scumbuster

Week 4 Day 2 of Marathon Training. Running in the mud today. 8 minute intervals with 2 minute jog between each. HR Zone 4. See my run stats and GPS track on Strava @ https://www.strava.com/activities/5317538610

Week 3 Day 7 Marathon Training. Sunday long run 1 hr 45 min. My run stats on Strava @ https://www.strava.com/activities/5307986026

My first run in Cajica, Colombia. Because of protests currently going on, I ran around the area near our apartment. Tomorrow I hope to run part of my old route. See my GPS route on a map @ https://www.strava.com/activities/5285448812

Not much talking. Too hard to breath at 9,000 ' with only 3 days to adjust to the elevation. See my run GPS on Strava @ https://www.strava.com/activities/5291697829 I flew back to Ecuador Friday 14th.

Well the big day is here. Its early Monday morning as I am loading this video. We will be heading to the Guayaquil airport after lunch today, for an evening flight to Bogota. I hope to get a little video in the airport in both Guayaquil and Bogota. Sunday was my 90 minute long run in HR Zone 2 @ 86% humidity. But by the time this video is approved for publication, I may be back in Ecuador. Its only a 4 day trip to maintain my Colombian residency. See this long run @ https://www.strava.com/activities/5268623883 and come run the Manta Marathon on August 15th. Its a nice ocean side run during some of the marathon. Hydration stations every 2k during the race. @ http://mantamarathon.com/web/index.php

Today I was running more of my intervals in HR zone 4, so I am improving. Tomorrow is my weekly long run of 90 minutes. See my run stats @ https://www.strava.com/activities/5262219820 Run in the Manta Marathon August 15th: http://mantamarathon.com/web/index.php

Only a 30 minute zone 2 recovery run today after my intervals yesterday. Felt underwhelmed by the workout today. I am off tomorrow and then a second interval run this week on Saturday followed by a 1.5 hour easy run Sunday. My Sunday easy runs will be adding 15 minutes every week to over 3 hour runs as I move on in my marathon training. Follow my run stats on Strava @ https://www.strava.com/athletes/30026202 Flights to Guayaquil or Quito Ecuador are cheap. Run in the Manta Marathon August 15th. http://mantamarathon.com/web/index.php

Today was a recovery run (HR Zone 2) for 45 minutes. I will have another hard (HR Zone 4) run tomorrow. I tried another video format today and it seems to be a lot smoother video. I am going to stick with this for a while to make sure of the results. You can see all my run stats on Strava @ https://www.strava.com/activities/5240403251 Come run in Ecuador August 15, 2021: http://mantamarathon.com/

Manta, Marathon Prep. Week 2 Day 3. 4 - 5 minute sets of HR Zone 4. Flying to Bogota, Colombia Monday. Hope to run some during our stay, however a lot of protests currently going on and another Covid lockdown underway. https://www.strava.com/activities/5246075941 Come run: www.mantamarathon.com

Day 2 marathon training. I didn't need to do a factory reset on my watch and got my Bluetooth headphones to pair. See my run stats @ https://www.strava.com/activities/5201401983 Come run the Manta, Marathon August 15th.. http://mantamarathon.com/web/index.php

Week 1 Day 6 of marathon training. I was changing speed through the run every kilometer. https://www.strava.com/activities/5223487164 http://mantamarathon.com/web/index.php

I have such a low and slowly rising heart rate that its making it almost impossible to run 4 minutes in zone 4. In my 90 seconds recovery, my HR drops so much it takes 1/2 of the run to get it back up to zone 4. Im so disappointed in this workout today I may go out and run sprints tomorrow even though I am not scheduled to run. https://www.strava.com/activities/5208688872

