End of the heat?

    At last the weather cooled down and, perhaps, we are able to come back to the “normal life”. In fact, yesterday evening, after a lot of time, my wife and I went for a walk to the downtown (we live 5 minutes walking far from it). We couldn’t believe: walking without the overwhelming heat over us!

    This morning I got up early to start my run at 06:30 a.m. and, what a surprise, the temperature was “only” 18°C/64,4°F with a light sea breeze: the perfect weather to come back to the usual routes around the city where I can meet “good friends” like these:

This is a young blackbird that I rescued some months ago, during a workout, after a hit and run:

Running update - This week I have run 4 times:

Monday: 10,7 km (ondulate);

Wednesday: 9,7 km (ondulate);

Friday: 10,4 km (ondulate) with my son Paolo (42 y.o.) who started to run again to participate in some races. He covered the distance of 7 km: not so bad after a week of stop and a cure of antibiotics for a sore throat;

Sunday: 10,7 km on the same route of monday. Thanks to the perfect weather I was 4 minutes faster.

I think that by the next week increasing mileage and pace will be possible. 

Racing – Many races continue to be cancelled or postponed. For this reason I prefer to sign up at the last minute when I am sure that the race will take place.

For this year in my wishing list there are some interesting events through scenic and historical routes:

Oct. 03: Roma Appia Run (km. 13);

Oct. 17: Roma/Ostia half marathon;

Roma/Ostia 2001:

Nov. 01: Roma Corsa dei Santi (km. 10);

Corsa dei Santi 2015:

Dec. 05: Canino Maratonina Olio DOP (km. 10).

Maratonina Olio Dop 2019:

 Have a good week!

Running through the city

Summer is always here and the heat rules. I follow the routine planned for this season: running every other day in early morning and going to the beach with my wife and our grandson every day.

I don’t like the seaside resort where we go because it is on the sand (see the pictures); I prefer the rocks with the deep water below but, with a child 5 y.o., the sandy place is better because less dangerous.

 

This week I have run 3 times:

Tuesday: 9,5 km ondulate;

Thursday: 9,6 km ondulate;

Saturday: 9,7 km mainly flat.

 

The plan is only one again: to not skip any workout and no matter the speed.

I will come back to work on the distance and the pace when the weather cool down. However I  noticed that also my local running friends of my same age have the same problems because of the heat: the pace is slower and the runs are shorter.

 

Taking advantage of this “bad” situation (short mileage and slow pace) I made the decision to change my usual routes to  run through characteristic parts of my city.

Here are some places.

 

The breakwater:

The seafront:

Ancient monuments:

Medieval district:

Suburbs:

What are your favorite routes? Do you run through the city?

Week end by the lake

Week end by the lake: My wife and I have just got home after 2 days in Capodimonte, by the lake of Bolsena, with our daughter's family. On the lakefront there were attractions, music and an open market. This year no fireworks at midnight because of the Covid restrictions.

We spent many hours by the lake, enjoying the fresh water and playing with Gabriele, the grandson 5 y.o. (the other one, Alessandro, is only 2 months old).

Running update: On the running front this was not an easy week because of the heat wave, so I made shorter and slower runs except on Sunday  (always at 06:30 a.m.) where I could run in Capodimonte under a light breeze:

Monday: 7,6 km flat;

Wednsday: 8,7 km flat;

Friday: 9,2 km hilly;

Sunday: 10,5 km flat.

Walking in Viterbo

Walking in Viterbo: Saturday afternoon my wife and I have gone to Viterbo for a walk in the downtown and to eat a delicious ice cream. Here are some pictures of the city.

Running update: Starting the workouts at 06.30 is a good option in consideration of the heat (this is the 4th heat wave of the season in Italy). However my body got used to this temperature and humidity and now I succeed in running faster (or better "less slowly") covering, every time, about 10 km. To increase the mileage I prefer to wait for late September when the heat has gone.

This week I have run 3 times:

Tuesday: 9,7 km ondulate;

Thursday: 9,7 km flat;

Saturday: 10,7 km ondulate.

In the meantime my son Paolo has come back to running and he made the decision to run with me the Appia Run on oct. 03: 13 km through an ancient and scenic part of Rome. The swag is not as rich as we use to get in the towns in Tuscia region but the organization and the landscape deserve the fee we pay.

July 2021

July 2021 – Stats: 125,1 km (77,7 m) in 13 workouts.

July was not a good month for my running. The heat affected my runs and I felt very weak, for this reason I didn’t mind about distance and pace. I also had to stop myself  5 days to recover.

The longest distance was 11,2 km and the shortest  6,2 km.

 

This week I have run 4 times with start at 06.30 a.m.:

Monday: 6,2 km. (flat) I felt very tired and I came back home very soon;

Wednesday: 9,7 km (ondulate) a good workout despite the heat wave;

Friday: 8,6 km (ondulate) another bad day for my running;

Sunday: 10,5 km (ondulate) with an heartbreak hill 3 km long.  After 5 km I met another runner and the workout together became easier.

 

This is the final part of my last workout:

And at home water and fresh fruit that my wife bought yesterday at the local market:

Seagulls - Here you can see the behaviour of the seagulls near my house when my cat doesn’t patrol HIS territory:

 HAVE A GOOD SUNDAY