A fair lazy training week, because of a hectic working week, exams to start revising for, essays to write, problems to solve. Just three more weeks of term left though now.
Saturday 21st November - 26.7km Bike
An evening bike ride down to the beach in San Juan, got a bit lost on my way back but managed to find my way back (well my watch found the way and I followed). Wasn't very quick, mostly the result of turning up two or three dead ends.
26.7km 3min/km 1:19:55
Sunday 22nd November - 10.6km Run
I intended to do a long run, but because of time constraints and feeling slightly under the weather just did a gentle 10k.
10.66km 4:27min/km 47:29
Monday 23rd November - 1.25km Swim
Still had the goggle issue I moaned about last week, eventually sorted it though and had a fun swim. I had a couple of different people trying to tell me how I could swim better, my Spanish is improving all the time but when my ears are full of water I tend to struggle to understand so I just nodded politely and carried on.
1.25km 30:15min/km 37:49
Tuesday 24th November - 1hr Football
Didn't play very well, but was on the winning side. Didn't get to run much, there were probably two players too many playing so there wasn't much space to run into, plus we had too many lazy players up front that didn't track back at all so had to stay back to cover them.
Wednesday 25th November - Rest Day
Thursday 26th November - 12km Run
Did the same route as the previous Thursday, but pushing the pace up a bit, I was two and a half minutes quicker this week. It felt really good, like I'd finally got the after effects of the Elda half out of my system.
11.95km 4:16min/km 50:59
Friday 27th November - 6km Run
A quick 6km to finish the week. I went out hard, paid for it a bit in the middle, but managed to recover to finish quickly (first km was in 3:43, last in 3:50). Its pretty much perfect conditions for running here now so it makes it alot more fun. It's dry most days and the temperature has dropped a bit recently, I think in the evening its about 15C, there is a bit of a chill on the bare skin when I first go out but once I've done a kilometre or so I'm soon warm and no longer constantly mopping the sweat from my brow.
Saturday, 28 November 2009
Sunday, 22 November 2009
This week's training (Nov 14th - Nov 20th)
This week was mainly just recovery from the half-marathon. There weren't any major effects just a few mild muscular aches and pains that have just about worked themselves out now.
Saturday 14th November - Rest Day
Had a rest in preparation for the following day's half marathon.
Sunday 15th November - Elda Half Marathon
As detailed in my post last week, was a bit disappointing to miss my PB, but good to know i'm in good form.
21.1km 4:22min/km 1:32:09
Monday 16th November - Rest Day
I'd planned to go to the pool, having a swim after a long, hard run is generally a good, allegedly it helps clear the lactic acid from the muscles, but I had a bit too much work to do.
Tuesday 17th November - Football
Was a good game, I ran plenty, my side won but I didn't play particularly well.
Wednesday 18th November - 1km Swim
Finally got to the pool. I have to buy new goggles, wasted about 10 minutes adjusting them and still they leaked water. Apart from that frustration it was a nice swim with hardly anyone in the pool.
Thursday 19th November - 12km Run
Good to get back out running, but it was a bit slow. I could still feel a couple of kicks I took in Tuesday's football in my legs.
12km 4:28min/km 53:28
Friday 20th November - Track Session
Did a bit of speedwork but was feeling a bit lethargic so didn't do as much as I'd look. Did 1200m to warm-up, 3x200m 1x800m and 1x400m.
Next week I'll try to start building up the km's again ready for my next half in a month.
Saturday 14th November - Rest Day
Had a rest in preparation for the following day's half marathon.
Sunday 15th November - Elda Half Marathon
As detailed in my post last week, was a bit disappointing to miss my PB, but good to know i'm in good form.
21.1km 4:22min/km 1:32:09
Monday 16th November - Rest Day
I'd planned to go to the pool, having a swim after a long, hard run is generally a good, allegedly it helps clear the lactic acid from the muscles, but I had a bit too much work to do.
Tuesday 17th November - Football
Was a good game, I ran plenty, my side won but I didn't play particularly well.
Wednesday 18th November - 1km Swim
Finally got to the pool. I have to buy new goggles, wasted about 10 minutes adjusting them and still they leaked water. Apart from that frustration it was a nice swim with hardly anyone in the pool.
Thursday 19th November - 12km Run
Good to get back out running, but it was a bit slow. I could still feel a couple of kicks I took in Tuesday's football in my legs.
