Kingston bridge + Hampton Court bridge loop

 

Untuned with myself. Not a feeling I’m used to. Not a feeling I’m comfortable with.

The plan for today’s run was to dress as I’m planning to dress for the Seville marathon. Same shoes, shorts, shirt. Same amount of gels (an amount I wouldn’t dare to confess). 

Run to Kingston bridge as a warmup. Free pace. Based on feeling. Not allowed to look at the watch.

Then, from Kingston bridge to Hampton Court bridge (around 5k) run at what I thought would be my marathon pace. Again, only based on feeling. Not listening to podcasts or music. Not allowed to look at the watch.

If I were successful I should be able to run back from Hampton Court to Kingston at the same pace.

As you can see looking at the run I wasn’t successful. By the time I got to Hampton Court I knew I had gone too hard. Worst of it I knew I had started too hard but I didn’t feel that fast.

To make things even worse my left leg was feeling a bit funny. Something that started after last Saturday’s marathon in the trails (https://www.strava.com/activities/17165873979) and it hasn’t gone away. Who would have thought that a marathon on the trails was probably not the best training for a road marathon three weeks later…

I could have run back to Kingston and tried to adjust my pace but the niggle in my left leg made me think it was safer to call it a day, jog home and try again tomorrow.

The jog back home was 30 minutes of feeling sorry for myself. I was feeling slow, I knew I hadn’t been able to pace myself, and I felt fragile. Not sure which one was worse. Not the best news two weeks before Seville.

And now, I look at the numbers in Strava and I am hugely surprised. I wasn’t expecting it. 

Don’t get me wrong. I know a pace of 4:36m/km is nothing to write home about, but, for me, it is huge. It is a 5k and a 10k PR, which, even if I never really targeted those distances, is significant. 

So, yes, I wasn’t that slow (for my level) but I still had the feeling of not being able to pace myself and being fragile. And that makes me feel untuned with myself. Not a feeling I’m used to. Not a feeling I’m comfortable with.

Exactly two weeks for the Seville marathon now. The fear of starting too hard and legs falling off too soon is now planted in my brain. Not sure if that is good or bad. Doubts start to creep in.

I’ll give it another go tomorrow. Hopefully it’ll get better.

(Apologies for the self-pity report)

The run in Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/17236438503/

Take care of yourself

Javier Arias González

(cancelled) South Devon (trail) (almost) Marathon

Dumb & Dumber

That is the only way of describing it. 

As we were leaving the hotel, around 7:15am, already in the car, we learnt the event was cancelled.

My first reaction was “fine, we go home and we run tomorrow”.

JFW’s was “nah, let’s go to Dartmouth, grab a tea and we go for a run here”.

I’d swear he said 10 miles.

Despite my strong personality and the suspicion that I was being tricked, I agreed to the plan and that was it.

Nothing would stop us.

A local telling you that if you leave the car (my car) at that place it won’t be there in an hour? Move the car half a mile inland and stick to the plan.

Strong winds and big waves giving you the (salty) shower you didn’t get at the hotel? You keep running.

Heart breaking images in Torcross when you realise how hard the houses were hit by the storm? You keep running.

Only stop running if you need to walk up the hills and to have a pee (I lost count of how many pee stops I had).

To be honest the conditions were not that bad.

Yes, a huge wave surprised us in Torcross and put water up our calves (so much for running on gore-tex shoes), it was windy enough to have to be very careful at points and it rained enough that you wouldn’t care anymore. Certainly conditions that justified the cancellation of the event but, still, good enough to enjoy the experience.

But we still were dumb & dumber. I’ll let you decide who was which.

“Oh, look, a lighthouse over there". “Let’s go and visit it”. “But it is out of the route”. “Yeah, let’s go there anyway…”

“10 miles and 2 hours running”. “Let’s carry on for a little bit”.

“Oh, this bit is slippery…” next second Javier is down, then JFW is down and Javier goes down again…

“How much further do we go?”. “Just a mile and a half”.

(3 miles later) “Oh, look, the boxes from what was a checkpoint. They have bananas and crisps (who knows what else)”, “Yeah, we are fine, we take something if we need it on our way back”.

“Half a marathon and 2 hours and a half running”. “Ok, let’s turn around, I am starting to get cold”. “I’m not cold, I'm having great fun”. “Don’t talk to me with your positivity…”

Of course, the boxes from the checkpoint weren’t there by the time we were returning, but that wasn’t a problem. I had enough gels to survive for 15 days and JFW had a pack of gummies. Enough for him to also survive 15 days.

By the time we were back to Torcross the locals were already working on the reparations of their houses. It felt wrong to be there running.

We jogged back to the car, now with tail wind, and we called a day. 

We didn’t quite make a full marathon.

Dumb and dumber.

The run in Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/17165873979

More pictures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/NVmxB1uRhR8p1Mjr7

Take care of yourself

Javier Arias González

Reverse La Belga loop

Why did I run it in reverse?

I woke up around 9am, which, to me, is fairly late.

But I went to bed yesterday at 2am, which, to me, is very, very late.

I also had drunk a fair bit. Which, to me, means I had drunk around three glasses of wine. 

All this to say that when I woke up I didn’t fancy going for a run.

I still put my running shorts on. That is one of the brain games I play with myself. Taking tiny steps in the right direction.

I had breakfast while I was wondering what to run. I couldn’t make up my mind. I didn’t feel like running.

Lethargic was probably the best way to describe how I was feeling so I had a coffee while looking outside. It was a cold but sunny morning. It would have been a shame to miss the opportunity of going for a run.

That is when the idea crossed my mind. Probably triggered by the caffeine. Run La Belga loop in reverse and it will feel like running something completely new. If it feels completely new it is easier for me to relax, just run slow, enjoy the run and focus on not getting lost.

Boom! 

Five minutes later, almost two hours after I woke up, I was out of the door enjoying the jog.

Happy to report I didn’t get lost a single time.

A very nice way of starting the year.

The run in Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/16901636765 

Take care of yourself

Javier Arias González