the whole park for me alone. There´s full moon. A ferry from Nador, Morocco, is getting to the port. It has a lot of lights on. How hard it is to start the first kilometre but how wonderful it is to finish and know that you have done your homework and you can do other things all day long. I go along the seafront plodding, then I go on towards the river and come back when I see 22´ 15´´ in my watch. Then, I come back along the same route trying to go faster the last kilometre. I get to the finish in 43´45´´. I go on until I´ve done 45 minutes doing about 6,5 kms ( 4 miles more or or less ). It´s surprising how human beings like the routines. I´ve seen the same people I used to see running early in the morning before Christmas. I´m thinking of doing Seville marathon on 29th February just as a sort of test trying to do it running until kilometre 33-35 ( about 20 miles ) and the rest walking and jogging just to see how I feel. That way I´ll still have 8 weeks to do Madrid marathon on 25th April. Do you think it is sensible or perhaps I shouldn´t take advantage of a marathon to train for another one?

[Antonio247]

Friday 9th January. Another early run! I cross the avenue still yawning at 6.45 with no soul in the park. I decide to go towards the port and the lighthouse. I´ve forgotten my watch. Never mind. I see a ferry from Melilla and another from Nador at the pier. I see another runner I also saw yesterday at the sea front. It´s Manolo. He´s Antonio L.´s brother-in-law. He´s also training for Almería half marathon. I go as far as the new dock the port authority is building. Then I go on a lttle more and come back. I see several 4x4 cars that must come from Morocco. Perhaps they´ve done some stages of Paris-Dakar. I go back to the park and continue a little more to be sure that I´ve done more than 5 km. Then I do some backward walking and some stretching. When I go home morning is about to break but the full moon is still shining. I must have done about 35 minutes and 5 kilometres.

[Liz]

Antonio,

I believe it's quite common for runners to use a marathon as a long run and only intend to run part of it. It means that you get lots of company for your 20 miler and refreshments along the way - much nicer than plodding along for hours on your own! You also get to practise your water stop and runner dodging skills before your marathon.

[Antonio247]

Thank you very much for your piece of advice, Liz. I also think it can be a good idea to run 30/35 km in a marathon. The only problem is that I could be carried away by the atmosphere and I might try to do the whole marathon and getting injured preventing me from taking part in Madrid marathon, which is my goal this year.

Well, Liz, I hope you´ll get over your injury so that you can run London marathon in April. Good luck!

Greetings from Almería Saludos desde Almería

Antonio

[Antonio247]

Saturday 10th January. As I went for a run on Thursday and Friday I´ve preferred to do some cross-training today while tomorrow I´ll go for a run. According to Hal Higdon´s novice marathon schedule , I should do five miles for the long run and next week nine miles but as I want to take part at Almería´s half in two weeks´ time, I´d rather do nine miles tomorrow doing part Almería half course and next week I´ll do five so that I won´t be too tired for the half marathon the following week.

Today I went for a walk to the lighthouse with Atanasio. He´s a teacher of Spanish language and literature at my school. We both like trekking and we have been on several hiking trips in the provinces of Almería and Granada together. I was interested in doing one of my usual running courses strolling. The distance is about 8 km from Almadrabillas park. We left at 4.40 pm. It was a lovely warm afternoon. Oddly enough, I didn´t see any people running along the port or on the way to the lighthouse. We saw some people fishing there. It´s interesting to go for a walk so that you can see the same course but a slower pace than when you go running and talking to a friend. It took us 39´30´´ to get there and the same time on the way back. In all, 79 minutes. We went on until 82 minutes. The pace was 10 minutes one kilometre, 16 minutes a mile. When I go running, the same distance usually takes me about 52-54 minutes, around 6´30´´- 6´45´´ a kilometre. It´s been a nice experience. I want to go to the university and back walking next week, which is another route I often do running. It is about 12 km long.