12km 4:28min/km 53:28
Friday 20th November - Track Session
Did a bit of speedwork but was feeling a bit lethargic so didn't do as much as I'd look. Did 1200m to warm-up, 3x200m 1x800m and 1x400m.
Next week I'll try to start building up the km's again ready for my next half in a month.
Monday, 16 November 2009
Elda Half Marathon - Mixed Emotions
After finishing my first half marathon in over five months I returned home with extremely mixed emotions. The first thing to say it was a lot more pleasant an experience than in my last half marathon when I suffered due to both a lack of training and oppresive heat. This time I was running in almost perfect conditions, under bright sunshine but at a comfortable temperature, plus I've been training well.
I finished in 1:32:09, in 125th place of 564 finishers. The bit that gives the mixed emotions is the time, it was just 3 seconds outside the PB I set in March. While on the one hand its great that I managed to be so near to my PB so far away from my main objective, the marathon, its tinged by the thought that if I'd pushed things just that little bit harder I would be celebrating the new PB. It shouldn't bug me, its only 3 seconds after 92 minutes of running, but it does. The frustation is added to when I consider the time I lost when, like in Altea, I had to stop to tie my shoe. I lost 30 seconds for such a stupid avoidable thing, that is never an issue in training.
Anyway, I guess I should put it to bed, its only 5 weeks until my next half, when I get another chance to set the PB I wanted.
Here are the 5km splits:
1st 5km 21:15
2nd 5km 21:15 42:30
3rd 5km 21:56 1:04:27 (this was about the time the winner finished in)
4th 5km 21:32 1:25:59
1.1km 6:09
The timings for the first two splits are pretty accurate, but from about 8km onwards they become a bit less reliable as the GPS on my watch doesn't work so well around tall buildings. The story of the race was that I set off pretty quick, the first 5k was my quickest despite the stop to tie my shoe being in that section, I was conscious that it was quick, and perhaps too quick so I tried to slow down a bit after km 8. I was feeling good at km 16 so I tried to push on in the last 5km and I thought I'd done that quite well, but came up a little short.
All in all I guess I should be happy with it, and I move on to the next few weeks of training with the boost of confidence from knowing I'm in, close, to PB form.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/18803967
I finished in 1:32:09, in 125th place of 564 finishers. The bit that gives the mixed emotions is the time, it was just 3 seconds outside the PB I set in March. While on the one hand its great that I managed to be so near to my PB so far away from my main objective, the marathon, its tinged by the thought that if I'd pushed things just that little bit harder I would be celebrating the new PB. It shouldn't bug me, its only 3 seconds after 92 minutes of running, but it does. The frustation is added to when I consider the time I lost when, like in Altea, I had to stop to tie my shoe. I lost 30 seconds for such a stupid avoidable thing, that is never an issue in training.
Anyway, I guess I should put it to bed, its only 5 weeks until my next half, when I get another chance to set the PB I wanted.
Here are the 5km splits:
1st 5km 21:15
2nd 5km 21:15 42:30
3rd 5km 21:56 1:04:27 (this was about the time the winner finished in)
4th 5km 21:32 1:25:59
1.1km 6:09
The timings for the first two splits are pretty accurate, but from about 8km onwards they become a bit less reliable as the GPS on my watch doesn't work so well around tall buildings. The story of the race was that I set off pretty quick, the first 5k was my quickest despite the stop to tie my shoe being in that section, I was conscious that it was quick, and perhaps too quick so I tried to slow down a bit after km 8. I was feeling good at km 16 so I tried to push on in the last 5km and I thought I'd done that quite well, but came up a little short.
All in all I guess I should be happy with it, and I move on to the next few weeks of training with the boost of confidence from knowing I'm in, close, to PB form.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/18803967
Sunday, 15 November 2009
This week's training (Nov 7th - Nov 13th)
I had a low mileage week this week, partly as a taper to the Elda half marathon and partly because I had a lot of work to catch up on after a weekend in the UK.
Saturday Nov 7th - 5km Running (Northampton)
A 5km lap around my sister's house, after arriving the previous this was a quick reminder that it can be quite cold in England in winter! I'd forgotten what it was like to run and see my every breath in front of me.
5.3km 4:14min/km 22:30
Sunday Nov 8th - 10km Running (Staines)
This was a nice run by the Thames, enjoyed getting a bit muddy and seeing some greenery, as opposed to the desert I run in in Alicante, plus running on the towpath has the benefit that its soft ground so its alot less likely to cause injury than the hard tarmac roads I normally run on. Again it was cold, and the run wasn't very quick.
