Review of the Year and New Year's Running Resolutions!

As the year comes to a close it's a good moment to look back at my successes and disappointments over the last twelve months and set new goals for the next twelve.

REVIEW OF 2011
My running in 2011 can be split into two fairly distinct periods, pre and post the Madrid marathon. Before Madrid I was just treading water, after Madrid there was almost constant improvement, barring a few weeks of injury and recovery in the summer.

I started the year with a flat 10k in Valencia, when I first got into running I ran lots of 10k races but this was only the second I had competed in since I left England over 2 years before. I would have expected to be able to blow my previous best times out of the water, but no, I was about two minutes away from my previous best. I'd put my lack of form down to two things, firstly that I started my season's training late, I had been in Africa in the first two weeks of October and didn't start back into proper training until almost into November and secondly I spent the Christmas period in Germany stuck indoors unable to train.

Progress was expected over the next races, but they were largely disappointing, in my first half marathon of the year in Santa Pola I was five minutes slower than in 2010. There was an improvement in Orihuela in February but I was still four-and-a-half minutes from my PB set on the same course in 2010. At the beginning of April I ran a Madrid marathon warm-up, doing the half marathon in Elche. I ran my quickest time of the season, but still a long way from my best, 1:32:34 was only marginally inside the PB I had when I arrived in Spain.

Then came the Madrid marathon, when I look back on this race, as with my first marathon in London, I feel some pride at completing the distance but the overriding feeling is of disappointment. The low point in my running year would have to be kilometre 32 of the marathon, at the point that I felt unable to run any more. I finished the race through alternating running and walking, 4:05 was an improvement on my first marathon but it wasn't what I wanted from the race.

The disappointment led me to think about what I wanted from running. I certainly didn't want to have another marathon experience like I did in Madrid but I always wasn't happy to give up on the marathon yet. It's the blue riband event of distance running, I was still determined to get round one with a smile on my face, so I decided to continue running but that I was going to do things differently and from there I haven't looked back.

My thinking was that I had been training to complete a distance, but I hadn't paid enough attention to the speed, for a marathon things get really tough after 3 hours so the important thing is to minimize the time beyond 3 hours, you can only do that by running faster. Since Madrid I've done more and more speed sessions and it has contributed to PBs in every distance I've competed at since then. The other change that has helped alot has been to change the way I train. I used to just do hard sessions, say 3 or 4 times per week, now I will do easy sessions in between, just twenty minutes jogging in the park, I guess you call it active recovery.

I ran throughout the summer, competing in beach races, even managing to pick up my first trophy, a 5th place in my category. I came out of it running strong, when I went back to my home town in October to run a 10k I was expecting a PB and so it came, 39:11, a minute better than my previous best. I had been considering my options for a marathon up to that point, but that race gave me the confidence to contemplate an autumn marathon so I signed up for Valencia. From there my training mileage went up but I kept the focus on speed and active recovery. Two weeks before the marathon I ran a half marathon in Alcoy (a great race by the way), it was a tough course with the first eleven kilometres all uphill but I made easy work of it, finishing only 30 seconds outside my PB.

With such a good performance behind me I had high expectations for myself in the marathon and thankfully this time I was able to live up to my expectations. I ran 3:11:10, it really marks out that I was right to be disappointed with my first two runs. I was running from starting gun to finish line with only a slight slow down in the last five kilometres. It was not just the highlight of the year but of all my running, it had taken some sacrifices but I achieved a respectable result in the hardest running event going.

However, the year didn't finish there, in my last race I had the chance to take advantage of the marathon training and set a new half marathon PB, Aspe didn't disappoint, 1:26:00 was 87 seconds inside my previous best, and the great thing is I think there is still plenty more to come!

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS
I'm not going to make resolutions of the traditional sense, but set myself targets to achieve. I'm going to be bold. When I first started running I told a friend who was a little quicker than me at that point that with training we could be competitive in the small (200-300 people) local races we were competing. While I've got alot closer to the front since then I'm not challenging for podiums, I hope to make the leap to competitiveness in 2012. The table below shows my current best times and related paces and my target time and pace.

	Best times	Pace (min/km)	Target time	Target pace
100m	00:15	02:30	00:14	02:20
200m	00:32	02:40	00:30	02:30
400m	01:11	02:58	01:06	02:45
500m	01:32	03:04	01:24	02:48
800m	02:35	03:14	02:21	02:56
1km	03:15	03:15	03:00	03:00
10km	39:11	03:55	35:00	03:30
Half Marathon	01:26:00	04:05	01:20:00	03:48
Marathon	03:11:10	04:32	-	-

Essentially, I'm sticking with the 3-minute kilometre target I set myself after Madrid, all the targets for shorter distances are set with that in mind. A related target is for a 5-minute mile (3:06 min/km pace). I'm still some way from that target, I lowered my PB for 1k by 5 seconds this week, but I need to make up another 15. Knocking four minutes from my best for 10k is also a big ask, but given that I ran under 40 minutes for the first 10k of a half marathon in Aspe I think my PB isn't a great measure of where I am at the moment, in a good flat race I think 37:30 would be possible and from there 35:00 wouldn't be such a huge leap.

For half marathon again it's a tough ask but I feel sub 1:25 isn't far away and its a target for the year, I don't expect to be running sub 1:20 in March but staying injury free through the summer again by next autumn it should be achievable.

I've left the marathon target blank, I'm very happy with the marathon I've done and I don't want to commit myself to another until I'm confident that I can expect another big leap in performance. If I reach my half marathon goal well before the end of the year I might aim for an autumn marathon but at the moment its not in my thoughts.

I look forward to letting you know how I get on with hitting my targets throughout the year.

Happy running and see you in 2012!
El maratonero

Media Maratón de Aspe 18/12/2011

My last race of the calendar year was an opportunity to take advantage of all my marathon training and have a go at getting a decent PB, and that was exactly how it turned out. I finished the race with a chip time of 1:26:00, knocking 87 seconds off my previous best, finishing in 40th place of 583 finishers.

I raced in Aspe two years ago, I ran a PB then too, and followed that up with PB's in my following three races, I have my fingers crossed that I can repeat the feat now.

In Aspe, I was aiming to run at 4:00min/km pace, after a slow first kilometre I got into my rhythm and I ended the first 5k inside my target pace (19:51), the next two 5k splits were almost exactly on target (20:01 and 20:09 respectively) but from there I started to struggle to keep the pace up, I wasn't helped by a strong, cold wind, the fourth 5k was done in 21:23. I found my form again for the last kilometre, getting back on 4min/km pace. Looking at the splits it seems that running under 1:25 is within my grasp and that will be my aim in the next race.

Seeing as the year is about to come to a close I'll be back soon with my New Year running resolutions, until then...

