Toral de los Vados 2007, 196 kilometers run.

[Riazor Blue]

Three weeks completed. At the moment everything feels fine. Tuesday last I started on the speed sessions, and I need a bit of speed (sniff). 5 x 800m run at 10K pace. This was a nice session to start with, each 800m taking 3'10 with more or less 2'40 recovery between each one. I was set for a five kilometer tempo run on Thursday and a 24 kilometer long run on Saturday but there was a race on Saturday. I decided to do a swap, I ran the 24km on Thursday at a nice easy pace (2h05) then to use Saturday's race as my tempo run.

The race, the 28th Padron Easter Run, was 13.3 kilometers. I had decided to use the first 5.3km as a warm up then to run 8km at what should be about my half marathon pace when I'm in form. Given that it was a hot day I readjusted the plan to only run six km at pace. Pride got the better of me though and I ran those last two kilometers making sure that nobody overtook me. The first 5.5km were run at a pace of 4'37 per kilometer whilst the rest was done at 4'15. An enjoyable morning, and I liked the lilac tee shirt aswell - (although from a previous photo it can be seen that I've no dress sense).

On our cable TV here we had a series of Jamie Oliver programs. On one of those he was preparing tapas for a women's football team. One of his dishes was Pimientos de Padron. The village is indeed famous for its little green peppers. I was surprised to see though that they are now available in the UK. If you happen to come across them they are worth the effort. Fry them in olive oil until they are soft then sprinkle with a little sea salt. Padron was also famous for being the sea port where the body of St James was brought into Spain. The port has long since dried up but St James still remains in Galicia. If I remember correctly he stayed in Iria Flavia for a while before being carted off to Santiago de Compostela, and there he stays in his magnificent cathedral.

This week I'm set for another 81 kilometers, which go thus:

Monday - 8Km
Tuesday - 3 x 1600m
Wednesday - 8Km
Thursday - 16km
Friday - 8km
Saturday - 8Km
Sunday - 21.1km Vig-Bay Half Marathon.

[Moyleman]

An excellent training schedule - I don't want to pick holes, but I calculate your 7k short of the 81.
Blimey 80k, its been a while since I've done that much mileage - most commendable.

You need an extra day in your week.

MM:o

[Riazor Blue]

By the end of the week I'll have an update .... I promise.

[Bierzo Baggie]

Don't know if Brian Riazor Blue logs onto here any more. If he does I hope he doesn't mind me posting this. It's from a blog linked to "La Voz de Galicia" which is the most important daily newspaper in the north-west of Spain.
Here's the link, I've translated the text below.
http://blogs.lavozdegalicia.es/susanabas...-de-brian/

The writer is a lady who started running in 2008 and I think this is an excellent little homage to the shop. Perhaps I should have posted it 12 months ago...

Yesterday, Pablo, a reader of this blog, went to The Running Shop in La Coruña to buy some running shoes. It was closed. And whilst it is true that Pablo turned around and went on his way it doesn’t mean he has stopped running. He e-mailed me immediately and asked me to write something about the closure of the shop. Maybe there was still some sort of solution.. “maybe it’s a consequence of the economic crisis, maybe if all us runners get together we could even save the shop because its owner, at least with me, has always behaved impeccably”. Pablo added “periodically there may well be these amazing discount prices in other shops (which you’ll normally end up arriving just too late for anyway) but in general his prices are no higher than anywhere else..”

And there lies the crunch of the matter. Brian’s shop (the owner is an Englishman) is going to close on Nov 30 because it is small and because it can no longer compete with the big franchises and their merchandising and their paraphernalia. But it’s not because his shop is in any way more expensive.
Because it isn’t.
Brian’s shop has been open for 7 and a half years and the economic crisis has finally taken its toll. “The small specialised shop is undervalued”, Brian said to me this morning when I contacted him. And it’s true. I’m talking about the detailed attention of somebody who knows what they are talking about after years in the business. “And you really must know your stuff. That must be important for the big brand names too. I mean, if you go to one of these sports shops and buy some really cheap Asics and then discover that they’re not right for your feet or for your running style you will most likely blame the brand and never buy them again. They lose prestigue as a result...” explained Brian.

Now he’s working as an English teacher. “It’s a shame for the people who are just starting to run”, Brian says.

People like me.

I bought my first pair of trainers there. Then I bought a couple more. Brian always asks what you were going to use them for, how many times a week you ran and on what type of terrain. Next he’d choose a few models and let you try them and even run up and down the pavement outside. Meanwhile from the door of the shop he’d be assessing the way you ran and making his recommendations.

Yesterday I said to him “you probably won’t remember this, but I bought a pair of Asics in your shop. I ran my first ever marathon in those shoes”.

“That’s right, you’re size 41 aren’t you?”.

I answered yes, but I’ll tell you what, I wasn’t too sure, I always get a bit muddled up with sizes and different shoes..

When I hung up I hunted down those old Asics and checked the size.
Sure enough it was a 41.

I’ll be off to buy one last pair of shoes before he closes on the 30th.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Thanks for that BB - a fantastic article. What a shame he's dropped from view. It would be fantastic if you were able to track him down again ... and if you do, remind him he still owes us a Toral de los Vados 2007 update!