Month: April 2015

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Am I ready?

On Monday I rested and I really needed it.

On Tuesday I went for a short 13k run that was intended to be slow, but I did a couple of sprints and some fast kms here and there, so I will call it a fartlek training session. It was fun, but I should not have done it as my right hamstrings felt a bit too fatigued at the end.

That did not stop me doing some repeats on Wednesday. I did the usual warm up and then six by 600mt at 3:50 with 1’50” rest. Then finished with a 3k cool down. I really struggled to go fast. The legs were too tired and wooden. I tried the Fenix3 feature where you create a workout on the PC with all the crazy details you want and then upload it on the watch. It’s very well done but I guess it is made for people running on a track as it does not store GPS data from the run. That is not good for me. I like seeing a map at the end of my training. I’ll check to see if I did get some options wrong.

I was so tired that on Thursday I did 15k at 5:01 min/km. Nice recovery run. I did speed up a bit at the end but that’s just me being silly.

Friday I decided to rest as I wanted to be fresh to tackle my longest run ever.

The plan on Saturday was to run 50k and use it as a final test before the NDW50. I wanted to run it as if it was only the first part of the 50 miles race I’ll attempt in May. I left home very early equipped with all the mandatory kit for the NDW plus 5 gels, 6 shots and, for the first time, some salt sticks. I wanted to see if drinking pure water with no salts was going to make it easier to eat and keep down the gels so I was going to get the salts from the pills this time. It worked out pretty well. I have to stop to take the pills but that’s fine.

I kept running at a steady easy pace around 5:30 min/km and regularly ate every 30 minutes either the gels or the shots, alternating them. Every hour and a half or so I ate a salt stick. Everything went smoothly. I never had any moment of crisis or cramps (in the belly or legs). After 43k the legs started feeling a bit heavy but I guess that was also psychological as I was running towards unknown territories. I am sure that the hills of the NDW will make the legs feel totally different from the monotony of running on flat for hours. I am confident also that aid stations and meeting people will make time go by easier (the 2k I did with a guy preparing for a 100k in the Pyrenees went very fast for example).

I got home after exactly 50k in 4 hours and 40 minutes. I had a massive grin on my face. I was happy. Happy for achieving something six months ago I thought impossible. Happy for seeing that the hard work paid off and happy because I felt tired but not spent. I feel I can run more than 50k and at a pace I am happy with. I also did it with very tired legs while I plan to taper nicely in the next three weeks and arrive on race day charged like a bomb. I cannot wait for the NDW50 and even more I cannot wait to run it with my friends coming from all over Europe.

So, another solid week. I ran a total of 90k but most importantly I have beaten my distance record.

Have fun!

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Heavy week of running

What a week!

It’s been another good one of intensive running and I also finally got my hands on a shiny new Garmin Fenix 3 which I had been waiting for for ages. The fact that the courier company failed to deliver it for 4 days in a row made it even more desirable. But now I have it, it’s a fantastic piece of kit and I cannot wait to record all my runs with it.

Here is what I did this week after I took the day off running on Monday to rest.

Tuesday I ran an easy recovery run of 15k at 4:34 min/km. I was very nice, foggy, Bushy Park was at its best with the low rising sun, the deer, very bucolic.

On Wednesday I went to Richmond Park for some hill training. I did 5 repeats of 400mt uphill and rested on the way down. I took the smallest trail on the right, just after Kingston gate, the one that is not very steep except of a couple of places where you have almost to run on the balls of you feet. I like it as it feels a bit wild, you have to jump a couple of fallen trees and lower you head to avoid branches. I ran a total of 11k including warm up and cool down.

On Thursday I did the same route I did on Tuesday, but slightly shorter. The weather was warmer and I ran with shorts! I did a 12k easy run. Finally in the afternoon the Fenix 3 was delivered and I spent hours tweaking the settings in the evening and went to bed very late.

On Friday I woke up very tired but very keen to try the Fenix 3. I did 11k at 4:27 but I mostly spent the time looking at the various reports and data on the watch.

IMG_5987On Saturday I went out for the first long run of the week end. The plan was to do anything over 40k and to do it in “ultramarathon race mode”, so going slowly, thinking about keeping enough energy to keep on running. I was also very careful to eat something every 30 minutes. I alternated jelly blocks and gels. Basically eating a gel every hour and twenty minutes and blocks in between. Drinking as much as I felt like it. I went all along the river towards Putney bridge and back. I ran at a pace between 5:00 and 5:30 min/km. I felt great. I never had a moment of crisis. Not even my usual pain at around 32k. It was a real confidence boost. I felt like I could run at that speed for a lot longer, but then when I was in Kingston I had to make a choice. Continue and try to do 50k or go home. I had been running the last 2km behind another guy who looked like it was training like me and when I caught up with him we chatted a bit. He was preparing for the Thames Path 100, he knew what he was doing. I was tempted to follow him and break 50k for the first time but I had not eaten a gel for a while as I thought I would go home soon so I was very weak and said goodbye.