Happy Running

Mission Accomplished!!!

Some three weeks ago now (27th November) I took part in my third marathon, in Valencia, and after two disappointing efforts over the distance I finally got it right! After the previous two efforts I felt a mixture of relief at finishing, a little joy, but the overriding feeling was of disappointment at not being able to complete the races running all the way round and feeling that I hadn't done myself justice. This time it was pretty much just joy!

I finished the race in 3:12:49 with a chip time of 3:11:04 (although with my watch I had 3:11:10 and given that the leaders had this same difference of six seconds between chip and real I'm going with my watch) which is an improvement of about 55 minutes from my previous best. As with any other race I've ever done, I still feel I could have done better, hindsight is both a blessing and a curse, but I am content that I was close to reaching the limits of my performance as they stand. I ran all the way round, with a steady pace most of the way. I slowed a bit from kilometre 35 to 40, but even in that split I was still about 20 seconds per kilometre quicker than in my fastest 5k split when I ran in Madrid.

Thank you Valencia! I have to say the course was perfect, the weather was perfect, there were plenty of people on the street cheering us on, live music around the course, it was set up perfectly for me to have a great run, and thankfully I could take advantage of the opportunity. You can see my run here Maraton de Valencia de elmaratonero en Garmin Connect: Detalles.




Like many people, occasionally I suffer from moments of self-doubt, what I gain from running is the self-belief that comes from seeing that if I put my mind to achieving a goal with persistence and hard work I can achieve it. November 27th 2011 will be a day I will be able to look back on in those moments of self doubt and say 'yes I can', there aren't many harder challenges than running a marathon, if I can do that well I can do anything.


Thanks for reading and accompanying me on this journey.


I'll be back soon with more stories from the roads.


Hasta pronto


El maratonero

8 days to the marathon!!!!

It has been a long time since my last entry and there is alot to catch up on. First the big news, some weeks ago now I decided to enter the marathon in Valencia. I had been thinking about it throughout the summer but I didn't want to enter until I was confident I could do myself justice and, unlike Madrid and London, I could leave getting signed up until close to the day of the race, even now I think you can enter, you can see here http://maratondivinapastoravalencia.com/.

With one week to go I am in a much better state than in the lead up to my previous marathon attempts which were both hampered by injuries. Right now I have some pain in my calves but within a couple of days I'm confident it will have resolved itself, I stupidly tried to make a big change to my running form too quickly, essentially switching from heel-striking to forefoot-striking. Long term it is a change I want to make, its just not the right time now.

I have had two races since my last entry, both were good events for me and both are deserving of having an entry dedicated to them. So after a drought of entries look forward to a glut over the next couple of days.

In the meantime, happy running!

Return to racing

I have competed in two races in the last two weeks and notable success has been achieved in both, it seems progress is being made!

First was a 6k cross on the beach in Playa de San Juan, well half was on the beach, the other half was on the promenade. The big success for this race was that for the first time I won a trophy, I was fifth in my category and there were trophies for the first five in each category. You can see the trophy in all its glory below:

I have to admit, my probability of success in the race was greatly improved by the fact that there was a very popular duathlon race taking place about 10 kilometres along the coast so while the earlier races had averaged about 200 participants this one only had 72. I finished 10th overall and in my category there were just 15 runners. Nevertheless, I was very glad to win the trophy and I ran a good time, it was 5.8km  and I got round in 22:12, averaging 3:50min/km.

Yesterday I was in my hometown, Northampton, conveniently enough the same day as the town's only popular running event. Up until 3 years ago there was no such event at all so I was glad to support the race, although it was clear that the organization could be improved, and as I've found in other races in England the goodie bag was a poor effort, it made the entry fee look very expensive. I hope the event keeps going and that they can make the required improvements (key points: more toilets at start line, make residents better informed of road closures, get more sponsors on board = better goodie bag, set a cutoff for finishing i.e. 90 minutes for 10k) because the town has alot to offer.

Anyway, with the choice of a 5k and 10k race I opted for the 10k. After my 10k training PB I really wanted a race to see what I could do, and perhaps unsurprising, I got a PB! My previous 10k pb in a race was 40:14 some 3 years ago, this time I got round in 39:22 but with a chipped time of 39:11 while I finished in 43rd place of 1,540 runners. I'm glad to have achieved the PB, it's only my second of the year, the other was in the marathon, and I was certainly due in. However, I think there is definitely more to come, I'd been nursing a cold earlier in the week and had an unsettled stomach before the race, less than perfect preparation, but I still managed a solid time. I went out reasonably hard once I'd negotiated the crowds at the start (apparently some people had difficulty reading the signs splitting runners by targeted finish times) and managed to hold things together all the way round, although I was struggling on an uphill section at about 6km and the last uphill bit in the last kilometre. I could hear some footsteps creeping up on me in the last couple of hundred metres but I managed to find something of a sprint finish to hold them off.

I'll be back with another post soon to talk through my plans for running in the next few months, hopefully yesterday's PB will set me up well for more in the next few months.

Until then, happy running!

Update

It has been a while since my last post so there is alot to catch up on.

I raced twice in August, they were both beach races and both went pretty well. The first was in Urbanova, a small village on the beach about 10 minutes drive outside of Alicante city. The course was fairly tough since it was largely on soft sand so the times were pretty slow, the winner averaged 4:17 min/km whereas in the previous beach race he was doing around 3:30. In my case I slowed from 4:17 min/km to 5:04, but I improved to 28th place (of 152) from 39th (of 137), I was pleased with the improvement, a guy that finished just behind in the previous beach race came home 90 seconds behind me in Urbanova.

The following week was another beach race, this time in Playa de San Juan, its about 5 minutes drive from Alicante but in the opposite direction to Urbanova. San Juan is a town in its own right, with a good mix of residential blocks and hotels, its a touristy place but it doesn't seem to attract the ugly side of tourism. The race was much bigger than the previous two beach runs, this one has been going for twenty years now and attracted as many as 374 runners. This time the race was almost completely on hard sand so it allowed for much quicker times than in Urbanova, it was a 7km race and my average pace was 4:09 min/km. Looking at the results now it seems a bit disappointing, the same guy that I was pleased to beat by 90 seconds a week earlier came home only 3 seconds behind me at this one, however given events before the race I should be happy with it. I travelled to both Urbanova and San Juan on bike, while in Urbanova I'd arrived in plenty of time for San Juan I had underestimated how long it would take to get there and parked my bike up with only 10 minutes to go to the start of the race and I still had to get my running number and drop off my bag. Rushing about to get my number and get to the start I turned over my ankle slightly, after an initial worry that I'd got out of bed early and rushed to get to the race only to injure myself I calmed myself and found that I could still run ok, it just felt a little....weird. Anyway I went down to the start, took the first couple of kilometres fairly easy but after that I was confident that the ankle wasn't going to give out so got to running normally. Given that little episode I can be reasonably happy with my performance, I was 47th overall and 13th in my category (of 58).

