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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!

Ok! Finally I ran a full half-marathon. 1h50min in a course from Guincho to Cascais, returning to Guincho again.

I was particularly pleased to feel no pains or discomfort until the 16^th kilometre. Until then, the pace was almost near the 5:20 mark, and I resisted the temptation to speed up whenever I felt I’ve got everything under control. That was a really wise investment, from the 12^th kilometre onwards.

The battle really started there, and I think things got not so easy because of my lack of powerade and water by that time.

My refuelling schedule was as follows:

• 6km: water
• 9km: powerade
• 12km: water
• 15,4km: powerade
• 18km: four sips of water

Then I ran out of liquids. That wasn’t a serious problem since I had water nearby, but it might played a role here.

Post-workout I drank a lot of fluids and ate a cereal bar, and in ten minutes I was driving my car back home with no problems except feeling my knees (no pain, although).

Overall, I was happy with the workout, ten minutes bellow my goal for the race… I might have to lower the expectations here. First, finish, then, we’ll see.

Next week, a moderate workout (10k maybe ) Tuesday of Wednesday, a small one by the end of the week, but above al, plenty of rest, sleep and a proper diet.

The Portugal Halfh-Marathon is just in the end of this month, so I started doing longer workouts. A 12k and a 15k this week. As a matter of fact, I ran today my farthest ipoded race. 15,24k in less than 1_h15_min.

I’m focusing more on mental aspects lately (setting my mood, running relaxed…) and, I’m pretty sure that if I had to run a half-marathon today, I’ll finish it.

The mental aspects got me making a link between workout and race strategy and meditation. I’ve recently rediscovered meditation, and it’s being a good way of keeping the mind clean while running, which might have also a physiological advantage: blood might flow less to the brain. Going beyound a rational way of running and really not “being there”, makes me feel less pain, and at least I feel the miles passing by with less discomfort.

Since my goal is to finish the race relaxed and maybe in a fast pace, the mains aspects to be aware in the forthcoming days will be:

• Eat carbs, fruits, and schedule meals frequently;
• An apple a day…
• Avoid fadigue, running long workoputs followed with one or two days rest;
• In the days of rest, do some light muscular workouts,

P.S.: You can now register to the Corrida do Tejo. 2008 – 10k race in Lisbon area!

After browsing around for some competitions in September, I found Meia Maratona de Portugal, in the 28^th. I am going to run the Half, only to finish it. Since it requires some extra preparation, I started today making longer runs, doing a 5k in the morning and a 10k in the afternoon. As I am on vacatoins makes this easy.

I’m not going to get focused on time issues and on breaking any PB. Monitoring myself and running relaxed is my goal for my first Half Marathon.

It´s been a while since I’ve wrote here and also since I’ve been running in a regular basis. Work forced me to reduce my running hobby, but I’m back!

I’ve been doing some really relaxed workouts, mainly around 5k, something like three minutes bellow my PB.

I’m keen on running a race near September, so I’ll post here the options soon.

I ran the 15k beneficial race “Carlos Lopes Golden Marathon” yesterday.

Time: 1 hour, 14 minutes 11 seconds, bellow my target… so… goal achieved!

The course was fairly easy, mostly downhill. Fuelling at around 6.5km (where I was passed by the marathon athletes and 12km (where they informed that the finish was 5k ahead… wrooooong).

Since this was not a race for the masses, the starting was smooth and unpopulated and the pace higher than in previous races I participated. I don’t have a clue about the number of athletes in the 15k race, but something around 400 should be near the truth.

Personally, I only start having problems around the 11^th and 13^th kilometre… after that I managed to end the race at full speed, making the last two kilometres quite easily.

A good event, well organized and with a nice course!

Next weeks, due to personnal constrains, I’ll do less mileage on my workouts and focus more on muscular wokouts, for total fitness purposes.

Balance is the key.

So it’s done. I’ve trained all of what I felt to be needed to train for the next race.

With some 10k workouts and a 15k (race length) training, I’m fully satisfied with my performance. Taking in account that my goal here is just to finish the race, a 1h15min seems to be a good goal.

Mentally, I find this 15k distance not at all different from the 10k, besides the fact that I do run in a more “zen” state, really relaxed from the very beginning and only pushing up after feeling that I have enough energy. Last workouts have made me feel that I am more a long distance runner and not a 5k or less racer. Psychology playing a role here, definitely.

Race post after it! Wish me luck.

As the weather is starting to heat a bit, I start recalling how it was to run long distances two years ago, when I stated seriously in running. The amount of water drunk is so much more, at least for me, regardless my how fit I am. Today, in my regular 10 k workout, I had to park and refuel at 4k, 6k and 8k… and ended the training session thirsty. Lets see if things get more controlled tomorrow…

One resolution I’ve made was not to do a workout shorter the 10k as a reparation for the 15k race in the 12^th April. Furthermore, I will do my first 15k this weekend and another Tuesday or so…

Mentally speaking, as my goal will be just to finish the 15k race, I will adopt the “zen state” mood as described in a previous post… control was the key for that long race, and certainly will be for the 15k race.

Unlike expected when I left home for running, today… I ended up making a long distance workout: 12,73 km in one hour.

For future reference:

• I started really relaxed and controlling my pace
• Mentally, I opted for a kind of a zen state of mind
• I have no pains whatsoever
• Only drank water at 7,5 km
• Did not need to do effort management
• The last kilometre (12^th) was done faster
• I ended the workout less tired than I expected

With this mark, I will make a good race in the Golden Marathon 15k, for sure, something around 1 hour and 15 minutes.

I will start doing more workouts like these, but taking special care not to enter in a fatigue state… prior to Easter hollidays a few 7k runs and that’s it.

Ok, getting slightly addicted here. Prior to yesterday’s race, I’ve found an interesting event to help me prepare for a half marathon: a 15 kilometre race in an easy course: Carlos Lopes Golden Marathon’s 15 kilometre race.

The event is organized by the former Olympic champion’s foundation (Fundação Carlos Lopes) and will take place in Lisbon, on the 12^thof April 2008. Part of the registration fee will be applied in supporting handicapped sport, one of the major areas of work in which Fundação Carlos Lopes works.

Besides the 15 k race, there will be a full marathon, a bike marathon and a 5k “family race”.

Register in the event’s website on the competition that fits you and start training!