our choices show what we truly are

Thu, May 17, 2012

Thu, 17 May 2012 06:00:00

6.2 miles in 57 minutes, not much else.

Wed, May 16, 2012

Wed, 16 May 2012 06:00:00

Not enough time to run, it will be a common theme in the next three days, 5 miles in 41:31, not too bad considering yesterday speed workout.

Tue, May 15, 2012

Tue, 15 May 2012 06:00:00

Speedy tuesday, 10X800m at whatever pace felt sustainable for 10 repeats with 2:00 recovery jog. I started with a mile warmup and then I went for the first one trying to keep 3:05 and see what it was like. The rest of the repeats were really consistent around the same speed. Repeat 6 to 8 were a struggle but I maintained the speed, #9 I lost it a little bit toward the end but I promptly recovered during the last one. These were my splits :

3:04, 3:05, 3:06, 3:05, 3:04, 3:03, 3:05, 3:05, 3:07, 3:02 AP 3:04

Final time for 9.2 miles was again 5:16/k AP (my current cruising speed).

Mon, May 14, 2012

Mon, 14 May 2012 06:00:00

Weather is cool (almost cold) again, last saturday we were around 30 degrees Celsius tonight when I left my car at 7pm it was below 10. It was nice. I started at a good clip and I kept accelerating each passing k, I finished 10.2 miles in 1:24:07 for a 5:09/km. Right now 5:10/km is my cruising speed I feel I can keep this pace forever, most of my 10-13 milers in the last month were done at this speed.

During this run I saw in two different places the first fox of the season and the first snake, they were just casually crossing the road.

Sun, May 13, 2012

Sun, 13 May 2012 06:00:00

Another training race, I didn't taper during the last two days, I just reduced my mileage to see what kind of speed I could keep today.

This race is brutal because there two 3.5 miles loops with three hills (and three downhills) to be repeated twice. Also the race as usual around here starts around 10am when the sun is high in the sky and if you have summer like conditions like today you are going to suffer. Main goal was just to improve my average pace compared to last week and finishing at 4:10-4:20/km AP. I was a little cautious during the first loop, at the beginning of the second one I noticed that my legs were just fine and I started pushing on the three hills and catching up several people. The only disappointment I was passed during the last 200 m by three guys.

After the race I did a couple of km as a cooldown and I felt immediately recovered.

I am very happy with the overall results and I had much better feelings than last sunday. I hope to keep improving in terms of weekly mileage and weekend speed. Next sunday another 10k on a pancake flat terrain.

Sat, May 12, 2012

Sat, 12 May 2012 06:00:00

Another slow 8 miler in 1:15, I really wanted to run relaxed and trying to recover. Tomorrow I will do another training race and I would reallyl like to finish strong.

Fri, May 11, 2012

Fri, 11 May 2012 06:00:00

8.3 miles in 1:16, just miles in. First day of allergy, 2 weeks of misery left.

Thu, May 10, 2012

Thu, 10 May 2012 06:00:00

I started really slow at 7:00/km uphill without any energy in my legs, after 4k I was almost back to normal and I started pushing the pace going progressively faster. The last 4k were done at HMP (around 4:10-4:20). I finished 10.5 in 1:23:51. Bugs were everywhere, they don't bite, but I swallowed many of them.

Wed, May 09, 2012

Wed, 09 May 2012 06:00:00

Back to normal, regular run at slow pace to recover from yesterday. I wasn't feeling that bad especially at the end, I hope to carry over the good feelings for tomorrow night run. 6.2 miles in 55:08.

Tue, May 08, 2012

Tue, 08 May 2012 06:00:00

Speed workout. My goal was a 6X1000 with 3 minutes recovery jog. Each repeat at 4:00/km, that would be right now in between a 5k and a 10k effort.

Unlike last week a did a 2k warmup and then I started, with the series:
4:58, 4:54, 4:54, 4:56, 4:55, 4:54/km. During the recovery jog I covered on average more than 0.5k.

To finish I did a slow long 6k cool down to get also some mileage.

Overall I felt in control throughout the whole work out, for sure the 3 min recovery helped a lot.

I just to be consistent with this kind of runs for the rest of the season

Mon, May 07, 2012

Mon, 07 May 2012 06:00:00

Unintentional progression run, started really slow and I went each km faster. Finished with a series of 4 k at marathon pace. Final time 1:09:06.

Sun, May 06, 2012

Sun, 06 May 2012 06:00:00

I decided to do this race at 7:30 am when I saw dark clouds and 100% rain probability in the forecast, I knew this would be my only chance to go for a run today.

This race is just 10 minutes drive from my house in the town of Vetralla. I got there at 8:30, registration done in 2 minutes, and I started warming up with the rest of my team. There were lots of discussions about the mileage and the number of laps, the final consensus based on I don't know what kind of source, was a 2X5.5km laps. This was the first year for this race after a 5 year black out. Same organization and people presumed same course and distance. WRONG.

