Running in Peru

Here is a chronical of my running during my trip to Peru in April and May 2009. It may not be as Exciting or exotic as you may think based on the subject. On the other hand, I don't want it to get too Exciting.

For more on Peru, see the old travel blog.

That travel blog will also help explain the sudden stop in my running (hint: it rhymes with food poisoning).

Tuesday, April 21
Eight miles in 2 loops of the golf course. See my separate post on my first run in Peru.

Wednesday, April 22
I did 3 loops for 9 miles total in 78 minutes. Each 2.8x mile loop was about the same: 24:4x. Not too bad. Don't like all the concrete on the sidewalks though.

Thursday, April 23
This time I got an early did 4 loops. Woohoo. The lap times got better with each one, and this is something I ususally try for. It's still a little discouraging that it's so difficult to run any faster. I guess I'm just an old fat bald guy who tries to run, and there's nothing I can do about it. So it wound up as 12 miles in 1:45.

Friday, April 24
Decided to try something new today. It appears that it may be possible to get up the mountain that the hotel is built into, but that the road is from the other side. I tried to find it by running around the mountain, and I think I did find it. I didn't go up, however, because it looked too dangerous - no sidewalks or any other place to run but the road. I did a bit more around the side of the golf course and headed back. Call is a slow 5.

Saturday, April 25
Waking up with nausea in the middle of the night? Diarrea in the morning? Not good omens for a long run. But it was now or never - I had to go. I suppose it could've been worse. It was certainly slow, but surprisingly steady, with most of the 2.85 mile lap times within a minute of each other - even the last few. It was getting very hot at the end, but I made it. Six of the loops and then extra on the mountain road. 20 in 3:02 or so.

Monday, April 27
I didn't feel well most of the weekend, but this morning wasn't so bad. I proceeded very slowly, however. I did some back and forth on the mountain road and then one loop around the golf course. 6 miles in 57 minutes or so.

Thursday, April 30
Finally feeling almost human, I went out and ran 2 miles on the mountain road. Slow, but at least I could run.

Saturday and Sunday, May 2 and 3
At 11,000 feet, running in Cusco would be a challenge. Especially for me, having just arrived and breathing heavily just while sitting around. And having just gotten over being deathly ill. So this wouldn't be my best running. In fact, all I did was shuffle around town, walking and running. You could hardly call it running at all, but I will. Call it a walk-run mile for each of the two days. Took the camera and some pics too.

Monday, May 4
I've heard that you need 3 weeks at altitude to begin to achieve positive training effects. I had 3 days. Did it help? Well, I did have an excellent run today - my best in Peru so far. But then maybe it was just that I hadn't done a serious run in a week. Anyway, 4 loops, 12 miles in 100 minutes. Pretty good going! Loop times were: 25:02, 24:00, 23:25, 22:27. The last two were PRs.

Tuesday, May 5
I was a little tired and just a bit sore. But I wanted another good run today. Too bad I had a later start and only had time for 9 miles instead of 12. I did it in 75.5 minutes, so I'm still doing well. Maybe 12 tomorrow. Two golf course loops of 24:24 and 23:17. For the last three I did the mountain road loop (about 2.5 miles) and some extra. All in all, things are looking up, running-wise.

Thursday, May 7
I did 11 miles in 90 1/2 minutes. Pretty good going. See separate post for more on this one. The 3 loops were: 24:11, 22:55, 22:50 and the last 2.5 was 19:17.