Friday, 20 November 2009

Another long run today or rather a long time running with a bit of walking. Total time of the workout was one hour and 43 minutes. Starting from the Fornaca then up the Cabrils road, the off road trail, the secondary road up to the flats by la Roca d’en Toni. At the dolmen I took my usual short break to stretch and then off to Coll del Porc and on to Can Mastruc, an old abandoned masia with a spectacular view of the Maresme coast. Masias are the traditional Catalan farmhouses that are more like small fortresses thn anything else.
At Can Mastruc I took a short break to stretch and then headed back toward the dolmen, down the dip to Can Boquet and then the long climb up to the Font de Sant Mateu. That took about a half hour, say 28 minutes or so. By then I was starting to feel the legs. Instead of going home via the Cabrils road I elected to head down to Vilassar de Dalt directly from Can Bouquet. Obviously the up hills are very slow, some of the slopes approach 30 degrees, and the work is very hard going. The route from la Roca d’en Toni to Can Mastruc is what I would call rolling. The terrain on the mountain is very different from that of the typical marathon course but I enjoy running on the mounatain. The difference in elevation between the Fornaca and Sant Mateau is more than 300 metres.
Today I ran with a bottle of water, a half litre that I carried in my hand. Running up hill was not a problem but on the flats and on the down hills the bottle disrupted my rhythm and slowed me down. For awhile I ran with the bottle tucked into the small of my back and held in place by the waist band of my shorts and that helped my rhythm. I was able to throw away the bottle in the trash bin at Can Boquet. Later in the run I was bothered by a lack of Vaseline on the inside of my thighs. (I never learn) Before the run I weighed in at 71.3 kg, just a bit lower than the previous week.