Join the Black Knight Army

The Black Knight, usually very very angry, now is happy because many blogger friends would like to join the Black Knight Army.
Why during the races many impudent and shameless runners after the start escape frightened as fast as they can instead of surrender? Mercy to the opponents who give us the right respect following the glorious Army.
Why during the trainings we must meet coward runners on the streets of our cities, on the paths of our countries? They must not leave home if we freely run through our County and around our Castle. Never bother the Black Knight!
Why do the hunters shoot the animals who give us happiness while we train?
If you are tired of this, join the Black Knight Army now!!!! Tomorrow could be late and you risk to find your country, your city, your county, your castle full of enemies and by that moment don’t beg anymore our help! Your fault!
Please let’s know the appointment you prefer. The Army needs:
1) Knights;
2) Amazons;
3) A Wizard and a Sorcerer;
4) A Sorceress and a Witch;
5) Strategists;
6) A clever executioner;
7) Prison warders.
The uniform is easy: everything black! You are welcome.

RRR - Rain, Rainbow and Robin

After the cruel enemies, the people who don't give the appropriate respect and the relatives who don't understand the importance of the mission, the Black Knight must face a new problem: the hard rain and the wind. He hopes that the Blogger Army can help him in this long war.
Here we don't remember a season with these atmospheric events all together. Luckily he conquered long time ago, as a war trophy (indeed he bought it for 1000 euro), a treadmill to train when the weather is bad.

Yesterday 1h 16' of boring run on it and today, in spite of the rain, a scheduled 12 km. (7.4 m) workout near the sea but I could not finish my work because after 15 minutes I found a lost little robin (redbreast) lost on the road. Now the pretty little bird is in the warm house of a breeder. His name? Red Knight of course!
How did I spend the time on the treadmill? Listening the rock of the Rainbow (omen nomen as the latin said!!!).

The long battle

Christmas and the celebrations cannot stop the training for the next years events. This morning the Black Knight, angry as usual, in the early morning arrived on the battle-field because many runners dared to challenge the kind Sir by their behaviour. How dare they run while the Black Knight is on the road to train for the marathon? Unbealivable, unforgivable, dangerous. He cannot stand other runners in the city! And in this moment the coward enemies know that he is alone because all his teammates are not with him: the Black Knight 2 is in Naples, Alessandro and Gianni are in Rome and Piergiu has a bad injury at his knee.
The battle was terrible and the 16 miles (25.7 km) were covered in 2h15’ at the pace of 5’15”/km (8’27”/ m). Now it is important to build the strenght, for the speed there is all the time. At noon he entered victorius in his glorious castle where found his wife angry as a beast because all the family were waiting for him to begin the lunch!!!! These relatives don’t understand how important is the mission of the Black Knight.
Tomorrow a recovery workout on the treadmill because I prefer to run on a soft surface after such kind of training.

Christmas Time...running

The program goes on. 3 days 3 different workouts: tuesday a 12km (7.4 m) tempo run at 4'50"/km (7'47"/km), wednesday a 10.6 km (6.6 m) recovery run and today 1 hour on the treadmill to run on a soft surface to preserve my back and my ligaments. Tomorrow a day of rest and recover before the long distance run on saturday.
I feel motivated and in normal shape so I can keep on with the program. The weather is unusual for this city: cold (the day before yesterday was -1° C!) and rainy but I don't care. The Black Knight cannot surrender!
By the way Merry Christmas to you and don't worry for the food, we will easily lose the calories by running!!!

The Route

Now it's time to schedule a program for the Marathon of Rome (march 26, 2006) under the 4 hours: race-tests and trainings.
The trainings:
a) December:
total mileage: km. 240 (149 m);
1 long run every week (20 km / 12,4 m);
1 recovery run the day after the long run (40'-50');
1 tempo run (10/12 km - 6,2/7,4 m) every 10 days;
2 runs every week at a normal pace (12 km/5.10 - 7,4m/8.18).
b) January:
total mileage: km. 265 (164,6 m);
1 long run every week (23 km / 14.3 m) included a km. 23 (14.3 m) race in Nepi (Jan. 20);
1 recovery run the day after the long run (45'-55');
1 tempo run (10/12 km - 6,2/7,4m) every 10 days included a km. 10 (6.2 m) race in Rome (Jan.15);
2 runs every week at a normal pace (13 km/5.10 - 7,4m/8.18).
c) February:
total mileage: km. 280 (173,9 m);
1 long run every week (2 x 25 km/15.5 m and 1 x 30 km/18.6m) included the Half Marathon of Fiumicino (Feb. 12);
1 recovery run the day after the long run (50'-60');
1 tempo run (10/12 km - 6,2/7,4m) every 10 days included a 10 km (6.2 m) race in Rome;
2 runs every week at a normal pace (13 km/5.10 - 7.4m/8.18).
d) March
Long runs : 30 km/18.6m on Mar. 12, the Half Marathon Roma/Ostia on Mar. 5 and 18 km(11.2m) on Mar. 19;
1 recovery run the day after the long run (40'-50');
1 tempo run: a 10 km (6.2 m) race in Ladispoli;
2 runs every week at a normal pace (11 km/5.10 - 6.8m/8.18);
by Mar 18: tapering.
March 26: Marathon of Rome

