our choices show what we truly are

This morning my garmin was still doing the same show, I will give it a few more tests in the next few days and then I will sacrifice it on a holy fire to the gods of running. Nothing special about today's run. Tomorrow I will attempt my first "race" in a while to see if I can do 13k under 8min/mile and see whether my legs and my feet can take this kind of stress.

There should and electromagnetic storm around me because when I was trying to drive home my car decided not too start, I was on top of a short hill and it was easy to jump start the car and managed to drive home. It is probably the battery, monday I will deal with that.

First race in a while, after a low and slow mileage summer and still in pain early in the morning. I wanted to do this race just to evaluate my fitness considering I have done in 2009 and 2010  55:24 and 54:58. My goal was to finish under 1 hour and if I felt decent trying to stay under 58:30, that is 4:30/km.

This race is held in a small town, Orte, the course starts 100 m lower than the main plaza where is the finish line and goes on a rolling loop for 11k and it climbs up to the very top of the town during the last two km. Many guys and girls around here have their best 10k during this race, because there are not many flat 10k where to test your speed.

I got there at 9:00 am, found my captain to get the bib number, changed clothes and then after a quick stop I lined up in the middle of the crowd. The start is usually crowded but I didn't mind to start slow and to have people to pass along the way. My goal was to stay at 4:30/km and then along the way evaluate my legs and my feet. At km 5 I was at 4:27 average pace and I felt good, I decided to leave the group of people I was running with to see if I could make up some time for the final slow 2k. The chasing game continued until I reached the finish line, just during the final climb I probably passed more than 10 people.

Overall I was happy about the time and the feeling, I honestly did my best and my legs and feet were ok after. I am writing this on monday morning and my feet are in pain 2/10 my right one, 8/10 my left one, this was somehow expected. The good news is it will go away during the day, it is just a painful reminder. I have miles and speed to rebuild slowly and patiently.

This is a special day in my running career, exactly nine years ago today I switched to half biker/half runner to full time runner and I started to train for my first race: the turkey trot up city creek canyon (in 2003 the start was at the gate and not from Capitol Hill and that year we didn't do the full course but we turned around at the 1.5 mile mark because there was snow on the ground). I started recording my training on january 2005, during the first year and a half I was writing my mileage on a paper calendar, so right now considering that unregistered period of time I am above 17000 miles. 

Just some blabbing to add some interest to 9.3miles at slow pace, the last three were done when the sun was gone at it was dark, cool, but really dark.

Another good run, slow, with the final miles in the dark, tonight I had a reflective vest and a headlamp.

No run tonight, the heavy rain destroyed my plan to go out. The only bad thing: my feet with or without running still hurt.

Instead going running alone and slow I went with a couple of friends at night to do this race.

I wanted to try some fast km and see where I am in terms of fitness and consequent foot pain the morning after. We drove at 7:15 pm to the small town of Barbarano where the city decided to organize this race to start the festivities of the "snail", for three days from the afternoon until midnight there will be some kind of fair serving food and the snails, cooked in different ways, are the main dish in most of the food stands. This was the first edition of the race and we didn't expect many people, instead there were some 100-120 runners (that is a good number for a local race in the middle of the week on a first edition) with some national level athletes. The race organizer knows many people and this helped to have some fast competitors. After registration we went for a warm up to explore the course that was a loop of 1650m, measured by a biker, with a short climb of about 30m and the rest was a gentle uphill and gentle downhill, with 6 sharp narrow corners in the section going through the old part of the town on cobblestone. Overall we were pleased that was quite flatish for our local standards and was going to be faster, actually probably the second faster race in terms of course in a radius of 50km.

At the start was announced that the loop has to be repeated four times and after some more chat we started. I wanted to try to see if I could finish at 4:10/km and one of my friends, faster than me, told me he would be glad to come with me and pacing me. We started on time at 8:30pm and after some elbowing on the narrow road we spread out and we did the first km at 3:49/km that is a little bit on the fast side, but to escape the crowd was necessary, second km was 3:53/km still fast but more reasonable. After that my friend and I got separated by a couple of meters and I couldn't hear his splits, I was running "naked", but just by feeling we slowed down to a more reasonable 4:0something. After the second lap we stopped passing people and we maintained our positions until the end. We avoided being lapped by the top runners by 1/2 km and successfully finished in 26:56 at 4:04/km average pace.

