week 15

[Antonio247]

Week 15. 12th-18th January 2004.

My weight is the same as the previous week, 82,1 kg. At least, I haven´t gained any weight this week but I´ve got to lose one or two kilos for Almería half in less than two weeks´ time.

I feel all right after Sunday´s long run. I haven´t had any discomfort since then. I think I could have continued a few more kilometres but I didn´t want to risk an injury.

How time flies! I´ve already done the sixth part of my training. I like Hal Higdon´s novice programme because it starts very softly and makes you feel more confident.

Tuesday 13th January 2004. In Spain, Tuesday the thirteenth is our unlucky day, instead of Friday. However, up to now, everything is all right today. Let´s touch wood! After the rest day on Monday, I went down for a run at 7 a.m. I just crossed the street and went along carretera de Sierra Alhamilla because I overslept a little today. I don´t want to use an alarm clock so that my wife can go on sleeping until seven o´clock when the alarm clock rings. I´ve got to be very careful since her sleep is light and once she wakes, she finds it hard to go on sleeping. When I had just started running, I realised that I put on my shorts the wrong way. The front side, back and vice versa. Well, never mind, just a little bit more uncomfortable. I went along the road with very few cars and took avenida del Mediterráneo towards the seafront. There were some people running and walking although it was a little misty today. I got to the end of the first part of the seafront in 25 minutes and stopped to do some stretching for two minutes. Then, I went to Almadrabillas park, my usual starting point. It took me 45 minutes, around six kilometres. Then, I did some walking backwards and stretching. It´s wonderful to start again another week without feeling any discomfort. Let´s hope it lasts until the marathon, at least.

[Antonio247]

Wednesday 14th January 2004. Unexpectedly, today´s been a different day in my training. I intended to go for a 7 km run this morning but I woke up at 7 when the alarm clock rang, so I decided to put it off for this afternoon or evening. I decided to go to the athletics stadium, “Emilio Campra”, which is about one kilometre from home. I phoned a friend who sometimes goes there to train and he told me he was going with a mate. Then, we agreed to meet there at 5.30pm. My friend, Antonio H. and his colleague Juan, are local policemen who sometimes train at the stadium. I arrived earlier and started to jog on the grass. It´s a bit boring to be spinning around it but occasionally it helps you change your way of training. Besides, it´s a long time since I hadn´t trained in an athletics stadium. There were many people training, most of them teenagers or youngsters in their early twenties. When my friends arrived, they joined me and we stopped when I had done 25 minutes. Then, we did four short series of about 50 metres on the grass with the same distance jogging. They were faster than me. Later, we did some stretching and they left. I decided to do some more series of 800 metres because I had read something about Yasso, who says that if you do 10 series of 800 metres when preparing for a marathon, the average time of a series, would be the time you will do in a marathon, changing minutes into hours and seconds into minutes. For instance, if your average series is 4 minutes, 30 seconds, you would do 4 hours, thirty minutes in a marathon. I only did three series of 800 metres, the first one in 3´ 58´´, the second one in 3´56´´ and the third one in 4´4´´ with four minutes jogging after each series. I´d like to do these series every other week and increase one series each time until I can do ten series and see which would be my average series. Besides, it will help me to see if I´m improving my record in that distance although perhaps I should try shorter series to increase my speed, 200 or 400 metres. After the marathon, I could check if the Yasso formula is correct for me. Nevertheless, according to Greg Mcmillan calculator http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/Running%2...ulator.htm my possible time at the marathon would be 4 hours 54 minutes and at half marathon 2 hours 19 minutes, which actually is. Nevertheless, I haven´t done ten series yet, which would have lowered my average series. Well, in all, I did fifty minutes and around seven kilometres

[El Gordo]

Another interesting update, Antonio, thanks. The Yasso stuff is fascinating. I wonder how accurate it really is? You can be our official guinea pig. (I hope you're familiar with that expression, or you may be offended....)

[Antonio247]

I´ll be glad to be a Guinea pig, Andy. I knew the expression. Actually, in Spanish we say "conejillo de Indias" with the same meaning. I expect the test will be accurate. Anyway, I found the series more interesting than I expected. I want to do some series one day every other week and the week I don´t do any series, I´ll do some fartlek one day in a short run.

I´m glad you´ve started again your training feeling well. I expect your new running gadget gets better and you can use it again.

