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