Signed up for the Rome Marathon today

As Julius Caesar said: Alea iacta est! After an easy fast run that gave me me self confindence, few minutes ago I signed up for the Rome Marathon and for this reason I have 30 euro less. Now I cannot anymore change my mind, every workout and every race must be focused to the marathon. Poor Black Knight this time will have to fight with thousands enemies from all over the world (last year 10.000 runners) hidden in the Eternal City to defeat the "invincible hero" (????). However by now I have a different spirit and for saturday 24 km (14.9 mi) are scheduled.

Last, but not least I received the same question by many friends: what is a devon rex? In this picture you can see a nice devon rex family. My lady cat, Gioconda, is the first on the left.

Epidemic

So Susie tapped me and four others to partake in a fun, get-to-know-you blog activity. She -- and you who read this -- may live to regret it, but here it goes. First, the rules: Write 5 random facts about yourself, and then list the names of 5 people whom you in turn infect. Also, leave a post to these people letting them know they have been infected. Now, my own answers:
1) I love rugby but as I don't have the appropriate body I prefer to run so I don't risk my bones and I have always an excuse to go out;
2) I am happily married with 2 children (26 y.0. and 21 y.o.), a spoiled devon rex and 2 european cats. This is the importance at home (who rules): 1° the devon rex - 2° the daughter - 3° the wife - 4° the european cats - not classified Stefano and son;
3) I spent 20 years in the Navy, a very good period;
4) I have an accountancy degree but I am not an accountant, I have a law degree but I am not a lawyer, is there anything wrong in my life?
5) If I could turn back in time........
Now I have to infect several others, are you ready? jeanne runr53 Lora robtherunner psbowe

After the 10k (6.2 mi)

I feel weak and tired but I was well trained. Something went wrong since the night before the race because I had to take a pill for a bad headache. The morning of the race was cold and windy and the loop not easy: in the pics (I am not among those runners) there are a couple of examples. I spent the sunday resting; on monday I didn't succeed in running, I had a long nap in the afternoon and a long sleep in the night (o9.30 p.m. - o8.30 a.m.). Today I finished 10.6 km (6,58 mi) in 1h 04', a distance that I usually cover in 52' minutes in total relax!!!! Now I cannot follow my program and I have to drop the mileage and the speed. What happened? Perhaps a week of "rest" will not be a real trouble. By the way, the Deep Purple will be in Rome on March 14, 2006 and I have 2 tickets!!!!!

Fiumicino 10k (6.2 m)

Another step to the Rome Marathon. The Fiumicino 10k was a good test in a cold (1°C) and windy morning. The final time was 44'55" (4'30"/km - 7.14/m), the rank 752° on 1707 and 141° on 271 in my age group. I don't complain, the under 45 minutes is however a goal of mine.
This 10k is a flat loop in the city of Fiumicino through many narrow streets crowded of runners and, what a wonderful idea (???), we have to cross 2 bridges where only 2 persons can run shoulder to shoulder!!!
I made the mistake to run too fast the first 2 km so I had problems during the second part of the race. I usually have a negative split but this time the second 5k were slower(22'41") than the first ones (22'14"). These are the splits: km 01: 4'21" - km 02: 4'19" - km 03: 4'32" - km 04: 4'23" - km 05: 4.39 (first bridge) - km 06: 4.37 (second bridge) - km 07: 4.28 (here began the crises that didn't permit the negative split) - km 08: 4.28 - km 09: 4.33 - km 10: 4.35.

The week before the race

On Sunday another race to test my speed during the training for the Marathon of Rome. It will be a flat but crowdy (I think 8.000 runners) 10 k. in Fiumicino, near the international airport, with an expected final time between 43'00" and 44'00". The week in Amsterdam stopped the appropriate training but after the return I ran 8.5 km (Dec. 1), 20.3 km with the second half at race pace (Dec. 3) and 9.2 km. (Dec. 4) . The program until sunday is 12 km today, tomorrow and friday at a normal pace. On the picture there is part of the breakwater where I sometimes make the speed workout.

Back home

At last I am back after a week in Amsterdam. In spite of all the work (www.ecoports.com/nomeports) I succeeded in running 4 times on the tapis roulant: 33'00", 63'00", 63'oo" and 52'00". The time on the tapis roulant never passes and it was very very boring. However I didn't lost all the training that I stored. Here are some pictures that I took in the week end before the meeting.