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The Boggers Log
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I arrived in Tenochtitlan early this morning local time. It's a city of over 20 million inhabitants and 2200 metres above sea level. The sheer size and sprawl of this place is incredible and the traffic is ballobas, I usually don't mind driving when abroad but not a chance in hell here.
Had meetings all day and the temperature got up to 26/27• this afternoon. I was in a suit and was sweating like a cynophobe at Crufts
When you're been introduced at the start of meetings here the men pull you into an embrace while shaking your hand and kissing you on one cheek, I nearly boxed the first lad that did it but I'm kinda getting to like it now
Didn't even look at what the plan called for as I knew that given the jet lag the best I could hope for was a couple of easy miles. I'm hoping to get some quality in towards the back end of the week. This place once had the notoriety of been the murder capital of the world and I wasn't sure I'd be able to run outside safely after dark. Luckily enough I'm staying near Chapultepec Park that is supposed to be a safe place for runners. The park is a haven in the centre of chaos and its twice the size of Central Park in New York, it a bit surreal running through wooded parkland with a cacophony of traffic bedlam as a backdrop.
Got 5 miles easy done. Hopefully I'll get some class of a double done tomorrow
TbL0 -
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Again today I didn't bother looking at the plan, but I did want to do my best to get at least 10 miles done and some quality as well if possible.
Body clock had me awake before 6am and after failing to get back to sleep I decided to get the gear on and hit Chapultepec park again. There is a castle in a section of the park that I wanted to get up to but that section of the park was closed so I continued over to the next section. Came upon a section know as Sope (I was told it means a tortilla covered in beans and cheese), this was a dedicated running track of compact red grit. It was really cool, two different running paths both marked every hundred metres, the smaller path was 850m and the longer one about 1800m. It was packed with runners of every different size shape and ability. There was a clock over the starting area that showed the time to the nearest second and there was a sign that sectioned parts of the path to Corredores, Caminadores and one for Meno, Trotadores
The whole area was immaculate with numerous groundskeepers
raking the track and I even passed a water sprinkling machine that was pouring water onto the track to keep the dust down I assume. There was also an area beside the start that had exercise machines, the whole set up was fantastic. Did a couple of laps before heading back out into the snarling traffic that was circling the park like Indians around the pilgrims wagons! You really need to be careful crossing the street here as it's a manic free for all. Got 12.38km done very easy.
Had another gastronomically challenging lunch that went on for 3 hours! Octopus, marlin, a Peruvian white fish in lemon and Chapulines (fried crickets ffs!!!) Made sure I took my time eating the piece of beef I got Kept putting off the evening run as I felt completely bloated but eventually got out and headed back to the Sope, it open from 5am to midnight and is lit up after dark.
Passed dozens of police vehicles and hundreds of policemen with riot shields on the way to the park, I heard that there was a demonstration a short distance away and they were there in case of trouble. Joan Burton wouldn't have been trapped in her car for long if there were a couple of those lads around.
Decided I'd try to do 6 laps of the Sope (850m) at 6.30 pace, with 60/90 seconds recovery. It was pretty crowded with runners and one section of about 100 metres was dark as the lights were off. Found this tough going and I couldn't hit anywhere near 6.30 pace, last two laps were a slog and I don't know if I was mentally wimping out but I started to think I was getting light headed. Did the 6 in 3.35, 3.38, 3.33, 3.30, 3.40 & 3.36. Got 9.5k in total in and just under 22k for the day.
When I first heard that I was coming here I was pissed off coz I didn't think I'd get any running done but I'm happy enough that even though the mileage and quality is low at least I got out every day. I'd actually prefer to stay here but I'm heading to a more touristy area tomorrow for a couple of days. I need to get at least 35 miles in over the next 3 days.
TbL0 -
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I flew into Cancun today and the first thing I noticed when I got off the plane was the blast of heat and humidity, it was 28* (but with a "feels like" temperature in the 30's) and humidity of 80%. Had a couple of meetings scheduled for today and it was very sticky once you came out from the air conditioning.
Have a nice hotel right on the beach and am hoping I get to avail of it tomorrow.
I continued my trend of eating like a native so I had a big American burger Place is a bit mental as it's the start of Spring Break.
Plan today called for 9 miles steady and I was determined to try and get it done, especially as I didn't have an altitude excuse here. There is a red walking/cycling path outside the hotel and I set off on it just after 6pm local time. I was sweating heavily from the off and spray was flicking off my arms as I ran. Covered the first mile in 7.29, the second in 7.09. At this stage I was already fcuked and drenched with sweat, I could hear my shoes squelching, mile 3 was done in 7.15 and my head was starting to feel like boil in the bag rice, got to mile 4 in 7.26 but I had to stop for a couple of minutes to compose myself. Started again but the head was dropping, a poor mile 5 in 7.43 brought me to a walk and I continued to walk jog the next 3 miles.
