Lessons from Chicago

One of the reasons I love running, particularly marathon running, is because it allows me to have a different experience every time I step to the start line. I didn’t have my best performance in Chicago yesterday but I learned a lot in the race.  The conditions for marathon running were not ideal, but am not going to blame the weather for my results. After all, the conditions in Traverse City were very similar to those in Chicago yesterday and I still managed to put together a very solid run. To be honest, I knew that my body was not the same as it was last May. My mind, probably, was also a bit weaker. I ran a very solid first half yesterday. I felt strong and thought I had enough to run a good time. But I began to slow down after the 30k mark. I noticed that I was slowing down and that every mile was more and more difficult to run under a 7:30 minute pace. I ran the worst last 5 k partial since Zurich in 2009.

Yes, running in the heat definitely affected my performance. But the reality is that the majority of my tempo and long runs for this marathon were slower than in my previous training cycle. My time yesterday is not a coincidence. It reflects how I trained during the summer. I think the main problem is that I didn’t rest enough after running in Traverse City. The reality is that my body needed a longer break after qualifying for Boston.  The main lesson from yesterday's race is that I need to fully recover in between my marathons if I want to run solid races every time I step to the line. In addition, I learned  that my heart is bigger than what I thought it was. The last few miles of yesterday’s race were a real struggle, but I battled and finish the race in good spirits. Two years ago, I just gave up and started walking when my legs cramped up. Yesterday, I kept pushing thinking that it was the end of a very productive 18 months of training. I slowed down, but I kept fighting. This confirms that I am a different runner and that a breakthrough performance is around the corner.  

I am not going to lie, after I finish the Chicago marathon yesterday, I questioned myself whether I am cut out to be a marathon runner several times. I was a mixed bag of emotions, to say the least. I lacked a spark in the last 2-3 miles of the marathon and I was not happy with that. But the answer to that question is: YES, I am cut out to be a marathon runner. I love marathon running because I can take my mind and body to places I have never imagined I could. Every marathon is different and I never know how my body and mind are going to respond that day. I love it because I enjoy travelling to different cities and countries, and meeting fellow runners from all over the world. I love it because my training allows me to disconnect myself from the world for a several minutes every day. It allows me to challenge myself day in and day out.  I am not going to stop here. Rather, I am going to make a few adjustments to my training plan and seek advice from more experienced runners. I believe that am on the brink of running an outstanding marathon and a less than ideal race is not going to stop me from doing that. I am going to recover fully from Chicago and I am going to come back stronger than ever.  Believe me, if I can run a 3:22 in a deadly hot weather, I can run a sub 3:10 marathon in ideal conditions!

More thoughts to come soon!

Relaxed before Chicago

Well, my dreams of running the 26+ miles of the Chicago marathon in a cool weather have vanished!  The forecast suggests that, once again, I will have to run a marathon in a less than ideal weather. But I remain confident about my chances of running a good race in chicago. I will try to run with the 3:10 group as many miles as possible. I think the conditions will be very similar to those in Traverse City and my experience in that race might be very valuable this time. I ran a very conservative first half and my time reflected that in the end. I do not regret my strategy because I qualified to Boston, but I think I can be a little bit more aggresive this time. I need to be more aggresive!

The Chicago marathon will mark the end of a very long training period. I just hope my legs can go 26 more miles without any problem. I am mentally prepared for the race. I will try to update the blog from Chicago.  I am eating well and drinking fluids like crazy. I will need them on Sunday!

Loose as a goose

The days leading to any big race are intense. There is nothing one can do to improve his/her overall shape, but these days are a great opportunity to prepare mentally for the big challenge that lies ahead.  These days, I find myself gaining confidence by the hour. Yet I know that a 26 mile race cannot define my progression in the past 18 months. Running is a fundamental part of my life since 25 years ago. But I never took running seriously until after I failed in the 2008 Chicago Marathon. I trained a lot for that race but I my workouts lacked intensity as they did before. No surprise, my legs felt fine until mile 21. But they couldn't finish the race strong. I went to Chicago with the idea of runninf a sub 4 hour marathon and, once again, I failed. The struggle of the last 4-5 miles changed my running life substantially. I understood that liking running was not enough to complete 26 miles in style. I understood that I needed to change my training and my mentality if I wanted to be more than an average runner. Two years later, I am a completely different runner. Indeed I am not a marathon runner anymore, I am Boston Qualifier. Those are two very different things. Two years after my collapse in China Town, I am thinking about running a sub 3:15 marathon. I trained hard and the weather forecest is decent. As long as humidity does not show up, I am going to be fine. I will try to go fast but I also want to enjoy the course and the crowd.

I did a very good workout today. I can easily go from 8 min/mile to 7 min/mile and that gives me confidence. I also had a massage this afternoon. The therapist didn't find anything bad in my legs so am good to go. I am off tomorrow. It's now time to eat potatoes and steak... pure protein!  Good night!

Marathon Week

It’s marathon week!  So it is time to relax and enjoy the last few days of another training cycle. I find myself envisioning my own future and reflecting on all the training that I have done in the past 5 months. I watched “Spirit of the Marathon” yesterday morning. Paula Radcliff (one of my favorite runners) accurately says in the movie that anything can happen when one runs 26+ miles. Hopefully, good things will happen in Chicago this Sunday. I have trained hard and am ready to run my best marathon. But, no matter what happens in Chicago, I will still be thankful for the opportunity to be running after 25 years. I still remember the day that I went out and ran for the first time. It was in June, 1986. That day, I never imagined that I was going to be here ready to run my 13^th marathon.  I need to be thankful to all the people that have made this ride much more enjoyable. Having qualified for Boston back in May gives me luxury to be more aggressive and chase faster times in Chicago.  The plan is to improve my previous PR. I will be aggressive but careful. I will let the pacers do their job until mile 18-19. I will tag behind the pacers and run a relaxed pace for as many miles as possible.  I know that faster marathons are always run with negative splits so I need to save energy in order to run fast in the last 6 miles.

My training has been good in the past 2 weeks.  My legs feel fresh and my endurance is very good. The marathon pace runs have been good and that boosts my confidence about running a good race. I ran 4.75 miles today. Tomorrow morning am doing 7 miles (2 easy, 3 marathon pace, 2 easy). I have scheduled a massage for tomorrow afternoon. Wednesday will be a rest day and I will do some short intervals on Th.  Friday is off. The day before the marathon am doing 2 miles in Chicago.  

Thanks for reading!

My speed...

I have been uncertain about my speed for a long time. I thought my times were worse than those I was running before the Traverse City Marathon. So yesterday I compared my workouts and found out that am not very far from where I was 2 weeks before my last marathon.  For instance, the 13-mile marathon pace run of last Saturday was only 72 seconds slower than my run in early May. However, this time I ran in a more challenging course with very slow surface. Yesterday, I did a 12-mile run and I was almost 4 minutes faster than in the same run back in May. This means that am not as slow as I thought. Indeed, I think I can get faster if I recover well and my nutrition and hydration are good before 10-10-10. After all, I run marathons because I love running and not because am a professional. So am going to have fun on 10-10-10. It is going to be cool in Chicago, this could help my performance and I need to be extremely careful in the next few days. I am going to go for it, but am also going to enjoy it.  More updates soon…

11 days til 10/10/10

I will run in Chicago in less than 2 weeks.  It has been a difficult summer but I managed to put together a very solid training. My endurance is very good. I am not sure what my real speed is... hot and humid weather prevents me from having a clear idea of my speed.  The weather forecast for 10/10/10 is great.  I have been dreaming about running in a cool and dry weather for a long time. Well, it looks like I will be running in great conditions... finally!  So am going to run a smart race. The success or failure in this marathon is conditional on my race strategy. I need to run at a constant pace for 18-19 miles and am going to do that. I will use my last marathon pace runs to determine the pace am going to try. My guess is that I have enough gas in the tank to run a 7:15 pace for 19 miles. I need to be extremely careful with my pace because 'the line' between success or failure when one runs at that pace is very thin. I feel good and am going to enjoy.  I have trained with discipline and drive. The long distance training is done. It's time to adjust the final details.  I will try to update this blog more frequently between now and marathon day... A break in training gives me more time to do other things!
Cheers.

