Season 2016

[Bierzo Baggie]

Thanks all. Renaissance indeed   Just felt like running and writing again.... the two things seem to go together like egg and chips. 

All the usual races are in the pipeline and maybe a couple of new ones as well. I'm just looking for a bit of motivation to do the training. Can't get away with not doing it any more ..my body is in a state of very real physical decline. 

Trying to complete 3 runs a week, Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday. It's been years since I've even aimed for such a prolific schedule.

My daughter trains with the swim team on Wednesday evenings and when I finish work I go to pick her up. Usually there’s about half an hour to kill before all the kids come out, so last week I decided to go for a quick run. I followed the cycle path which loops the swimming pool, the main sports hall, the rocodrome and the athletics track. It felt strange to run in the glare of car-headlights although I didn’t have to stray onto the adjourning road at any point. Managed three laps on the hard, flat surface before one of my calf muscles threatened to pop so I slunk back to the car.   

 
Ponferrada is well blessed with sports facilities these days. There is quite a boom at the moment and I’d say that is the case nationwide, with more people practising a wide range of different sports. Until recently, it was all football. So when I returned this Wednesday it wasn’t a surprise to find plenty of others out running. Even caught the slipstream of a couple of skaters for a few seconds.
 
This time I set a target of 4 laps. Not sure about the distance but the target was to pick up a bit of speed and maintain an even pace. For the first lap I felt like I was 18 year old again. By the fourth lap I was grunting and squealing like a pig in a slaughterhouse. 22 minutes were run at an even pace and that was enough. Next week I’ll go for 5 laps.
 
Would like to run some good honest distance on the flat this year and see what happens!