Costa Blanca

I've done 3 short runs and a lovely coastal walk whilst on holiday in the Costa Blanca. Even at 7am the temperature was at least 20°C and this was a substantial barrier to speed even though the terrain was easy. At least it kept me in practice. I've also been in the water most days although not really swum much as the hotel pools are too short and the sea too rough.

Benidorm can be quite attractive in the right light

Looking back to Altea

The walk along Sierra Helada  was quite hard going in places despite being short. We went south to north and I think that might be slightly easier than the recommended direction as there is a rocky scramble which needed attention on the ascent and so would be worse descending.

Take it easy

This week I'm taking it easy to allow recovery from my 32km run. I saw the physio a few days ago for a maintenance review and she found a few tight areas (especially hamstrings) indicating ongoing weakness on the left. No specific knee issues though, which is good. I've also done my first proper swimming session after two weeks away. I did get in pools during these recent breaks but they were too cold/too chlorinated/too short to offer decent exercise opportunities.

Hopefully after a couple of gentle weeks I'll be able to increase a bit more to prepare for the next goal; marathon distance at the end of October.

Alongside all of this I've been doing some of Vibram's preparatory exercises although I've not attempted the 'towel grabbing' as yet.

Mid September acitivity

I've been on a non-running holiday and then on a conference so I've not had opportunities for running for the best part of 2 weeks. Whilst away I did do some shopping and came home with these:

Image stolen from the Vibram website

There'll be quite a learning curve getting used to these. I can get them on in just a few minutes now!

Wearing the well-worn Inov-8 shoes I managed 7km in the woods at a good pace and then, today, as the weather was pleasant, I decided to try for the Strava 20mile award. 'It would only be a little more than The Round Walk' I said to myself.

Well it was a good 7 or 8 km further and I found those very hard work. After the half-marathon distance I ran out of steam probably due to lack of practice. Anyway I did make the distance...

Another virtual award

 I'll need to take things very easy over the next week to allow a good recovery.