4 Weeks to Toral de los Vados (2005)

[Riazor Blue]

Yesterday I paid my 18 euros, sent off the application form and booked the hotel. Toral de los Vados, here I come.

Last Sunday was Armed Forces Day here in Spain. This year the King Juan Carlos, Queen Sofia, Prince Felipe de Asturias and Princess Letizia came to La Coruña to inspect the troops. The Prince and Princess first met in La Coruña whilst Letizia was reporting on the Prestige disaster, she was a journalist and news reader for RTVE. I wonder if they had time to revisit room 314 in the Hotel Atlantico. All week us plodders on the seafront have had to put up with ultra fit squaddies out for a gentle jog blazing past, leaving us to eat their dust. Apart from that it was nice to see the aircraft carrier Principe de Asturias with six of it’s possible 24 harriers and four helicopters in the port. There were also it’s two accompanying patrol boats. By all accounts the Harriers made a bit of a racket on Sunday morning on the fly past, but I wouldn’t know because I was in Betanzos.

It was a hard course in Betanzos, you’re either going uphill or you are going down. There is not too much level ground in this half marathon. It’s a nice course though, passing through the town centre then out along one shore of the Ria de Betanzos, crossing over to return on the other bank. As mentioned this was my last race before Toral, but given the terrein, I wasn’t sure how to pace myself. In the end I went on how I felt, now and again if I was breathing too hard taking a peek at the HRM. I actually took things fairly easily for most of the race because I had forgotten where the hills were. It was only in the last five or six kilometers that I pushed myself, knowing that it was more downhill than up. There were no distance markers either, we passed a driks station where the guy told us that we had run 10 km, but that was all.

Given the toughness of the course, and that I didn’t run too hard I was well pleased, not to say surprised, to stop the watch on 1:27:19. All of which gives me a bit of a problem for Toral. What would my time have been on a flatter course? Or if I had pushed a little harder? Those conversion tables tell me that 1:27 should convert to between 3:02 and 3:04 for a marathon. I’ve got a week more of hard training before a three week taper aswell. I cannot help thinking that 3:02 is very close to 2:59:59, that mythical time that puts one in the same hour as proper runners. OK, Bekele is at the short end of two hours and I’m aspiring to be at the other, but we’d still be 2 hours and…. But a sub 3 sounds bloody hard, I think I’d be better off aiming for a more achievable 3:05 or something. Even that sounds hard. So here I am with my dilemma. Sense tells me to aim for 4:20 per kilometer, but the heart says to go five seconds quicker and try for that 2:59. Death or glory and all that. Sheer stupidity more like, pipe dreams, I’ll be lucky (and very pleased) to get round in sub 3:15, which would give me a good for age in London.

Enough speculation.

This week is a toughie. Bob reckons that I need to run a 25 miler this Sunday. We’ll have to see if I can manage such a beast of a training run. I bet Bob didn’t have to run 25 miles of training run on asphalt. The schedule called for 99 kilometers this week, but Monday’s gentle 6 never happened due to time constraints. Today’s 8 km happily did happen, in bright sunshine at lunchtime. So the rest of the week looks like this:

Wednesday: 5 km warm up, 6 X 200m with 400m recoveries, 4 km cool down.
Thursday: 8 km @ 150 bpm.
Friday: 4 km warm up, 5 X 1600m @ 180 bpm, 4 km cool down.
Saturday: 8 km @ 150 bpm.
Sunday: 40 km any way I can manage to do it.

[Bierzo Baggie]

Great half marathon time RB.

Remember, for sub-3 hours you'd probably have to get through the half marathon point at 1:27 at the very least . May the force be with you...

[Riazor Blue]

I had a look at the results from the London Marathon, old fogeys like me were going through the half marathon in around 1:29, still a bit quick perhaps. One can dream... I could probably do that pace for 30 odd kilometers, but think that thereafer I'd blow up badly. I know where this speed is coming from but in reality, I'm not sure that the fatige resistance is there.

BB, will you be running this year?

[sampedro]

Congratulations RB that´s really a great time nad a good feeling for Toral.
Concerning the fact of going for 3 hours i read in an article by Gavela that to be confident in doing 3 hours he recomends a time in a half marathon of not more than 1h:23m, and he also says that you shouldnt go through the half rathon in the "marathon day" faster than 1h:29m.
I hope this can help you.
Anyway Brian, you can do some kind of test in those long trains you are going to do and check the pace, you are right when you say that the fatigue after 30 Km comes al together at once and you can be running confortable a 4:20/Km until that point and die afterwards.
Good luck in Toral if i don't see you before.

[Bierzo Baggie]

I think most people run the second half of the marathon slower than the first half. If you go through the half marathon in 1:29, odds on you'll lose at least 5 minutes on the second half....or not?

When I was shiftin' it a bit more in the 90s I ran
1:28 (half) 3:06 (finish) (Madrid 97)
1:29 (half) 3:12 (finish) (Madrid 96)
1:30 (half) 3:11 (finish) (Toral 98)
Always lost at least 10 minutes in the second half of the race. Came to the conclusion that I'd have to run at least 1:27 at halfway to get below 3 hours. Didn't like the sound of it and decided to concentrate on enjoying the running instead....
You're right though RB. The 3 hour barrier is a mythical time...but don't let it obsess you!
As for Toral this year...well, I'll definitely see you at the start. As for getting all the way round and not ending up in an ambulance with heat exhaustion....I'll see how things develop. Went for a 45 min run today and I was f**ked.