3 1/2 weeks til 10/10/10

Ok, it is almost time to start packing for Chicago!  The training this time has not been very smooth but I still believe in my chances of running a good marathon on 10/10/10.  I endured an incredibly hot and summer weather, a cold, and some other minor injuries.  There is very little I can do from now until 10/10/10 to imporve my shape.  I can, however, be smart enought as to minimize my chances of getting injured and/or sick.  I have been training intensely for almost 18 months.  I look forward to taking some days off after Chicago and recover 100% to start my preparation toward Boston.

My training has been solid.  If I remain injury free and the weather is nice, I will go fast.  The main objective of this season was to qualify for the Boston Marathon. I did it already.  My main objective in Chicago is to go as fast as possible and to enjoy as much as possible. When you train to run a BQ time, you tend to forget why you love running so much. The stress and intensiy associated with the training schedule do not allow you to enjoy and to be thankful for the many pleasures that running brings into your life. You become a prisioner of the clock. Running in Boston in one of the best accomplishments in your running life but it cannot be the last one. 

I planned my season to run a BQ time in Chicago. But my training went so well that I qualified for Boston 5 months before. So I had to adjust my goals and training. I had to regroup and gain the pleasure for running again.  I also had to recover from a very demanding training regime and a very difficult race in Traverse City.  I don't have to run a specific time in Chicago, I just want to run fast.  I want to get to mile 19 feeling strong. In my experience, the ability to pace yourself well in the first 9-10 miles of the marathon is what separates an average from a good marathon runner. It is that (and, of course, a good training regime) what gives you the energy to be phically and mentally able to run strong in the last 7-8 miles of the race. This is what drives my training now. I think I have trained to do this in Chicago.

I have had 2 weeks of solid training.  Last Saturday, I went to Winona Lake where I ran a half marathon. I felt strong all the way. The race lacked organization but I still managed to put together a very solid run that will certainly help in 3 weeks. I did the last long tempo session yesterday. A 2x3 mile + 30 easy minutes. My legs felt ok, not completely fresh but this is normal after doing a hard session on Saturday.

I have 2 easy runs on Th and Fr and a monstruos 21 miler on Sat with the 3 final miles @ marathon pace.  I will try to enjoy it!

Cheers!

First and only test before 10/10/10

I will run the Lake City half-marathon tomorrow.  I was hesitant about running tomorrow because the weather forecast wasn't good. However, it has changed and it lloks like it will be dry and cool. My legs are not very fresh but I need to run in a race before going to Chicago. I had great workouts on Tu and Wed but my legs are a bit tired. It is normal, I am running heavy mileage and the legs feel it.

This will be my first and only serious test before 10/10/10. Honestly, I don't know what to expect tomorrow. I will see how I feel and decide my strategy on the course. Ideally, I would like to run a tactical race, with high 6's in the first 9-10 miles and mid-6's in the last 3-4 miles. But am not sure if my legs will be fresh enough.  A fast course with good weather conditions could be the perfect recipe for another PR... Let's see what happens!

Time to get serious!

Again, many apologies for not updating my blog. It’s been a hectic three weeks! Right after I wrote my last blog I got a super bad cold. It sidelined me for 4 days! Of course, I was not able to run 60+ miles that week. I only did 40. It took me a few days to regain my strength. I did 54 miles last week including a 2x20 min. tempo and a long run of 20 miles in DC. I felt good in the long run. I was not very fast because my primary objective was to log a long run. I did not care if it was in the low or high 8’s at all. I just wanted to go out there, enjoy DC, and regain confidence in my endurance.
The Chicago Marathon is in less than 5 weeks so it’s time to get very serious with my training schedule and my diet. I have done two fantastic runs this week. I did 9 easy miles on Monday. On Tuesday, I did a grueling workout that included 1hr. of easy running, 2x1 mile speed intervals, and 3x5 min tempo runs for a total of 12 miles. The idea was to run the 2x1 mile intervals fast so that I could see where my speed is. I ran fast, 6:05 and 6:09 respectively. I felt strong and fresh. This is a good signal because I did this workout with very little rest between the long run of Saturday and yesterday. I will do easy runs in the next three days as am likely to run a half marathon on Saturday (http://www.lakecitymarathon.info). The idea is to test myself in a real race. I haven’t raced since May and I need to see what my fitness level is so that I can do changes to my training if necessary. I will tell you more as soon as I make a decision about it.

Good bye for now! Happy running!

Excitment going up!

Excitement and expectation are building up for 10/10/10! My training has been solid and am healthy for the most part. I have a sore lower back but it’s getting better by the day. I am logging a lot of weekly miles and my body is feeling it. I feel great otherwise. The weather is much better so my legs are fresh. I actually think that training in a very hot and humid weather made me substantially stronger. My endurance is very good and my speed is coming back to where it was before running in Traverse City. The Chicago Marathon is in 6+ weeks and a lot of things can still happen until then but, if I keep training like this, am going to be very strong and fast. I use my daily runs to imagine how I want to run the Chicago course turn by turn, mile by mile, step by step. I have done that course two times but this one is going to be different because I am a different runner. For many years, I trained to finish races or, better said, to survive races. I enjoyed finishing marathons, it was nice to have the medal. Yet I recently discovered that I enjoy them much more when I run in front of the massive pack of runners. I enjoy them much more when my body responds smoothly when I ask for more. So I now train to run in front. The mental barrier that prevented me from running faster times doesn’t exist anymore. I know I can go fast and I train, physically and mentally, to go fast.

I did 61 miles last week. The best part of it was a very solid 8x5 min. tempo run on Wednesday and a lot of base, easy miles on Mo, Tu, Th, and Fr. Saturday’s run wasn’t easy. I did a combo of tempo+10 miles+tempo (17 miles total). My times on Sat. were good, but I had to dig deep to finish the workout. This is the first time in my running life that I run 60+ miles in two consecutive weeks. Hopefully this is going to make 3 in a row. I have done 10.75 and 9 miles on Mo and Tu respectively. This is going to be a difficult week but I see the finish line in Grant Park waiting for me. If someone offers me a settlement for a sub 3:10 marathon right now, I wouldn’t take! I think am in much better shape than that and I hope to continue traveling in this line until October 10th.

Less than 8 weeks

Believe or not is less than 8 weeks to the Chicago Marathon. I have had 4 very strong weeks of hard training. My legs feel much better and, overall, am very strong. Training in high heat and humidity has helped me to get stronger. I peaked at 62.75 miles last week. My long run was a 19 miler in very humid conditions. I owed myself a workout like that one. It was strong and very consistent. The last three miles were fast and I truly enjoyed that. It gave me confidence and a good boost to continue training. In addition, the mid-week tempo run was good, a 2x20 mins. tempo (10 mins. recovery) for a total of 10.5 miles.

Ahead are 4 weeks of heavy mileage for me: 60, 64, 67-69, and 70+ miles respectively. I have never done more than 65 miles in a week but am healthy and ready to try it. The weather is better and my recovery is faster. I need to work on my speed a bit more. It’s not bad but I know it can get better so I am going to incorporate some speed workouts and hill runs in my plan. I have nothing to lose in Chicago, I already qualified for Boston and am going to run and enjoy as much as possible. I want to fly!

Time for an update

First of all, I would like to express my apologies for not updating the blog. It’s been a hectic August for me and things don’t seem to get better any time soon. My choice is between blogging or running and, needless to say, I prefer running. It keeps me sane and energized. Seriously, I get much more productive after a good workout. If you don’t believe me, just try it!

Well, it’s been a busy time at work and training. The weather doesn’t get better, it’s still steamy hot. Yet my workouts have been pretty good. I am getting used to running in the blazing hot weather. My legs, lungs, heart and mind are adapted to heat and humidity and, as a consequence, my runs are good. This week has been particularly good. I am well on my way to peak at 60+ miles with 2 quality workouts. I ran 9 miles on Monday, 7.5 Tuesday and 10.5 yesterday. Yesterday’s workout included a 2x3 mile tempo. I didn’t push the pace too much because the humidity was very high and I wanted to conserve energy as much as possible. I never felt wasted in the run and I had a pretty decent run this AM (I ran 9.5 miles). Looks like my running legs and instincts are coming back right in time for the Chicago marathon. Ahead are 8 difficult weeks of training but am very motivated and, fortunately, healthy. Hopefully, I will stay like this until 10/10/10.