The race in San Juan was five weeks ago now, since then I've had no more races but I've been doing plenty of training. The University reopened on the 1st September which meant I could get back to track sessions and the occasional session of flapping about in the pool and it seems progress is being made. Last week I did a 10km training run pushing pretty hard and managed for the very first time, in training or in a race, to run 10km in less than 40 minutes, I had 15 seconds to spare. It has been a target I've been aiming for for a while and it was a relief to finally get there, now to reach other goals! Next week I'm doing a 10k race in my home town, I hope that in a race situation I'll be able make a big dent into that PB. Progress has also been made towards the 3 minute kilometre, I produced a table with pb's for various distances upto 1km a couple of posts ago, it needs a couple of updates:

	Desired Pace	Current Times
100m	00:18	00:15
200m	00:36	00:32
400m	01:12	01:12*
500m	01:30	01:32dh
800m	02:24	02:35
1km	03:00	03:20

The * indicates a PB since the last update. I managed to get my PB for 400m to be exactly on 3:00min/km, and it is a performance I have repeated a couple of times now, while at the last update I reported the 200m PB, well I've been able to repeat that time fairly consistently in my last few sessions. The other change from last time I included this table is that I've added a time for 800m, it's 11 seconds outside my target pace but I've repeated the performance a few times and I'm confident with a few more tough sessions I'll be able to go quicker. I haven't tried to run a quick kilometre for a while, I'll do a few more sessions of series before I see how far I've come but looking at my 800m time I'm confident I would be able to go quicker than 3:20 right now.

After lots of positives I have one negative to report. On Thursday I made a long awaited return to football, a full 5 weeks after my previous game but again it caused problems with my back. During most of the game I was fine, but in the last five minutes I felt a pain, but on the plus side I noted exactly the movement I was doing to cause the problem. I was playing on the left and through most of the game when I had the ball I attacked on the outside, however with five minutes to go I saw space on the inside so went for it and that's when I felt the pain. In summary, it's a problem that occurs when I transfer my weight quickly from my left to the right. I'm going to take a break from football for a while now, hopefully with more time in the pool the muscles in my back will get stronger and balanced, so when I do play again I don't have to worry about it.

I think that's everything covered. I have a race on the beach tomorrow and the 10k in my town next week so I'll be back soon with further updates and to discuss my schedule for the year, with the big question being will I or won't I run an autumn marathon.

Until then, happy running!

Summer Races

The recovery from my hamstring strain went well and now I'm back in full training, in fact I raced on three Sundays in row through July. Considering the training i'd missed all three races quite went well but I'm still not anywhere near to my 3:00min/km goal and for the next month I won't be able to do any track sessions as the University will be closed, which also rules out using the Uni pool or gym too.

Anyway, i'll continue to work on my speed over the next month and hopefully i'll be able to have another go at that 3 minute kilometre at the end of it.

  

Enough of that, now to the races. First off it was a 6km 'cross country' race on the beach. I was only just recovered from my hamstring strain when this one came around I so took it fairly easy. I finished in 39th place of 137 runners and was 11th in my category. It was a two lap race, I got around the first one in 13:15 but picked things up in the second, getting round in 12:25. It was my first experience of running on sand, for a first effort I think I did ok, it was hard work and at times very difficult to stay up right but all good fun and I'd imagine it counts as good strength training.

The link to the GPS info for the race is here.

Next up it was an urban 'cross' in Elche, Cross de Carrus. It was just a 15 minute run around, a 4km race. I finished in 15:17, in 30th place of 165 runners and in 10th place in my category. It was a nice little run and well worth the €5 entry fee, I got a running vest for my troubles which will definitely be made use along with some other assorted goodies. I was pleased with it, I was well under 4:00min/km pace despite the debilitating heat so it bodes well for the future. You can see the details here.

Finally there was the Mitat Mitja Marato de Torrellano, basically a race of a little over 10 kilometres. I completed this race two years ago and enjoyed it alot. This year the course had changed completely, it was 400m shorter and was now on the opposite side of the town, but it was still just as enjoyable, and more so because I felt I ran well. One of my goals is to run sub 40 minutes for 10k, and I was wasn't far off that in Torrellano, my pace over the race was 4:02 min/km, so only 20 seconds from my goal and given a better starting position I think I could have easily ran 20 seconds quicker in the first kilometre.

I finished in 49th place of 559 finishers, while I was 30th in my category (of 271), a satisfactory result and one I think I should be able to improve once I get the troubles I've had with my back resolved. I've have had problems for months now, things start to improve and then I can't control the urge to play football and it gets worse, now I have a month without playing football so hopefully that will let the injury recover properly. Basically it comes from the sharp stop starts and turns in football, running alone doesn't seem to aggravate things. Back on topic, you can see my run in Torrellano here. Torrellano was also only €5 and probably even better value than the 4k in Elche, the goodie bag wasn't so full but I still got a useable running vest and you expect to pay more for longer races.

Last weekend I was without a race, but this Sunday I have another, and although I haven't signed up yet I'll probably run the following week too. They are both beach races, its difficult to target a time for running on sand, if the course is on flat wet sand its very different to running on dunes, but I'll be aiming to improve on my finishing position each time, so for this week its 38th or better.

I'll let you know how got on on Monday, until then, happy running!

Hamstrung!

I've had a setback in training and my target of running a 3 minute kilometre before the end of the month has gone out of the window.

Saturday morning I went to the athletics track to do some sprints, I did 5 100m sprints without any problem, then while doing my first 200m effort I felt something in my hamstring. It was nothing drastic, no sharp pain, just a little discomfort. Anyway, I eased off it for a couple of days, but then went to play football and found it was still a problem.

I paid a visit to the physio yesterday and she recommended a slow build-up back to the level of training I was doing, so the next 3 weeks or so are lost. I'm to do short slow jogs, starting with 5 minutes yesterday and adding 5 minutes each day provided I'm not having any problems until I get to 30 minutes, then I can start doing some short sprints and work on hills

It's more than a little frustrating, but I'm still able to swim and cycle so I should be able to keep my fitness level up, I may even pay a visit to a gym. I just have to be smart about things and try to avoid doing something stupid that might turn a minor injury complaint into a major one.

Happy Running
Maratonero

Update on 3 minute kilometre goal

It has been a while since I've blogged, I don't have so much to say, I'm still trying to improve my speed, I've made some progress but there is still a fairly long way to go.

