Denouement

Met MacK and Holly at 5am.  Ran quicker with them for 55 min, then slower on my own.  My legs are still sore from the Saturday race.  Crazy morning then traveling all day to get to Lima.

Got to Lima at 5am.  Took us an hour to find our hotel because I confused the cab driver and we didn't have the address of our hotel.  We finally let him show us where the hotel is, which is in the San Isidro area, the embassy area of Lima, much nicer than south central Lima, where I lead the cab driver.  We got to the hotel at 7:30am, and it is a nice hotel.  It's a Swissotel, I hadn't heard of them until this trip but apparently they're in different locations around the world.  The great staff let us in our room with an early checkin at 9am!  So we were able to take a hearty nap then start our day.  We didn't do much, a nice lunch, then let our stomach's rest, then we did a run.  I wasn't sure if we'd run today given the arrival time, but since we had the room and I got a nap, we were ready to go.  Lima is not really safe for a light haired gringa to run alone in, so the idea was to run with Paul (who averages 10 min pace) so I would need to run back and forth, but I did have a good looking bodyguard.

Workout was 10-12 times 1 min on/off fartlek at 10k pace.  Since I was still sore from the 1/2 marathon, and I was lucky to just be running at all, I did 10 of these. 

ave pace for on segments is 5:35 

We walked over three miles through unsavory portions of Lima to get from San Isidro to Miraflores at dusk.  We went the wrong way and were kind of frightened and tired.  It is always scariest the first day on the streets in a foreign land, especially when there are lots of warnings in the guide book about the various methods criminals use to steal from you.  Now that we've gotten more of the lay of the land, we are feeling more confident.  We will remain vigilant but there is a lot to see and do in this city. 

Ran some on the treadmill to warm up, then did stretching and hit the roads with Paul, my trusted body guard.  We went to Los Olivares, a park in San Isidro, then went around the golf course a couple of times.  A guy stopped us as we went around.  He is involved with a Peru running club, and invited us to join their Saturday run.  He gave us the meeting time and said marathoners come, and about 300 people show up each week (sounds like an exaggeration, but we'll see?).  I checked out the website he gave me and the location (very close to where we are staying) and time he gave us matches the website.  I may join them on Saturday so I don't need to do a 20 miler on the treadmill.

We went to the San Francisco Monastery and catacombs in downtown lima, where we got attacked by huge flocks of seagulls.  I hid behind Paul and squealed like mad.  The monastery was neat.  Our guide seemed to speak English with somewhat of a Russian accent, instead of a Spanish accent, reminded me of Sasha.  The catacombs were neat but not nearly as grand or impressive as the Paris catacombs.  

We did a bay area bike tour in the afternoon/evening. We were the only ones to book for this tour besides a no-show, so we had the tour guide to ourselves.  We had a great time there. Then we went to a great restaurant in Miraflores, will be one of our higher end meals (unlike the oatmeal I am eating right now for lunch :D). 

4.5 miles walking and 11.5 miles biking today, in addition to our run. 

Lima day 3.  Day of sloth and indolence, runner style.

Slept in past 8am. Woke up and went down to the buffet breakfast. Met up with two of Paul's colleagues who have hosted him in Hong Kong and are very kind.  Had two mini tamales, two small pancakes with leche dulce (tastes alot like sweetened condensed milk), an egg white omlette, "fitness" cold cereal (close to wheaties) and an assortment of fruit.  After breakfast went back to our room and I laid down and read, while Paul hacked away at his computer.  I think the book I have read I have either read before, or it is so similar to a book I have read before it is boring me.  It is about the rise of Catherine the Great (of Russia) and I know I have read at least one biography of this period.  So this book is a real sleeper, so I took a nap.  Woke up around noon, ready for my workout.

Workout is 4-5x 2000m cruise intervals (5:57-6:09 pace --15.7-16.2 kph), only 30 sec rest between,then 3x200m @ 34-37 (19.5-21.2 kph).  I spent some time last night converting these to kilometers/hour pace so I could do this workout on the treadmill.  Its a good thing this treadmill was a good one, this workout couldn't be done on my treadmill at home, it doesn't go that fast.

