The Most Intense Week of My Life

"I am happy to announce that after talking with my children, my family and my closest friends, I have decided to return to professional cycling in order to raise awareness of the global cancer burden." - Lance Armstrong

Let me begin by saying that much like Lance Armstrong I have some fairly big news to announce.

I have come out of retirement. For some it may not be that big of a surprise, or shocking, but after ten months of being retired from the sport of running, I decided to give it a go again. Most people probably don’t even know that I ever decided to stop running, but I did. I ran the Chicago Marathon last year, and afterwords I decided that I didn’t want to run again for a while, and that while ended up being ten months. This was because I wanted to cycle with most of my free time, but it was also because I was unhappy with my decision to do Chicago. I finished the race, and I am very proud for doing that, but I am a pretty big fan of competing when I do something, and Chicago ended up being me fighting myself to finish the last few miles, walking more of the second half than most realize. So afterwards I decided that since I had put so little time into training for Chicago, that if I were to run a marathon again I would have to train, and really train. This gave me a break from running, and I decided to fully stop running, which was sad, but at the same time it gave me opportunities to do other things. After arriving in Spain, I knew that a bike may not be in my future and so I decided that I would begin running again. I had even seen before I left for Spain that there was a marathon in Lisbon on December 8^th, the perfect amount of time for me to train for it. So I began running after I got here, and I failed to mention this to my parents or friends back at home. Early on my goal was just to be able to run, and maybe if I could to do the marathon. Well I am here to tell you today that the training has not gone as well as I had expected so I do not think I am going to do the marathon, but I am running. Early on I had a tough time with motivation, as I can only take one shower a day, and I liked doing that before classes, yet I didn’t want to wake up any earlier than necessary to run, so many days in the first few weeks I didn’t run when I had wanted to. Then I bought the bike, and went on my trip to Galicia, both times where I was not really running. Where does this leave me then, as it sounds like I never work out. I do work out though. This past week was the most intense week of my life. The hardest, athletically. Let me tell you about it.

We will begin with the week starting on a Tuesday and ending on a Monday, because I slept the previous Monday, and that is not intense at all. Tuesday then. On Tuesday, I ran. In total I ran about 6 miles at a pretty good pace, and then came home, showered, ate lunch, and left for class shortly after. That was day one, rather relaxed. Wednesday followed with six hours of class in the morning, then lunch, and without a break after lunch I decided to go for a bike ride. I headed south out of Granada and reached the pueblo of Monachil after about an hour of riding. This gave me two hours to do the climb that was before me, but I was able to do it in just over an hour. I climbed my first mountain pass all the way through, switchbacks and everything. I felt like I was in the Tour de France, only by myself, and on a mountain bike. It was great, I loved it, and it really burnt my energy. I will confess that I am not able to climb an entire mountain yet without stopping. I was forced to stop after about 10 minutes because of some intense leg burning. After a bit of food and water, I began again, and was actually able to make it all the way to the top from that spot, so I climbed for about 55 straight minutes I would guess,

but then just near the top the road became much steeper, and my legs began to exhaust rapidly. Just as I was reaching the top a car passed me and it looked like it kept going on forever, and my heart sank and I stopped my bike as my legs gave out. I waited a minute then walked about 5 feet, and realized I was at the top; just the car was going on a drive way to a point further up. Disappointed that I had stopped, I willed myself to get back on my bike, here at the steepest point of the mountain right at the top so that I could cross point where the road went level, and at that point I felt that I had succeeded. I plan to do this ride once a week in the future, so that maybe after five or six weeks I can see some improvement, but on this day, I just felt mushy legs and a heart rate of 190. Here is a link to part of the days climb. You can see some of the percentage grades.

El Purche

Thursday followed; I woke late, and went on a seven mile run, the second half of the run being just punishing, as my legs were sore from the day before, and my body had not recovered either. I then had lunch and had to sit through an agonizing four hours of class. I don’t plan to do that again in the future.

Friday and Saturday. It is hard to describe these two days without saying this is what makes this the most intense week of my life.

My roommate Keith and I went on a hike. Keith is a very experienced hiker, having completed massive hikes in almost every part of the western United States, and myself this would be my first real mountain hike. Our original plan to go the Alpujarras fell through after we missed the bus, but with a little quick thinking we decided to go to Monachil, my favorite little pueblo at this point, and begin our hike from there on the north side of the Sierra Nevada.

We left Monachil and then headed back toward where I had hiked during my second weekend here in Granada, then west towards the town of Cumbres Verdes before reaching the point where I had biked to a few weeks before (the ride where I dropped the huge section of road in 4 minutes). As we reached this trail, we went in another direction on the west side of these mountains. I had my Jansport backpack, filled with a large amount of clothes, food, sleeping bag, and a mat for some cushion for sleeping. I think I have failed to mention this, but we slept in the mountains. Anyways. The hike began at 2pm near Monachil. At around 6pm, we were at the base of the mountain known as Trevenque.