[Antonio247]

Friday16th January 2004 Yesterday I decided to rest because I was a little tired after Wednesday´s series. I went for a run at 7pm. I started at Parque de las Almadrabillas. It was a nice evening. There were some children playing at the park and many people walking along the sea front as well as a few runners. I went as far as the end of the first part of the sea front, about 2,5 km in 16´45´´. I felt my leg muscles a bit stiff probably because of Wednesday´s series so I decided to stop and do some little stretching for three minutes. Then, I went back along the beach. It was really nice. I could see the sea, hear the little waves at the shore and the “Alcazaba” lit in the background. I saw one or two people running on the sand, too. "There are people for everything", as a famous fullfighter, whose name I can´t remember, said when he was told that the man he had just met was a philosopher, José Ortega y Gasset. It took me 20 minutes to get to the starting point. As I felt better, I decided to complete until minute 26. Then I did some backward walking and some more stretching. In all, I did 42 minutes and around 5,5 kilometres.

[Antonio247]

Saturday 17th January 2004 I´m really happy this morning. Although you won´t probably believe it, I did Almería half marathon this morning on my own. It took me only one hour and ten minutes. Yes, it´s true but I did it on mountain bike.In fact, I did it slower than the winners. The record in men is in 1 hour 3 minutes 26 seconds and in women one hour 15 minutes 53 seconds. I Like the experience of doing the half marathon course on bicycle. Every year I do it on bicycle. It reminds me previous races or what I can expect on the day D. The morning was sunny. I started in kilometre 2.5 just a few metres off my block of flats. There were a few runners doing part of the course. The worst part is going up the “Rambla” for about two kilometres but it´s not very steep. Besides, you have to go down it later when you turn round at the end of the “Rambla”. When I was a child the “Rambla” was a sort of dry river in the middle of the town with mulberry trees which we used to climb to get leaves to feed worms that we kept in shoe boxes with little holes that we did for the insects to be able to breathe. There were also driving school tracks to practise how to park and so on. About ten years ago, the local council closed the “Rambla” and it became an underground parking and on the surface it´s become a big promenade with gardens and playgrounds for the children. Then, near the port you go back to avenida Cabo de Gata to Universidad de Almería. It´s quite flat and with a wonderful view of the bay of Almería, especially Cabo de Gata. The only problem is the wind. If it´s very windy it can be very hard. I´ve been lucky in the three editions I´ve taken part because it wasn´t windy but it was hot. They were at the end of May ,beginning of June and in October. Another problem in this part is the loneliness you can feel since it is an area where, fortunately, there are no buildings and then you see very few people cheering. After getting a little further the university you go back along the same road to the stadium “Emilio Campra”. As I hadn´t started at the real start I took avenida del Mediterráneo where it is. There was a street market that is held every Sat at a splanade nearby. There you can get fruit, vegetables, clothes, etc. Then, I went back to avenida Cabo de Gata and turned into Avenida Juan XXIII to get to the stadium. I went on and got home in one hour 15 minutes. In all, I did about 22 kilometres. That´s the course I´ll have to do on Sunday 25th January.

[Antonio247]

Sunday 18th January2004. I went to Almadrabillas park to do part of Almería half marathon, which will be held next Sunday. http://www.todofondo.com/medioalmeria I decided to do the toughest part, which is the first one. I started at 8,30 am. It was a sunny morning. I went up La Rambla, one of Almería´s main avenues in the city centre, in 24´50. I met a few runners over there. Then I went back down walking one minute in minute 35 and getting to the place I had started in 47 minutes. Then I went on as far as the end of the first part of the sea front, 63´55´´. Although it was sunny, at the sea front it was quite windy, especially the way back with the wind against. From there I walked for one minute and got to the park in nearly 82 minutes. I went on a little bit more and did some walking forwards and backwards. Then I did some stretching. In all, I did 82 minutes and about 11,5km. I felt better than I expected. Well, I´m looking forward to doing my hometown half marathon next Sunday.

Summary of week 15. It´s been an interesting week with some 800 m. series at an athletics track, trying to get a little speed. As I´m competing next Sunday at Almería half I did a longer run last week´s Sunday instead of this week to avoid stiff muscles next week. Well, I´m looking forward to doing the half marathon and see if I can lower a little my personal best record, which is 2 hours 18 minutes, I think.