Malta: Living on the Edge of Europe » Events

Argonaut

Sandro — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 10:35:32 +0000

The weekend's gregale has left this Argonaut's quest to find the Golden Fleece in tatters.

Week 19 of 34 – Service suspended

Sandro — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 23:05:25 +0000

I have maintained the 3 key running sessions: hills, speed and long run. This falls far short of the mileage I had envisaged doing at this point but at least I'm still keeping the participation door slightly ajar.

Week 18 of 34 – Service suspended

Sandro — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 23:05:32 +0000

In view of this body refusing to cooperate in the buildup towards the 0 -3000 challenge, I am temporarily suspending these weekly updates.

Should the situation persist, I'll be obliged to cancel the attempt and will inform you accordingly.

Week 17 of 34 – Half way there but still too far behind

Sandro — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 23:05:14 +0000

Seventeen weeks have run by, another seventeen weeks to go. I have trained through 50% of a 34-week build-up but I'm only feeling 15% prepared. No, it isn't false modesty. The past few weeks have been simply horrid - lost training days, plethora of aches and pains and now the hills I have run up countless times are feeling harder.

It wasn't the original purpose of this page for it to become an outlet for my moaning and whining. So for today, bye.

The Arab spring in Malta – a year ago

Sandro — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 18:33:20 +0000

A year has gone by and the Arab spring of 2011 is still in season.

This video was taken in February 2011.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBPWV1j2SqU

Week 15 of 34 – A weaker week

Sandro — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 23:05:56 +0000

Does the title of this week's post seem uninspired, seeing that it's almost the same as last week's? The reality is that this has been the poorest 7-day period to date. Having completed only two sessions is bad enough but even worse is my failure to do any of the key workouts: hills, speed and long run. Admittedly I was feeling poorly with flu-like symptoms siphoning off my energy supply. As any of you athletes know, the temptation to force a reluctant body into action is always there but a recurring elevated resting heart rate confirmed my physical sensations; going head to head with common sense would have been counter-productive. At least I now know why week 14 was so disappointing - the body was already busy trying to fight off the virus.
Unfortunately these let downs are par for the course but thankfully there is still plenty of time to get back into stride for the 0 - 3000metres Etna marathon challenge since I'm not quite half-way there yet. And to cheer me up, I concluded the week with the proverbial silver lining - a 15km trail run taking me to the cliff edge of Ras il-Wahx.

Training hours: 4 / Weight: 70.9kgs / Body fat: 12.4% / Muscle mass: 69.4% / Water: 57.6% / Bone mass: 3.0 / Resting heart rate: 50

Week 14 of 34 – A weak week

Sandro — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 23:05:38 +0000

Sometimes an easy week doesn't reinvigorate the body enough to deal with an increased work load. Sometimes the best of intentions cannot quite overcome a dip in motivation. Sometimes the planned week of work turns out to be a much weaker version of that that had been intended.

Since I began my preparation for the Etna marathon, this has turned out to be the most disappointing 7 days for a plethora of reasons:

Heart rate - resting and active - has been on the rise
Cold, hunger and sleepiness prevented me from doing my second session of the day
Pains and cramps in places that the body never suffered before interfered with my running gait
Difficulty in finding a comfortable pace, even during a bog-standard run

There, I've enumerated the problems that beset me. Now my job is to find the cause or causes.

Training hours: 7 / Weight: 70.9kgs / Body fat: 12.3% / Muscle mass: 69.5% / Water: 57.7% / Bone mass: 3.0 / Resting heart rate: 50

Week 13 of 34 – Every 4th week

Sandro — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 23:05:27 +0000

Every 4th week is one with a reduced training load and so it was this week - fewer and shorter training sessions. Besides giving my body time to recover from the incessant pounding of the streets and (less frequently now) trails, it allows me to reconnect with a world outside running. It was fun to meet friends for backgammon and go to the cinema again while not having to be in bed by 8.30pm. The wake-up time of 4.40am is a different matter though. That has been absorbed into my DNA so whether it's the weekend or a day off, my eyes open to the darkness of the hour. I can sometimes force myself back to sleep but the night would have been interrupted nonetheless.

Overall a quiet week but with a curious heart rate anomaly. Although the resting heart rate has remained under the 50bpm mark, the active heart rate was somewhat higher than usual. This happened during the steady runs and also the speed sessions. I can only presume the climatic conditions played a part, such as a strong head wind or elevated humidity. Let's see how it goes next week.

