100km in Majorca – original post 18/7/13

Back from two weeks fantastic holiday in Majorca. Has taken a few days to get on top of things but finally found time to jot down an update on my running for those two weeks and a few thoughts for the future. Also, have added a couple of new pages. Starting with some pics from my prolonged leaving golf tour – I know you all want to see them! I have also created a new page which I will build up to share my inspirations. This includes a box to comment directly from here to Facebook if you want to add any ideas.

We were lucky to have a beautiful villa as a base. Fairly old fashioned so dark and cool inside but with a lovely outdoor area including pool, barbecue, plenty of shade and nice gardens with ripe lemons and plums falling off the trees. The immediate setting was pleasant as well with very quiet country roads for about a kilometre in every direction. Once beyond this area though, it was a little more difficult to find interesting running country. Basically 4km straight along a busy road to reach Puerto Pollensa and the opportunity to run along the shore. I also found another slightly more interesting route over to Cala St Vicenc which was about 11km there and back so not too bad overall.

The good news is that with plenty of time to relax I managed a total of 100km of running over the two weeks. This is staring to creep towards thirty five miles a week so the work load is starting to build nicely. I also managed a long run of 21.5km so again good base of endurance. I had a quick refer back to the training plans in a couple of magazines when I returned and I am pretty close to those schedules. I am not a great one for following a fixed plan but nice to sense check that thinks are broadly on track.

Despite all this, I was little frustrated with my running. I found it hard going most days and specifically, I was running out of energy after 30-40 minutes pretty much every day. On the long run days, I even resorted to walking a little albeit only for 200 or 300 metres at a time. I spent a fair bit of time trying to figure out physical causes for this. Obviously the weather was hot and I don’t really think I slowed down my pace sufficiently. I started not taking water with me but after a day or two was carrying some on every run. I also experimented a bit with nutrition, carbs the evening before, in the morning etc but made very little overall difference.

At the end of all this, I have three conclusions. Actually these are really more questions to be worked on over the next few weeks.

I have reached the conclusion that I don’t have a strategy for nutrition, especially nutrition during a run. I have been taking gels but they don’t have a noticeable effect and certainly don’t last very long.

Second thing, which sounds daft, but I can’t make myself run slow enough for long enough. I keep thinking I have been going very easy and then I get tired after 8 or 9kms and I discover I am only just over 5 min per km. I suspect this is largely a factor of concentration.

Which brings me to my biggest current concern. I am struggling mentally, not with motivation but with concentration. For a few months earlier in the year, I had been finding it easy to just run and let my mind wander onto other things. However, this is not happening right now especially over longer periods. Obviously, I need to spend longer on my feet as the training goes on so. Need to work out a new mental approach.

So overall, in a good place but with a few things to learn. Arrived back from holiday with a slight sore throat which kept me off the road for a day or two but back running yesterday and will post again soon.