Change of Plans

I've changed my plans on which marathon will be my first. I am now planning to run the Rock n Roll San Antonio Marathon on November 16, 2008! I have already registered and there are about 7 weeks left to start the official training for the marathon. Hopefully I will be running another 10k race (or maybe a 15k race) to have another benchmark to what will be my estimated marathon finish time, and make the necessary adjustments on pacings on the FIRST training plan. By the way I have been running regularly three days a week with two or three days of mountain biking. I'll update my stats this weekend hopefully.

Thursday Tempo

Today was tempo running session. Woke up at 5am to run in Calzada del Valle, nice 5km track for running through a nice neighborhood. I did 1.5km at an easy pace and then 6.5 at my mid-tempo pace (5:34 min/km pace) according to FIRST pacing chart and 5k reference time of 26:10. Finally closed the session running 1.5km easy pace. Result was 9.5km total and feelling very good. No tight joints or sore muscles (except for a slight ache in my middle toe of my left foot that I've had since several weeks ago). Hopefully its just that I am getting used to my new shoes. By the way, I went for a check-up with a sports doctor, and he told me I have my left leg slighlt longer than my right leg. This could be the reason of why I had a sore leg some months ago, and maybe also the ache in my toe.

Anyways, I'll be doing some easy biking tomorrow. Saturday I'm planning to do my long run of 12.5 kms and Sunday I'll be going mountain biking to a new track about 40 kms from Monterrey by the Saltillo highway to get prepared for the XC Mountain Bike race on May 18th.

Wednesday

Easy relaxed bike ride to relax legs. This time my wife also biked with me. I'm trying to get her hooked on biking haha. Very good ride for her third time biking.

Tuesday

Back to training the FIRST plan to try to improve my 10k time. 10 more weeks to finish the plan. Did track repeats today. I've noticed that the track repeats are quite intense, but anyway I'll try to do my best. Have not been blogging all of my trainings but my running distance has been updated.

Tuesday

1 hour and a half on Mountain Bike (70-80% of max heart rate) to prepare for this Sunday's race.

Monday

Total rest day from the 21k race.

21K - DONE!

Yesterday I ran my first 21k Race in Monterrey. About 3,000 runners. I had a target time of 2hr 17min (6:30 min/km pace) and managed to do way better finishing in 2hr 03 min! At the start of the race I repeated myself that I needed a slow pace to finish the race and not get too excited and run fast at the beginning and then feel the need to slow down. So I managed myself to run a good confortable pace and ran the first 10 kms at a 6:00 pace and the last 11 kms picked up a pace of 5:44! Drank lots of water througout the race, and two gels (one at the start and the other at half race)

I feel very satisfied with my first half-marathon. Feeling my legs a little tired, but nothing serious, except for a sore toe in my left foot (which I had since two weeks ago).

My plans for the next two weeks are to slow down in my running and run less distance. I will try to do more mountain biking so the sore can go away.

Next Sunday I'll be racing a 40km Mountain Bike Marathon.

It's been a month!

Ok, it's been a month since I last blogged. But that doesn't mean I haven't run. I took two weeks off of running, and guess what, my leg pain is now gone! Anyways, I bought a new pair of shoes and have run 48 kms on them and so far have been great. I bought the Saucony Pro Grid Triumph 5 in black/red color which are recommended for neutral runners with medium to high arches, and offers a fantastic cushioning.

This past sunday I ran 16kms and believe I am now ready to run my first Half-marathon this coming sunday! I'll post a review and results (I hope so).

By the way, I am back to Mountain Biking as well, and have been training on my non-running days. I'll be racing a 40km Mountain Bike Marathon in Marin, Nuevo Leon on april 27.

10K Duendes del Valle

I ran my second 10k race on Sunday, the 10K Duendes del Valle. I got to the starting line about 30 minutes before the race start so I had a chance to warm-up properly and go to the bathroom. It was 7:15 and the race started! It was a very crowded start with 3,000 runners. I managed to be at midpack but still the start was pretty slow. I tried to go to the side of the pack so I could go ahead and pass the slower runners. I picked up a 5:30 min/km pace. Didn't want to exceed myself as my left leg was still sore. To my surprise the sore became to disappear and I began to run at a faster pace. However, I did a stupid rookie mistake of trying out my new insoles. At about kilometer 3 I began to feel that right foot was rubbing rubbing very hard with the new insole. At about kilometer 5 I though it would be wise to quit the race or at least walk but I looked at my garmin and read a time of 25:45. My ego didn't let me stop as it desperately wanted a new personal record. I arrived at the finish line at 50:38 (5:04 min/km pace)! I shaved off 4 minutes of my previuos 10K race. I was very proud with my new personal record, but my right foot was really sore with a very big blister because of the new insoles. No more insoles for me, I will be looking to buy new running shoes this week. I'm thinking of taking this week off from running so I can recover from my blister and my left leg, which is still a little sore.