I've taken a second off my times for both 200 and 400m while with the help of a steady down-slope I managed to cover 500m in 1:32, five seconds quicker than I'd managed previously. Here is the updated table of my times, a * indicates an improvement on the times in the last blog:

	Desired Pace	Current Times
100m	00:18	00:15
200m	00:36	00:32*
400m	01:12	01:13*
500m	01:30	01:32*dh
800m	02:24	-
1km	03:00	03:20

The target date to achieve my goal was the end of June, which is not too far away now. My 500m best was done after two previous fast 500m efforts with a jog recovery, I think given a walk recovery I probably would have come in under 90 seconds. I'd like to be able to do the 3 minute kilometre on the flat but it seems that's a little beyond me at this stage, but with a slight downhill and coming at it reasonably fresh I might just make it.

I'll be back in a couple of weeks to let you know how I got on.

Happy running

El maratonero

Progress towards my 3:00 min/km goal

Last week I said I had set myself a goal of running just one kilometre in three minutes, I thought I would blog on how its going, what I'm doing to achieve the goal and give a bit of information on just how difficult a challenge it is.

While training for the marathon in Madrid I would do no more than one session of speed training a week and if I had a race on the weekend or if I played football in the week it would be a session I would drop. My speed training in general consists of going to the track and doing repeated fast paced efforts with a jog or walk recovery in between depending on how I feel. My typical session would consist of 4x100m efforts, 4x200m and 2 or more 400m.

In the last few weeks I've been doing two or three speed sessions a week. The second type of session is done on the road and involves fast past efforts of 500m or 1000m with a jog recovery, if just 1000m efforts I do 3 or 4 efforts. You can see an example of such a session here:1000m series

I said last week I was able to run 1 kilometre in 3:25, well this week saw a step forward, I managed a kilometre in 3:20. Clearly if I keep improving at this rate my target of 3:00 is well within reach in the next few weeks. However, my track session reminded me that it will be a difficult task. Below is a table that lists for various distances up to 1km the time that 3min/km pace would lead to for that distance together with the time I currently run that distance in.

	Desired Pace	Current Times
100m	00:18	00:15
200m	00:36	00:33
400m	01:12	01:14
500m	01:30	01:37
800m	02:24	-
1km	03:00	03:20

As you can see, I can run at 3:00min/km pace over 100 and 200m but so far I've been unable to sustain that pace even up to 400m. If I can't sustain 3:00min/km pace for 500m it seems a huge ask to get to sustaining that pace for double that distance but that's what I'm trying to do.

It's not an impossible task, but it is a challenging one, but one that will hopefully pay dividends when I start upping my mileage later in the year ready to take on a new season of half marathons.

That's all for now,
Happy running

El Maratonero

So what's next?

Since Madrid I've been thinking about what to take on as my next big challenge. I've now completed two marathons, but after both I've felt disappointed to some degree, my performance in the races has not lived up to the expectations I had of myself after the months of training. After these disappointments, one thought that occurs is that maybe I'm just not cut out for running marathons, maybe I should concentrate on running shorter distances or try another sport, triathlon being the most obvious option after two years of endurance training.

One day I may have to decide that enough is enough but that day hasn't arrived yet. I'd like to give the marathon one more shot at the very least. In Madrid I got to 30 kilometres feeling ok but things just fell apart from there. Deterioration in performance after 30 kilometres is not something unique to me, its the point in the race commonly known as 'the wall', unfortunately its not the point in the race where everyone hears a great Pink Floyd album, but when you feel like you are running into a brick wall. The science of it is that up to 30km your body uses its stores of carbohydrates which are easily turned into energy used to carry you round the course, however at 30km those stores run dry and instead the body turns to burning fat, which is a much less efficient process.

So the answer seems simple, fuel up on carbs before and during the race and everything will go fine. Well I tried that in Madrid, I was trying to eat alot of carbs before the race, and during the race I was taking on gels, but nerves before meant I didn't have the appetite for the carbs and I never really got on with the gels I tried.

Then its clear that before any future marathon I should make sure I'm clear on my plan for fuelling up during the race, i.e. find a gel that I get on with. Another step I can take is to practice the carbo-loading process for a couple of my longer runs during the training cycle, then hopefully my stomach will be more likely to accept the extra load when the race day comes around.

However, there is another step I'm going to take to try to improve my performance. Over the past three-and-a-half years that I have been running I have always been training to get round. I signed up for a half-marathon and just started preparing to be able to complete the distance. I kept on running, and signed up for a marathon, and again I was just preparing to finish the race. Though I've improved over time I've never really pushed to see just how fast I can run.

My thinking now is that as much as the distance is a killer in the marathon, its also the time on your feet, carbo-loading is recommended for activities lasting longer than 90 minutes but if I can improve my speed over the distance I can reduce the time I'm running beyond 90 minutes meaning carbo-loading is not so important. So this is my plan, teach myself to run faster! It sounds a pretty basic thing to do for a runner, but when going from preparing one race after another I really haven't tried.

So what am I going to do? I've set myself an objective. The world's top marathoners get through 42 kilometres averaging faster than 3 minutes per kilometre, over the next six weeks I will be training towards the goal of running just one kilometre at that pace. At the moment the fastest I've managed is 3:25 so I've got some way to go but I want to give it a shot, if nothing else I want to feel what elite pace is like, but the end objective will be to see if learning to run fast can lead me to improvements in my PBs in 10k, half-marathon and hopefully a marathon over the next twelve months.

I'll be letting you know how i'm getting on over the next few weeks.

That's all for now.
Happy running.

El maratonero

Maratón de Madrid 2011

I'd like to start by apologising, I stated in my last blog that I would post a couple of entries in the build-up to the big day in Madrid, unfortunately I just couldn't find the time so this will be a bumper post describing my build-up and the race itself.

The last few days before the race saw my back complaint gradually fade away which meant my confidence grew. There was a one mile race in my University which I had planned to give a miss, thinking racing so close to the big day was an unnecessary risk but they had a bunch of races for kids and seeing them all running around enjoying themselves in the sun I felt a little left out so rushed around to get my running gear and get signed in. Thankfully it went well, I equalled my mile PB without really pushing very hard and I felt no after effects.

I had my last run out on the Thursday before the marathon, just a 6km run on a pace about 15 seconds per kilometre faster than my target pace, again it felt good so I finished feeling confident.

The following two days I tried to stuff myself full of carbs to fuel myself up ready for the race, I served myself up mountains of pasta and rice. However, the job was made more difficult by the nervous tension that comes from considering I was so close to taking on the challenge of a marathon, it led to a loss of appetite and difficulty in keeping down the little food I was taking on board.

