This week's training - (Oct 17th - Oct 23rd)

This week was pretty much the same as the previous one, although with a few more km's covered.

Saturday 17th October - 31km Bike
I headed in the direction of Xixona, the home of turrones, but stopped about 8km short, I didn't want to push things too hard having had a tough session (hill-running) the day before and with a long Sunday in mind. There was a bit of ascent but nothing very steep, Xixona is 300m higher than San Vicente (where I live) but I went as far as 230m.
31km 2:44min/km 1:24:59

Sunday 18th October - 22.9km Run
Was a fairly successful long run, maintained a fairly good rhythm going beyond half marathon distance. I was thinking I'd do 25km but it was fairly hot and i'd gone out without water so thought it was better to stop.
22.9km 4:35min/km 1:44:55

Monday 19th October - 750m Swim
The pool was fairly busy so I cut my session a little short.
750m 29:20min/km 22:00

Tuesday 20th October - Football
Plenty of running with no end product.

Wednesday 21st October - Rest Day


Thursday 22nd October - 4.6km Run
Bit of a disappointment, planned to do my regular 10km run but felt ill fairly early on, tried to keep going, seeing if things got any better but ended up stopping and walking back home after just 4.6km.
4.6km 4:16min/km 19:36

Friday 23rd October - 10.6km Run
After Thursday's failed attempt had another go at my 10km lap, made it round this time although at a pace a bit off my best.
10.6km 4:22min/km 46:23

This week's training and other news...

I'll start with the news, I know my number for London. On Sunday April 25 2010 I will have the number 18205 on the front of my vest. I highlight the will the since I had a number allocated last year, and if you read one of my earlier blogs (why blog?) not being able to use the number was a fairly frustrating experience. I have no particular preferences over numbers, I don't think any have any special significance for me, but I'm relieved there's no obvious omen of bad luck there, no 13's, and no 666's.

That's enough of the news, now to the training...

Saturday 10th October - 31km Bike

A good fun lap with some ascents but nothing really challenging so I could maintain a fairly good pace throughout.

31km 2:34min/km 1:19:50

Sunday 11th October - 11.8km Run

This was intended to be a longer run, 15-20km, but after 3 or 4km's I decided to shorten it since I was suffering a bit with the heat, it was the consequence of having a lazy Sunday morning and not going out until midday.

11.8km 4:23min/km 51:40

Monday 12th October - 1.2km Swim

Since it was a bank holiday here I thought the Uni pool would be almost empty, but as it turned it was fairly busy. It didn't disrupt my swim too much though.

1.2km 27:30min/km 33:00

Tuesday 13th October - Football

Did plenty of running but didn't really enjoy the game. Had a perfectly good goal chalked as some people here seem to believe football is a non-contact sport, and while I was still angered by that I missed an absolute sitter.

Wednesday 14th October - Rest Day

Thursday 15th October - 6km Lap

This was one of my regular routes around where I live, I ran fairly hard and finished in my best time for the route, albeit only cutting 10 seconds from my previous best. I'm using this route to get comfortable running consistently below 4min/km in an effort to eventually improve my 10km time to below 40minutes. The average was good, but my pace was above 4min for the 2nd and 4th km.

6.1km 3:55min/km 23:50

Friday 16th October - Hill Running

After the difficulties I had in the previous week's race as promised I did a hill running session. Did a 3km run to start, then 4x400m uphill, running hard, with walking back down rests in between. I made a misjudgement getting home, and ran further than I wanted, I should've gone back on the route I to get to the hill so just done the 3km but ended up doing more than 5km. It was a tough 5km too as the uphill running took quite a bit out of me. It was a good workout, we'll see if it pays dividends in my next race.

12.6km 5:54min/km 1:14:24

Carrera Popular Altea - 8.6km - 9th October

Had to get up at an ungodly hour to catch the tram north up the coast, past Benidorm, to Altea. It was a good trip to make by tram, looking out on to the Mediterranean Sea to the East, with great views of the mountains I hope to climb in the next year or so to the West. I've never been to Benidorm, but just passing through I have to question why anyone would want to go on holiday there, so many unsightly tower blocks ruining the vistas while just five minutes up the coast there is Altea that has managed to retain its meditarranean character despite the invasion of northern Europeans as a result of being so close to Benidorm.

Anyway, enough of that, lets get to the run. I was hoping to average 4:00min/km, but I was a bit short of that unfortunately, a couple of rookie mistakes didn't help.