I regretted it. I got home and I was not dead, I could have run more! Now I have to try and do the long 50k run next week end and it will probably rain, I will not have a guy to run with etc. Silly me. Anyway it was a very good run, 43k at 5:24 average. At the end I was going mostly at 5:40. That’s what I want to try and do at the North Downs Way. Keep above 5:30 for as much as I can, avoid doing the usual silly quick start, slow down uphill even more, speed up downhill and run until I cannot any more and get to the end.

To make the week end more useful for long distance training I went out again on Sunday. The legs were quite sore, especially the ankles, but after warming up a bit (it took a while as it was below 5 degrees) I was running ok. Not fast at all, but not crawling. I completed a run of 26.5k at 5:14. Not bad considering the run of the day before. I got home pretty proud of myself and it was not even 9:30am!

A very good week, 118km in total. Very happy with my training and the consistency I managed to put in in the last 5 weeks. I averaged more than 100k a week for 5 weeks in a row. That’s more than I could have asked for. One more long run next week end, 50k hopefully, and then I will start tapering a bit.

I cannot wait for the NDW50, it will be epic, whatever happens.

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Two weeks of serious running

Intro

The last two weeks have been quite busy and I did not get a chance to update this blog for those 3 or 4 people that read it. So here is a quick update of my last two weeks.
I have been doing a lot of running. the closer I get to the North Downs Way 50 the more I need to run to feel less scared.
Here is a quick rundown of what I have been up to:

Week 1 (30th March-5th April)

Monday I rested. I needed to, after 60k ran over the weekend.

Tuesday I did an easy recovery run of 12.5k at 4:37. The wind was crazy. It felt like going against it whatever the direction I was running.

Wednesday was the speed training day. I did 3k of warm up and then 3 times two kms at 3:50 min/km with 2′ rest. Finished with 2.5k of cool down.

On Thursday we flew to Italy for the Easter week end. So no running. I took with me only the road shoes (my current love, the Saucony Zealot), so no trail running planned during the holidays.

On Friday I went running on the Liguria coast for 20k (at 4:37) on the sea side road, from Spotorno to Finale Ligure on the coast and back. Lovely stuff. If you are not scared of being run over by cars it is really nice to run on the cliffs over the sea.
I then ran with my youngest daughter for 1k and then my wife for another 5k. I am trying to build a running family, without too much success.

On Saturday I did the best run of the Easter week end. I went from Spotorno to Finale Ligure again, but this time all around the hills and not on the sea side. So I did a lot of climbing too (for me at least), 994 meters. I ended up doing a total of 30k. I really enjoyed it, taking it easy going up and bombing it going downhill. At one point I was so excited that I even started singing. I was all by myself anyway and the view of the sea from the top of the hills was amazing. I felt so good I even did the last km faster than 4 min/km on the flat.

spotorno

On Easter Sunday I took it easy and did 12k at 4:54 on the coast with a bit of climbing. Then it was time to eat as much focaccia as possible.

And with that it was the end of the week. 94k in total, with 2127 mt of ascent, which is more than I usually do.

Week 2 (6th April-12th April)

Monday was my last day on holidays in Italy and I finished my Italian running session with another 20k on the coast at 4:37 min/km. At one point I met a group of 30 or so runners and I could not help feeling like I was in a race and started overtaking everyone. To top it off I ran another 1k with my daughter (it’s time for her to set up a Strava account and do some FKT by 11 year olds!).

On Tuesday we flew back home, so no running.

On Wednesday I did 12k easy (at 4:48) and on Thursday I ran 15k at 4:27.

I felt so good that I decided to try and do a new PB on the 10k distance. So on Friday I did a 4k warm up and they did 10k as fast as I could. I was very happy to manage to beat my previous PB. I ended up doing the 10k in 38:53, a handful of seconds better than last year. I finished the session with a 1k cool down and a big smile on my face.

Saturday I went out for a long one (not too long as I was tired from the fast run of the day before). I went out with the Cascadia and the UD backpack and run on some trails on the river, Richmond Park and Wimbledon Common for a total of 30k. The weather was crazy, started sunny, poured down like crazy for half an hour, then windy as hell. It was fun.

Sunday I went for a 20k run to finish the week. I went very early, the sky was blue, the air was cold. I did not meet anyone for the first 12k, beautiful. I even found £10 on the ground. The legs felt dead at the beginning, but really good after the first 5k.

Another good week, I ran 114km in total, a new record.

The end

Basically a good, solid, 2 weeks. The last month I have run an average of more than 100k per week and I feel good!

Last week my friend @manuontrail ran the South Downs Way so I followed him and the other runners in real time via the power of the internet and realised how daunting the task of running a 50 miler is. Six months ago I was full of confidence, thinking of doing some crazy times, running like a beast from start to finish. The more I train, the more I read, the more I look at other people performances the more I feel scared. Only one month left and then I’ll know if I have what it takes to run for so many hours. If I keep on training like this for the next couple of weeks at least I can say that I have done all I could training-wise since September last year. I could hardly do more and I am happy with that.