Ria de Ferrol Half Marathon

[Riazor Blue]

Today i started my official taper for the Ria de Ferrol half. Sadly, the Galician federation has taken the Galician championship to Porriño next year (which has meant that in 2004 there was no galician champion at half marathon).

so, the first day of said taper. Today is a public holiday in Spain, constitution Day. It's also my sister-in-law's birthday, next week is my nephew's birthday and also the brother-in-law's. Some of you may have read a little about the mother-in-law's cooking, so will not be too surprised to learn that all today was spent at lunch. First course, cigalas (whole scampi) & crab claws. second course, jamon asado & stuffed pork roll. Dessert was a huge toffee flavoured birthday gateaux covered in whipped cream. Then after coffee and liquores came a home made chocolate swiss roll (gyspie's arm as it's called here - brazo de gitano). There were also 'mon cherie' chocolates to go with the coffee, and of course a few bottles of wine.

It wasn't quite what I had in mind for the taper, but heck, I've got a week to prepare.

I ran this half last year, it's a little hilly. The course runs through five town councils and they rotate the start/finish between the councils. Last year was the turn of Naron, which meant that the finish was a short way after crossing a 1km bridge across the Ria. This year Neda is the host, which, if I remember rightly, means that the finish is on a bugger of a hill, just what one needs after 20km.

i shall keep you informed of the taper, if it gets back on track. If not, next Sunday I shall post details of the disaster that occurred.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Sounds like you've got this whole tapering/training business well and truly sorted out! Everyone should have a coach like your mother-in-law

All the best for the race - am looking forward to your report. Is your mother-in-law providing your carbo loading as well?!

[El Gordo]

Any chance of giving her a holiday in Almeria around the end of January?

[Seafront Plodder]

I don't think you're taking your role as the RunningCommentary Team Pacer very seriously!

[Riazor Blue]

It's true that everyone here thinks that I need to do a 2 hour long run every Sunday as part of my training. The reality is that I need 2 hours to make space for the Sunday lunch that follows.

Gotta keep in the good books.

The way to a mother-in-law's heart is via your stomach, as they say.

[Bierzo Baggie]

That Sunday lunch story sounds familiar....unlikely to make it on Sunday but might do the Lugo 10k on the 19th....¡Suerte!

[Riazor Blue]

Hello Baggie, fancy meeting you on here. I've signed up for Lugo aswell, shame you couldn't make it for Ferrol.

This is just a quick post while I have breakfast.

Why is it that when one reduces the amount of training in a taper, the twinges begin?There must be a scientific explaination for it. It's all mental I know, but I'm sure that it's the same for most, if not all runners. This week I have run a fast 40 minutes on Tuesday, a fartlek on Wednesday and another on Friday. All in all we are not talking more than 20km.

The twinges have appeared intermittently in both calves, one knee and both ankles. I know there is nothing wrong, and I'm not on the road to injury. It's all down to pre-race nerves. But I really would like to see someone doing research into this. We all know that running, especially racing is more about the mind than the body, but what exactly is the mind trying to tell the body during a taper?

I shall ponder this as I try to warm up this morning. Looks like a good day for racing, sunny, cold with little wind.

[Riazor Blue]

It was a strange sort of day in the end.

Everything was prepared on Saturday night. So I woke up nice and early, at 07:30. The race started at 11:00, so I had plenty of time. Breakfast of a bowl of fruit and fibre and a mug of coffee. Time to post the weather report on here and also to do something I’d been meaning to do all week: I suffer from hard skin on the inside edge of the balls of my feet and the week before a long race I usually reove as much of the dead stuff as possible. So Sunday morning I had a quick go with the corn file, to smooth off the rough edges, so to speak.

I left the flat at about 08:30 for the hour drive to Neda, where the start was to be this year. I wanted to arrive early because I had not registered to run this year. Races in this part of Spain are never overcrowded, and a I live outside of Ferrol, the race details said I could enter on the day. It was a chilly 6 degrees when I arrived in Neda and set about finding the start line and inscription desk. There was only a small queue for unregistered runners and soon I was handing over my DNI. More or less, this is the conversation that followed:

- are you a foreigner?
- Yes, British.
- Are you a federated runner?
- No, I want to run the ‘popular’.
- Non federated foreigners cannot run, I’m sorry.
- WHAT??? But I ran last year, I always run the ‘carreras populares’
- I’m sorry, if you’re not in the federation, you cannot run.
- Why not?
- They are the rules.
- But it doesn’t say anything about that on the Federation web-site.
- Go and speak to the man with the red coat.


So I went to talk to the man with the red coat from the Galician Athletics Federation.