Sunday morning rolled around, I woke up at 6am, I lied in bed nervously for half an hour waiting for the alarm clock to sound. I got up showered and attempted to get some breakfast cereal down me, I was semi-successful, after giving my girlfriend a nudge or two towards the door we set off at 8am to head towards the start.

After surviving the scrum to hand in my bag at the guardaropa we headed down toward the mass of runners, after a few stretches I tried to make my way through to the sign with my intended finish time on it, no luck though, I'd arrived too late, I had to settle in around the 4hr 30 section.

The nervous energy continued to build, and the starting gun going off didn't help initially, we were just stood still waiting for spaces to appear ahead but as I crossed the start line a full 4 minutes after the official start time of 9am I started to feel better.

As expected in a popular race the first few kilometres were stop and start as I tried to find my way into open space to get into my stride, but as well as the normal stoppages I had to take an avoidable pit-stop. As I was waiting on the start line I was thinking about a trip to the toilet, I took one look at the queue and decided it was probably just nerves, no need to go now. About 10 minutes later I was concentrating on finding an appropriate tree!

After that stoppage I got back into my running, feeling good. I got through the first 5km in 26:17. It was a bit slower than my target pace, but given the stoppage it was ok. The next 5km was solid, although not the most enjoyable, there were very few people on the streets (apart from the runners), after London last year I think I had my expectations too high.

I got through the second 5k in 25:22, pretty much bang on my target pace and I kept on it through the next 5k too, I got through in 25:10. At 15k I took on an energy gel with the water at the feeding station, I didn't seem to give me the immediate sugar buzz that I'd had when I'd tried it in training, it was a bit of a disappointment, but I kept going ahead undeterred. From 15 to 20k took 25:11, I'd hoped to be the other side of 5 min/km but I was happy to keep things steady.

I got to the halfway point in 1:47:35, a minute quicker than London a year earlier, and more importantly feeling much better. At halfway in London I started to really struggle, from there it was just a battle to get to the finish. At halfway the crowds were starting to build, 9am was a little too early to expect Spaniards to be out on the streets! By 10:30 they were out there cheering us on, it was a real lift.

I did the 5k from 20 to 25 in 25:01. It was all going well, however I had one problem, I had no thirst. I was conscious that I needed to stay well hydrated but I couldn't get anything down. I didn't think too much about it, since I couldn't do anything about it, but it was in the back of my mind.

From 25 to 30km is in Casa de Campo, a park in the west of the city. It was a pleasant break from the cityscape, running through the trees, however you lose a little bit of atmosphere as the supporters don't really enter the park. I through that 5k in 26:16, the slowest so far, but still acceptable. Unfortunately things got worse from there.

I had planned to use energy gels at the 15 and 30 kilometre feeding stations, and then if needed another to see me to the finish at 40, but at 30 kilometres I felt that I couldn't take anything on board so continued on. Unfortunately there was an unsurprising consequence, coming to 33km I felt I couldn't run, I had no energy, so much so it seemed that simply breathing was a costly activity, I slowed to a walk.

I was hoping that with a couple of minutes of walking I would recover and get a second wind which would carry me to the finish. It didn't happen, I tried to run but I had nothing. It was really frustrating, there were huge crowds around at this point, they were urging all the runners on, but I just couldn't respond. The section from 30 to 35 took me 33:05, well off my target time. I was running in bursts, but I just could sustain it, no matter how slow a run I embarked on. 35 to 40 was a tortuous 45:08, but shortly before 40 kilometres things took a turn for the better, although not before a turn for the worse.

My girlfriend was waiting for around kilometre 39, I didn't want her to see me suffering so badly so tried to get running again. I saw her, and she joined me running for a few metres before she took a short cut to meet me further along the course, however shortly after she left me things came to a head. I suddenly felt ill, and brought up the energy gels onto the street, I am very sorry to the poor unsuspecting spectators that had to witness it, but I just couldn't stop it.

However, after that I felt considerably better, and was able to sustain a run almost throughout the remaining distance. I got through the last 2.195km in 13:54, so an average of 6:19min/km and finished running, you can see my finish here:
http://www.corriendovoy.com/video.php?id=381&video=26336
The finish line is in Parque del Retiro, another of Madrid's great green spaces. I have to say the finish was the most enjoyable part of the race, yes its a very nice part of the city, but the joy of knowing you've completed the course is what makes the pain and tiredness momentarily disappear from the body so you can just take everything in. It's the time that makes all the days where you really had to suffer to get out the door to train worthwhile, for me at least its a huge natural high.

My finish time was 4:05:20, I finished in 5186th place of 7998 runners. Although this was a huge improvement on my time in last year's London marathon, about 30 minutes, it was a disappointment, I was expecting better, given that I was fit and well, and knowing what I can do over the half marathon distance I think a 3:30 marathon is more than achievable. I can search for an answer of why I didn't perform as I wanted, but I'm not going that today, for now I just want to enjoy the fact that I completed my second marathon.

In my blogs on my completed races I always finish with a review of the goodie bag, and this will be no different. In truth, given the sizeable entry fee, 45euros, I was expecting something special. I was a little disappointed.

You can see from the picture, it was a light goodie bag, a copy of Runners World, a couple of magazines about the race, a bottle of shower gel, a little bag and a technical t-shirt. I could have got some food after the race to add to the bag but the system to distribute it wasn't the best, there were huge queues and I didn't have the patience to wait. It's a goodie bag light, but it is good quality, the t-shirt I would happily buy for myself and I've already put it to use, while the shower gel is one I regularly buy. So in summary, I'm content with the bag, but not blown away, thank you Madrid, but you've not quite done enough to match Santa Pola.

Elche Media Maraton

Last Sunday I completed the last half marathon of my season, for the first time in three years in Spain I made it through to April (almost) injury free, and was able to make my debut in Elche. I'd been told by anyone that had run there that it was a nice race to do, and by anyone that had visited the town that it was worth a visit so I went with positive expectations.

I wasn't sure what to aim for in the race, I'm preparing for a marathon so one option would have been to run at my target pace for the marathon, another was to see it as my last chance of a PB this season so put everything in. I ruled out the second very quickly as I still had a little nagging pain on my hip that deterred me from pushing very hard, but I also felt it was unnecessary to slow down to marathon pace, if I wanted to just do another training run I could have just stayed at home. In the end I just went with the flow, I started at what I thought was a comfortable pace and it turned out to be so for the whole race.

I finished with an official time of 1:32:55 and a chip time of 1:32:34. It was a good five minutes from my PB but it was my best of this season, albeit by only a few seconds. However, the really positive thing was that when I finished I felt good, I was confident of being able to go on, I'm not sure how far but I know I could have run more.