10.2km 4:20min/km 44:11
Monday Nov 9th & Tuesday Nov 10th -Rest Days
No football since I didn't want to risk injury before racing on the Sunday, and had alot of work to do so didn't find time to do anything else.
Wednesday Nov 11 - 6km Running
Did my regular 6km lap early in the morning, not very quick since I was trying to run around half-marathon pace.
6.2km 4:11min/km 25:50
Thursday Nov 12 - 5km Running (On the track)
I ran with the same objective as the previous day, running comfortably at my half-marathon pace, but changed the surface, I've read its good to run on different types of ground as its good for preventing injuries.
5km 4:10min/km 20:49
Friday Nov 13 - 1000m Swimming
A good swim in an almost empty pool, it seems there aren't too many people around here like me that when they go out on a Friday night pop down to their local swimming baths.
1km 26:30min/km
Saturday Nov 7th - 5km Running (Northampton)
A 5km lap around my sister's house, after arriving the previous this was a quick reminder that it can be quite cold in England in winter! I'd forgotten what it was like to run and see my every breath in front of me.
5.3km 4:14min/km 22:30
Sunday Nov 8th - 10km Running (Staines)
This was a nice run by the Thames, enjoyed getting a bit muddy and seeing some greenery, as opposed to the desert I run in in Alicante, plus running on the towpath has the benefit that its soft ground so its alot less likely to cause injury than the hard tarmac roads I normally run on. Again it was cold, and the run wasn't very quick.
10.2km 4:20min/km 44:11
Monday Nov 9th & Tuesday Nov 10th -Rest Days
No football since I didn't want to risk injury before racing on the Sunday, and had alot of work to do so didn't find time to do anything else.
Wednesday Nov 11 - 6km Running
Did my regular 6km lap early in the morning, not very quick since I was trying to run around half-marathon pace.
6.2km 4:11min/km 25:50
Thursday Nov 12 - 5km Running (On the track)
I ran with the same objective as the previous day, running comfortably at my half-marathon pace, but changed the surface, I've read its good to run on different types of ground as its good for preventing injuries.
5km 4:10min/km 20:49
Friday Nov 13 - 1000m Swimming
A good swim in an almost empty pool, it seems there aren't too many people around here like me that when they go out on a Friday night pop down to their local swimming baths.
1km 26:30min/km
Monday, 9 November 2009
This week's training (Oct 31st - Nov 6th)
Two weeks away from a half-marathon I tapered my training a bit toward the end of the week, plus since I was going to the UK on the weekend I had to get some work out of the way before hand so didn't have much time to train anyway.
Saturday 31st October - 24km Bike
After the struggle I had in the previous Sunday's long run I shortened the Saturday bike trip (from 48km the previous week) to save a bit of energy for running. It was a fairly flat circuit at a comfortable pace.
24km 2:37min/km 1:02:37
Sunday 1st November - 10km + 3.4km Running
This was a big disappointment, despite cutting down my Saturday bike ride I still didn't have the energy to do a proper long run. At 10km I just felt like I had nothing left. I walked for a couple of km's and then started again, not feeling the best but I held out until I got home. Not sure what the cause was, possibly a combination of things, the heat, not having eaten breakfast (I went out at midday) and perhaps just the build up of training.
10km 4:29min/km 45:04
3.4km 4:22min/km 14:43
Monday 2nd November - 14.4km Running + 1km Swimming
After the previous day's failure I wanted to have another go at a last long run before the Elda half, I would have liked to have gone further, again I didn't have the energy, but given that I had run 13km the day before it was a good effort. It was a bit slower than my target pace for the half, but it was just about getting out and running long.
I found the energy to have an evening swim, albeit at a leisurely pace.
14.4km 4:27min/km 1:04:00 Running
1km 29min/km Swim
Tuesday 3rd November - Football
Had a shocker, I don't remember contributing anything to the game at all.
Wednesday 4th November - Rest Day
Thursday 5th November - 925m Swim
I would have liked to go for a run but by the time I got around to doing anything the light had gone so I thought better of it. It was a fairly quick swim in an almost empty pool. I intended to do 1km, but I felt a little cramp in my calf and thought I shouldn't push it too much.