I will do my best to keep you updated more often. In the mean time, the gym is waiting for me! Cheers!

Nice weather: Please come back soon!

It’s still very hot and humid. Since I can’t entirely avoid running in these conditions, am better off acclimating to it. I just get out and survive this weather to the best of my abilities. On October 10th, when the marathon comes, it’s either going to be in equally horrible weather in which case I’ll be damned glad I spent time acclimating, or it’ll be in much nicer conditions in which case I will feel like a million bucks due to my preparation.
I am in the second week of intensive training for Chicago, so far am surviving the weather. My speed is not where I want it to be but I can feel the effort every time I run a quality workout so my speed should come back when the weather gets better. I ran 49 miles last week. I did 16 miles on Saturday. It was raining and then became very humid. I met four random guys while running mile 1. They invited me to join their group and I did it. It was nice to run more than half of my long run with those guys. I put together a very nice run, running with other people invites me to test my limits and run faster. I felt great for the most part of the run. I struggled a bit in the last 2 miles mainly because I didn’t hydrate well and my muscles became tired.
This week has been good too. I ran 8 and 6 miles on Mo and Tu respectively. Yesterday (Wednesday) I did a tempo run: 7x5 minutes with 1 min rest in between for a total of 8.5 miles. The weather got the best of me and my times got worse by the minute. I am really looking forward to running in nice conditions. Today, am going out with Scott for an easy 8 miler. It’s hot but not humid… It should be fine. My right knee keeps bothering me a bit and I hope it gets better soon.
When am struggling in the heat, I visualize myself running fresh in the corner of Ashland Ave. and 18th Street in Chicago (yeah, in Pilsen). That’s where the 19th mile marker is…and that’s where am planning to push the pace to the high 6’s or low 7’s for the first time in the marathon. In other words, that’s where am going to push my pace up and attack until mile 26. The key is to stay focused and believe that I can run my fastest marathon in less than three months.

Hot and Humid Summer

Travel and work prevented me from blogging in the last month. The recovery period after running in Traverse City was longer than expected but I already have four and a half weeks of decent training under my belt. I also lacked motivation and took it very easy for the first 3 weeks after the marathon. I then had four weeks of easy training, to build base. In that period I had an unexpected trip to Irapuato where I took advantage of some altitude training. On July 4^th, I ran the Leon-Comanja half-marathon and am pleased with the result. I ran the most of it in the mid 7’s, not bad considering it’s uphill all the way. We went from 5,500 to 7,020 feet of altitude. The course is very difficult but nothing beats the views and the pleasure of running in direct contact with nature. I then had two more weeks of training in Irapuato. I ran 45 and 43 miles respectively.

This is my first serious week of training for the Chicago Marathon. I have done three runs in very hot and humid conditions. I usually hate these conditions because I get very sluggish. However, this hasn’t been the case this time around so am actually enjoying the heat. My legs are fresh and am not really feeling the humidity that much.  I know that training in this weather could help me a lot in the long run. I ran the first LTR this morning: 12 minutes warm-up, 4x10 minutes (@ 7:04, 09, 12, 14 ) with 2 mins. recovery and a very easy cool down. I felt strong but not as fast as I wanted. I will settle for 51-53 miles this week. I feel much better than expected and ready to continue training.

Hot and Humid Summer

Race recap

I am not going to lie: I went to Traverse City with high expectations. My training was flawless, my morale was high and my body was 100% healthy. I had never trained better for a marathon and I knew I had a serious shot at Boston! Serious runners always dream about going to Boston and I always dreamed about it too. But running a BQ time is not easy, it requires a lot of hard work, discipline and mental toughness. Some people are naturally gifted and run a BQ time in their first attempt, others never qualify. I am not naturally gifted, but I know how to work hard in order to accomplish my goals.

The hard work paid off in Traverse City: I qualified for Boston in my first serious attempt. I shattered my personal best for more than 13 minutes!!! I am now enjoying some free days after the effort and will resume my workouts as soon as my body is ready to go back to training. If am healthy, I am going for a sub-3:10 in Chicago.

The marathon in Traverse City wasn’t easy. Heat and humidity are, perhaps, the worst enemies of marathon runners. Well, I found those enemies in North Michigan. The temperature at 7 am was 55 degrees with 80% humidity. It quickly rose into the high 60’s (75% humidity) by mid-race and am almost sure that it was in the 70’s when I finished Knowing that I tend to struggle with humidity, I decided to run a very conservative first half. I consistently ran 7:20-7:25 miles. I picked the pace up a little bit for 7-8 miles. My strategy was to feel as relaxed as possible until mile 20 and then put the hammer down in the last six miles. But I couldn’t run fast in miles 22-25. My heart rate was great but my muscles were already feeling the effects of the heat and the rolling hills course. So I used my survival instincts to the best of my ability. I did the math and figured that I needed to run the next 5 miles in 7:40 avg. Despite the relatively slow pace, I passed several runners that were also slowing down. In mile 25, I knew I had done enough to qualify for Boston and just enjoyed the last 1.2 miles. My official time was 3 hrs. 15 mins and 13 seconds, just enough to enter the field of 25,000 in Boston.

I am very happy with the result. I know I can run faster than that if the conditions are right and the course is flat. So I look forward to running in Chicago. My mentality is completely different now. I am becoming an experienced marathon runner who knows how to listen to his body and who adjusts to different race conditions. I really like this feeling!

My partials in Traverse City were: 7:22, 26, 25, 21, 26, 30, 29, 20, 21, 21, 22, 24, 16, 13, 20, 19, 17, 30, 23, 14, 19, 23, 47, 45, 52, 47. Very consistent!!!

I am in Boston!!!!!

I ran 3:15:13 in Traverse City and qualified for Boston. I will give the full details of the race very soon. Aaaah, I did it!

Update

I am feeling good. My legs feel great and am already drinking a lot of fluids. The weather forecast is not very good, it looks like its going to be warmer than I expected so I need to make sure that my body has the necessary fluids coming race day.

I have never been this relaxed before running a marathon. I am not sure if that's good or bad. I just know that I trained very well and that am ready to race in less than two days.

I will be on the road for the next day or so (first to Kalamazoo and tomorrow to Traverse City) but will try to update the blog.

Race week!

It’s race week! After enduring a very cold winter and some very hot and humid days, I am ready to run in Traverse City this Saturday. I really can’t believe that the marathon in is in 4 more days! I have reduced my weekly mileage and my body and mind are feeling it. My body is in better shape, well rested and recovering from the most difficult training regime that I have ever done. My mind is ready to race, knowing that I have done everything I could to endure the 26.2 miles and finish in style. Last week was not easy at all, my legs were very tired and still adapting to the lower miles. I had a couple of short marathon pace runs and it was very difficult to get into my ideal pace. My muscles were very tight and achy. So I decided to get a massage on Friday. The massage really released the tension from my muscles and they are feeling very relaxed. I am feeling much better. I did a short marathon pace run yesterday and I felt great, despite the hot and humid weather.

Last week I only ran 41 miles, the shortest in a long, long time. The week ended with a 5.5 mile run on Thursday, a 3 mile easy run on Friday and a 10 mile run on Saturday (3 miles easy, 5 miles @ marathon pace, 2 miles very easy). I didn’t feel very good on Saturday. The weather was hot and humid and the massage got my muscles tired. Running those 5 miles at marathon pace was difficult. After that, I decided to do 2 very easy miles ( well into the 10’s). I wanted to enjoy the last miles as much as possible. I don’t know how I will run this Saturday, but I am very happy with my effort in the last 4 months. I notice the difference. I have never felt this great before a marathon and I hope to have a good day in Traverse City. The wait is not easy, it’s killing me!

Yesterday (Monday 24th), I ran 7 miles (2 easy, 3 @ marathon pace, 2 easy). It also was hot and humid. I am not a fast runner in humid weather. But this time my legs felt great. I am going to do a very easy run today. Then 4x600 tomorrow, off Thursday and 2 very easy miles in TC on Friday.