They had controls at 10k and 15k, I covered the first ten in an average of 4:26min/km, the next five in 4:25min/km, but picked things up in the last 6.1km, averaging 4:19min/km, to leave an overall pace of 4:23min/km.

It was a reasonably flat course, Elche is not on the coast so its not pancake flat in the same way as Santa Pola and Torrevieja are, but there wasn't any incline to spark fear. I'd like to run there again next year, but without a subsequent marathon in mind so I could really push things.

I was a little bit disappointed with the town though, at least from what I saw there wasn't anything that jumped out at me and said 'I must visit this', and there wasn't the support on the street that I've seen in other races like Orihuela and Santa Pola.

Now to the bag. Again, it doesn't compare well with other races in the province, it satisfies the minimum requirements, but that's about it, you can see for yourself.

A t-shirt, a plaque and a few snacks and drinks. The Maltesers were a pleasant surprise, and the t-shirt is reasonably good quality, but after the goodie bags from Santa Pola and Torrevieja this has to be considered a bit of a disappointment. Hopefully they will step up their game next year!

I'll be back with a couple more blogs in the next few days as I countdown to Madrid.
Until then, happy running.

El maratonero

The Long Run

Right now I'm just fifteen days away from the marathon, the long hard miles of training are behind me, and now training is just about allowing my body to recover a little from the training and keeping sharp ready for the race day.

I thought I'd blog on probably the most important part of marathon training, the long run. Its the part of the training that prepares you for the battle against your own body, when its telling you it has had enough, you have to show it you've got more to give. You can't just start running for two hours plus without preparing yourself, like the marathon itself, the long runs should be built up to. I remember when I first started out, when I first caught the running bug, 10k seemed a huge obstacle, and it was, but once I'd got it out the way I kept going and the path to being able to run a half marathon was surprisingly easy.

However, going beyond a half marathon presents a whole world of problems. Firstly is the time, to prepare for a marathon you will need to do training runs that last more than two hours, its not easy to find that time in your schedule, especially when you know afterwards you will be an exhausted wreck, and unable to do anything productive for the rest of the day. The second major problem is that the body, apparently, is just not designed to run for more than two hours. Basically the body keeps on board enough fast-burning fuel (carbohydrates) to do two hours of continued exercise, but after that it has to go to the slow-burning stuff, and that's when things start to get difficult. The third major obstacle is dehydration, in training you don't get tables of water at the side of the road at regular intervals, if you need liquid you have to carry it yourself, which isn't a straightforward undertaking when you are running  for such a long time.

Different training plans have different desired lengths for long runs, imperial based plans tend to go for 20 miles, while metric ones go for 30 kilometres, I guess people just like numbers ending in 0. I have no idea what is necessary to prepare for a marathon, but I can say what I've done and I'll tell you afterwards if it was enough. Last year I did my longest run in the first week of March, 35km (21.8 miles) but a couple of weeks later I was injured, and by the time the marathon came around I was out of practice of doing long runs.

This year I have always been behind in my preparations compared to last year, and this has meant I haven't reach the same distances in training runs. I have only gone beyond 30 kilometres once, compared to twice last year, and my longest run in 2011 so far is 31.1km (19.3 miles), notable less than the 35km run before London. However, for the first time in three years I've started April without an injury, well at least without an injury that stops me running (my hip/back is still complaining a little).

I did my longest run four weeks before the race. There are varying opinions in the various guides on training on when your taper should start, some say you can do your last long run as late as a week before the race, others that you need at least a day to recover from each mile of your long run, so if you are doing a 20 mile training run it should be 3 weeks before the race. I went for a safety first approach, I went out with three weeks to go to the race uncertain on how far to push things, in the end I thought given my history I was best to be cautious so instead pushing on to another 30k+ run I came home after 17k.

I'm not sure what my point here is exactly, I guess its just to put down a record of what I've done, and why I did it, then after the race I can come back and see how things worked out.

I'll be back soon with a blog on my last race before Madrid, the half marathon in Elche this past Sunday.
Until then, happy running.

El maratonero

Torrevieja Half Marathon

Last Sunday I ran another half marathon, and yet again its a story of disappointment as a result of disrupted preparations, but again I'm the one to blame. The Monday following the race in Orihuela I played football, about half an hour into the game I turned fairly sharply and felt a pain in my lower back. I continued to play despite suffering a fair bit of discomfort. I went home, rested the next day, before going out to run on the Wednesday. I was suffering a bit at the start of the run but the longer I went the easier things got so for the rest of the week I trained as normal.

I went out for a long run on the Sunday, I was still feeling the pain so it was a slow one, but I managed to do my longest run since I ran in London last year, 24km. My back wasn't right but it wasn't affecting me too much and seemed to be getting better, but I pushed things a little too much. On the Monday again I played football, and surprise surprise, I aggravated the injury. Again I could still run, but the pain was that bit more intense. With a half marathon planned for the weekend I booked myself in for a session of physio.

My physio confirmed that it wasn't something that should stop me from running, but that I should avoid brusque movements. She did her thing to try to speed up the recovery, but when the race came round on the Sunday I was still in some discomfort and needless to say I wasn't able to give of my best.

Anyway, I got round ok, and I was doubtful about that over the first few kilometres, and once again my back felt better the longer I ran so my splits got successively faster through the race. I ended up finishing in 1:39:47 with a chip time of 1:38:58. However, in this case my time shouldn't really be compared to what I've done.

One big mistake by the personal responsible for laying out the cones at one end of the lap meant that the race was a half marathon only in name, all 1596 finishers ran 652m more than necessary. It was fairly obvious to me while running something wasn't. I had my GPS watch and it was pretty much bang on in agreement with the kilometre markers, until the 9th kilometre, at that point I was doing about 4:45 min/km, but between the 8th and 9th kilometre markers I must have taken more than 6 minutes, the same thing happened on the second lap so I was pretty sure it wasn't just badly positioned kilometre markers. The organizers confirmed the error two days after the race.

That apart the race was really well organized, but unfortunately it is a pretty big mistake to make. Lots of people will have lost out on the possibility of setting personal bests, and to find out after running almost 22 kilometres that a PB was taken away by one mistake would be a pretty big slap in the face. Fortunately for me, I was never close to a PB.

I set off fairly gingerly, the back was pretty uncomfortable at the start, I was doubtful that I would be able to last the race but thankfully the more I ran the more the injury seemed to settle down and the faster I was able to run. By the end of the race I was getting close to the pace I averaged in the same event last year, 4:08 min/km. Here are the splits:

1st 5K:  24:48 4:58min/km
2nd 5.326K:  24:38 4:38min/km
3rd 5K:  22:05 4:25min/km
4th 5.326K:  23:02 4:19min/km
5th 1.097K:  4:25 4:02min/km

Overall I left the race fairly happy, I'm still disappointed that I'm so far from the pace I was able to run last year but given the preparations I've had, I've not really had the chance to push things too much. I've still got six weeks until the marathon in Madrid and two weeks before that I'll do a half marathon in Elche. Hopefully by then I'll be easing down from a few high mileage weeks and be in good condition to push on to at least sub 1:30.