[Riazor Blue]

The truth is I quite fancied the idea of half killing myself as this'll be my last marathon for a couple of years. As we are doing our bit towards re-populating Galicia, I cannot see me having time to put in the miles for the next year.
Realistically, I think I should just aim to get round in under 3.15 which is good enough for a good for age place in London, which perhaps I could use in a couple of years time. I could probably use 'visiting the grandparents' as an excuse to go to London.

[Bierzo Baggie]

So you’ll be going out all guns a blazin’. Good luck to you. And good luck for the other as well....I stopped running in April but since the baby was born I’ve still managed to find time to nip out for a run from time to time. I’ve had to give up everything else though (football, mountain-biking, Thursday night beer-supping club..etc...) I’ll be off work in July and we’ll probably spend some time with Rosana’s folks in Sada so we can perhaps organize our own RC (Galician branch) training run one day...think about it.

[Riazor Blue]

I didn't quite manage the 40 km but still very pleased with the 37 that I did today. Running through aldeas like Uxes wearing long compression socks certainly draws a few strange looks but at the end of the run my calves and achilles still felt strong (I'm a forefoot runner who also supinates), which goes to show that they do actually work. The run took me through Uxes as I said and Arteixo where I ran a 12km race a few weeks ago, back to La Coruña and then the usual 10 km on the promenade and harbour wall.

I woke up a little later than I had wanted this morning so didn't have too much time to spare before setting off. I knew I had forgotten something when I was half way up the road, but on checking I has money, Residents card, gels and drinks etc. It was only an hour and a half later that I realised that it was the loo paper that I had left behind. So squatting in the woods whilst trying to grab a few more leaves was a new, although not very pleasent experience, especially as most of the trees are either mediterranean or eucalypt varieties, neither having a particularly large or soft leaf.

The run itself was pretty good, and only became hard after 33 km as I expected it would, this despite there being some long hills. The legs held up well, in Toral last year my knees started to give me gip after 25, so things have improved, there was general fatigue at the end of the run but nothing else. Here I am now at 7.45 and the legs are only mildly stiff, nothing that a good night's rest and a couple of beers can't cure.

As an aside, before the half marathon in Betanzos, and yesterday aswell, I had performed a kind of mini carbo load. Both times I have bought a pack of Kellogs All Bran bars, I don't know if they are on sale in the UK, but I reckon they have served me well. 2.31€ for a box of six bars, per 100 grams there's about 42 grams of carbohyrate, 11 of fat, 12 of protein and 16 of fibre. I'll be getting a couple of boxes in for the marathon, you never know some times in the supermarket these things turn up once, never to be seen again.

TAPER STARTS TOMORROW !!!

[sampedro]

That's good news Brian, you seem to be in perfect shape. Toral is not too far. The weather is hellping too this weekend was perfect for jogging, not too windy neither too hot. Good luck in the follwing days, now most of the work is done.

[Bierzo Baggie]

What's happening Riazor Blue? I've finally paid my entry for Toral so I'll see you there. Or maybe you'll be in Ponferrada the day before?...let me know, and bring a few cards from the shop for me to distribute. And bring a cap....it's gonna be a hot one!

[sampedro]

Good luck in Toral for you two. Sure its going to be hot in Toral, enjoy it...

[Riazor Blue]

Everything's going well, it's just that I haven't had time to write up my training stuff. I'm just about prepared. Arriving saturday evening and staying in Villa Martín. Staying Sunday night aswell, to give the legs a chance to recover a bit before the drive back. I had a quick look at the forecast because Bea's struggling with the heat too. Says max 26, min 13, cloudy with 30% chance of rain on the day. Sounds like hot and humid then.
Glad to see you've stuck in the entry BB, do you reckon we'll see the German guy again this year? Next year you'll have to run with the pushchair aswell (something I tried out on my niece the other day, she loved it).

[Antonio247]

Best of luck for both of you next Sunday! Enjoy as much as possible!

[Nigel]

Best wishes from here also to RB and BB for a fine race - enjoy your run in the sun!

Nigel

[El Gordo]

Same here, guys - good luck. It's boiling hot in the UK at the moment, so gawd knows what it must be like down there.

Enjoy the post-race refreshment, and let us have a report or two when the time seems right.

[Bierzo Baggie]

Brian...if you're not pushed for time give us a call before you collect your race number on Saturday. Maybe we could meet up in Toral.
If not, see you at the start on Sunday. There were 250 runners signed up a couple of days ago but they reckon they'll be 300 of us in the end.

My number, home 987 08 73 60, mobile 619 81 48 31.

[Riazor Blue]

Thanks for the support and good wishes everyone. It looks like the weather will be kind to us tomorrow.

Last night I was watching the opening ceremony for the Mediterranean Games on the telly. It reminded me of the Running Commentary Almeria Half Marathon. What a shame I couldn't run that one with you guys. Looks an impressive stadium aswell.

[Bierzo Baggie]

Congratulations Brian on an impressive 3:13 marathon time.
Looking forward to the race report.

[sampedro]

Congratulations Brian, great time!!!!
Looking forward to hearing from you....

[El Gordo]

Well done, RB. 3:13 in those conditions is fantastic. I must try those long socks that BB mentioned. I think this could be the tip I've been waiting for to revolutionise my marathon performances....