May 19

I have recently read that several friends have posted a message against domestic violence in their facebook profiles. Running gives me the opportunity to think about many issues and I have thought about this message several times. My conclusion is that I could only applaud all of those who stand against this despicable act and support them. The message couldn't be more accurate so I would like to share it with you:

"While you SCREAM at your woman, there's a man wishing he could whisper softly in her ear... While you HUMILIATE, OFFEND and INSULT her, there's a man flirting with her and reminding her how wonderful she is. While you HURT your woman, there's a man wishing he could make love to her. While you make your women CRY there's a man stealing smiles from her..."

Isn't this true? I have always thought that REAL MEN always treat women with respect and honesty, not with insults and punches. REAL MEN do not lack self confidence, so they do not need to control or abuse their significant others to retain them. Perhaps, abusers should be aware of this message and read it every time they want to hurt their women... If you agree with me, spread the word and stand against domestic violence.

Now to my running... mmmmmm, I didn't have a very good run today. 12 miles total: 7 easy miles+4 @ marathon pace+ 1 easy mile cool down. I was sluggish in the marathon pace miles, the easy miles were fine. My legs are pretty tired, they need more time to recover. Tomorrow, the workout will be easy. 5 miles, recovery+core.

I decided to get a deep tissue massage. Scott recommended me a good massage therapist and am going to call her tomorrow to make the appointment. Hopefully, it will help and I will feel like a million dollars next weekend!

May 18

Two easy days to give my right ankle some rest. It's not feeling very good and am not sure what is wrong with it. I can run without problems but I don't want to risk anything. This week is an easy one (compared to the previous 10 or 11) and the next one is going to be easier. I am thinking about getting a deep tissue massage tomorrow or Thursday. I have read that it helps a lot before important races but am not sure f it's a good idea. An important rule before any marathon is not to try anything new as the race approaches, so am not convinced that the massage is a good idea. I will decide tomorrow after my marathon pace workout.

Monday: 50 minutes spinning+3 miles easy running (treadmill)+easy core.
Tuesday: 7 miles, easy pace. The ankle bothered me a little bit, but is feeling ok now.

I have another marathon pace workout tomorrow... Hopefully, my ankle is going to be ok!

Taper time!

12 days and counting… May 29th is almost here and I’m almost ready for the Traverse City Marathon. It’s been a great training period with several quality workouts, many miles and, most importantly, very few injuries. Marathon runners usually question their training in the last weeks of training. I can’t do that! I have been disciplined and driven in the past 4 months. One could always do more, but am not sure if doing more would dramatically affect my chances to run a PR. I am going to Traverse City with two objectives. First, I would like to run under 3:20:00. The icing on the cake would be running a Boston qualifying time (3:15:59). The big objective of this season has always been the Chicago Marathon (October 10th). I began the training for Traverse City thinking about building a solid base for Chicago. But as the weeks progressed, I kept feeling better and better and began to think that I had a decent chance at qualifying for Boston, for the first time in my running life. So the focus and dynamics of my sessions changed. I concentrated on using the quality workouts to the best of my ability. Qualifying for Boston is not going to be easy but am going to try!

I didn’t do a lot of miles last week (in the mid 40’s). However, I had two very good quality workouts with marathon pace miles in the middle of each run. The rest of the week was:

Wed: 5 miles easy, 5 miles @ marathon pace (7: 43, 37, 23, 20, 27), 2 miles easy. Total 12 miles. Difficult run, the weather was not good (very windy, cool). Finding the marathon pace was not easy but I eventually did it. I finished very strong.

Thu: 6.12 miles, very easy, recovery run.

Fri: 45 minutes, bike.

Sat: 4 miles easy (8:07, 12, 10, 04), 9 miles marathon pace (7:38, 32, 39, 20, 20, 20, 27, 18, 05), 1 mile cool down. This workout is very encouraging. It was a very solid run and the finish was excellent. I like that I can finish very strong with no major problems. My right ankle s bothering me a bit and I hope it heals completely before TC.

Sun: 45 minutes, bike.

Mon: The taper begins

Mon/Tue

Two easy runs on Monday and Tuesday. I will do a difficult workout tomorrow (Wednesday): 5 miles easy, 5 miles @ marathon pace and 2 miles easy for a total of 12 miles...

Monday: 5.5 miles, very easy
Tuesday: 65 minutes, easy run. 10x60 mts. strides.

2 weeks in one post

The blog needs an update! The week after the kzoo half-marathon was not easy. My legs were tired and the recovery took some time. I introduced two changes into my training schedule: my tempo run was shorter and I took a day off in the middle of the week. That week looked like this:

Wed- Tempo run. 3x10 mins (2 mins recovery). Total 7 miles.
Th- Off
Fri- 6 miles, easy
Sat- 19.25 miles, easy
Sun- 5 miles, easy

Total: 54.75 miles (88 kms.)

Last week was better as am recovering my legs. I wanted to run a 25 k. race in Grand Rapids but decided against it because the weather was not good on Saturday. Here is a look at my training:

Mo- 8 miles, under 8 mins./mile
Tu- 7.25 miles, easy
We- 1 hr easy+ 6x1200 mts (1 min recovery). Total 12 miles. It was a difficult workout but I liked it. My endurance is good.
Th- 6.12 miles, recovery run
Fr- off
Sat- 6.12 miles, easy+strides
Sun- 18 miles. Easy long run in a decent weather. I liked my pace and felt very strong throughout the run. This is the last long run before the marathon. It is all downhill from now!

Total: 57.5 miles (92 kms.)

The hard work is done… I need to recover and get ready for Traverse City!

Life after the PR

I have done three recovery sessions this week. Two on Monday (AM, PM) and one yesterday (Tuesday). My right shin is sore, I am not sure if am still feeling the effects of the half-marathon’s effort. I had a great race on Saturday but am a bit concerned about this problem. Everything else is great. I am leaning towards not doing any quality workouts this week to fully recover from the Kzoo half-marathon. It’s only 4 ½ weeks until Traverse City and I need to be extremely careful with my body. I don’t want to waste 4 fantastic months of training!

Monday—AM: 3 miles, recovery. PM: 6 miles, recovery. 9 miles total.
Tuesday—PM: 8.5 miles, easy.

New PR! 1:29:47 in the Kzoo Half-Marathon

Hope you all had a good weekend! I am very satisfied with my performance in the Kalamazoo half-marathon. I ran in 1:29:47, a new PR in this distance! I knew that my shape was good but not good enough to run under 1:30:00.

On Saturday morning, I woke up at 6 am and had coffee, a banana, an English muffin and some Gatorade for breakfast. I then headed to the start of the race. It was breezy and a bit cool, but managed to stay warm until the race started. The fist two miles were downhill. I ran them well under 7 min/mile. I was feeling very good but knew that the most difficult part of that course was the second half so I stayed calm and relaxed. Miles 3,4 and 5 were in Kalamazoo downtown. They are flat as a pancake and I tagged behind two guys who were running at a very good pace. In mile 6, there is a long hill that I ran well. The sixth mile was not as slow as I expected it to be and that gave me some confidence. I focused on maintaining a good running form without worrying about the pace. My quads felt a bit tight after the hill and I didn’t want to push excessively. Miles 7 and 8 were easy, I knew I had enough gas to put the hammer down from mile 9 onwards and that’s precisely what I did. To be honest, I didn’t really know I was running in a sub 1:30 pace! Mile 10 and 11 are relatively flat and I picked my pace up a bit. My legs were fine and I was not feeling very tired. Miles 12 and 13 have a couple of hills that could make you suffer at this stage of the race. Rather than slowing down, I attacked them. Finishing races off has historically been one of my shortcomings and am working hard to overcome it. I knew that I had a shot of running under 1:30 and I went for it! Two years ago I would had slowed down. When you slow down, you don’t feel fulfilled at the end… I know that feeling very well and I don’t want to experience it anymore. I am training really hard and I need to show that when am racing. When I crossed the 13 mile marker, I knew I was going to run under 1:30 and I ran as hard as I could. The last 1/10 of a mile felt very good because I dreamed with running under 1:30 for a long time and I was very close to demolish that barrier. I crossed the finish line in 1:29:47, my fastest half-marathon ever!