As a said, apart from the problem with the distance, the event was a good one. The weather wasn't great but there was still enough people out of the street to create a good atmosphere. It wasn't as lively as Santa Pola or Orihuela but enjoyable nonetheless. I wouldn't recommend a tourist to make a special trip for it, but if you are in town and fancy a run its a good event.

So now we come to the goodie bag review, and its the same story as the race overall, nothing amazing but its everything you expect and just a little bit extra to put a smile on your face. Here's the pic:

We have, a bag, a t-shirt, a cap, a little trophy and a neck-warmer or snood as I think they are known as in the UK. It's a nice bag, I'll make use of the t-shirt and probably the bag, the neck-warmer isn't really suited to the Alicante weather but one day it might come in useful. The trophy is a nice touch. What it lacks is the food, you burn up alot of energy and its nice to finish with a bag full of food, to know you can replace all that you used up, not having anything in there was a let down. The end result is that Torrevieja does ok, but doesn't get close to Santa Pola standard.

Next to see what Elche has to offer.

Orihuela Media Maraton

Last week I took part in my fourth half marathon of the season in Orihuela. After Santa Pola I was hoping to continue to improve and make big strides towards the pace I was running at the same time last year. Unfortunately I didn't go into the race with the best of preparations.

Two weeks before the race (three weeks ago as I write) I got up on a Sunday morning wanting to do a long run, somewhere in the region of 25 kilometres with the aim of improving my stamina, however I wasn't feeling the best. I couldn't put my finger on what it was, I just felt a bit lethargic but I went out anyway. I had confirmation that things weren't right from my heart rate monitor, as I started to run my heart rate was about 15 beats per minute higher than normal, but I just ignored it and carried on.

Anyway, the run was fairly painful, I was tortuously slow and as a result took the decision to stop at 21km. I felt bad the rest of the day and woke up the next morning with a face full of cold. I spent the next week with my nose in almost constant contact with a tissue. Needless to say, it wasn't a great help to my training, I didn't get rid of it until about the Wednesday before the race on the Sunday. I can't say for sure things would have been better if I hadn't gone out to run, but if a similar situation arises again I think I'll stay at home.

After all that I did run in Orihuela, after recovering from the cold my objective was just to match Santa Pola, and I managed to get round a little bit quicker so I was content. My chip time was 1:32:47 while my official time was 1:33:27.

It was my second time in Orihuela and I'd say my 2nd time was just as enjoyable as the first, despite the lack of a PB this year. Its a nice course with lots of people out on the street supporting, music playing at various points around the course and its not too crowded so you can get into your running quickly (unlike in Santa Pola). You also come home with a top notch goodie bag, but we'll get to that later.

The official race splits are a bit of random mix of distances, 8km for the first, 2.3 for the second, then 4.2, then 2 and the last one of 4.6, but they still manage to tell a story. I was solid through the first eight, averaging 4:21, I was gradually getting quicker through that stretch though as the runners started to spread out, so in the section from 8 to 10.3km I averaged 4:09min/km, given the training I'd had that was too quick, in the next 4.2km I slowed to 4:25min/km and I was really struggling at that point. In the 2km from 14.5 to 16.5 I averaged 4:55min/km, not good at all. Fortunately I managed to find some energy in the last section and averaged 4:21 through the last 4.6km.

It was a solid race, and I'm already looking forward to my next one in Torrevieja where hopefully I'll go into the race feeling much better.

Now to the moment you've been waiting for....the goodie bag review! Orihuela provided a t-shirt, and a good quality one, albeit in my least favourite colour, a little backpack, a bag of oranges, a bag of bird food (sunflower seeds), a pair of socks and a bottle of water. It's a nice selection of items, but there is nothing spectacular there, nothing to make Orihuela stand out from the crowd. It looks like Santa Pola are in pole position for goodie bag of the year!

Until next time, happy running!
El maratonero

Half Marathon Santa Pola

My favourite event of my half-marathon calendar came around again last Sunday, and once again it didn't disappoint. Santa Pola has one of the biggest popular races in Spain, more than seven thousand people finished this year, and its one big party with what seems like the whole town on the street cheering. There are bands playing at various points on the course, when the course leaves the populated areas of the town they have speakers blasting out music, it really is one big party.

The race has a great atmosphere, is well organized and has a pancake flat course, when I raced in Benidorm there were lots of running tourists, personally I think they are missing a trick by not coming instead to Santa Pola. The one negative point is just a result of the race being so popular, despite the wide boulevard used for the start of the race it is very difficult to avoid getting held up in the first few kilometres, but with the exception of the 10k in Valencia I've had the same problem in any race with more than 2,000 participants.

I think its clear I like the event, but how was my race? I enjoyed it but I'm still not running as fast as I would like. I finished in 1557th place with a finish time of 1:35:51 and a chip time of 1:33:57. It was my quickest half marathon this season, but was more than five minutes slower than I managed in the same race last year. I didn't go into the race expecting to challenge my time of last year but I was hoping to be alot closer to breaking 90 minutes.

Looking at my splits though there is enough there to suggest I'm not too far away. Discounting my time to cross the start line my 5k splits were:

• 22:42
• 21:59
• 21:56
• 22:36

In the first 5k I was inevitable slowed down by the sheer number of runners, in a less popular race I'm sure there is a good bit of time I could make on the first split. The other thing to note is that in my training cycle my longest run has been my half marathon races, the lack of stamina told in the last few kilometres, I was really just hanging on for the finish. I'm pretty sure with a couple of longer runs over the next month I'll be able to get closer to my best.

So now we get to the bag review. As in the previous two years, Santa Pola did not disappoint. Check out the goodies:

A bag, good quality t-shirt, towel, discount vouchers for a safari park, drinks and snacks, and last but not least the traditional Santa Pola gift of a year's supply of Santa Pola salt, I say a year, I still haven't finished the bottle from two years ago. It is a top quality race with a top quality bag.

Well done Santa Pola! You are in pole position for goodie bag of the year.

Happy Running
El maratonero

My cross-country experience

Like pretty much every English school child, at least in my generation, I ran my first cross-country race at school and much like everyone else, hated it immensely. Normally the way it works is that the PE teacher waits for the coldest, wettest day of the year and takes the kids outside and makes run around a boggy field for half an hour. We would arrive back to the changing rooms completely covered in mud, so much so it looked like I'd been swimming in it. I pity my Mum now for having to get that kit clean week after week.

