4th week to frankfurt

This week led to the first race of the year. I had considered this race as a B+ priority race, which means that I wanted to do well as always but I was coming a little rested into it and I would have changed my daily routine for it.

The week was supposed to be easy and it was fairly easy although there were ups and downs that made it a little difficult.

Because it was a resting week I had planned to do my tests plus getting ready for the marathon. I had two tests on Wednesday which they turned out to be completely opposed to what I was expecting. The first one was the bike test and I was 5 watts below the last test which that was very bad, it meant no improvement plus some loss. When I analyzed the previous days I had realized that I did not come with the same rest as the previous test, plus I thought I scored some results which they were actually higher so that did not help either, so after the analysis I don’t consider it to be a real loss. In the afternoon I did my swim test of the 3x300m and I actually swam faster than ever before. I had not done this test for a long time and I did not have any near reference but it was amazing because I was faster that I had even expected, that was a boost in my morale.

During Thursday’s running session I started to feel better and that was also a boost, but the race was still yet to come and it is a very long race and it is faster, plus I had only raced a solo marathon once, 4 years ago, so the routines are slightly different from a triathlon, the pace is faster and the competition is just different. I was gaining confidence even though I had been worried and nervous.

So it comes to race day. It was very cold, colder than expected and trained. Temperature at the start of the race was around 0ºC. I start the race and I feel fairly good, there is a group of 5 that take the lead, I am the last one of them, we opened a gap in the 1^st two Km and we leave the road to start running on the trail, I feel good and I know the guy next to me is going to drop soon I can hear his breath and it is tough, the first 3 guys are gone, we keep overtaking one each other until km6 six where I take the lead and by km 7 I opened a gap. I was running alone, form this moment onwards I knew I could not fail to come in 4^th, it was in my hands. I reach my town and I see my family, they are extremely quiet and far away, although it was new to them to see me run, I wave at them and I keep focused. After that I started to feel some soreness on my quads, I could not believe it but it was not slowing me down yet. By the time I reach the half marathon I feel lonelier than ever I don’t see anyone ahead of me nor behind me. On my mind I was thinking that I was the only one who could screw it up. I start to feel a little more soreness in my legs and but I am still fine. I enter Llagostera and I feel pumped again I was still running on target but it started to be harder to keep up with the pace, there was no one around me and the km ran started to pay off. I start the downhill and my legs are getting worse I have the 1^st thought of willing to walk at some point and I tell myself that from that point my mind needs to lead me to the end, it is km 30 where fear for the wall starts to kick in. I keep on pushing, not as good as before but I am still there, I start to need more energy and I think that I will change my energy intake a little bit. I will need to make use of that extra gel that I was carrying. I keep on running and we start to go a bit uphill, all I could think at that moment were how many km were left, there were still 6km to go. I was not feeling fresh but they tell me that the guy in front of me is not having his best moment and he is not that far ahead of me, deep down I know that we were all exhausted, but I push to see if I can catch him. I reach the top of the hill and my legs are very sore but it is only 2 more km to go. I slow down a little bit during the downhill and then I pick up the pace again. In the end I finished 4^th 2minutes behind the 3^rd and I scored a PB of 2h48m11s.

On Wednesday there was a change in my life, something that I had wanted for a long time and that makes me happy. Since Wednesday I don’t feel as irritated as before and I feel more confident. Some of the fears went away. I hope I can make it work this time, I am willing to do it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWAdb1vgoik