I was happy about the outcome, this morning (I am writing this on friday morning) my feet are still locked in pain, but with some walking around they should be back to a more manageable status. My legs are fine and I don't feel too fatigued (in spite less than 5 hours of sleep). This race had a great organization, there was a coolmax type of shirt and socks as race package (the registration was 10 euros so overall a good deal), I got 8th in my age group and got another shirt, different style, and then after some light refreshment right after the race (cookies, pizza and watermelon) there was a huge pasta party and wine on the streets of the town for all runners and all the people who were there watching the race. Great feeling overall.

Five slow miles, after five days of rain sun and mosquitoes are back.

Micro taper before tomorrow HM. It will be more a long run than a real race but I need to be cautious given my general lack of training. My new Garmin arrived today.

Third race in 8 days, I really want to go back in some decent shape and I will try to use racing to ramp up my mileage and speed. My goal #1 for today HM is to go out comfortably hard hoping to finish in 1:35 and feeling "fresh" at the end, goal #2 would be finishing with the same time and feeling wasted at the end, #3 finishing under 1:40 feeling whatever and last goal finishing under 1:45. For a quick description of this race you can read my last year report.

Like last year it was warm at 9:00 am but the anticipated start at 9:30 should make things a little bit easier. This race is constantly growing, this morning there were 1100 people to squeeze in a two lane road, if the number of runners keeps going up they have to make some adjustment to the starting line.We started 5 minutes late, the first km was crowded, but after that I was able to run my own pace. First km was 4:44, second one 4:38, third 4:31 (my target pace was 4:30/km) but for sure 4:30 was a little bit too ambitious for my current fitness level and I really didn't want to finish wasted with a 1:35, so I adjusted to the idea of keeping a 4:38/km for the rest of the race especially during the second half that is hillier and in full sun.

I crossed the timing mat at km 10 in 45:43 (4:35/km) after a couple of kms I entered the slower part of the race with some hills, in this section I manage to keep my pace steady and I started passing people slowing down. I really pushed the last 2km (4:20 e 4:13) to finish under 1:37:30, my final time was 1:37:05 (4:36/km).

This is my second slowest HM, just by 2 seconds, but I am happy because even if I missed my #1 goal I was feeling somehow "fresh" at the end. I walked 2km to my car, went home, mowed the lawn, took a shower, had lunch with my family and then fell asleep. I was woke up at 3:30pm by a huge thunderstorm that dumped lots of needed water on my garden and at 5 pm when the sun was back again I went to the lake for a slow run to finish 20 miles for the day.

After a few slow miles at the beginning I started going progressively faster and finished 7 miles with a couple of kms at HM pace.

Overall I am happy about my mileage and speed, still lots of work to do. Pain in the calcaneal area is still there tonight, but not worse than other days, a great day.

Seven miles in 59:13. Recovery/training or whatever I am doing these days is going fine.

8.1 miles in 1:09:48. I finished my run at 8:15 when it was dark, if it was a month ago I would have done a few more miles. I felt really good especially at the end.

Tempo run at HM pace or close. I finished 10k in 46:55, 4:41/k. I thought/hoped it would be much easier and a little bit faster for that effort, but I need to be patient and keep training.

Relaxing run just ahead another big storm, total time 43:59.

A slow and easy 10k in between two storms in 52:37. Tomorrow I will attempt a medium run at MP.

I wanted to go a little bit longer around 15-16 miles, but I did too many miles this week and at the end I felt the lack of steam and will power in my legs. I finished 21.1k at what would be right now an aggressive MP, 13.1 in 1:42:17 4:51/k. I am really satisfied about my weekly mileage, it is nice to be back on a solid schedule, my left foot is slowly improving, my right foot is back to normal, I can see the light at the end of this tunnel. I really hope to keep a decent running schedule for the rest of the year in order to regain my fitness and speed.

Just a relaxing run in Pescara along the Adriatic sea. Nothing fast, I wanted just to enjoy the sun and relax.