We seriously underestimated this mountain, and had quite an adventure climbing it and then climbing down the backside as the sun was setting. As we reached the valley floor, we decided to continue on and look for a place to camp. After many unsuccessful attempts to find a suitable sleeping area, we eventually stopped to eat some food, and during this time Keith mentioned that we could just walk back home at that time. This would make the hike Epic he had said. I agreed, and so we began walking back. At around midnight, I told him that I needed to stop for a few minutes, as my feet were killing me. I was of course a beginner at this sport, hiking in running shoes, and with a backpack that definitely wasn’t made for hikes of this nature, as my back seemed out of whack. This stop turned into us sleeping for a few hours on the mountains edge, before continuing on just before first light. We reached downtown Granada around 1030, and stopped for some sugar at the local Dunkin Coffee, also known as Dunkin Donuts in the USA.

After our delicious breakfast, we headed home, and arrived at around 11am. I showered and then hit the hay once more, as my entire body hurt. It actually still hurts. The totals that we know of currently were that we hiked for at least 14 hours in a 21 hour period. I have estimated the number of miles that we hiked at somewhere near 30-35, as Google Maps does not accurately show some of the trails we did, although I am able to map most of it, because our walk back was on a dirt road.. Here is a basic view of what we did.

View Larger Map

Then on Sunday, I ran the Granada Half Marathon. Let me begin to describe this half marathon, what was the best half that I have ever run. My finishing time was around 1 hour and 40 minutes, but because of some serious soreness beforehand I was not sure if I would even be able to run. Once the race started though, I was great. I felt good the entire time, and I ran with a group of Americans which was nice. In the beginning it was just Keith and myself, but slowly we started meeting more and more Americans as we spoke English and people heard it from a distance. During the run we met two Americans, one that was studying in Granada, and one from Sevilla, and this became our running group. We ran the first few kilometers at a snails pace, and I really wanted to start picking it up and passing everyone, but I didn’t and I held it in reserve. Around kilometer 6 we were really starting to pass people, and we were dropping our split times, as the first 2 km were in around 12minutes, followed by a 7 km time in around 40. Then after the 7k we kept picking off runners, and I started to feel really good with our pace. At around 14km I spoke with one of the runners that we were with about going hard the last 4km, as we passed the 14k in 1 hour 12 minutes and 30 seconds. Soon after saying this I decided that 7 km was enough away that I could really drop some time, and so I took off. For the next 4 k I felt incredible, passing hundreds of runners, and then with 3 k to go, I hit a mini wall, but I pressed through it, slowing down slightly until I hit 500 meters to the finish, and at that point I picked it up again finishing in a grand time of just under 1 hour 40 minutes. I had run the last 7 km in around 27 minutes, and easily had a huge amount left in reserve giving me large amounts of confidence. It was the easiest 13 miles I had ever run, and yes it made me love the sport again. After the race I picked up Gatorade and my t shirt. At this point I was really happy that I had done this race that had only been 10 euros. Then Keith and I decided to make it worth our while and we hit up the beer tent for a few Cruz Campos before heading home. It was a great day, and it made me realize I must be in better shape than I thought.

Here is my diploma of sorts. I guess that they decided not to subtract the two minutes I waited before I crossed the finish line chip wise, because my real time was much closer to high 1 hour 39.

http://www.gescon-chip.com/diploma.aspx?idprueba=64&dorsal=1439

Pictures from the Media Maraton.

http://www.bancofoto.com/gallery_Media_Maraton_Ciudad_m113-sb_id-so_descending-page34.html

Some Individuals(enjoy the tan line. and yes that little girl only ran like 50 meters and I was passing her when the photo was taken, so it doesnt tell the whole story)

http://www.bancofoto.com/Media_Maraton_Ciudad_g113-_p9656.html
http://www.bancofoto.com/Media_Maraton_Ciudad_g113-_p9655.html

Monday was a day of rest. Guess again. I had six hours of class, lunch, and then I went on a 2.5 hour bike ride into the hills west of my house. I can take a break from this routine sometime soon, but not yet. This week will just have to keep going.

That is all for now, but I do want to clarify a few things. I can say that yes Jim Mills has given me much harder weeks, where I was run into the ground so to say. I can remember them vividly. This week I feel was different because I did 3 different principals, and each one at some point was the limit of what my body was capable of handling. Throw these in quick succession, with little energy left in between to do more than nod my head, and yes this was a week that ranks up there with the best.