4 weeks to go!

“Berlin’s CF and PT training camp” is now officially over and it’s time to report on it!

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It ended last Sunday with a great 32km run in the usual site – our beautiful Guincho running path. This time we started near the Guincho beach and then went to Cascais twice and back ! The plan was to end by the beach so we could get our legs in the cold ocean water afterwards. Besides a bit of wind, it all went very well. Katarina joined Luís, Carlos and me for the first 16km and took some pictures and provided water and incentive the second half. Thanks, girl! Luís finished just a bit earlier (he’s still getting over the Phillipines "training jet lag"... but he's getting there), while Carlos – the man! – finished in great style just a few minutes behind me. Despite all the fears and warnings, this man looks fit as a 30-year old athlete and, all going as planned, will be the sensation of Berlin. Well, he just needs to break 3h30 to be a sensation! Boston crowd, watch out… he’s coming! Here are some photos of our next to last “longão” (a week from Sunday we’ll finish the series of long ones with the 35km/3h00).

The summer training camp was indeed a success! Below you can see the “mileage” we completed in the last month or so. Carlos did even a little more in some weeks… the man is a real “papa-léguas”. Resting well and active recovering makes all the difference and both Carlos and I have noticed that training is indeed much more productive this way. It’s also somewhat more tiring as in almost every training session you feel you haven’t entirely recovered (we ran more than usual, of course)…

Don’t know if we will ever do something like this again, but it was very worthwhile (and fun, for the most part!) to focus more than usual on training and recovery for a few weeks. Pushing the limits of the body a little bit here and there (it’s one of the principles of training!), but our bodies has an almost endless way of adapting and responding "to the call".
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As to myself, everything is looking good and, like Carlos, I’m also on schedule for my goal, injuries-allowing (no sign of any, so far!). Every training session I feel tired but relatively strong at the same time, which is probably how it should be. I can usually complete the planned training, and times/paces are good… but sometimes it’s a struggle. This week, for instance, after the 85km last week, we already did a 12x800m on the track, then a 12km run (yesterday) which was more a recovery run, and today I just finished an interval training of 5x2000m (or 5x8 minutes), with 3 minute recovery in between... Uff.

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Just a word about today… Usually, every training period before a marathon, there is a session (usually about 1-2 months away) which kind of marks a transition from “I’m not sure this is going to work” to “OK, I think I will be ready”. These sessions have come in different ways. Sometimes you are surprised at some point while running much faster or longer, with ease, than expected. Last time, for London, it was a morning workout with Elvis, where I should be very tired but felt faster than ever. I still remember thinking “mmm… nice surprise… maybe I’m ready after all). This time, for Berlin, it was today's interval session. It was different than usual… more of a motivational threshold I had to overcome, while hoping that the body would respond. With all the km on my legs from last month (and from last week… and already this week – the 12x800m on Tuesday were a killer for all of us!), today I had 5x2000m intervals on the program… and found myself alone to complete them! Everybody is out of town or busy, and honestly I thought I was just "going to the track”, jog a little, stretch some more, but not run much... Plus, last night Luis and I ran 1h at 4:48 pace and we were simply “burned” at the end. Luis is taking the rest of the week off (no running), until Sunday! In sum, it was not looking good… So I went to track at 12h30. The weather was not too hot, which was a good sign. I warmed up well along the “pista de canoagem”, put the Ipod on “training mode” and quite loud (today it was The Cult – I needed some hard rock to push me along!) and, to my surprise, I completed the 5x2000m at about 3:55 pace each interval! So a bit below 10k pace, which was what I was aiming for. Can’t say that it was easy... Not even close. The last few laps of the last interval I truly felt like I was finishing a marathon! But I felt I needed this training today to cross that "line" (from “probably” to “for sure”…). Let’s see what the weeks ahead will bring...

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Agora em Portuga, só para consumo interno...

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Já tenho saudades de treinos com mais malta! A ver se em breve se combina uma jantarada e o lançamento oficial da época 2008-09. Será que o Cabeça já faz 100km? Será que o Buda começou mesmo a treinar?! Será que o Elvis afinal vai fazer a primeira maratona nos EUA?! Há muita escrita para por em dia. E também temos um novo membro que deseja ser aprovado na equipa e já lhe foi transmitido que só em "Assembleia Geral" (leia-se jantar com muita Mousse de Chocolate!). O Elvis disse também que o novo membro teria de passar o "teste de Monsanto", mas não me parece que este reúna consenso, até porque nem todos os actuais membros passaram o teste!

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Bento, faltas tu para combinar o Rendez-Vous. Como o Presidente só está de volta do Estágio Algarvio na Quinta, terá de ser para depois... Não sei o Calendário estival do resto da banda, mas presumo que as férias estejam no fim para todos...