{"id":160,"date":"2015-01-04T10:40:00","date_gmt":"2015-01-04T10:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rungigettorun.com\/?p=160"},"modified":"2015-01-04T10:40:00","modified_gmt":"2015-01-04T10:40:00","slug":"end-of-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/luigifumero.com\/run\/2015\/01\/04\/end-of-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"End of 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week\u00a0has been great (apart from the never ending cold and light flue). Being on holiday meant I could go running whenever I wanted and not in the dark. I wanted to put some kms in my legs before the tapering week before the marathon (on the 10th Jan) and I ended up running a total of 103km<\/strong> in 5 runs, which is my weekly record.<\/p>\n

Monday I did 20km<\/a> going around Bushy Park and then to Kingston via Hampton Court. Beautiful frozen sunny morning. The park was at its best. White grass, a little fog, the yellow sun coming up behind the trees and lots of\u00a0deer. Very poetic. I did the first 15km at an easy 4:20\/4:30 pace and then did the last 5k at around 4:00. Very nice. The heart rate monitor did not work. I spent an hour trying old ones and different straps with no luck. I need to get a replacement.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday I did another easy run<\/a>. This time 15km long. Again in freezing conditions, around zero degrees. When I entered Bushy Park it felt more like -5, running through a wall of freezing fog.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, being the last day of the year, I decided to go for a long run and maybe aim for the marathon distance. I did not manage to.\u00a0I did 40km<\/a>, but I could not do more. I have to respect the distance a bit more and start running slower at the beginning. It was a good lesson for next week. I ran with an average pace of 4:53 min\/km which I think is a fine pace to aim for, but I should not do the first part\u00a0at 4:30 and then end up doing the last kms at 5:30. Anyway it was a good run. I went through all the nearby parks, Bushy, Richmond and for the first time in ages Wimbledon Common. This last one is a lot of fun, I randomly took paths to see where they took me. There is quite a lot of up and downs there, it is a good training ground, I should go there more often.
\nI used this run as a test for next week and went out with the Ultimate Direction AK race\u00a0vest carrying one bottle of water, 3 gels and all the required kit for the next marathon (jacket, first aid kit, thermal blanket etc). I had no problem at all. Apart from the socks which ended up with a hole in them I am now 100% sure of what I am going to wear next week, including which pants!<\/p>\n

Thursday I rested and then on Friday did a slow recovery run (17km at 4:40 min\/km<\/a>). After the long run earlier in the week this one felt too short and when I got to 12km and was supposed to turn for home I decided to run a bit more to the Teddington Lock.<\/p>\n

On Friday even if it was raining and cold and I was still a bit ill I had to go out and run. I was too close to the 100km week not to go. So I went out for an easy 11km run<\/a>\u00a0but then I decided to push a bit on the last kms. As I have not done any speed work for the last 2 weeks I decided to run a bit faster and did the last 4 kms the way I like it (4:02, 4:00, 3:46, 3:39). I felt good. Actually I have never been in such a good shape, even doing warm ups and stretching I feel strangely athletic, different. I could not be more ready for next week’s trail marathon!<\/p>\n

So this ends my week, but also marks the end of the year. I wanted to do a post to close 2014 with some goals for 2015, but I was too lazy, so here is just a quick recap of last year:<\/p>\n

To sum it up, it has been the best running year ever. I started with the plan to run more during the week (from 3 to 4 times a week) and to run more half marathons. I ended up running 6 times a week and preparing for an ultra. I wanted to do PBs on 5k, 10k and 21.1 km and did them multiple times and I wanted to aim for a marathon. In 6 days I will have achieved that too, hopefully.<\/p>\n

I have run a total of 2765 km<\/strong> in 2014 and ran the following races:<\/p>\n

Half Marathons:<\/p>\n