[El Gordo]

Antonio, I just wanted to say that I'm really enjoying your training diary. Please keep it up.

Most of our small community here are doing a Spring marathon, and it's a great feeling to be in the club. If anyone fancies keeping a log of their training in their own area, like Antonio, please mail me to let me know, and I'll set it up for you.

Cheers,

Andy

[Antonio247]

Thank you very much, Andy, for encouraging me. I find it interesting to write my training diary because that way I am more motivated and I have to pay more attention to what I see when I´m training. I´d like to make it more interesting so that you don´t get bored when you read it but I find it difficult. I´d like to be as witty as you are but I wouldn´t be in Spanish, much less in English.

It would be great to have more forumites sharing their running diaries. We can learn from each other.

How are you doing with your training? Are you all right now?

Greetings from Almería Saludos desde Almería

Antonio

[Antonio247]

Sunday 11th January Although I intended to do part of Almería half marathon today, we finally decided to spend the day at Roquetas de Mar where we´ve got a flat. http://www.info-roquetas.com/english/photos.htm So we prepared everything and left at 11.15 a.m to Aguadulce, which is 11 km from Almería and it is a tourist resort belonging to Roquetas but it is a town where a lot of people from Almería live all year long. Although it was sunny in Almería, there it was a little misty at the sea. My wife and son left me at Hotel Portomagno in the seafront and I went along the seafront to a ground path that leads to Roquetas along the coast. I saw many people from Germany on their bikes and a man with the “Daily Mirror” at the seafront. Along the path there were some caravans from Germany and one from Uk. I also saw many people running over there. I stopped to walk when I had been running for 30 minutes. Then, I got to the place where the flat is. Carmen and Víctor were waiting for me. I had some water, a banana and a chocolate bar and went on along Roquetas seafront. There were many people having a drink and some “tapas” at the bars near Roquetas port. They were mainly foreigners because Spaniards usually have a drink later. I went on and got to another tourist resort at Roquetas. There were also many people walking. Most of them are retired people from other countries, mainly Germany- the British prefer Mojácar area- and Spaniards from other parts of the country who spend a few weeks at the hotels along the Mediterranean seaside. They get special prices at low season with the help of the ministry of Social Affairs. Well, I went on and got to Hotel Playaluna where my wife and son were waiting for me. I told them I wanted to go on a little bit more. So, I went to the end of the new seafront that has been built. It´s a pity that the local council has made it in a natural protected area called “Paraje Natural de Punta Entinas-Sabinar”. I remember I have walked along that path or ridden on bicycle many times. Now the seafront has been enlarged one kilometre which wasn´t necessary just to build new hotels and blocks of apartments. The mayor of Roquetas thinks that Roquetas has to be be a city not a little town and he even wants to build a 28-storey building in a football stadium near the city centre. He doesn´t realise that most people who want to spend their holidays there are fed up with concrete, asphalt and they want to relax in a place not too overcrowded. Fortunately, there are more kilometres of free beaches and natural countryside but speculation is very high around the coast. This reminds me of a graffiti I saw on this route which has always impressed me a lot: “Cuando el último río sea contaminado, el último árbol talado, el último animal aniquilado, os daréis cuenta que el dinero no se come” which means “When the last river gets polluted, the last tree cut off, the last animal annihilated, you´ll realise that money can´t be eaten.”

In all, I did 105 minutes, with three or four minutes walking instead of running and about 15 kilometres. The day cleared up and it was quite sunny when I was at 1 pm. I didn´t feel very tired and we had a nice day. We had lunch there and I rested a little on the sofa after lunch.

Summary of week 16. I´m feeling more confident since I don´t notice any discomfort in my right calf and I´m looking forward to taking part in my first competition in the year which will help me to see how I am for Madrid marathon. I´ve done 35,5 km and 80 minutes´ walk instead of riding on bicycle as the cross-training activity.

[El Gordo]

I'm much better, thank you. I actually went out for my first run in ages today. Will post an update later.