ipod+nike and sports kit experimentation

As you can see in the right sidebar, I have tow more races under my belt: Corrida 1º de Maio and Meia Maratona dos Palácios, both with new PB.

My 15k PB is now 1:13:37 and the Half-marathon PB 1:49:33.

Improvements lately are the race starts, in a more brisk pace and the fact that I’m getting more tolerant to general discomfort during races.

As always, you can follow Pernas de Gafanhoto’s racing team blog

Going to race another 15k, Corrida 1º de Maio. This time with a not so easy second half. It will be somewhat like a reverse path compared with the former Corrida do Metro.

Expectations: Decrease in two minutes my time, which means ending the race in a 1h18min time.

Looking forward to it!

First race I did with a team, running integrated with them. It was a really enjoyable experience. I managed to race the 15k race in a 1h19min53secs mark. Acceptable for my physical form. The race itself was easy, since I only had to do some effort management at the beginning (first 5 kilometres. The second half of the race was a “all way down” thing, in very familiar sites (Lisbon centre). Long distance running is becoming a natural thing in myself, now. After almost a year running 10k to half-marathons, I am pleased to see that I’m at ease in this distance range.

Marathon will be the next logical stage, but with supported workouts, consistent training schedule and above all, realistic mental preparation.

As the team blog is fairly active, I might slow down my individual post here, at least those concerned with races and events and start to do more recent updates there (portuguese only).

Registered today for the XVIII CORRIDA DO METRO (Lisboa), a 15k race in Lisbon. Hope I still can manage to get in the race, as the participants limit is to be reached in no time (20 to go or so). Hoping for the best, I’ll start trainning tomorrow, with a 7k mild-paced race.

My second half and it went well. This time, racing with a team - Pernas de Gafanhoto (Grasshopper’s legs in Portuguese).

Overall, the race was quite comfortable, always focusing on a balance between a steady pace and saving energy for the last kilometres. I did not had to wait too long in the starting line as in Portugal Half-Marathon. A mere 10 minutes, which we spent stretching and doing some jogging, and off we went. I race the whole course by myself, but feeling strangely accompanied. The course itself was pretty straiight, with no significant hight and lows, so, getting to the firts 10 k was a breeze. I made it in 56 minutes, so, by that time, I really knew that braking the 1 hour 50 minutes barrier was out of question as race time.

Staying in a comfortable pace was the only goal I had in mind then… until the last three kilometres, when I really started speeding up things. Ended in 1:58:15, a bit more than a minute slower than in my first half.

High points:

• The gathering earlier
• The comfortable pace I took
• My effort management
• The zulus

To improve:

• Get to manage a better start
• More confidence and risk taking during the race
• Improve my muscular strength with weight lifting exercises between race workouts

OK, we’re here, the final week before the half-marathon.

I must confess I’m having mixed feelings about this. On one side, I’m focused on not overtraining and my working schedule led me to be unable to run as much as I wanted (or as I wished). There’s a drawback: I’m not sure if I packed enough miles for a 21 k race. For a 10k, for sure. For a 21k… maybe.

Enough of doubting… what’s granted for now is:

• I’ve developed a nice smooth endurance pace, something I was not achieving since last October.
• I’ve got more careful about food and drink. Drinking much more water and fulling with carbs, veggies and cereal bars. Without doing a revolutionary diet this week, the key elements will be pasta, rice, poultry, fish and, as they say, “one apple a day…”.
• Last half-marathon was a bit painful from the 15th kilometre onwards for two reasons: climbs and lack of fuelling at the start. To minimize that, I’ll pack a cereal bar one hour before starting and a gel before race start, as well as some sports drink.
• For this week, a slow 10k tomorrow, muscular exercises here and there, another race (around 6k Wednesday) and a 5k Thursday. Two days of rest will suffice.

25 days for Lisbon’s Half Marathon and I’m getting in shape now. So in shape I’ve actually broke my 10k PB, now in a 43′59” mark.

Last couple of weeks resulted in some improvements, as I shifted from some painful workouts to more balanced and enjoyable ones.

Stretching and abs played a role here, as I am opting for a more balanced training scheme, more like a “total fitness” thing.

in the next couple of weeks, I’ll get some extra miles under my belt and try to tune up my pace and build a consistent base, to speed trainning in week 3.

See you and enjoy the sunny weather!

Not writing a post here since September.

What happened since then?

I ran the 10k Corrida do Tejo in the 19 October in 49′31”. A 4”43”’ improvement since last year (when I made my debut, with a 54′14” mark).

I nearly made a two month break from running. I’m now completely out of shape (physically), but funny thing is, when I restarted my workouts, in December, it was not like a complete restart… I felt like there’s a permanent link between my strategic and psychological skills and my physical ones. I feel I’ve been coping with my lack of endurance and my typical hearth aching at the 3^rd kilometre.

In order to get me out of this shameful out of shape state, I’m going to register in the Lisbon’s Half-Marathon, which will take place in the 22 ^nd March 2009. Goal: end it near the two hours mark.

As for 2008 racing issues, here’s a nice sum up via Nike+

Portugal 9^th Half Marathon was my fourth competition, taking place at the 28^th September. The race started at ponte Vasco da Gama, and, since there was no possibility of getting there by car, I had to woke up pretty early (7:00 a.m.) in order to get into an event bus and not end like a sardine in a pack.

I got to the starting line at 8:45 a.m., which means 1h45min of before the starting gun. I drank water, walked, laughed about the frenetic movement around the toilets, read abandoned newspapers… everything served to kill time, really.

One nice feature was that, since there was a half marathon and a mini-marathon (8km), the organization divided the runners. It was nice to benefit from some space for the half-marathon runners, like me.

As for the race itself, I was really impressed how quick the 10km came, despite my slow rhythm (57:28). Things only started to get a bit painful in the 13^th kilometre, with a not so easy climb. A long one… some people quitted right there. The rest of the race was made in pure effort management, with plenty of water and powerade being drunk. By the 20^th kilometre, I made a final effort and ender the race in a really fast sprint: 1:57:02. A bit slower than I expected, but waiting almost two hours for the start of the race played a role here.

Here are some photos:

A view from the half-marathon starting line. Pretty early, so, few people yet

My Nike Dryfit t-shirt, which I used for this race. Perspiration issues are overcome with this garment. Nice piece of gear

And my classification screen shots

General classification - 1737^th out of 2758 runners

Men’s classification - 582^th out of 881 runners

And now, one week off and then… Corrida do Tejo 2008 trainning!