During the race, I asked myself several times: Do you remember when you used to run in the back of the pack? Do you prefer the back or the front? If you prefer running in the front, then keep pushing! This is a big step but it is not the final one. I am going to continue working as hard as possible to run a Boston qualifying time in Traverse City. My result this past Saturday is a big boost to my morale and am feeling better than ever. My legs are a bit sore after the effort and I will try to recover them ASAP. The first two days of this week will be easy and after evaluating my runs I will decide the other workouts.

First race of the year!

I am running a half-marathon in Kalamazoo tomorrow morning (April 24th). The weather forecast is not very good (with rain) but I would still like to run. As I said in a previous post, the course is not an easy one. The weather and a difficult course could make things difficult. This is why I have designed two race plans. One includes running the 13 miles at marathon pace (7:20-7:25). Another has 10 miles at 7:00 min/mile and the last 3.1 miles at 5k pace (6:30-6:45). I will decide which one to use after seeing the conditions. Meanwhile, the week has been good so far… Three easy runs on Wed. Th and Fr to get ready for tomorrow’s race.

Wednesday: Two sessions, total 11.5 miles. AM: 5 miles recovery. PM: 6.5 miles easy. I felt very good in the evening session.

Thursday: 7 easy miles.

Friday: 4 very easy miles with 4*1 minute surges. I wanted to feel my legs and they seem to be ready for tomorrow.

I will let you know how things develop in Kalamazoo…

Boston Marathon Week

5 weeks and 2 days until the Traverse City Marathon… I am entering the most important part of my preparation for the race. In the horizon 2 long runs (2:40 hrs. or more) and 2 marathon pace runs are waiting for me. I feel strong and, above all, healthy. This week has been good so far. As I said in my last post, chances are that am going to run a half marathon in Kalamazoo this Saturday. This week’s training is thus designed for that purpose.

Monday—60 mins. (7.5 miles). I went for a run with Scott. The pace was a little bit faster than what I wanted but still within my range. No major problems. Strength training to end.

Tuesday—4x10 mins tempo (2 mins recovery). Total miles: 8. I knew this tempo was not going to be pretty. I didn’t rest enough and my times were not good. Anyhow, the tempo run is done and I now have three days to fully recover before running in Kzoo.

Wednesday:  AM: 5 miles, PM: 6 miles. Total miles 11. I felt good in the morning run, my legs were faster than expected and am happy about that. The pace was in the mid 8’s, no major issues to report. I then went to the gym for 30 mins to do some strength training. The PM run will also be at a very easy pace. This is the first double header of the season! Will let you know how I feel in my run.

Th/Fr/Sat/Sun

Thursday: 7.5 miles @ 8:25 avg. This was a nice run in a warm weather (82 degrees). I was pleasantly surprised that my legs were not in bad shape after the very difficult tempo run on Wednesday. The pace was indeed fast in the first two miles and I decided to slow down a bit because my right calf was a bit sore. I am reaching a point at which running at 8:15-8:30 is just really easy. It’s difficult to slow down when am running fine but am doing a job so far.

Friday: Off. I took Friday off because my right calf has been bothering me quite a bit since Wednesday night. I really wanted to run but decided against it in the afternoon. I figured that taking one day off was the most intelligent decision at this stage of my training. Yes, taking one day off will not affect my form but could result in many days off (due to an injury) if am not feeling good.

Saturday (QW2): 15.2 miles total. 2x10 mins tempo (2 mins recovery), 9 miles, 20 mins tempo. My right calf is not 100%, I still have moderate pain so I decided to go slow in the warm up (12 minutes) and then do the first set of tempos. I felt fine in the warm up and did a very good job in the first 2x10 mins. tempos. The wind was very strong (gusting up to 30 miles per hour) and that certainly slowed me down a bit. The next 8 miles were easy. Again, the 8:15-8:30 min/mile pace felt very easy. I didn’t have any major problem completing the first 11.25 miles. The biggest challenge came at the end: a 20 minute tempo with 11.25 miles already in my legs. Four weeks ago, I did a similar work out and the last tempo was not good. I had a very good 20 min. tempo today. I ran in the upper limit for a tempo run (7:05 min/mile) not because I couldn’t go faster but because I consciously decided to be conservative and don’t force my right calf. I ended this run feeling very strong. I am happy! In addition to putting together a strong 15 miler, I ran almost 11 miles of the Kalamazoo half marathon course. I wanted to get a sense of how easy or difficult it is. I think it is not easy. The first 4 miles are very easy but the rest is tricky. It has many hills and that could be costly at the end. At least I know what to expect next Saturday. My legs are stronger and ready for the hills. I have a race plan in mind but will describe it in detail later…

Sunday: 6 miles very easy. Easy recovery day, 6 miles in the upper 8's and low 9's. I felt good and wanted to go faster but didn't do it.

Total miles this week: 54.5

Mid-week report

It's been a decent week so far. This is supposed to be a down week and am doing everything possible to maintain the 'easy runs' as easy as possible. 

Monday:  Easy 7 miles+ strength.  My legs didn't feel very good at the beginning and I didn't push the pace at all. I was happy running in the high 8's and low 9's mins/mile. I just can't believe how easy the low 9's feel... they used to be a torture 2 years ago. It was very windy outside, windy and cool.  Strength training at the end.

Tuesday: Another easy day. 9 miles+strength. I decided to do another easy day before running the tempo. The pace was in the mid-8's, very easy and comfortable. Still very windy outside. No major problems during the run. My calves are a bit tight but the pace was just right. No major problems during the run. Strength to end the day.

Wednesday: (QW 1): 8x5 mins tempo (30-45 secs recovery). Total 9.5 miles. This was a difficult workout. The weather was great and I decided to do my tempo run in an outdoor track. I warmed up for 12 mins. and then began the tempos. I felt fine in the first three but not so good in the final 5. The track is not very fast and I could feel it. I initially thought that my pace was very slow but I was wrong. I ran at 6:30 min/mile average which is substantially better than the 6:45-7:05 min/mile that my plan calls for. Actually, I must say that I was in very good shape for the last 2 tempo intervals so I can't complain at all. Ended with a 2 mile cool down. I went home and iced my right calf that was very sore after the workout (because of the new surface, I think).
 
Thursday and Friday will be easy days... very easy days as I prepare for a grueling workout on Saturday. Will tell you about this later in the week.

On a completely different note, I am very likely to run the Kalamazoo half-marathon next weekend (April 25). I really look forward to seeing how my new plan translates into actual racing. I don't know if am ready for a half-marathon PR but it would be great to see how my body is responding to the new training regime.

Peak Week 1... done!

I usually am very good at knowing the routes am running. Well, that was not the case last Saturday. I got completely lost and ended up running 19.5 miles and walking another 3-4. Yes, I need to be more careful and really know my routes. I really liked the course and I wanted to keep running the whole day. It was one of those days that you wish you could have on marathon day. I felt very good. In fact, I felt better and better as the run progressed. I started relatively slow (8:30 min/mile) and sped up in the second half of my run. No aches, no pain, no mental breakdowns (except when I found out that I was lost in the middle of some corn fields) and no hesitation about my pace. A good slow long run.

The long run was preceded by a 4 mile very easy run indoors on Friday morning. I ran well after the great tempo run on Thursday. Overall, I had a great week. I continue to feel good about my chances of running a marathon PR in TC. This week am going to cut down the mileage a bit.

The Zurich Marathon was yesterday... I read that they changed the course as is now faster than the previous years. I have a special appreciation for that marathon because I ran fast in 2009 despite the warm weather and the slow course. I will go back to run it sometime. I am getting ready to watch the Boston Marathon next Monday... I hope to be running in Boston next year.

