Training Run

Distance: 9.2 kilometers (5.71 miles)
Time: 49:27 minutes
Surface: asphalt/concrete
Weather Conditions: cool, overcast, 60s, morning run
Location: Miraflores/Barranco, Lima, Peru

Comments: Very good effort. Not a record setter or anything like that. Just a solid workmanlike effort. The type of run you feel like you know what you are doing and that you accomplished something when you are done.

Started of extra slow due to soreness and just tried to concentrate on keeping it steady. I felt really good pace wise and turned it up a notch at about the halfway point. The last mile I pushed it up to 3/4 race pace.

I felt pretty confident changing my different paces and had no real trouble doing it. I also made it a point to focus on a steady running gait and not slipping into the sloppy flopping around I do when tired. 

My quads were sore after my Thursday run and most of Friday. It seemed to be better after I got into this run although an ache in my outside quad on my left side (not the IB band, persisted throughout). I had a 'hitch' in my left knee when I got about a mile into the run but it passed after a few minutes and didn't recur.

Training Run

Distance: 8.4 kilometers (5.21 miles)
Time: 45 minutes
Surface: asphalt/concrete
Weather Conditions: cool, overcast, 60s, morning run
Location: Miraflores/Barranco, Lima, Peru

Comments: The week has taken its toll. I was definitely tired today. I slept 10 hard hours last night and felt like it when I woke up. Getting started on the run I could tell it was going to be a long one.

So I spent most of the route simply concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other and thinking about anything but the distance I had left to go. It wasn't a question of if I had enough in the tank to finish the run, but rather if my desire to cut it short and make it a rest day would win out.

Needless to say, I got through it. I hit 45 minutes and stopped on the dot. The situation concerns me a bit because I thought I was in decent enough shape to handle the mileage I wanted to be reaching, that might not be the case.

Training Run

Distance: 7 kilometers (4.34 miles)
Time: 33.14 minutes
Surface: asphalt/concrete
Weather Conditions: cool, overcast, 60s, morning run
Location: Miraflores/Barranco, Lima, Peru

Comments: Woke up achy from the two runs this week so opted to skip the speed work and put in a shorter run today - sans hills. When I got started I felt pretty peppy so I tried to put it into a good gear and stick to it. At first I considered putting in a 45 minute run as well.

It got tough about halfway through. Not 'I ain't got it in me' tough but 'time to get serious, boy' tough. I tried to keep my pace up but peg it at a rate that could let me finish the effort. I was trying to keep it at 3/4 race pace but I'm not very good at guaging that yet. 

I checked the watch at about 7K and saw I had passed the half-hour mark. I stopped there even though I think I could have finished out the 45 minute run if I tried. I decided not to due to the distance I did yesterday. Pushing too hard after that week off ain't the best idea, I don't think.

Training Run

Distance: 10.5 kilometers (6.5 miles)
Time: 57.58 minutes
Surface: asphalt/concrete
Weather Conditions: cool, overcast, 60s, morning run
Location: Miraflores/Barranco, Lima, Peru

Comments: Started out feeling achy from yesterday. I tried to keep it pretty slow as a result but decided to put a big hill in as well. As a result I put in a run closer to an hour than the 45 minutes I was intending. 

Overall this one was work. I had to put my head down and get it done. I think part of the issue had to do with not eating a well as I should be, something I plan to address this week.

The hill was not pleasant either. While I met 'la bruja' on my terms yesterday, today I was her bitch. The ease I had ascending two weeks ago is nothing more than a fond memory at this point.

Other than the achy feeling, which I now attribute to the hill work rather than the extended layoff, the pain front seemed stable. I had a bit of soreness on the inside of the right knee at one point but it passed quickly.

Recovery Run

Distance: 6 kilometers (3.72 miles)
Time: 32.42 minutes
Surface: asphalt/concrete
Weather Conditions: cool, overcast, 60s, noon run
Location: Miraflores/Barranco, Lima, Peru

Comments: Every bit as unpleasant as I expected. I started slow and was desperate to keep it going the whole run. I would have tacked on an extra 15 minutes if I felt better but less than two klicks in, it was clear that was just an idle fantasy.

Which isn't to say it was necessarily a bad run. I was pretty solid with it the whole way and had the goods to get it done. A few months ago I would have thrown in the towel halfway on a day like this.

After the realization it was going to be the shorter run, I decided to throw in a nice long hill to make sure I got a bit more from the distance. I went down 'la bruja' and then returned up the roadway. The incline isn't brutal but it goes a good two-and-a-half kilometers. No real problems at all.

Little ginger in the knees setting out but no real aches or pains to report.