Now it's time to poner las pilas ("put in the batteries") as they say in Spanish. I had a good rest, spent some "quality time" with the family and even added a protective cushion of fat which I will hopefully burn off over the next few weeks.
On New Year's Eve we ended up running 3 km of the San Silvestre course but as a whole family: even Luca (12) who is not used to running and was quite nervous he'd want to give up after just a few meters ran with us and, in the end, it was Adrian (10) who started to complain about a pain in his foot, so we decided it was best to call it a day. The kids very much enjoyed the atmosphere and Luca is talking about training to run the full distance next year so, if the experience manages to kick start a more active attitude to sport, then that will be fantastic. We'll see how much he remembers it when we are running round the park in November...
Then we spent a week in Asturias where the weather was nothing short of glorious. Perfect running conditions - sunny but fresh - and the reward for completing a run was a slap up seafood feast with cider. My Christmas present was a set of bathroom scales (not quite sure why they are plural) which are connected to the internet and automatically record my weight as well as percentage fat, resting heart rate, ambient room temperature and - get this - the amount of CO2 in the air, although it has to be said that the only reliable measurement seems to be my weight. As our heating was broken until just recently, we actually now have graphs showing just how cold it got in the night, for whatever use that might be... Anyway, these scales will hopefully help me spot any trends in my weight so that I can be at my fighting weight come competition time. I find my weight fluctuates so much from one day to the next that it is hard to see the signal for the noise: having a more systematic approach should help me be less obsessive about my weight or, at least, that was my auto-justification for buying (ahem, asking Santa for) the scales.
Talking of competitions, 2015 is starting to take shape already. After my slightly underwhelming 2014, I feel ready to toe the line again. As I said in my last post, the first decision I have taken is to try to get into New York Marathon this year, but I won't find out if I have been successful until the 15th of February. In the meantime I have signed myself up for the Rock & Roll Madrid 1/2 Marathon which runs in parallel to the Madrid Marathon. A couple of years ago I ran the Rock & Roll 10K; perhaps next year I'll run the full distance... Then, literally seconds after signing up, a received a message from Dani who suggested that I took part in a non-drafting long distance duathlon. As he well knows, this is the race I have been asking for. No swimming, tick. No drafting, tick. No anti-social long distances, tick (it's only a "Steelman"). No excessive travel, tick. In fact, the only downside seems to be that it is held at an altitude of over 1,000m: while this will possibly be detrimental to the run, it might well have a positive effect on the bike leg. The distances are 12K run - 60K bike - 6K run. It is the Saturday of Semana Santa, when we will almost certainly go up to Asturias, and it just happens to be (very nearly) on the way. If I can just manage to convince the family, it could be a great way to get some mileage out of my under utilized triathlon bike. Apparently there is an adventure park just where the event is taking place with zip lines and paintball as well as climbing and caving activities, so this could be the deciding factor...
So here is how the calendar is looking so far:
28th March II Duatlón Steelman (El Amogable, Soria)
29th April Rock & Roll Madrid 1/2 Marathon
1st November (ojalá) TCS New York City Marathon
On New Year's Eve we ended up running 3 km of the San Silvestre course but as a whole family: even Luca (12) who is not used to running and was quite nervous he'd want to give up after just a few meters ran with us and, in the end, it was Adrian (10) who started to complain about a pain in his foot, so we decided it was best to call it a day. The kids very much enjoyed the atmosphere and Luca is talking about training to run the full distance next year so, if the experience manages to kick start a more active attitude to sport, then that will be fantastic. We'll see how much he remembers it when we are running round the park in November...
Then we spent a week in Asturias where the weather was nothing short of glorious. Perfect running conditions - sunny but fresh - and the reward for completing a run was a slap up seafood feast with cider. My Christmas present was a set of bathroom scales (not quite sure why they are plural) which are connected to the internet and automatically record my weight as well as percentage fat, resting heart rate, ambient room temperature and - get this - the amount of CO2 in the air, although it has to be said that the only reliable measurement seems to be my weight. As our heating was broken until just recently, we actually now have graphs showing just how cold it got in the night, for whatever use that might be... Anyway, these scales will hopefully help me spot any trends in my weight so that I can be at my fighting weight come competition time. I find my weight fluctuates so much from one day to the next that it is hard to see the signal for the noise: having a more systematic approach should help me be less obsessive about my weight or, at least, that was my auto-justification for buying (ahem, asking Santa for) the scales.
Talking of competitions, 2015 is starting to take shape already. After my slightly underwhelming 2014, I feel ready to toe the line again. As I said in my last post, the first decision I have taken is to try to get into New York Marathon this year, but I won't find out if I have been successful until the 15th of February. In the meantime I have signed myself up for the Rock & Roll Madrid 1/2 Marathon which runs in parallel to the Madrid Marathon. A couple of years ago I ran the Rock & Roll 10K; perhaps next year I'll run the full distance... Then, literally seconds after signing up, a received a message from Dani who suggested that I took part in a non-drafting long distance duathlon. As he well knows, this is the race I have been asking for. No swimming, tick. No drafting, tick. No anti-social long distances, tick (it's only a "Steelman"). No excessive travel, tick. In fact, the only downside seems to be that it is held at an altitude of over 1,000m: while this will possibly be detrimental to the run, it might well have a positive effect on the bike leg. The distances are 12K run - 60K bike - 6K run. It is the Saturday of Semana Santa, when we will almost certainly go up to Asturias, and it just happens to be (very nearly) on the way. If I can just manage to convince the family, it could be a great way to get some mileage out of my under utilized triathlon bike. Apparently there is an adventure park just where the event is taking place with zip lines and paintball as well as climbing and caving activities, so this could be the deciding factor...
So here is how the calendar is looking so far:
28th March II Duatlón Steelman (El Amogable, Soria)
29th April Rock & Roll Madrid 1/2 Marathon
1st November (ojalá) TCS New York City Marathon
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