- Hello, the man on the desk said that I cannot run because I’m a foreigner.
- That’s right.
- But why not? I always run in the ‘carreras populares’.
- They are the rules. It’s not fair that the federated athletes, who pay their subscriptions, cannot win the prizes because foreign athletes win.
- Pardon???
- Our athletes pay their subscriptions, and it’s not right that other atletes win the prize money.
- Hang on a minute. In that case, why can Spaniards run who are not federated? They are not paying subscriptions either.
- Those are the rules, this is a race in the RFEA calender. It’s the same in all RFEA races, they are IAAF rules. It’s the same everywhere.
- Then how come I could run here last year, in Santiago and Orense, they were RFEA aswell? In any case this is a ‘carrera popular’ not a championship race.
- I’m sorry. Foreigners cannot compete. We phoned all the foreigners on Friday to inform them.
- But the rules and regulations for this race, on the FGA website, say that I can register on the day.
- Not if you are a foreigner.
- But I’m a resident here.


I could see that I was wasting my time. I walked back to the car. I met a few guys I know through the shop, who all thought it ridiculous. The general feeling was that the FGA are clueless and only help the elite athletes – and after all, they are civil servants.

When I got back to the car I thought, hang on, let’s find out what RFEA rule says that I cannot run, and also get the guys name so that I can speak to the FGA on Monday. So I walked back down to the start area with pen and paper.

When I arrived back at the start, the FGA man was surrounded by a group of Portugese runners and a Korean student. The FGA guy was on the ropes, the Portugese runners had travelled 300km to be there, and pointed out that their club welcomes over 200 Spanish runners to the ½ marathon they organize. They also pointed out that with their fastest runner having a PB of 1:20 or so, they had no hope of winning anything anyway. As the North of Portugal is seen by Galicians to be closer to Galicia than Spain is, we were allowed to run on the condition that we did not win anything.

So I registered, promising sincerely that I would not win, or if I did, I would not accept the prize money.

Luckily, as I had left home early, I still had time for a coffee and a crap before changing into race gear, slapping on the horse linament or whatever it is and jogging back to the start. I even had time to double back because I had forgotten to put the HRM transmitter on. After all that though, I didn’t have time for my usual warm up, but apart from a few stretches, with all the to-ing and fro-ing I was fairly well warmed up (if not overheated).

[Riazor Blue]

There were around 350 of us all told, I started at the back as usual – usually because I arrive late at the start line. As I crossed the start line I started the HRM. It would be interesting to see how my heart rate acted under race conditions. I had rehearsed the race a few times in my mind and had a good idea of my tactics: Run comfortably the first 5km, see how the time is after the first five and increase the pace if I’m over 21 minutes and I’m feeling OK. The plan was to increase again at 10km and flat out for the last 6.

I set off nice and easy, we had a small loop to complete before taking the main road to Fene, where we cross the Ria de Ferrol. On the other side we turned right to follow the Ria out to sea and passed the 5Km mark in 22:09. I was a little slower than I wanted to be, but all was going well. I upped the pace a little and settled in for the ‘nitty-gritty’ of the race. At around 7km I looked at my HR for the first time and although I thought I was cruising, it registered 180, when my max is 187. I thought this was a bit high, and wondered if I should slow up a bit. It was around here aswell that I began to wish that I had paid better attention to my feet last week. I could feel the start of a blister forming under the hard skin that remained. In training it’s never a problem, but of course with the firmer lightweight shoes I use for races, one needs to take care.

We turned left and headed towards Ferrol at around 8km, it was uphill towards the centre then out the other side of Ferrol on the flat before passing the 10km mark as we took the road towards Ortiguiera. It was at 10km that the blister on my left foot burst. I hadn’t really thought too much about it until it burst, then half a kilometer later it was fine again. I went through the 10km in 45:18, which was slower than I had wanted. The secons 5km was slower than the first, which was due to my preoccupation with my 97% heart rate. I resolved to run the second half of the race faster and forget about the HRM.

I had, subconsciously, not allowed anyone to overtake me up till now. It had not been a tactic as such but the course is a little undulating. As I have said in the past, I’m not brilliant going uphill, but quite speedy going down. What happened was that each up was immediately followed by a down and so if anyone passed me going uphill, I immediately overtook them again on the corresponding down. I don’t know if this stopped people trying again, but from km 8 to km 18 or so, only one guy passed me.

At 15km, which took me 1h07m, I stepped on the gas. I figured that my HR wasn’t going to kill me, and 6 km is not far. I had been picking people off slowly but surely all the race, now I started to focus more on the runners three or four ahead. If possible, I decided, I would keep my HR above 180 and catch the runners in front.

We crossed the Ria once again and entered Neda again. It was an uphill part at 18km where I was overtaken by a guy who hat tried twice before (a runner from ‘El Club de la Patilla Estrecha’). I stayed with him until the water station at 20km, where I took a bottle and he didn’t. He got away. The watch said 18m54 for that 5km section, but that must be badly measured. The last km, in which the blister on my right foot burst, I passed 3 more runners to finish in 1hour 30 minutes and 45 seconds on my watch. 1:31:02 on the official.

I’ve got mixed feelings about the time, it’s a PB, but I know I could/should have run the second and third 5 kms faster than I did. It was only the HRM that held me back. On the other hand I ran the second half over 4 minutes faster than the first, so a good negative split.