925m 24:52min/km 23:00
Friday 6th November - 25km Bike
Seeing as I was going away for the weekend I wouldn't be able to use my bike, so I went out for a ride before hand. I went out without much of a plan of where I was going, but managed to make a good route with some challenging ascents.
25km 2:46min/km 1:09:00
Saturday 31st October - 24km Bike
After the struggle I had in the previous Sunday's long run I shortened the Saturday bike trip (from 48km the previous week) to save a bit of energy for running. It was a fairly flat circuit at a comfortable pace.
24km 2:37min/km 1:02:37
Sunday 1st November - 10km + 3.4km Running
This was a big disappointment, despite cutting down my Saturday bike ride I still didn't have the energy to do a proper long run. At 10km I just felt like I had nothing left. I walked for a couple of km's and then started again, not feeling the best but I held out until I got home. Not sure what the cause was, possibly a combination of things, the heat, not having eaten breakfast (I went out at midday) and perhaps just the build up of training.
10km 4:29min/km 45:04
3.4km 4:22min/km 14:43
Monday 2nd November - 14.4km Running + 1km Swimming
After the previous day's failure I wanted to have another go at a last long run before the Elda half, I would have liked to have gone further, again I didn't have the energy, but given that I had run 13km the day before it was a good effort. It was a bit slower than my target pace for the half, but it was just about getting out and running long.
I found the energy to have an evening swim, albeit at a leisurely pace.
14.4km 4:27min/km 1:04:00 Running
1km 29min/km Swim
Tuesday 3rd November - Football
Had a shocker, I don't remember contributing anything to the game at all.
Wednesday 4th November - Rest Day
Thursday 5th November - 925m Swim
I would have liked to go for a run but by the time I got around to doing anything the light had gone so I thought better of it. It was a fairly quick swim in an almost empty pool. I intended to do 1km, but I felt a little cramp in my calf and thought I shouldn't push it too much.
925m 24:52min/km 23:00
Friday 6th November - 25km Bike
Seeing as I was going away for the weekend I wouldn't be able to use my bike, so I went out for a ride before hand. I went out without much of a plan of where I was going, but managed to make a good route with some challenging ascents.
25km 2:46min/km 1:09:00
Sunday, 1 November 2009
Half-marathon calendar
I'm part of my University half-marathon team. Its not a competitive team, there is just a requirement to run 5 half-marathons a year in order to maintain your place in the team, and then the Uni provides kit and pays for entry and transport to all the runs that you want to enter. All in all its a really good deal. Anyway, this week I got the definitive calendar of events for the coming academic year. There is a list of eight to choose from, so it will be a question seeing where they fit with my marathon training. Last year I had a problem that I missed a 2 of the first 4 as I was going to the UK, and had only 3 done when I got injured, as a result it was a bit of the struggle to get the 5 done at the end of the year. This year I'm planning to do all the early ones so I can pick and choose around marathon time.
Here is the calendar for the next couple of months:
15th November - Elda Half Marathon
20th December - Aspe Half Marathon
24th January - Santa Pola Half Marathon
I did both Elda and Santa Pola last season, but Aspe is a new one for me. Elda last year was a bit of a disaster, I went in undertrained and ended up struggling a lot in the second half of the race, I'm a lot better prepared for this time. I suffered a little as its a bit higher up than where I'm living and there is a really big temperature difference as you pass from in the sun to the shade. Santa Pola is a popular race, the biggest that I've done here, its really well organised, with a fairly good course, I ran 1:34:41 there last January.
With all the training I've been doing, now I'm really looking forward to putting myself in a race to see what I can do.
Here is the calendar for the next couple of months:
15th November - Elda Half Marathon
20th December - Aspe Half Marathon
24th January - Santa Pola Half Marathon
I did both Elda and Santa Pola last season, but Aspe is a new one for me. Elda last year was a bit of a disaster, I went in undertrained and ended up struggling a lot in the second half of the race, I'm a lot better prepared for this time. I suffered a little as its a bit higher up than where I'm living and there is a really big temperature difference as you pass from in the sun to the shade. Santa Pola is a popular race, the biggest that I've done here, its really well organised, with a fairly good course, I ran 1:34:41 there last January.
With all the training I've been doing, now I'm really looking forward to putting myself in a race to see what I can do.
This week's training (Oct 24th - Oct 30th)
Uni work impinged a little on my training this week, but I managed to do everything I wanted in the end. I can blame my Macroeconomics professor for messing with my schedule.
