Running to Think

Still in hot Puglia, Southern Italy. Long distance running in the heat seems to be not well indicated, especially when there is no water support, but a Salomon belt with only 400 ml of hot fluid and a fruity gel that gets hot just after 5 km.
This morning I had intervals, which usually give me more stress due to the fact that keeping a moderately high pace is the actual exercise. Not today.
Running a shorter mileage was such a relief, because of those 30 degrees (and more) around me.
There are several aspects of the country side that are worth mentioning.
Nice roads and no cars whatsoever are invaluable. Ok, some barking dogs sometimes. But if they're not in a gang they're actually harmless.
A million cicadas chirping so loud in the middle of nowhere, more than just breaking the silence, at the point that the beep of the Garmin at every km was barely audible.
The weak wind blowing at its best to dry the litres of sweat on the chest and the arms, dropping on the quads in a continuously interrupted flow.
Finally, the scarce shadows of the crowns of olive trees on the left side of the road, like they were inviting me to cool down for a fraction of a second before going back to the road, exposed to that sun, yellow and white, stubborn to deliver that amount of degrees every runner would fear to go into.

And he would be so right!

  

An update from hot Puglia, southern Italy, the heel of Italy, geographically speaking. We decided to spend our holiday this summer. Running here is just awesome even thought it has to be an early-morning activity. In fact, heat is a big problem here.
I have been running both intervals and long distance in the country side of Molfetta (check my Strava) and, indeed, the hydration belt revealed to be absolutely essential, even not sufficient after 25 km in the sun. Thankfully I can stand the heat quite well. But I usually get rid of my running shirt in crazier conditions. Have a read at this, if you don't stand the heat at all. Except that, well... we use underwear or running shorts ;)

What else? I bought new road shoes. Still putting some miles on them and preparing my review on this very blog.

Stay tuned and happy warm running!

Hello folks!
Yes indeed. I'm back. It has been long, it has been painful, discouraging, depressive. It basically tore me down. Two months of no activity (almost), dealing with a patellar tendon that really didn't want to be fixed, are not a joke.
I am not in the mood to shout out loud how I dealt with it. Read some of my recent posts and you will certainly find out. What else? Well, let me give you some numbers: 33, 44, 55, 66, 77. These are the kilometers that I covered every week, in the last 5 weeks. As every physiotherapist would advice "get back to the road, but do it sloooowly". I added some spicy intervals to my schedule only recently. The rest is happening on the trail, as usual.
So far so good.
Rehab is almost finished, even though it's always good to make some recalls once in a while in order to test the strength of those little tendons around the knees that seem to be so innocent but they are actually fundamental during the landing phase. And you know how important is landing well on the trail. Don't you?

Wish me luck!
Run happy ;)