Weak week 11

After last Sunday's race, it was always going to be hard to fin the motivation immediately to get going again. This wasn't made any easier by a taxing week at work and having to travel to Madrid for business. So Monday morning it was up really early to catch a plane rather than go for my usual morning run.

Tuesday 16/03 - Finished the business presentation and decided to make the most of the clement Madrid weather and the sunshine to go for a run in the evening. After 2 days of inactivity, I had loads of running in my legs. I thought I was running easily until I looked at the Garmin to see that I was running at 4:15 per km pace. I headed out on the main road of town looking for some countryside and ended up at the airport ! I ran around the perimeter of the airport for 5km and then turned back. 10km all up in 43:20 and tired by the end.

Wednesday - Got up early to use the treadmill and found that it was already occupied. Did a little cycling on the machine and then jumped on the treadmill when it was free. Managed 6 km at 13km/h as a recovery run.

Thursday - Back at home and an early start to do the marathon schedule for the day: 15 x 200m in 43 seconds. 200m recovery. An easy enough plan but it was hard enough to fin the speed at the start of the session. Fastest 200m in 38 seconds but most around the 40 second mark. 12 km all up for the run in 55:16.

Friday - early morning recovery run. Steady pace just to get the tiredness out of my legs. Not easy as the events of the week had been tiring and the late nights and early morning were beginning to take their toll. 13 km all up in 56:53.

Saturday - back to Cora by myself as Andy and Nick were both indisposed. I took it very calmly to begin with and then got into a rhythm of about 4:20 per km. Tired again by the end of the run, the half-marathon really drained me and the exertions were hard going. 15 km in 1:08:34 or an average of 4:30 per km.

Ended the week with a total mileage of just over 80km. Not bad considering I didn't manage a long run on the Sunday.

Hola Madrid !

Back to Madrid and to the same hotel as last time (Tryp Alamera if you're interested).

To cut a long story short, I spent every morning first thing on the running machine pounding out 10 kilometres before breakfast. The lights would go out, I'd run in the dark and get terribly hot and sweaty due to the small room and the lack of air-conditioning.

Wednesday morning 6:45 am 10 km - 46 minutes
Thursday morning 6:45 am 10.5 km - 47 minutes
Friday morning 7:15 am 10.7 km - 47 minutes

Nice hotel, reasonably priced, but they need to improve the functionality of the fitness room.

Looking forward to a run tomorrow in the real world and to admire the trees.

Hola ! Madrid

I was in Madrid for business on Monday night and Tuesday. As a seasoned runner now, I carry my running kit with me wherever I travel. I forgot my toothbrush and shaving kit, but not my running gear. I have a true sense of what is important in life.

It was hot when I arrived in Madrid on Monday night. When I say hot, it was actually parched. Madrid from the sky looks like a lost city in the sierra: landscape all around that has been deprived of water for months. I got out of the aircraft and the heat hit me: it was 8:30 pm in the evening and still 35°C. After checking into the hotel, I had a meal and a few beers and it cooled down drastically. It was now 11:30 pm and 32°C.

My initial plans for going for an early morning run around the hotel were dashed. If I tried to run in this heat, I would have managed 200m before wilting in the sun. I decided to go for the easy option and attack 10km first thing in the morning in the treadmill in the hotel fitness room.

The fitness room was a delightful experience at 6:30am. I entered the room using my roomcard and the lights came on automatically with the motion sensor situated by the door. The gleaming equipment stood out from the starkly empty room. I got on the treadmill and began running at 11kmh to begin with then raising the speed rapidly to 14kmh. The lights went out.

Marvellous, automatic lights that come on as you enter the room and then go out as the equipment you want to use is farthest from the door. I couldn't be bothered to stop so I ran 10k in the dark just using the glow of the machine and the timer and distance ran to determine when to stop. There's nothing so boring as running on a treadmill: no scenery; no breeze; no movement, just the sound of the machine and the sweat running off your clothes and face and dripping on the equipment.

10k in 45 minutes. Nothing more to be said.