Madrid. 8 Weeks to go.

[Riazor Blue]

I have been a bit slack in posting I know.

Firstly, to Andy: I asked the Pa-in Law who is retired Guardia Civil where I have to pay my fine and he told me that because it is Policia Local, nobody bothers to pay. So that's fine then...

How far did I get last week? Not very far with the diary. Friday was a day of rest, I'm not sure why, but my body appreciated it.

Saturday was my long run, I put in 24 Km in 1 hour 59 minutes. The run was along the seafront and back. I started in glorious sunshine, nearly got blown off my feet by the wind near the Torre, hailed on just near the harbour wall (painful for about 4 minutes until I reached a bus shelter, too late though as it stopped within 15 seconds), then rained on as I turned round at the police station. After that the sun came out again and everything had dried out by the time I got home.

Sunday was lunch with the in-laws. Spanish meatballs cooked with red peppers and peas, sauteed potatoes followed by galician pancakes (YUM). We have the left-overs from the meatballs in the fridge for tonight.

Oops, running..... I wore my heart rate monitor Sunday for the first time in ages. I don't like mine too much as it doesn't have zone warnings so I have to keep looking at the damned thing. I decided on a 10Km run on the esplanade and harbour wall at a constant 150 bpm. It ended up at 55 minutes 40 seconds. I'm sure there's improvement since the last time I wore it. I think I was aroud 59 minutes at the end of December.

So, last week I finished up with a grand total of 76.5Km.

I'm starting to miss racing. Not that I'm very good at it. It's just that I would like to be able to see the fruits of my labours so to speak. It looks like there's nothing local (well, local means Galicia, which is about the size of Wales) until 28th March.

I took a peek today at the Galician Athletics Federation this morning. They have their offices in a sports complex in La Coruña, so I took the opportunity to say hello. (Just in case they ever read this, I won't mention that the two people there were both in the middle of a fag break.) So, I asked about clubs in La Coruña, explained a little about what I have done in the past etc and the lady said to me "OK then let me see, you need a club and a trainer then"
So I responded "Well, just a club really, a few people to train with, a few track days, races etc, that sort of thing"
And she replied, "No go on, go for a trainer, try this one, he's really good. He'll find you a club, get you enrolled in the Federation, no problem".

So I have his number and I'll give him a call later this evening. I cannot imagine me with a trainer though.

Exciting though...

This afternoon, considering I have not raced since 14th January I blasted a 10K in 43m43", just to see how I'm going. This should be a step back week for me so I'll be taking things a bit easier for the rest of the week.