10K run today. This was my last normal run until August 15th as I prepare for the Manta Marathon. For the next 16 weeks I will be following the Garmin marathon training program for an intermediate runner. While this will be my first marathon, I feel with my current 50 VO2 max and recent 10K PR of 54:31. I would qualify as an intermediate runner. Monday the 26th will be my first workout with only a body weight exercise, followed by an easy 40 minute zone 2 heart rate run on the 27th. The 28th will be a little more intense with 4 - 4 minute, heart rate zone 4 runs with a 90 second recovery run after each. Every day includes a 10 minute cooldown an an additional 1 minute stretch after. Follow my runs on Strava @ https://www.strava.com/athletes/30026202 http://mantamarathon.com/web/index.php

https://www.strava.com/activities/5166434667 http://mantamarathon.com/web/index.php

Trying not to push too hard as I start marathon training in a few days. It will be 16 weeks of pretty tough running to prepare for the August 15th marathon in Manta Ecuador. See my run details @ https://www.strava.com/activities/5178155855 Signup for the Manta, Ecuador Marathon August 15th 2021. http://mantamarathon.com/web/index.php

https://www.strava.com/activities/5142866038 http://mantamarathon.com/web/index.php

A faster cadence today. 177 SPM average through 5k. Only 37 seconds off my PR. On my cooldown talking a little about Colombia and marathon training. See my run @ https://www.strava.com/activities/5114328897 Join me at the Manta, Ecuador Marathon August 15th. http://mantamarathon.com/web/index.php?r=site%2Findex

Today I had a nice easy start to my 10K. I felt good at around 6:00 per kilometer until kilometer 9. The last one I held pace, but was feeling pretty tired. I didnt finish my 10k until I was just outside the gate so no Colombian discussion today. Anyone interested in Colombia or Ecuador, I am happy to answer any questions. I have spent years in both countries. You can see my run stats and GPS route @ https://www.strava.com/activities/5103745913 Also, I am planning on running the Manta, Ecuador Marathon on August 15th. Anyone interested in running here will find pretty reasonable flights from Fort Lauderdale to Guayaquil, Ecuador. I may be able to help you if you come down and need some logistical support. PM me if your interested. The marathon is pretty flat and runs along the Pacific ocean for part of the run. http://mantamarathon.com/

My 5k moderate pace run this morning. Finished with talk about living in Colombia. Cost of living, buying a house and the current status of the lockdown in Colombia. See my run on Strava @ https://www.strava.com/activities/5090601987 Flights to Ecuador are pretty reasonable. Is it the right time to run a marathon? I plan to do this one. Training will start in a couple weeks http://mantamarathon.com/

Day 2 was working on my stride turnover and hill repeats. A pretty easy workout. Looking ahead this isn't what I was looking for for marathon training. Although this will be my first marathon I can see the beginner training is more to just complete a marathon rather than run a decent time. So I canceled this training today and signed up for a 16 week intermediate marathon training schedule. It will start the end of this month. In the mean time I plan to start stretching out my Sunday runs. This will get me running in some new areas that I haven't run for a while. Maybe some new scenery for the videos. I also want to start getting a faster cadence on my runs, That and stretching out my distance will be what I plan to work on until my training schedule starts.

5 minute Garmin benchmark run. A 2 minute warmup. 5 minute hard run and 2 minute cooldown. I finished off the 7k loop jogging for the cooldown. My 5 run was low to mid 4 minute per kilometer pace. I talk about how the Garmin program works to evaluate you and adjust your workout as I jog. See my run @ https://www.strava.com/activities/5043640892

My off day after a hard run. Ran a 10K PR yesterday. Nice relaxed day today.

This was originally slated to be a moderate pace10K test run, to check out the route I was going to take on an upcoming 10K PR attempt. But I was feeling good and my first 2 kilometers were at a good pace, so I decided to go for it. I ended up shaving about 2 minutes off my old 10K PR. My goal was to be under 55 minutes. You can see my run stats on Strava @ https://www.strava.com/activities/5020419238

Went to Manta for a relaxed afternoon. Lunch out and coffee with desert at Juan Valdez. Then a little shopping at SuperMaxi.

Up pace 10K through the little village of Arenales. 5:43 pace. I really felt pretty comfortable on that 10K and was only 59 seconds off my Strava PR of 56:05. I hope in the next week or two that I can break a 55 minutes. Check my run stats on Strava @ https://www.strava.com/activities/5008099737