Looking good

I love the days when my legs move without any problem! I have loved my runs this week. After an average week last week, I decided to start this week with three easy runs (Mo, Tu, and We)… that decision has paid off. Besides my training plan, I have also changed my training philosophy a bit, listening to my body more carefully. I run hard when I have to log a quality run and rest when I have to rest even if I feel great. Although it is still early to say if my new strategies will result in a new marathon PR, I am feeling stronger and healthier. I know that good things will follow if I stay healthy. This week’s training has been as follows:

Tu: Easy run, 9 miles (8:16/mile). It was a great running day: temperature in the high 70s, decent humidity levels, lots of sunshine, etc… My legs were still a bit tired from the MP run last Saturday but after 3 miles they were just smoothly hitting the road. I started slow and progressively picked the pace up in the last three miles (7:56 min/mile avg). I didn’t want to stop but I had to do it.

We: 6 miles, easy (8:25). Wow! It was windy, rainy and gray outside. The first 5 miles weren’t that bad. But in the 6th mile, it was pouring!! So I decided to call it quits and get ready for a very difficult workout tomorrow. I went to the gym and did some strength training. I am not doing as much strength training as in the previous months. The runs are longer and I don’t want to deplete all my energies in the gym.

Th: What a day!!! My plan called for a 2x20 mins tempo and I was a bit skeptical about my chances to perform well. I did the first tempo by myself. I wanted to play safe and ran a comfortable pace of 6:30 per mile. I then recovered for 10 mins and joined Scott and Simeon who were also doing a tempo run. They talked about doing it at 6:25 and I didn’t really know if I was going to survive at that pace. I was pleasantly surprised because my legs just kept moving very smoothly, no pain, no extra-effort! I just kept feeling better and better as the second tempo progressed. I actually wanted to pick the pace up in the last ¼ mile but Simeon said: nice and easy, Sergio… nice and easy. I heard the message and maintained the 6:25 pace. Running with other people just makes things so much easier. 10 mins cool down. I am a bit tired… I guess it’s normal after this workout. Tomorrow: recovery run… nice and easy!

New Week

This is going to be a difficult week! If everything goes as expected, I will have my first peak at 62 miles. Easy to say, not so easy to do!

I ran an easy 8 miler yesterday evening. The pace was comfortable but my legs didn't feel good. They are a little bit tired from last week's training. I am entering an unknown territory in terms of weekly mileage. I feel that my endurance is getting better and better every day but it's necessary to be extremely cautious to avoid injuries. Lately, during my runs, I have been thinking that a year ago I was dreaming of finishing a marathon under 4 hrs. That is, running at 8:50 mins/mile. But now am running my easy runs at 8:20-30 mins/mile! Who would predict that? Anyway, I just hope that everything goes as planned this week.

The difficult runs for this week are a 2x20 mins tempo run with 4 mins recovery (Wednesday or Thursday)and a 2:30 hrs. long run on Saturday. I may also do one easy to steady run today or tomorrow and easy runs the other days...

Running 60 mile per week!

I completed another week of hard training in preparation for the Traverse City Marathon. I had three quality runs last week, including a 12 mile marathon pace run, and 4 easy runs for a total of 59 miles (95 kms). I feel very strong but still need to work on developing more speed. I am logging tons of miles and thus am being very careful about the speed and effort that I put into each of my runs.

Here is a quick synthesis of my workouts:

Monday (QW 1): Speed intervals. 15 minutes warm-up, 6x800 mts. (3:05, 3:03, 3:03, 3:04, 3:01, 2:55), 2.5 miles cool down. I was hesitant about doing this workout. I worked hard to complete the long run on Saturday and didn’t know if I had enough energy for this session. To my surprise, it turned out to be a great workout. I usually struggle with the fast 800’s but not this time. 8 miles total.

Tuesday: 9 easy miles to recover

Wednesday: 9 miles, the first half was fast (under 8 min/mile) but managed to stay in the recovery zone for the second half of the run. Again, running with my friends was not the smartest thing to do but I enjoyed it.

Thursday (QW 2): ok, I really struggled in my long tempo run today. I did 12 mins warm-up, 2x15 mins tempo (3 mins recovery), 1x10 mins tempo and 10 mins cool down. I didn’t feel goo, the hot weather appeared and I really, really struggled… By the end of this run, I was glad it was over!!! I recovered with an ice-cold bath and some chocolate milk…

Friday: Easy 7.5 miles

Saturday (QW 3): My first marathon simulation… 12 miles @ 7:25, 1.5 miles cool down. I was slower than expected, the course (a bit hilly) didn’t help. Well, the run is done and I recovered pretty fast!

Sunday: 5 miles, very easy (9 min/mile)… I just wanted to get my legs moving after the demanding run the previous day.

Overall, the week was good. I am not happy with my speed but need to be careful as the mileage increases… My legs feel great! This week is my first peak at 62-64 miles. A completely new territory for me!

Falta menos...

La segunda semana de mi nuevo plan esta en los libros con 56.5 millas (90.4 kms) y creo que he cumplido cabalmente con lo indicado. Hoy (domingo) estoy un poco cansado por el esfuerzo de ayer y he decidido darme el día libre. El resto de entrenamientos de esta semana han sido así:

Jueves: 5.5 millas de carrera fácil para recuperarme de la paliza del día anterior. Nada que contar, excepto que el piriformis ha dado un poco de problemas de nuevo…

Viernes: 8 millas a 8:15 min/milla en promedio. La idea era recuperar y quedar listo para la carrera larga del sábado. He ido un poco más rápido de lo que quería, pero no pasa nada… me he sentido muy bien y con ganas de hacer la carrera larga de manana.

Sábado: 4x5 mins tempo (1 min recovery), una hora de carrera fácil, 15 mins tempo, tres millas fáciles. Total: 15.5 millas (25 kms). Me he sentido muy bien durante la primera hora y media de esta sesión. Estuve muy ligero en los 4 primeros tempos y muy consistente en la carrera fácil de una hora. El tempo de 15 minutos al final me ha costado más de la cuenta porque ha sido en subida y me he quedado sin energías. Sin embargo, estoy satisfecho con el resultado. Un entrenamiento nuevo y algo difícil, que espero me sirva en TC. Después de la carrera me he dado un bano con hielo y he comido unas fajitas de arrachera bien sabrosas… acompanadas de una modelo especial bien frívola.

Total de la semana: 56.5 millas (90.4 kms).

Creo que estoy asimilando bien mi nuevo plan de entrenamiento. A veces me cuesta trabajo ir más lento de lo que me gustaría, pero creo que los beneficios en la recuperación son notorios. Me siento mucho más fresco en las carreras largas y los tempos.

Tuesday and Wednesday..

I feel a bit tired after two demanding sessions. The new training plan is not easy and my body is feeling it. Yet, I remain 100% motivated and eager to continue training.

The tuesday session was longer than expected. I wanted to do 6 miles at an easy pace and ended up doing 7.5 miles @ 7:30. Running with my friends is a pleasure but it could also deviate me a bit from my training plan. I felt very good after the run, no major problems and lots of good conversation!

Wednesday: 2 miles warm up, 4x5 mins (1 min. recovery), 5 minutes jog, 3x5 mins (1 min. recovery, cool down. Total: 10 miles. I am doing the long tempo runs by miself and it could get nasty out there. However, I managed to log a very solid training session, averaging 6:42 min/mile in the 7x5 mins intervals. I felt a bit tired at the end...

Saturday's training looks very demanding too. So am going to play safe and log 2 recovery runs today and tomorrow + strenght. I remain extremely motivated and the piriformis is in much better shape after applying and heat and deep massage. Hope it keeps getting better.

Adios!

Monday's training

After a 16 mile run on Sunday, I needed to flesh the lactic acid out! Monday's training consisted of two easy runs of 3.5 and 5.8 miles respectively. I felt a bit tired in the early morning, but still managed to run at a very easy pace with very little problems. I felt much better in the evening. My legs wanted to go faster, but I managed to stay in the recovery pace range (8:10-8:30 min/mile pace) for the entire run.

Cheers!

