Start of the Running Season: 2 races at the horizon

Here I am just before starting my run today, full of confidence and illusion...

I was happy because after 1 month of strict running stop, finally I have found time while being on a Business trip to go for running and so inaugurate officially the start of the 2019/2020 Running Season !!!

Yesterday evening while pressing the F5 button of my laptop in order to refresh the bloody steem blochchain at my frontends, I had time for planning this week and the following ones till one target race on the second week of October.

Actually, on October I have two races, the second one will be on the last Sunday of the month and it will be more important than the first in terms of performance. The first race has a complicate path, it is not hilly but also not flat and I am sure the temperature then still will be high so, very difficult in order to get a good time... however, it will be agood test in preparation of the second.

A good Training Plan is really the key point for success in any discipline including running so that's why I spent a couple of hours drafting the plan for me and for a couple of runners that I train as well.

Since we have 6 weeks till the first race I have prepared a plan including the following training cycle:

• 2 Weeks of Adaption: Running softly but consistently and including some Strength & Core workouts in order to prepare the body for the following weeks.
• 2 Weeks of "Load" on which we will increase the intensity and volume of the workouts, obliging the body to rise its condition.
• 1 Week of "Transition": we will keep the volume but not the intensity, we will specifically run at the target pace.
• 1 Week of "Execution" on which we will have the first race on Sunday. On this week, Volume will decrease a lot and we will focus on arriving as fresher as possible to the race. We will search for the full recovery of the body and its adaption to a higher performance level

Source

---

What I did plan for today?

Today I planned something easy, in theory, 8Km of continuous Run but varying paces, not so long and not so fast, thought... The run was had 3 main intervals, 2Km of Warm-Up pace, 5'30"/km, followed by 3 Km at 4'40"/km constant pace and 2 Km at 4'30"/km. The last Km was a "Cool-Down" Jog till the hotel and I ended with a complete battery of soft stretching.

and How it went?

Well, I think I'm much worse condition than I imagined I was... I have pains everywhere of my body!!!! But...how is it possible? Just one month of stop and my body is still on holidays!!!!

Honestly, after the 5th km which I completed in 24'30" I started to think that maybe would be better to stop and get back to the hotel... but I kept running, even faster for two kilometres more while hundreds of negative feelings and thoughts were collapsing my brain...

Anyway, at the end I did run 8.2 Km in 38 minutes...which is not an amazing time but believe me when I tell you that due to my poor physical condition this time is more than good (LOL).

The total session including stretching exercises lasted 50 minutes... then I had a warm and relaxing bath at the tube...

Tomorrow more and better?

I don't know but I'm afraid this week is going to be harder than expected.

Keep on Running!!

@toofasteddie, proud member and author/promoter of the @runningproject initiative