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.

[Riazor Blue]

Nothing much to report. I snuck out last night to do a 10k jog in 55 minutes. With luck I will have time for 8Km this evening.

I found out why the race in Ordenes has been cancelled on the 14th. Elections. Pah, and they don't even let me vote, well, not in the national elections at least.

Now I'm not saying that I'm obsessed or anything, but these 'stepback' weeks are a little dull aren't they? Or is it just me?

[Antonio247]

Yes, I agree with you, Brian. Perhaps 18 weeks for the marathon is too long. I´m also looking forward to going to Madrid.

It´s a pity that the Ordenes race has been cancelled due to the elections. Hasn´t it been put off a week?

Good luck.

Antonio

[Riazor Blue]

I’m back again. Well, after all, on Thursday I had a change of plan. I decided that I couldn’t go a whole week without some kind of series. So it was to the harbour wall I went. Whist there I ran 5 x 2000 metres. Each 2000m taking 9 minutes. I took one minute recoveries between each. 4.5 minutes per kilometer is what I am now aiming for in my next half on the 28th.

I have been thinking a lot (too much) about the pace for Madrid. It will be my last marathon for a couple of years I think. I would like to concentrate more on 10K and halves for a while. Therefore I would like to bang out a good time, as it will hopefully be my PB for a while. My current PB is 3h37m which is about 5’10” per Km. My current half PB is 1h39m which is about 4’45” per Km. I’m sure that I can knock 5 minutes off the half marathon, with a pace of 4’30”. The thing is, at what pace should I then run the marathon? I imagine that 5’00” will be easy to achieve, but could I do 4´45” to give me a time of 3h20m? That is what I would like to achieve, but it sounds tough.

Is it only me who is constantly doing this arithmetic in my head? I’m sure we all do it to some extent. Perhaps I’ve got too much time on my hands. I keep saying to myself “You’ll find out after the Vigo-Baiona half”, but I want to know NOW. Perhaps things would be plainer if I used the heart monitor and went solely on that. On the other hand, I’m sure that I could run faster than a supposed level on the HRM. Do we all think along these lines? Surely it’s not just me?

Back to last week, Saturday was a long run, 20Km on the seafront, completed in 1hour 45 minutes. I targetted 30 seconds per Km above my intended marathon pace. At least I’m getting a little better at judging my pace.

Or at least I thought I was. Sunday, a few hours after a fine lunch of a meat roll, stuffed with green olives, egg and minced pork (it sounds strange I know, but is yummy), roast potatoes followed by a sugar free crème caramel, coffee and a slice of sponge cake…. After all that (and a tia maria) I thought I’d see how 4’45” per Km feels over a bit of a distance. So, I went for 8Km, and should have finished in 38 minutes. So far, so good, as I actually finished in 37 minutes, very comfortably.

That was my ‘step-back’ week. 61.5 Km. This week to come, let’s see if I can up the kilometers a bit more, as the legs are still feeling good. My aim is for one looong run this weekend, about 32Km, which will be the longest I do. Then a couple of series sessions, one of 800m the other 3000m, a longish midweek run and a couple of easy runs inbetween all that. With good luck I should touch 100km this week.

I have been looking at the calender in Galicia for races, there's an 8km one the week before the half, another in Lugo the same weekend, Vig-Bay on 28th March then there's nothing until 26th April. There are 2 half marathons in May, they look interesting. The first one is on the 9th May, it's the one with empanadas, octopus and pork ribs for the competitors (if I'm going to miss Sunday lunch, I'll need something).