Saturday

I rode my mountain bike for 20 kms in flat, paved terrain through the Huasteca Canyon. Easy riding to loosen my legs for Sunday's 10K race.

Friday

I went to a local shoe store to have my foot analyzed (in search of a reason of why my leg is still sore). So I stepped on the footprint analysis equipment and found out that I have a high arc on both of my feet (higher on left) and a neutral stride (mild pronation). The store seller explained that I need to use running shoes that offers good cushioning because of my high arch, which does not provide the natural absorption that a normal arch provides. My current running shores are for trail running, and are usually harder with less cushioning. I think I found an explanation of why my leg hurts. I couldn't find any running shoe that I liked and besides they are very expensive here in Mexico and not much variety. Anyways, I bought some insoles that the seller recommended for my high arches.

Still sore

I still fell my leg sore at two different parts: just above the knee and right below my pelvis area. I'm beginning to think I might need some days of rest from running. I'll see how it goes after my 10K race this Sunday. Here is a recap of the last few days:

Monday - Complete Rest

Tuesday - Supposed to train track repeats, but was too sore to run, so I just walked for 20 minuts on the treadmill and I took a video of myself running on the treadmill to analyze my foot strike and running form. I haven't analyzed the video yet, but as soon as I do i'll post it.

Wednesday - Stretching and strength workouts

Thursday - Goal was to run 8km @ 5:37 min/pace; I ran 8km at @ 5.40 min/km pace, almost on target.

Guitarritas Mountain Bike and 16K Run

Saturday was a cross-training day and went out mountain biking with my brother Andres to Guitarritas Canyon (15km away from the entrance to Huasteca Canyon Park); great place with beautiful scenery. 30 kms through rocky terrain at an easy pace with some rests.

Sunday was a 16k run to Huasteca Canyon (my longest yet!). Pretty flat run with a slight uphill the first 8 kms and slight downhill on the way back. I was still feeling my left leg a little sore, but it become less and less and then it became absent as I ran more kilometers! I ran the 16k in 1:36:00 (6:00 min/km pace). When I finished the run, I felt that I could go on running some more kilometers, but decided to stick with the FURMAN plan to prevent any injuries.

Today, my left leg is still hurting slightly when I walk, but I think it is now disappearing (hopefully, as this sunday is my 10K race).

First Post

I'm trying out my new blog. This is my first post ever. I live in Monterrey, Mexico and have been married for 4 months now. I will try to post every once in a while throughout my Marathon training. My goal is to run the Monterrey Marathon in December 14, 2008. I will be following the FIRST (Furman Institute of Runing and Scientific Training) program which consists of running 3 days a week and 2 or 3 days cross-train (stationary bike and mountain bike for me).

I have several weeks with my new toy-gadget/training tool the Garmin Forerunner 305 with GPS receiver and heart rate monitor. I also have a Polar S725x which I used for my biking and running before getting the FR 305, but I think it will be left in the drawer for a while, since I am testing the FR305, and so far loving it; loaded with tons of training features.

I have been running for a while now as well as mountain biking. For the past two years I have been competing in Regional and Local mountain bike races and will now make a transition to running races to build a more solid base for my marathon training.

As of now, for running I have only a 10K race under my belt, 54:32 (5:27 min/km pace) at the 10k Imagen Banamex a few weeks ago, my personal record (I have ran some Duathlons and mountain running races, but for mountain biking training purposes)

I am currently feeling my left leg a little sore after my Tuesday running interval sessions, which was pretty tough. I skipped my Thursday Tempo run as my leg is still hurting, and did 30 minutes of stationary biking. Hopefully this will be gone for my Sunday long run of 16K (my longest run has been 14.48K, last Sunday, 1:21:39 (5:38 min/km pace). I beat my planned 5:51 pace for the session, which this might also be the reason of why my left leg hurts.

Anyways, here are my next races:

March 9: 10K Duendes del Valle
April 20: 21K Monterrey