My splits were:

1km   4:04
2km   3:53
3km   4:03
4km   4:01
5km   4:11
6km   4:14
7km   4:21
8km   3:58
8.6km 2:21 (3:46min/km)

The mistakes were starting too far back in the field, the first kilometre was more hard work than it should have been as I tried to work my way past slower runners. The second was failing to make sure my shoelaces were wll tied before the race, I had to stop in km 5 to tie up my left trainer. I'm not sure how much time I lost, it doesn't look like much because my splits in both cases were pretty good. The sixth and seventh kms involved turning away from the sea and heading up the hill, I'm a little disappointed at how much pace I lost as a result, in km 6 it was fairly steep but km 7 was less so. I think some training on hills may be in order. I managed a strong finish, I think I passed 6 or 7 runners in the last 400m. I finished 72nd of about 500 runners:

http://www.somesport.com/popularaltea/general_altea09.asp.

As I said, I would have liked to have gone a little bit quicker, but it was still a good run and there are a few useful lessons learned that should help when the bigger challenges come along in the next few months.

Finally, hope you enjoy a few pics from the day:

The last one is Benidorm seen from a distance.

This week's training- Oct 3rd - Oct 9th

Saturday 3rd October - Rest Day

Sunday 4th October - 20.5k run
Was a pleasant long Sunday run, was at a comfortable steady rhythm and managed to get out fairly early to avoid the worst of the heat.
20.5km 4:34min/km 1:33:45

Monday 5th October - 1km swim
Late night swim after going home to catch up with my mates on Skype.
1km 28:00min/km 28min

Tuesday 6th October - Track Session
Went to the Uni track in the morning, did 1200m as a warm-up before doing 3x200m sprints followed by 2x400m and then 1000m jog to finish. Every time I go to the track and do sprints I always get amazed by thinking that the pace that I run flat out at over 400m is slower than the pace the top marathoners maintain over all 26.2 miles, I don't know how they do it, but I wish I did...

My times were fairly consistent, 32 seconds for the 200m sprints and 1:15 for 400m, before doing the final 1km in 4.14.

Wednesday 7th October - 10.8k run
My regular 10k lap, almost, I missed a turning as I tired towards the end. Was my fastest pace for a 10k not in a race, 42:03. I'm hoping to take another minute or so off that time in the next few weeks.
10.8km 4:12min/km 45:19

Thursday 8th October - Rest Day

Friday 9th October - Race Day 8.6km in Altea
A blog on the race will follow, was a good course with a good backdrop, I'd definitely go there to run again.
8.6km 4:05min/km 35:09.

This weeks training

Saturday 26th September 2009 - Ascent of Sierra del Maigmo (1299m)

This combined two objectives of mine, training for the marathon and climbing all of the descent size mountains in the province of Alicante. The first stage was a 24km ride from my flat, at an altitude of 100m, to 1000m, most of the way up the mountain, it took me about 2hrs. The second was the walk to the summit, it was a fairly easy climb, although I almost lost my footing a couple of times on my way down, it took me 70 minutes. Finally, it was the descent on the bike back home. The descent was good fun, although it would have been more so had I not crashed, thankfully no serious damage to me or the bike, just a few minor cuts and bruises. It took me about 65mins to get back.

48 km on bike, 2 km on foot, in 4hrs 15.

The ascent on bike was fairly steady most of the way, but the last 400m was really tough. For the walk the biggest problem was path-finding in the cloud.

The summit post wasn't the most interesting but its always good to arrive. The amount of cloud cover was a bit of a disappointment too.

I was going along at 50km/h, I had to slow down for a corner, the bike didn't agree so I found myself off the road in some trees. After checking everything over I carried on on my way, only some minor damage to the rear derailleur, bent the bracket that holds it and had to replace it. I went fairly cautiously from then on.

Sunday 27 September - 11k Run

In hindsight this was a bad idea. I wanted to run 15k plus. Given the bumps and bruises I'd picked up the day before I thought I'd give myself as much of the day as possible to recover so went out in the evening. It was going well for the first 5k but, it being near dinner time, I had a fairly unsettled stomach, which led me to stop running after 11k, after a previous stop hiding behind a tree at the side of the ride. Best forgotten.

11k 4:48min/km 53:10

Monday 28 September - 1km Swim

Arrived at the pool wetter than I left after torrential rain left most of the Uni flooded. Was a good swim as hardly anyone was in the pool.

1km 30min/km 30min

Tuesday 29 September - 10.6km Run

My regular 10k lap, was at a good pace, although was probably still feeling the effects of the crash.

10.6km 4:16 /km 45:18

Wednesday 30 September - 20km Bike

A good steady ride, nothing too strenuous, just maintaining a solid rhythm above 20km/h.

20.7km 2:51/km 59:00

Thursday 1 October - Football

Regular 1hr game, did plenty of running, scored one, was a shambles in goal.

Friday 2 October - 20km Bike

This time a 20km lap with a bit of ascent, to be honest it should have been a rest day but I got a new toy, a cadence meter and wanted to try it out.

20.4km 3:14/km 1:06:13

Next week will see my first race for a couple of months, 8.6k on the coast near Altea, should be a good test of where I am at, looking forward to a half-marathon mid-November.