While I didn't like the cold, or the wet, the one compensation was that I was reasonably good at it, at least until I got left behind as others experienced their puberty related growth spurt before me. When I did my last school cross-country at age 15 I thought I would never run one again, but this past weekend I was back playing in the mud.

I was back in the UK for the weekend and since I knew I needed to do at least one run while I was away I looked for a local race to take part in, and to my surprise I found one. I ran in what was supposed to be a 15k cross-country in a place called Irchester. Here is a link to the event:

http://www.justracinguk.com/event/wellingborough-mt-1-run-series-round-1

My thinking was that it would be harder work than a 15k on the road, so would be good training for this weekend's half-marathon in Santa Pola, while running on a variety of surfaces is supposed to be a good thing and I don't get much opportunity to run in the mud given how dry it is in Alicante.

It worked out ok, it was a nice run, there had been rain in the days before but not too much, the ground held up fairly well, it didn't turn into a mudbath as I'd feared it might. It was a fairly slow run, I put that down to not being very sure-footed, but was good exercise nonetheless.

I finished the race in 1:09:56, in 44th place of 109 runners. If you believe that it was 15km that means an average of 4:40min/km, however my GPS suggested the course was short and I'm inclined to believe it. You can see the run here:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/63936967

It has me at 4:57min/km, which I feel is closer to the truth.

I finished feeling good and able to go on, which is a good sign for the challenges to come.

No race report would be complete without a discussion of the goody bag, and I have to say in this regard the race was a huge disappointment. I'd paid 15GBP to enter, so I was expecting something half decent, but no, there was no bag whatsoever! All I received was a few flyers for other events managed by the race organizers and at the end a tiny little medal. I've only taken part in two events in the UK in the past two-and-a-half years, but with such poor value for money I won't be in a rush to go and do many more. It was really a missed opportunity for the organizers, with 400+ people taking part in the event I'm sure there are plenty of companies out there selling running related products only too happy to be able to provide samples to a captive audience, but they were just not there.

That's all for now.

Happy Running

El Maratonero

Valencia 10k

Another week, another race, this time in Valencia. I have to say, I've seen alot of Spain over the past five years, I've been to almost all the major cities and plenty of small towns too and Valencia is one of my favourites. It just has a nice balance between modern and historical buildings, the centre of the city I guess has changed little over the past one hundred years, but it has aged well while there are iconic, modern buildings a short walk away, the prime example being the Palau de les arts Reina Sofia.

Anyway, now to the race. As I expected it was a flat course that was perfect for attempting a PB. I was on course up until about the midway point, I was at the 5k mark in 20:05 so a sub 40min time was still within reach but it the second half I just didn't have the strength to maintain the same pace. I completed the second 5k in 21:47 to finish in 41:52 and an average of 4:11min/km.

This seems to be a familiar story of my last few races, I haven't reached my goal but I'm not too disappointed as I understand why I'm not running as fast as I'd like to be. Through the first half of the race I had the pace to get a new PB but I just didn't have the stamina to sustain it, and for that I have to look at the enforced break over Christmas as the primary cause. Since I returned I've been gradually building up the mileage again but I hadn't been beyond 12k before today, and it just isn't enough. Hopefully I can get up to speed quickly as the half-marathons come thick and fast from here with three in the next six weeks. I set PB's at the same races last year, while I don't expect to do the same list year I'd like to think that by the time the third comes around I'll be close to my best.

Before I close this post I'd like to say how proud I am of my girlfriend. In Valencia she ran her first race, a year ago taking on a 10k was probably the furthest thought from her mind when she took her first tentative steps to take up running but the transformation has been huge and well-earned. A 10k is a big landmark and to get round running all the way is a great start, I'm already looking forward to joining her on the start line for many more races and watching her improve.

All the best

Maratonero

San Silvestre Crevillentina 2010

At the start of December I said on this blog I was entering the San Silvestre with the aim of improving my speed. I also said I was aiming for a PB. It turns out I was being wildly optimistic!

I finished the race in 45:31, with a chip time of 44:34, in 469th place of 1559 finishers. After two weeks without running I wasn't quite ready to challenge my PB, although I'm not overly disappointed. I underestimated the time I would need in the queue for the toilet before the race, I finally got done only five minutes before the start of the race, by which time it was impossible to slot into the crowd of runners before halfway in the field, this inevitably meant that I lost time trying to work my way through. I underestimated the number of runners in the event, with 200 arriving to the start I would have been fine arriving when I did, with over 1,000 its more of an issue. Added to that the course was a difficult one, there were endless ups and downs with lots of tight corners, it wasn't a course anyone should expect a PB on.

My 5km splits were 23:20 for the first and 22:11 for the second, if you take off the time to reach the start line from the first 5km split it looks more even, 22:23 and 22:11. My GPS told me I took 5:00 to do the first kilometre, based on that I think starting further up the field would have cut at least 30 seconds from my time and who knows the difference that came from my lack of training in the two weeks before.

Anyway, onwards and upwards. The race was very enjoyable, lots of people went in costumes, the first time I've seen that in Spain, and it was a great atmosphere, I'm already thinking of what I'll go as next year.

A race report wouldn't be complete without a review of the goody bag, and Crevillente you provided a top notch bag.

A bottle of water, carton of juice, a couple of sachets of glucose gel were basics, but the long-sleeved t-shirt is a very good quality one, a Saucony no less. However, the pièce de resistance was the doormat. Who would ever think to put a doormat in a goody bag for a 10km race? Whoever it was, thank you! It now sits proudly outside my door, I've been thinking for a while that we needed one for the flat, I'm just glad I didn't get to buying one.

It won't be long before the next goody bag review, I've lined up another 10k for next Sunday, this time in Valencia. It should be a fast race on a flat course with a couple of world class elites running, the Spaniard Chema Martinez, the silver medallist in last year's European championships and Kenyan Kiprono Menjo, the fastest man over the distance in 2010. It should be a good race, although I don't expect to see much of it! I'll just be hoping to get closer to my PB than I managed in Crevillente.

That's all for now, happy running.

El Maratonero

Christmas Break

I left my home in Alicante on 20th December to spend Christmas with my sister's family in Germany. When I left I had intended to continue training so that I was on form when I returned to Spain on the 30th I was in good form to run the 10km San Silvestre race in Crevillente. Well that plan went entirely out of the window.

When I arrived in Germany I was faced with blanket snow, and it proceeded to fall on almost every day that I was away, training was a complete impossibility. The pavements that were cleared were all icy, which made any attempt to run treacherous.

I'll let you know how it affected my form in my next post.

Happy New Year

Maratonero