Tonight I managed to have the company of two of my running friends, the plan was to start easy and the move a little bit faster during the second half. We started slow for the first 3k and then things got a little bit out of control, we went from running one next to the other to run in a single line, doing  a nice "train" like professional cyclists, exchanging the lead to push the pace. Overall the AP was 4:43/k but the last 4-5k were done at HMP (their HM pace) on a uphill terrain. We finished at 8:10pm and it was really dark, we waited 20 minutes to cooldown and then we drove home.

I am on vacation for the rest of the week and I am planning to run as much as possible. This morning I started with a 13.1 in 1:58:46, nothing fast, this afternoon I will try a few more miles.

I added 6.2 miles at 5pm at slow pace, just to add some miles. I was somehow tired at the beginning after 30 minutes and 5k I felt much better and added some kind of speed to my slow jog. 1:01 for a 10 k.

A good slow run in the morning, if everything goes OK by saturday I will have all the rules of the good runner trashed or I will be trashed. I feel good, my feet are not worse than usual and I really want to do some miles. It is really sad that this year I have never done so far a 70 mile week and just last week the first week above 60. I am doing all these miles really slow, but so far my legs are in really good shape, it help I am on vacation and taking an afternoon nap.

13.1 in 2:02:15.

This morning I was tired, I was dreaming doing another 13 miler, but 7 was what I could maintain. I need a nap in the afternoon.

Morning run at slow pace and then night race to be used as a speed workout.

The morning run was OK, 6.2 miles in 58 and change.

In the afternoon I went to Rome and on the way back I got stuck in traffic, I got to Viterbo 6 minutes after the start and I could not find the guy with my bib number, otherwise I would have started anyway to chase the last runners to score some points for my team. I waited for my friends to finish the race and then really disappointed went home for a late dinner.

This morning my legs were fresh and with a couple of friends (one of them ran last night, so he was sore) with did an easy 10k in about 60 minutes. After the first loop they both went home and I did a second one plus some extra to reach the HM distance in 52 minutes. Overall a great run with the second half at marathon pace.

This was my first week above 70 miles of the whole year, having most of the week off from work it helped especially for the recovery part. I will take advantage of the extra time in the next few days to run a few more extra miles and then I will resume a more regular schedule.

This morning I was really tired and the plan of going out for 2 hours and covering 13 miles, it was more a fantasy. I stayed home all morning, had lunch at my parents house and then in the afternoon my legs started smiling again. At 3pm I went out and ended up doing 7 miles, first half slow second half at HM pace. It was hot but I am glad I decided to wait to go running until the afternoon because I was feeling much better and my pace was faster.

One of the last run around the lake during the week, it is really getting dark very early. 10 miles in 1:26:14. It is nice just to add miles.

Weird tempo run, overall it was right 17k at 4:51/k AP, that is my current dream MP, but the whole run was just crazy I started uphill for the first 4k and my time went from 5:50 to 5:11. Then for the next 6k on a flat/slightly downhill terrain I maintained 4:10/k, then under the moonlight I finished the last 7k on a rolling terrain trying to cool down at 5:00/k with the last km at 4:30/k.

I was really impressed by my 4:10/k during the central 6k and overally because after those fast kms I was not dead and my legs were still able to respond. Next time I have to try to do a more even job on a flat terrain. 

Slow run around my house, it is the end of the summer season, for the next six months no more runs around the lake during the week days, just darkness, cold weather and rain. I am really excited.

Good recovery run 10k in 1 hour.

12k at slow pace, last 4.1k at MP. I am tired and hungry, a good dinner is in order.

Feeling tired, lond day at work, no will power to go running. I fell asleep at 8pm on the couch, woke at 10pm and moved my sorry body to the bed and good night.

Last year this week end I did a 36k at 4:47/k, today I started a 26k trying to finish at 5:00/k. Since the beginning I was able to stay well under 5:00, I finished the first 13k in 1:03:28 and did the second 13.2k in 1:01:48. Good things were the negative split, at the end I was tired but still able to maintain the pace, and overall I felt good throughout the whole run in spit being by myself. I was really dehydrated at the end because it was hot (I lost exactly 3kilos, that's too much), I have to remember to bring liquids for this kind of runs and I have to learn to appreciate what I can do right now instead keep going back at what I was able to do on the same course last year.

No run today.