11 semanas y contando

Estoy adaptandome paulatinamente a mi nuevo plan de entrenamiento. Me cuesta mucho trabajo dejar a un lado las ganas de correr a un paso más rápido, pero espero que los resultados se reflejen en una mejor recuperación y menor propensidad a las lesiones. Por lo pronto la semana pasada he pasado por primea vez de las 50 millas y me he sentido muy bien. Sigo teniendo molestias en el piriformis, pero espero que los estiramientos y el heating pad me ayuden a mejorar. Estos son los entrenamientos de la semana pasada.
Lunes. Después de correr 15 millas el domingo, salí a recuperar con 7 millas fáciles (a 8:30 en promedio)+ pesas al final (parte superior). Me sentí bien y no he tenido ninguna molestia mayor después de la carrera larga de ayer.
Martes. Hoy pensaba hacer una carrera de recuperación. Sin embargo he salido a correr con Simeon y la carrera de recuperación se trasformo en una carrera a steady-state de 7 millas a 7:00-7:05 en promedio+ pesas al final (core). He estado muy bien, sin acusar cansancio y con chispa cuando tuve que apretar.
Miércoles. Carrera fácil, de recuperación. 7 millas a 8:25 min/milla. Ningún efecto de la carrera de ayer + pesas al final (parte superior).
Jueves. Uf, este ha sido el primer entrenamiento fuerte de mi nuevo plan: un tempo largo. El entrenamiento fue de 12 minutos de calentamiento a 8:25, 4 series de 10 minutos c/u a 6:45 en promedio y tres millas fáciles al terminar (a 8:40 en promedio). En total fueron 11 millas. Es un entreno muy demandante, pero lo he terminado con mucho aire de sobra y nunca apreté en exceso.
Viernes. 5 millas sin problemas.
Sábado. Descanso. Mucho estiramiento y un poco de core.
Domingo. Carrera larga a paso lento. En total fueron 16.125 millas a 8:26 min/milla en promedio. No ha sido un día fácil porque he probado un nuevo trail en Michigan que tiene muchas pendientes enganosas (de esas que no se ven, pero que al final cobran caro). Además de las pendientes, el viento ha estado muy fuerte… A pesas de esos detallitos, creo que la carrera fue bastante estable, a un paso muy manejable y con gas en tanque al final de las 16 millas. Las carreras largas que estaba haciendo hasta la semana pasada han sido mucho más rápidas, pero mi nuevo plan recomienda tomar un paso relajado y eso hice. Me cuesta trabajo no ir por debajo de los 8 minutos, pero al final he sentido relativamente poco cansancio.
En total fueron 53 millas (u 85 kilómetros). Esta semana ha tenido tres entrenamientos de calidad y 3 de recuperación. Para mis maratones anteriores, 53 millas era una distancia de pico en los programas. Hoy es el inicio de un ciclo de 4 semanas… Todo marcha bien y espero que siga así!

11 semanas y contando

Estoy adaptandome paulatinamente a mi nuevo plan de entrenamiento. Me cuesta mucho trabajo dejar a un lado las ganas de correr a un paso más rápido, pero espero que los resultados se reflejen en una mejor recuperación y menor propensidad a las lesiones. Por lo pronto la semana pasada he pasado por primea vez de las 50 millas y me he sentido muy bien. Sigo teniendo molestias en el piriformis, pero espero que los estiramientos y el heating pad me ayuden a mejorar. Estos son los entrenamientos de la semana pasada.

Lunes. Después de correr 15 millas el domingo, salí a recuperar con 7 millas fáciles (a 8:30 en promedio)+ pesas al final (parte superior). Me sentí bien y no he tenido ninguna molestia mayor después de la carrera larga de ayer.
Martes. Hoy pensaba hacer una carrera de recuperación. Sin embargo he salido a correr con Simeon y la carrera de recuperación se trasformo en una carrera a steady-state de 7 millas a 7:00-7:05 en promedio+ pesas al final (core). He estado muy bien, sin acusar cansancio y con chispa cuando tuve que apretar.
Miércoles. Carrera fácil, de recuperación. 7 millas a 8:25 min/milla. Ningún efecto de la carrera de ayer + pesas al final (parte superior).
Jueves. Uf, este ha sido el primer entrenamiento fuerte de mi nuevo plan: un tempo largo. El entrenamiento fue de 12 minutos de calentamiento a 8:25, 4 series de 10 minutos c/u a 6:45 en promedio y tres millas fáciles al terminar (a 8:40 en promedio). En total fueron 11 millas. Es un entreno muy demandante, pero lo he terminado con mucho aire de sobra y nunca apreté en exceso.
Viernes. 5 millas sin problemas.
Sábado. Descanso. Mucho estiramiento y un poco de core.
Domingo. Carrera larga a paso lento. En total fueron 16.125 millas a 8:26 min/milla en promedio. No ha sido un día fácil porque he probado un nuevo trail en Michigan que tiene muchas pendientes enganosas (de esas que no se ven, pero que al final cobran caro). Además de las pendientes, el viento ha estado muy fuerte… A pesas de esos detallitos, creo que la carrera fue bastante estable, a un paso muy manejable y con gas en tanque al final de las 16 millas. Las carreras largas que estaba haciendo hasta la semana pasada han sido mucho más rápidas, pero mi nuevo plan recomienda tomar un paso relajado y eso hice. Me cuesta trabajo no ir por debajo de los 8 minutos, pero al final he sentido relativamente poco cansancio.

En total fueron 53 millas (u 85 kilómetros). Esta semana ha tenido tres entrenamientos de calidad y 3 de recuperación. Para mis maratones anteriores, 53 millas era una distancia de pico en los programas. Hoy es el inicio de un ciclo de 4 semanas… Todo marcha bien y espero que siga así!

Nuevo plan de entremamiento!

El inicio de la semana pasada no pintaba nada bien. Me sentía un poco cansado y arrastraba una serie de problemas musculares que no me dejaban entrenar bien. Desde inicios del 2010 estoy corriendo muy bien, pero creo que estaba equivocando un poco mi preparación para Traverse City. Estaba corriendo a un paso que ponía mucho estrés en mis articulaciones y músculos y no estaba descansando suficiente. Afortunadamente me he dado cuenta de esto antes de reventar por completo. Así que después de pensarlo varios días, consultarlo con mis amigos de entrenamientos y de leer varios libros he decidido replantear mi entrenamiento. Durante mucho tiempo pensé (equivocadamente) que el número de millas (kilómetros) que hiciera en la semana me garantizarían mejor tiempos. Sin embargo, he llegado a la conclusión de que la cantidad no es un substituto de calidad en los entrenamientos.

Voy a seguir poniendo muchas millas a la semana, pero lo voy a hacer con mucho más cuidado. Hay dos cambios fundamentales en mi nuevo plan con respecto al anterior. Primero, cada semana incluirá de dos a tres entrenamientos de calidad. Faltan 12 semanas para TC, así que, por lo general, el primer entrenamiento será un tempo largo. El segundo entrenamiento de calidad será una carrera de 12-15 millas a paso de maratón (7:15-7:30) o una carrera larga (18-22 millas) a un paso relajado (8:00-8:15). Segundo, voy a incrementar las carreras de recuperación (8:00-8:45 min/milla) a 4 o 5 por semana. Simeon me ha pasado un plan de entrenamiento que se ve del uno y que creo me servirá mucho para conseguir el objetivo que es correr en Boston en el 2011.

Ya iré describiendo mis sensaciones a medida que el plan se vaya desarrollando. Por lo pronto, la semana pasada descansé viernes y sábado y ayer domingo hice una carrera de 15 millas a 8 min/milla en promedio. Me he sentido muy bien! Hoy salgo a hacer la primera carrera de recuperación de 45-50 mins. El resumen de la semana pasada es el siguiente:

L- 8.5 millas
M- 7.5 millas
Mi- 4 millas easy, 6 millas tempo (7:00 min/milla avg.)
J- 5 millas, easy
V- descanso
S- descanso
D- 15 millas, 8:00 min/milla avg
Total: 46 millas

Uf, uf, uf!

Quedan 78 días para el maratón de Traverse City y la preparación empieza a tomar forma. La verdad estoy un poco cansado, pero es un proceso natural cuando empiezo a subir el kilometraje semanal. La semana pasada completé 50 millas y al final la he pasado un poco mal, he tenido molestias después de la carrera larga (14 millas) del viernes y esta semana he decidido bajar un poco la intensidad de los entrenamientos. El cuerpo empieza a sentir que la distancia se incrementa y pide un poco de piedad!