6k warm up with stretching.  Did the 2k cruise intervals with increasing speed 15.7, 15.8, 15.9, 16.0, 16.1.  Because this is on the treadmill and it takes some time to ramp up and down the pace, the rest in between was more like 40-45, so that I could get 20 seconds of rest at an actual easy pace.  between #4 and #5 I went to the bathroom, and that made that rest about 2:15.  I didn't count a 2k as starting until I was at the correct pace.  I then started the 200m.  I don't know the exact rest time, probably about 90 sec, I just pushed stop and it gradually slowed to a stop, then I pressed start and it ramped back up to it's prior (very fast) pace.  Did 19.5, 19.7, then 20.0 kph for the 200m.  It was funny, when I stopped the tm for the last time, then pushed start again for my cool down, it ramped back up to 20 kph, even though I was pushing the reduce speed button, I had to go back to 20 then I could slow it down, so that should almost count as an extra 100m stride :D 5k cool down.  

I just had a banana and a passionfruit (so good!).  Now I am eating peanuts for the protein part of my recovery food, waiting for the water to heat up in the coffee maker so I can have an oatmeal lunch, then I'll go back to the gym for my core workout.  I think the only Peruish thing we'll do today is go to the Reserva, a park with an impressive lit up water fountain display.  That'll be cool.

Ran with Paul outside.  We went through streets for 2 miles to get to the ocean, that part was no fun, but the air along the coast was much fresher, and there's a trail along the coast.  9.4 miles easy pace.  Got a little lost on the way back, but got to the hotel eventually.

Kind of hard to arrange, but got it done!   A 20 miler in Peru.  

Warmed up 2.25 miles in the hotel fitness center, used los servicios, then hit the road.  .91 miles to the location where the Peru runners club meets.  It looked kind of like a race start, a blown up Nike start/finish arch, gatorade.  There were 100-200 runners there. This is the most impressive club I have seen.  I talked to a few people, including Gonzalo, the president of the club and the guy who invited us to the club long run.  He was so kind and accommodating.  We started almost like a race, but there were a couple of older guys setting the pace in black shirts, and no one pushed the pace.  These miles are with the group:  First mile 9:57 -- I am panicing, I won't have the patience or time to do a long run at that pace.  Mile 2 9:11, much better, but at the end of this mile we pass my hotel!!!!  I am considering dropping off the group and hitting the treadmill for another 16 miles.  I hope that the dropping pace will continue and I stick to the group, telling myself a 9 min pace would be ok.  I think the Ensign article that I read about patience last night was a preparation for this run.  Mile 3 9:00, so close to going under! Mile 4 8:53, Mile 5 7:47, now we are talking, people are now pushing the pace and moved beyond those pacers. Mile 6 7:09, at this point there is a group trying to pull away.  Gonzalo tells everyone to slow, to let the fast guys go, he tells me the guys will go 6:30, I am faced with whether to go with the fast guys and go marathon pace, or to pull back, and I don't know what pace the slower group will go.  What do you think I chose???  The fast guys of course.  Mile 7 6:39, Mile 8 6:37, we get back to where we started, two guys pull off, now it is just me and Vladmir, a 2:30 runner.  He is Peruvian with light eyes and a Russian name -- he said he doesn't know why his name is Russian.  Anyway, he starts putting on more heat: Mile 9 6:22.  I tell him I need to pull back to more like 7:00 pace, he said that's what he's supposed to be doing, so he goes a little easier on me. So kind of him.  The remainder miles: 6:41, 6:56, 7:04, 7:00, 6:35, 6:36, 6:43, now on my own, 7:46.  Then I go on the hotel treadmill for one mile, 7:33.  I met Gonzalo's wife, Susan, at the end.  She is an expat, nice to talk with her.  Gonzalo later called me at my hotel, wanting to arrange to drop me off a peru runners t-shirt.  Wow, how cool is that.  Other things to mention about this group is that there were pictures taken along the way, there was a person in a car with a camera.  I asked if this was normal, and they said yes, they have a magazine, I tried to tuck behind other runners while we were running since this isn't my club.  After the run, they took a picture of me and Gonzalo and the designer of a poster showing 100 years of running (people are dressed up in running garb from different decades in the poster).  So I might be in their magazine after all, in a picture after 19 miles of running, I'm sure I'll look great ;D

Nap, then core workout, pool running with ---intervals, just 15 minutes, to help shake out the long run and to use my pool running belt--wouldn't want to bring it just to neglect the thing.  Another awesome day in running camp (I mean my Peru trip).  Next week I'll have more downtime, but it will be a much needed cut back week.  No biggie.