Training hours: 7 / Weight: 70.6kgs / Body fat: 12.1% / Muscle mass: 69.6% / Water: 57.9% / Bone mass: 3.0 / Resting heart rate: 47

Week 12 of 34 – A solid week

Sandro — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 23:05:55 +0000

Ten hours worth of training this week, which included days with two training sessions each, makes for a week of solid work. Positive feedback also comes from the aerobic threshold session I did on Friday at 5.30 in the morning; certainly not the ideal time for speed work and neither is the location. Not being much of a track fan, I prefer to jog down to the Pwales road (leading from Xemxija to Ghajn Tuffieha), which conveniently serves as a warm up, and then do the session along the flattest stretch. This has a slight, but none too compromising, incline on the way out. Also, if a wind's blowing then it's almost guaranteed to meet me head on during the "up"section. Nonetheless, last Friday's 3 x 20' at 150-153bpm were done 20 seconds per kilometre faster than 3 weeks ago.

The week of solid work

Training hours: 10 / Weight: 70.7kgs / Body fat: 12.2% / Muscle mass: 69.6% / Water: 57.8% / Bone mass: 3.0 / Resting heart rate: 47

Christmas dolls and St. Valentine bears

Sandro — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 07:40:48 +0000

At the end of October of last year, Christmas decorations were already being put up on roundabouts along the arterial roads (see post: Merry Christmas). I was heading to the beach for an afternoon swim when I saw them adorning the perimeter of one of the Xemxija twin roundabouts (doesn't have the same ring to it as "twin towers" but that's what this country can afford). Holly and candle shapes and a Merry Christmas sign - all waiting for the night to fall and the electricity to flow, to flash these out-of-season greetings. Eventually, plastic dolls representing holy families, sons of god and wise men mushroomed in the turf and camped for a few months in the maelstrom of fumes and horns, screeching tyres and irate drivers. How the mighty have fallen!

Now it's St Valentine who's impatient to make his entrance - and an elevated one at that. A billboard is already up on the way to St Julians (the town, named after the man who slaughtered his parents) advertising teddy bears as an ideal gift for the 14th February. What exactly does this furry soft toy say to your romantic partner on the day? "You're ever so huggable darling" or "Isn't it time you got an all-over epilation done?". What I'm really looking forward to are the restaurants' special menus - essentially bog-standard meals but with over-the-top prices - that will soon make an appearance in the newspapers. You know the sort: a tomato soup starter is renamed Romeo's Bleeding Heart; a main of chicken breast with chips becomes Juliet's Welcoming Bosom; for dessert, Arouse My Passion, two scoops of ice-cream with a strikingly erect wafer tube.

Week 10 of 34 – It began as it ended

Sandro — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 23:05:24 +0000

Another digit change on the calendar - it's 2012 - and that's a good excuse as any to celebrate. Evidence of the partying that went on a couple of hours earlier lies in the pools of puke staining the promenade pavement. No doubt many had been boosting their spirits by imbibing a variety of spirits. I, too, exaggerated somewhat last night, breaking the unwritten rule of being in bed by 9.30pm latest and stretching my waking hours to 11.30pm. While that night the date moved forward by one day, the following morning I had to move forward by 1½hours. So there I was at 7.30am, in high spirits because I was running along near empty roads, with the ocean blue and scent of the sea assailing my senses.

Training hours: 8 / Weight: 71kgs / Body fat: 12.5% / Muscle mass: 69.4% / Water: 57.7% / Bone mass: 3.0 / Resting heart rate: 49

Week 9 of 34 – Christmas day run

Sandro — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 23:05:40 +0000

Due to work commitments, and because it was time I did so, I reduced the training volume for week nine. This meant Monday was dedicated to sloth while I did only one session-per-day on the remaining days, while still doing the key workouts. These were a 3x20' @ 150-153bpm on Tuesday, a short hills fartlek on Friday and the long run (the longest so far) on Christmas day. Again I included some longish hills: Manikata, 1.4k with an elevation change of +94m; Ghajn Zejtuna, 1.8k with an elevation change of +109m. Despite these hills, and having run for 2:15, I only climbed 420m. This serves as another reminder of how massive a 3000m climb is and how much respect the Etna marathon deserves.

Training hours: 7 / Weight: 71kgs / Body fat: 12.3% / Muscle mass: 69.4% / Water: 57.6% / Bone mass: 3.0 / Resting heart rate: 48