El resumen de la semana pasada es así:

M- 10 miles @ 7:35
T- 8 miles @ 7:40
W- 2 miles w.u., 4x1200mts(4:40,36,40,45), cd
Th- 6.5 miles, very easy recovery, 8:00 m/m

F- 14 miles @ 7:50

S- rest

S- 4 miles, very easy

Total: 50.3 miles (80.48)

Esta semana la inicié con carreras de 8.5 y 7.50 lunes y martes, respectivamente. El paso ha sido bastante moderado 7:50-8:00 min/milla para darme un respiro y tratar de recuperarme pronto de las pequenas molestias que tuve el fin de semana. Hoy salgo a correr con mi grupo y espero poder hacer 8-9 millas a un paso un poco más rápido que en los dos días anteriores. Esperemos que todo vaya bien!

Hacia Traverse City!

Aaaaah! me acabo de registrar para el maratón de Traverse City (29/05/2010). Los reviews de esta carrera son muy buenos y he decidido que en ella intentaré por primera vez correr un tiempo que me califique a Boston en el 2011. Los registros se han cerrado con mucho tiempo de anticipación y apenas hoy he logrado entrar en uno de los puestos que quedaban libres. Oficialmente, el primer intento de clasificación a Boston ya tiene nombre y fecha!

Las otras opciones eran Pittsburgh (que ha he corrido dos veces), Cincy y Cleveland. Pero el recorrido y el tamaño de la carrera en TC me han gustado. La verdad es que no quiero estar peleando por espacio para correr con otras 40,000 personas. Ya habrá tiempo para eso en Chicago. Bueno, ahora que es oficial, vamos a los detalles del entrenamiento.

La semana pasada he estado bien, pero la carrera larga de 13 millas me ha costado mucho trabajo porque la hice en la pista techada y ha sido un aburrimiento total. Sin embargo, el balance general es bueno y estos son los registros:

Semana 6:

Lunes: 9 millas @ 7:35
Martes: 8.5 millas @ 7:20+ core
Miercolitros: 4x800mts (2:53, 2:56, 2:57, 2:56); WU+CD=7 millas
Juebebes: 6 millas facilitas @ 7:35+ core

Beviernes: 13 millas @ 7:40

Sabadancing Descanso total

Dormingo: 4.5  millas+bike+core

TOTAL: 48 millas (77.5 kms)

La impresión general es que estoy listo para empezar a poner dos o tres carreras de dobles dígitos a la semana. A diferencia de la semana 5, he recuperado mejor y aunque no me he sentido muy fino en la velocidad en los primeros días, poco a poco la fui recuperando. Esta semana la inicié con una carrera de 10 millas… al fin, el meteo empieza a mejorar!!!!!

Semana 5: Con sabor olímpico!

Ya me imaginaba que no todo podía ser tan perfecto. La semana pasada, justo después de escribir en el blog, me enfermé de la gripa. Afortunadamente sólo perdí un día de entrenamiento, que fue la carrera larga. Sin embrago, gracias al osito bimbo, me recuperé muy rápido y el lunes ya estaba entrenando de nuevo. Ha sido una buena semana que empezó fuerte y que se mantuvo así hasta el final.

Este es el resumen de la semana:

Week 5:

M- 8.5 miles @ 7:25
T- 2x20 mins @ 7:35, 7:35, 1x2 miles @ 7:10
W- Tempo 3 miles (18:50)+400mts(85 segs)+WU+CD=6.75 miles
Th- 52 mins. (recovery, 7:50/mi)
F- 14 miles @ 7:47 avg.
S- Cross training
Estoy muy bien

La verdad es que Simeon y Scott me han ayudado mucho en la segunda mitad. El equipo Mexico-Suizo-Americano es una buena sociedad y me puede ayudar mucho de cara al maratón de primavera. No me puedo quejar, he puesto una semana buena y ahora toca disfrutar un poco del fin de semana.

Una bestia?

Creo que las sensaciones después de tres semanas y media de entrenamientos serios no pueden ser mejores. Me encuentro muy fuerte y me siento mejor. Hoy (miércoles 10 de febrero) hicimos velocidad y durante el entreno alguien (omito su nombre por posibles represalias) me dijo que estaba corriendo como una bestia! No estoy seguro que ese sea el término adecuado que describa mi estado de forma actual, pero creo que es una buena aproximación. Simplemente, estoy recuperando la forma que tenía al cerrar el 2009. Bueno, esta es una forma mejorada porque estoy más rápido, con muy buena base y listo para empezar a poner una buena cantidad de kilómetros en las próximas semanas.
Este es el resumen de la semana hasta hoy:

Lunes: 9 millas @ 7:25
Martes: 10 mins. @ 7:40; 2x4000 mts (17:48 y 17:20 respectivamente); 10 mins. @ 7:30
Miércoles: 15 mins. @ 7:40; 4x640 mts.—320 mts. Recuperación (2:22, 2:20, 2:19, 2:18); 15 mins. cool down. Total 6.75 millas.

La semana se cierra con tres entrenamientos adicionales: 6-7 millas de recuperación el jueves, 12-14 millas el viernes y cross training el fin de semana. Esperemos que todo salga bien en el resto de la semana.

Semana 3

Week 3:
M- 7.5 miles @ 7:25
T- 2 miles warm up; 3x5 mins. @ 85% mhr; 2.5 miles cool down
W- 22 mins w.u.; 2x1 mi (@6:11, 6:05); 2 millas c.d.
Th- 13.1 mi @ 7:40 avg.
Fr- 5 miles (easy, very easy pace)
S- Rest

La carrera larga me ha costado un poco porque la temperatura ha estado muy lejos de ser ideal (30 F). La idea de la pre-temporada era mantener el nivel y llegar fuerte al entrenamiento rumbo al maraton de primavera. Estoy fuerte y creo que empiezo a ganar velocidad. Si me mantengo libre de lesiones el anio proximo voy a correr en Boston!
Update viernes-- 5 millas en treadmill, suaves, sin problemas. El principio ha sido duro pero una vez entrados en gastos no he tenido ningun problema. Una semana mas en los libros...

Registrado en Chicago!!!!!

Me acabo de registrar para correr en Chicago el 10-10-10! Quiero llegar al 100% y correr a tope ese dia... Chicago me debe una revancha y me la voy a tomar el 10 de octubre.

Otra semanita casi en la bolsa...

La semana pasada complete 37 millas y creo que en esta voy a andar cerca de las 40. El resumen es:

Domingo: Natación (40 minutos)
Lunes: 8 millas (59 mins. 34 segs)
Martes: 6.6 millas (intervalos 6x400 a 90 segs. promedio)
Miércoles: 7. 5 millas (7:25/milla promedio)
Jueves: 7 millas (7:20/ milla promedio)
Viernes: 11-12 millas (por hacer)
Sábado: 3-4 millas (paso muy suave)

Me siento fuerte y creo que me estoy familiarizando con el paso de 7:30/milla más rápido de lo que me esperaba. La idea es hacer las carreras largas a 7:35-7:40 por milla. Correr en Cleveland empieza a ganar enteros, pero aún no esta 100% decidido.

2010

No hay perdón por abandonar mi blog por casi dos meses. Después de NY me he dado un buen descanso activo y ahora empiezo a subir la distancia. La semana pasada corrí 32 millas y esta semana (ene 15-22) voy camino a igualar o mejorar esa marca, 22 millas hasta ayer. El miércoles (ayer) hice un tempo de 3 millas en 19 mins. 16 segs., nada mal después de casi tres meses sin hacer un tempo tan largo. Me siento muy bien a pesar de que las rodillas me están dando un poco de problemas.

Todavía estoy pensando en los maratones que me gustaría correr este año. Lo único seguro es que voy a regresar a Chicago en octubre. El maratón de primera es una incógnita. Las posibilidades son Cincy, Traverse City, Pittsburgh o Cleveland. Por lo pronto voy a seguir entrenando, subiendo distancia y tomaré una decisión basado en la progresión que tenga. El objetivo fundamental del 2010 es la calificación a Boston. No va a ser fácil, pero voy a entrenar con todo para intentarlo.

Hasta pronto…