our choices show what we truly are

6.8 miles at slow pace, still recovering.

Tonight the weather was humid but really warm. Good relaxing run.

After several days I went running in the morning, the marathon last week doesn't qualify as a normal run. Unfortunately it was foggy and humid with some light rain, but at least it was not completely dark. Legs are not back to life and were more tired than last night, I did 6.2 miles at the slowest pace possible (in 1 hour and few seconds). Now I have the whole day to recover.

It was hard at the beginning my legs were still heavy and slow, after a couple of miles I started going a little bit faster and I finished with the last mile at 4:30/km. I hope it means recovery is really under way. As a side note last night for the first time in a couple of years I slept for 12 hours, and this didn't help. The weather was incredible I was running in shorts and short sleeves with temperatures around 70°F.

Tonight it was a strange run.

I was wearing shorts and shirt because temperatures were around 50F even though was raining on and off all day. After 5 minutes I was under an heavy downpour that lasted for the next 3 miles, after that I started freezing and I kept running a little bit faster each lap just to try to warm up, after 3 more miles I was almost dry, almost warm and I didn't realize I wasn't tired at all. I finished 6.5 miles really happy to have done some many miles on a bad night.

On the way home tonight I felt fine, my legs were kind of fresh after sitting for 4 hours at a meeting, and outside conditions looked great no rain, clear skies, crisp temperatures and a light breeze. I decided to go out and test again some speed with a mini tempo run. I wanted to do 5 miles in 36 minutes, goal marathon pace, and at the end I exceeded my expectations finishing in 34:21. I started on pace and then I progressively accelerated to hm/10 k pace. At the end I could have kept the pace for another 5 miles but I didn't want to exaggerate and finished with a couple of km walking enjoying the cool crispy air.

7 easy miles at night. Tomorrow is a holiday so it means a morning run with hopefully some sun.

Today is a holiday and I took advantage of it going running in the morning when the sun was up. Temperatures were around 65F with a light breeze. I met one of the organizers of the Trail marathon I did in april and we did a few miles together, I discovered that the trail "marathon" was actually longer the 26 miles more around 27.5 miles. That doesn't change anything but I feel a little bit better about my performance, I thought I didn't slow down at all during the second half and still I was 10 minutes slower at the end, now I have the explanation. Good day overall so far.

Rest day. 2 miles just to go out and loosen up my legs.

I wanted to restart my marathon training with a long run with most of the miles at marathon pace. I woke up with a thick fog no more than 10m of visibility and 51°F with 100% humidity. I drove to the lake where everything is usually worse, more humidity (if possible) a couple of degrees (celsius) lower and thicker fog. I was alone and really felt lonely in this surreal/eerie place. I did a repeat style training run and surprisingly all this negative things made me stronger, since my warm up km I felt really strong and determined and the fact that I was the only human being out there gave me some extra mental power.  

1k (warm up) 5:37/km

5k 4:28/k + 3"

1k 4:57/k

5k 4:28/k 

1k 4:59/k 

5k 4:30/k

1k 5:04/k

6k 4:25/k + 3"

Overall a great workout 15.5 miles in 1:54:10 at 4:34/k. I was really strong at the end.

6.3 miles in 1 hour, temperatures were like early summer, unbelievable.

Not enough time to run and still recovering from saturday, 3.1 miles at slow pace. 

Tempo run at MP, I got carried away and finished with a pace in between HMP and MP.

10k in 43:06 + 1.3k cool down.

Tonight was the first cool night of the season with high humidity and low temperatures (41F), I was forced to use a long sleeve shirt.

5 slow miles, my legs had no energy, no power, probably no glicogen, I was just glad to finish without walking without injuries, tired is good. 

Another slow run, although leaving my house I didn't think I would be able to finish 6 miles I had planned. Overall I was happy about this run.

A strike of the railways workers and the Christmas party of my running club, killed my running time at night. At the party we also celebrated the victory of our team in the local circuit of races, and the fastest guy, who dominated the competion and is part of our team. The menu featured lots of prosciutto, salame, and other cured meat won in the last few months, along with pizza and wine. This was the first time we won in over 10 years since this championship started, winning again next year will be tough.

Bad weather rain/snow mix and a constant strong wind, I ventured to the lake dressed for running to check the conditions, but the wind was just crazy. I couldn't run on a straight line, I was constantly pushed to the left or to the right or stopped by the wind, after 200 yeards I turned around and went home.

I also decided to skip tomorrow race, I am done racing for the year.

I am back to almost normal life after a couple of hectic days. Tonight was the coldest day of this season, 32-34°F, I actually enjoyed being out and just having to run without having anything else to think about.

I signed up for a couple of spring marathons, San Valentino marathon on feb. 19 and Rome marathon on march 18, now it's time to commit again to more serious training. For every marathon I always added or changed something in my training, this time I really want to increase a little bit my mileage while keeping a couple of hard/fast workouts. To increase my mileage it will be harder doing it at night in one session, so I will try to add some easy miles early in the morning before leaving to work. I am writing this just to commit myself to this new goal. 7 easy miles.

This won't be the first double of the season because tonight I won't be able to run but it was the first early morning run (5:30-6:00) anyway and probably my first early morning run during the winter months ever. I did a 1.1km loop around my house without any watch, it was cold but not humid, overall it was a good experience and I hope to keep this enthusiasm when the feeling of doing something new will be gone. 5 laps for 3.3 miles at slow pace.

Tonight I went running to celebrate the "end"of the dark season, from now on days will gain minutes of light. I won't be able to go running in the evening with some light until mid march but summer is coming.

5 miles progressively faster, I started at 5:00/km finished at 4:30/km, total time 37:37.

6.2 miles in 58:58, nothing special, it was cold and windy.

Early morning run at 5:30, 3.3 miles at slow pace.

Second run in the evening 5 miles, felt good.

I had big plans for today's run, but rain, wind and just don't feeling all that great lowered my expectations I ended up with 8 slow miles. Just in general my legs don't feel recovered, constantly tired and even running slow doesn't seem to help, I would really like to start pushing again, in terms of miles and speed, but everytime I try to bump things up I feel lack of energy, aches and pain everywhere. Anyway it is what it is, I will do what I can.

Merry Christmas, buon Natale!!!