Saturday 24th October - 48km Bike
After a failed attempt the previous week I made it to Xixona on my bike. There wasn't much to see in the town itself but there were fairly good views of the surrounding mountains, a couple of which I'd like to make my way to the top of over the next year. It was a fairly tough ride, climbing up to 465m of altitude from where I live at about 100m. The road was straight most of the way which made it easy to descend quickly, going at more than 50km/h for a good few kilometres. The ascent took me 1hr30, where as the descent was just over 50mins.
48km 2:59min/km 2:23:49
Sunday 25th October - 17km Run + 2km
I was hoping to go beyond half marathon distance but after about 5km when normally I would be just getting into a rhythm, I was feeling quite lethargic. I pushed on to 17km maintaining a fairly solid pace but I was dying by that point. However, after about 10 minutes of walking I managed to summon up the energy to run the final 2km. I guess the previous day's bike ride had its effect.
17km 4:26min/km 1:15:37
2.3km 4:23min/km 0:09:58
Monday 26th October - Rest Day
I wanted to go for a swim but I was so involved in my work completely lost track of time so had to give it a miss.
Tuesday 27th October - Football
It was a good game this week, ran alot and managed to score one.
Wednesday 28th October - Swim 1km
It was a fairly frustrating swim as the pool was really busy, 6 people were sharing my lane for most of the time so I ended up looking at other peoples kicking feet alot of the time. Regardless, I kept going for a kilometre.
1km 28:12min/km
Thursday 29th October - 10.6k Run
My regular 10k lap, in a PB time. I started off doing my target half-marathon pace for the first 5k, which is faster than normal for this route as the first 5k are uphill, and felt good so pushed things on for the next 5k, which I did in 20:14. I knocked more than 30 seconds off my best time for the route.
10.6km 4:09min/km 44:02
Friday 30th October - Track Session
Wanted to do some speedwork to help pick up my pace ahead of a half-marathon in a couple of weeks. I did 1200m to warm-up before 2x200m sprints, a hard run 800m (in 2:38), another 2x200m sprints before finishing with a 400m sprint. It was a good workout, didn't really make any improvements on the times I've done before, but my times didn't get any worse through the session that normally happens.
Saturday 24th October - 48km Bike
After a failed attempt the previous week I made it to Xixona on my bike. There wasn't much to see in the town itself but there were fairly good views of the surrounding mountains, a couple of which I'd like to make my way to the top of over the next year. It was a fairly tough ride, climbing up to 465m of altitude from where I live at about 100m. The road was straight most of the way which made it easy to descend quickly, going at more than 50km/h for a good few kilometres. The ascent took me 1hr30, where as the descent was just over 50mins.
48km 2:59min/km 2:23:49
Sunday 25th October - 17km Run + 2km
I was hoping to go beyond half marathon distance but after about 5km when normally I would be just getting into a rhythm, I was feeling quite lethargic. I pushed on to 17km maintaining a fairly solid pace but I was dying by that point. However, after about 10 minutes of walking I managed to summon up the energy to run the final 2km. I guess the previous day's bike ride had its effect.
17km 4:26min/km 1:15:37
2.3km 4:23min/km 0:09:58
Monday 26th October - Rest Day
I wanted to go for a swim but I was so involved in my work completely lost track of time so had to give it a miss.
Tuesday 27th October - Football
It was a good game this week, ran alot and managed to score one.
Wednesday 28th October - Swim 1km
It was a fairly frustrating swim as the pool was really busy, 6 people were sharing my lane for most of the time so I ended up looking at other peoples kicking feet alot of the time. Regardless, I kept going for a kilometre.
1km 28:12min/km
Thursday 29th October - 10.6k Run
My regular 10k lap, in a PB time. I started off doing my target half-marathon pace for the first 5k, which is faster than normal for this route as the first 5k are uphill, and felt good so pushed things on for the next 5k, which I did in 20:14. I knocked more than 30 seconds off my best time for the route.
10.6km 4:09min/km 44:02
Friday 30th October - Track Session
Wanted to do some speedwork to help pick up my pace ahead of a half-marathon in a couple of weeks. I did 1200m to warm-up before 2x200m sprints, a hard run 800m (in 2:38), another 2x200m sprints before finishing with a 400m sprint. It was a good workout, didn't really make any improvements on the times I've done before, but my times didn't get any worse through the session that normally happens.
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