[Antonio247]

Well done, Brian! Very good report. It´s a pity that there are restrictions for foreigners to take part at races just for the money you can get if you get an award. I think that most people run just for the pleasure of it and in order to improve their own PB. In my opinion, the winners shouldn´t get any money just a trophy.

Regards

Antonio

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Excellent run RB - I'm impressed! It could be your HR was high in contemplation of what you might do to that GAF official if you should meet in a dark alley. What an idiotic rule!!

But an excellent run, and a great report - well done

And at least it's good to know Australia isn't the only country with pointless bureaucracy...

[Riazor Blue]

Thanks for the comments guys. I shall start another thread with my dealings with the Federation later this week. I'm keeping notes on how it goes.

[Antonio247]

I think that the organisers of the race should state in the rules that foreign runners that are not affiliated to an Athletics Federation won´t be able to get any money in case they won a prize. That way any foreign runner could take part. Nevertheless, I think there shouldn´t be any restrictions to non affiliated foreeign runners in case they won a prize money. Anyway, I´ve read Almería half marathon rules and there´s no restriction to foreigners non affiliated. In fact, last year I met a young German who was travelling around Europe on bicycle and carrying a windsurf board who took part without any problem.

Best of luck.

Antonio

PS. It would be great if you could come to Almería half but I understand it is too far away and the communication is not good between Galicia and Almería.

[stillwaddler]

strange rules though, can you get them on some EEC ruling, I mean we are all supposed to be Europeans now and if you are a resident too - sounds completely barmy. I have never heard of any such restrictions in England.

[El Gordo]

Great report RB, thanks.

I think the ban on foreigners is possibly illegal, and in any case, amazingly short-sighted.

All they have to do is have a rule saying that only members of the federation will be eligible for prizes, in much the same way that there are prizes for different age categories and teams. If they were really enlightened they could have a separate prize for fastest non-member of the federation and even fastest foreigner. The extra revenue from these entries would cover the cost many times over.

I'd be tempted to make an official complaint about it, though I'm not sure how far you'd get with Spanish officialdom.

Anyway, well done on the run. Glad you got round in the end.

Thanks for the reassurance about Almeria, Antonio. I would hate to think that I wouldn't get a prize if I win the race......

[Riazor Blue]

Thanks again chaps.

I suggested to the FGA that they could make prize money available to affiliated (thanks Antonio, i had forgotten the word) athletes. Everybody knows that recreational runners, and the majority of club runners have their own goals in a race, if it were to win or to finish in the prizes, there would only ever be about 30 entrants.

The lady at the FGA didn't want to listen really. She was there to do the admin. I asked her what the foreigner ban was all about but she had never heared of it. She did tell me though, after talking to someone in Ferrol that there is no such ruling. She could not see my problem though. She said to me, " But you ran though? So what is the problem?"

So I informed her of the guys from the Galician Orchestra who could not run because they were told over the phone that they were not allowed. They did not have the luxury of being told later that it was OK.

I also informed her that I would like to know if I was allowed to run in future events.

She then saw my point of view.

I suggested to her that the solution was to make prize money available only to affiliated athletes, whether Spanish or not. I'm sure that even the Spanish would be happy with that. But alas, I don't think that she was listening.

My battles will, I'm sure, continue.

[El Gordo]

Keep us updated, RB. This could become the campaign that brings down the government.

Er, not that I would really want that to happen [he added quickly, mindful that he had already paid for his flight to Spain in January and didn't want any trouble, like.....]

[sampedro]

Hi Brian, i saw you inthe list for Lugo next sunday.
I will be there too.
Good luck, its going to be rainy and cold.

[Bierzo Baggie]

Hi there blue razor,
Didn't see you in Lugo. Finished the season there and very nice it was too...first they let me run despite my extremely dodgy accent and obviously non-affiliated appearance. Secondly, despite Lugo being a bit of a dump (sorry lugo...I was born in Tipton so I know one when I see one...) it was a quite remarkable 10km circuit. Don't think you could find a finer last 2km anywhere...they send you up on to the roman walls where you do a complete lap above the old town. By that stage with tired legs it felt more like the great wall of China. Anyway, I finished, they gave me a T-shirt, a medal, a can of "go-faster" isotonic pop, a yoghurt and a slice of "empanada". An excellent time was had by all and it's one to note for next year if in the end you didn't go.

That's it for me, for a while anyway. Might get active again round about March. What's next for you?

[Nigel]

Well run, Brian. You were flying.

European law expressly forbids discrimination against nationals of any other member state. And beyond that, it is hard to justify a bar on other nationals.

Sure, neither Paul Tergat nor you might ever be declared Galician Champion, but you both should still be able to run if you wish. Given this story of small-minded xenophobia, I suspect that Paul Tergat at least might reasonably prefer to stay away. In the end, that is Galicia's loss more than his.