Week 3 / 9

My commute to work on foot

I must be one of very few people who was happy to see it raining this morning. Last week the temperatures started to drop and with it, my performance started to improve. I'd like to think it was the result of the altitude training camp in Morocco, but I've been told that you need to spend one or two months at altitude for it to have a noticeable effect. More likely it is a combination of the cooler temperatures and coming down off the peak of training from the previous weeks.

Pozuelo to Villafranca and back, cycle paths and tracks all the way

I did my aerobic runs comfortably at 13.5 kph (4:25 per km) and my medium intensity at 15 kph (4:00 per km). On Sunday, I did the 30km long run that I had to cut short last week. Using MapMyRun I managed to find a new out-and-back route from my house to Villafranca. It was more stoney than I would have and had a fair bit of incline, especially on the way back, but was all on cycle or off-road so next time I run it I may run alongside my eldest son on his bike. (By the way, someone had put up a fence at around 14.2 kilometers which meant I had to turn around early. Honestly, how can people be allowed to block off rights of way?) I tried out running at close to Marathon speed during the last quarter but it felt infeasibly fast. I had to remind myself that I had actually already run a Marathon faster than the pace I was going along at otherwise it would have been quite a demoralizing experience. Between now and the Marathon, I plan to run a Half Marathon at Marathon pace in order to get used to the rhythm.