This week has been a bit of a disaster and there's no way in hell I could do a long run in those conditions. I'm disheartened and disillusioned and a sub 3 marathon has never seemed so far away! I'm gonna write off the rest of the week and join the kids at Spring Break.
TbL0 -
ThebitterLemon wrote: »I flew into Cancun today and the first thing I noticed when I got off the plane was the blast of heat and humidity, it was 28* (but with a "feels like" temperature in the 30's) and humidity of 80%. Had a couple of meetings scheduled for today and it was very sticky once you came out from the air conditioning.
Have a nice hotel right on the beach and am hoping I get to avail of it tomorrow.
I continued my trend of eating like a native so I had a big American burger Place is a bit mental as it's the start of Spring Break.
Plan today called for 9 miles steady and I was determined to try and get it done, especially as I didn't have an altitude excuse here. There is a red walking/cycling path outside the hotel and I set off on it just after 6pm local time. I was sweating heavily from the off and spray was flicking off my arms as I ran. Covered the first mile in 7.29, the second in 7.09. At this stage I was already fcuked and drenched with sweat, I could hear my shoes squelching, mile 3 was done in 7.15 and my head was starting to feel like boil in the bag rice, got to mile 4 in 7.26 but I had to stop for a couple of minutes to compose myself. Started again but the head was dropping, a poor mile 5 in 7.43 brought me to a walk and I continued to walk jog the next 3 miles.
This week has been a bit of a disaster and there's no way in hell I could do a long run in those conditions. I'm disheartened and disillusioned and a sub 3 marathon has never seemed so far away! I'm gonna write off the rest of the week and join the kids at Spring Break.
TbL
Don't be too hard on yourself - I'm in awe of what you manage to do with such a hectic life - it's very rare that you don't get it done0 -
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I decided to take it very handy today and recover, and I decided to recover in style, before getting stuck back into it on Monday.
Got up early this morning and went for a swim in the sea before having a lazy breakfast overlooking the sea. Had a massage after breakfast in a thatched gazebo right on the beach. I wanted to see a Cenote while I was here in Cancun. A cenote is a natural sinkhole formed by the collapse of limestone bedrock and the cave water is fresh, pristinely clear and pure. I'd no interest in going to an overhyped tourist type place and I got a recommendation for one way off the beaten track, "Cenote 7 Bocas", (7 mouths) near Peurto Muerles. This was off the main road down a dirt track into very heavily forested/jungle terrain, and it was very rustic. Very very basic facilities and changing rooms (I gave the au natural toilets a miss!) but the cenotes themselves were fantastic. You enter the Cenote down steep and narrow wooden stairs or you can take the 20 foot plunge into Boca 3. It's an amazing experience swimming along with the cave walls only a couple of inches over your head in places and stalactites and tree roots on the roof. There were also some very impressive underwater stalactites of over 6 feet in length. You could swim between some of the cenotes by diving down and swimming through a short tunnel. The water colour was incredible especially when the sunlight pierced the water like a laser. A really cool way to experience nature untouched by commercialism (apart from the non negotiable $250 peso fee payable to the owner)
Had a late lunch on a terrace overlooking the lagoon and later, another swim under the early evening moonlight (tough day:))
Oh yea, and I managed to get a 40 mins very easy run in!
Off to check out the natural beauty at Spring Break
Tnx for all the nice messages.
TbL0 -
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Sunday: just 30 mins very easy to keep the legs turning over along the lagoon in Cancun.
Monday: over the weekend I put a long distance call into the RAH (runners assistance helpline) and got immediately through to the man who lies in third place in the 1000 mile challenge. Fair play to Bulmers74 he selflessly changed his schedule to rescue my week and run 22 miles with me today.
Got into Shannon via Heathrow today on an overnight from Atlanta and Bulmers was waiting for me, unfortunately my bag wasn't! Mislaid by Aer Lingus. Luckily I always take my runners and Garmin in my carry on so it only delayed the run a bit as I'd to fill in a form. We decided to run from the airport and I got a blast of sleet and hail on the way to change in the car, talk about dichotomous weather conditions in the space of 24 hours! We headed out of the airport up a back road into New Market on Fergus and turned near Dromoland Castle. There were a few challenging drags in the first half that magically seemed to disappear for the second half! I've had a couple of running dates with Bulmers and we chatted away easily until about mile 17 when it started to get tough and I shut up altogether, Bulmers the gracious host did his best to chat away!
He's been doing some savage miles and is very strong, he was one of very few people to negative split DCM this year and he'll blow his PB out of the water in Limerick in May. The weather was all over the place on this run, windy, sunny, hail and sleet but I was delighted to be just getting it done.
When we finished and to show my appreciation I wanted to give him a Mexican man hug/kiss, but he was having none of it
Fair play J, you rescued my week.
Tnx
TbL
Splits:
8.15
8.03
7.47
7.48
8.16
7.46
8.23
8.07
8.00
8.07
8.09
8.09
8.00
7.46
7.37
7.44
8.05
7.27
7.56
8.11
8.11
8.170
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