When we were ready to start the RD announced that we were going to do a loop of 2km for 4 times and at that point everybody started laughing, because nobody knew where we were going.

I wanted to do a good HM effort considering the hills and downhills and trying to stay around 4:10-4:20/km. We started on time at 9:30 and soon we discovered that the whole loop was about 2.1-2.2k long with 1.4k uphill, 0.2k flat and then the rest was downhill (at least was well marked).

I was going up at 4:30/km on the uphill km (almost all out) and going down on the downhill part at 4:14. I managed to keep this pace throughout all four laps and at the end I was happy about the overall result (4:25/km AP). I also avoided to be lapped (during my 3rd lap) by the winner by 300m.

After the finish everybody was protesting with the RD because the course was longer than the announced 8km (Garmin said 8.7) and a local mountbiker did the loop for us with his bike and confirmed that the course was slightly over 8.53k . I will go with this measure.

Overall it was a good run, I wanted to run a little bit faster and do a longer cool down but started pouring an heavy downpour, I retreated in my car and drove home.

Sat, May 05, 2012

Sat, 05 May 2012 06:00:00

This morning I didn't feel like running, I was tired and sleepy. I decided to go anyway and see what happened. After 3 miles I realized there was no way I could have done 10-13 miles i turned around and finished with 6.2 miles in 1 hour. At least I put some miles on my legs and once I was at home I felt much better than when I left.

Fri, May 04, 2012

Fri, 04 May 2012 06:00:00

Slow recovery jog, 8.1 miles in 1:15:34. It was really nice but really slow.

Thu, May 03, 2012

Thu, 03 May 2012 06:00:00

Not enough time to run but I still wanted a speed workout, 1 slow km as a warm up and then I started my series of 12X400m w/ 200m recovery jog. Target pace was 90 seconds.

I was not properly warmed up at the beginning but then I went into the zone and in spite of the negative feelings at the beginning I finished all the repeats. No time at the end for the cooldown. These were my splits: 92, 90, 93, 91, 88, 89, 88, 88, 88, 90, 88, 89 AP 89,5.

Wed, May 02, 2012

Wed, 02 May 2012 06:00:00

Progression run from 6 to 4:10/km. 9 miles in 1:13:32 (5:05/km AP).

Tue, May 01, 2012

Tue, 01 May 2012 06:00:00

Labor day, I ended up doing a double and lots of things at home, tomorrow at work I will rest.

AM: 6.2 miles at 5:15/km, it was a nice progression run it was sunny and hot.

PM: after a couple of thunderstorms, much cooler temperatures, cloudy sky and another progression run. Weird enough I finished 7 miles at 5:15/km again.

I really enjoyed the whole day.

Mon, Apr 30, 2012

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 06:00:00

8 miles at slow pace. I am 140 miles behind my goal of 200 miles per month, those 140 miles are what I really need to go back in some kind of decent shape.

Sun, Apr 29, 2012

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 06:00:00

Rest day.

Sat, Apr 28, 2012

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 06:00:00

10 miles in 1:16:24. I wish I could say this was a MP run, honestly it was very close to a good tempo run at HM pace. I have lots of miles and speed to do before this pace will be again at MP.

Fri, Apr 27, 2012

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 06:00:00

5 easy miles, summer arrived today.

Thu, Apr 26, 2012

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 06:00:00

I was sick during the last three days with sore throat and fever (the usual post marathon sickness). 8 miles at slow pace tonight.

Sun, Apr 22, 2012

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 06:00:00

Nice progression run from 6:00 to 4:12/km average pace 5:18/km.

Sat, Apr 21, 2012

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 06:00:00

I went to the lake with the goal of doing the whole loop around (12.9 miles) and doing it at least at 5:00/km that would be a nice MP for me right now. I started with great conditions sunny with passing clouds and cool temperatures. I was exactly on pace at km 7 (35:00), then I started going a little bit faster each passing km. I finished 13.1 in 1:42:45 4:52/km. I was very happy about the final time but I have never felt comfortble at any pace since the beginning. I hope it is some lingering fatigue of the marathon and it will be better in the next few weeks. I would really go back to the feeling of running this time and not considering it a big deal as I was used to do it a few months ago.

Fri, Apr 20, 2012

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 06:00:00

Nice evening for a run, no rain and cool temperatures. 13.1k in 1:12.

Thu, Apr 19, 2012

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 06:00:00

An big thunderstorm drowned my mileage. I went 2.5k from my car, I got wet in about 2 minutes, there was almost zero visibility, I run back to the car and it was the end for tonight. 5k in 24:15.

Wed, Apr 18, 2012

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 06:00:00

I went running under a dark black sky, after 200m an heavy downpour started, I made it back home before getting completely wet. I went in the basement and spent next 50 minutes on the bike trainer. For my readers, curious about last sunday trail marathon, pictures can be found here and here some of them are really beatiful!!!

Tue, Apr 17, 2012

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 06:00:00

An easy five 5k in 30 minutes to enjoy the cool evening weather. My legs are almost completely recovered, I have just general fatigue.