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.

Consistent virtual prizes

 Will I achieve the 240 km badge one day?

A regular Thursday run

Today was a basic 15 km, fairly slow and gentle and very slow after Monday! However Tuesday's swim seemed to go fairly well and I seemed to be in a good equilibrium between breathing and swimming which promises progress. Yesterday's circuit had left me with tired legs so a fair time was  a good outcome. Although there is a strong argument that some speed is essential it is also well reported that base training is the foundation; this article makes that sound complex though! I'm sorry to say that I don't have much plan to my distance, except that any medium length trail run in Sheffield will have a variety of physiological demands due to the hills!

By the way, another Strava Course Record of mine lost, it looks as though there is a new entrant in the area who is quite fast (5km in 18 minutes) ad taking similar routes to me.

Fast, faster, fastest!

I joined my wife's running group this evening and chose to go with the fast element with the proviso that I might drop back. We set off at my '1km pace' so that didn't bode well for a 6km run! Anyway with a bit of effort I achieved some good times (including a sub-23 minute 5km) and suppose this is what's called a Tempo run. Whether skeletal muscle lactate is the barrier is debated in 'The Lore of Running' but it does make sense that it's not helpful to get stuck into a plodding pace rut.

Strava half-marathon

I've managed to consolidate my longer runs and achieved a half-marathon again today. No photos this time but this makes a bit of a stronger base as I did this back in July too. This week I also ran 16km on Thursday so I didn't have a very fresh start. 

The virtual badge

As usual the pace was slow at 5:52 minutes per km but well below my trail target of 6 minutes per km at this distance.

Now there's the 20 miles and 26.2 miles to complete in September and October respectively.