First of all having someone who schedules your training plan. For years now, I work with Dani at Tecnirunner, and as all other people, I was amazed at the smoothless and profesional change from training outdoors to training a 100% indoors.
Second, I was lucky to have equipment at home, lots of different weights, more than I can lift now, and elastic bands, a hanging bar, a static bike, etc, so it was easy to train hard at home as well.
And third, over the past years, I am contact with a lot of other runners, including other runners that work with Tecnirunner, but also through several groups on Facebook. Sharing information, ideas and maintaining our spirits high was easy.
So after a short run in Getxo on the 12th of March it was not until the 2nd of May that we could run outdoors again, which I celebrated with running up to the Tibidabo, the highest hill just outside Barcelona. In those first days after the easing of lockdown it was best go running very very early. Since running hours were restricted from 7-10 and 20-23 and many many people were longing to get outside, there was a huge difference between 7 o'clock or 8 o'clock. After getting through the initial training sessions with the expected soreness slowly we pick up pace and distance again.
When lockdown is finally over Tecnirunner announces they will organize a Virtual Race for all the people that train with them. They have us choose between an urban 10k, a mountain 10k, a mountain 21k or a mountain 35k, each with D+ requirements, but totally free in where you want to run the choosen distance. Beginning of July one specific training had upset my legs quite a bit, so I was not 100% sure I could do the run, but ofcourse I was aiming for the longest distance and soon found a very nice circular route that exactly fit the requirements. So my Dromedary Race on the 2nd of august was run in the Montseny area. The week before I finally started to feel ready for the adventure. It was very warm, hence the "dromedary", so one aspect of this long selfsufficient run was bringing enough water and food for 5 hours. With normal races the route is properly marked but no so this time, so I went over the course time and time again to memorize it as much as I could, still bearing in mind that the real terrain might be very different and I also brought some detailed printouts. Originally the idea was to all start at 8:00 a.m., but because of the heat starting earlier was ok too. I wanted to start at 7 a.m., but it took me somewhat longer to take a starting picture and prepare my backpack, so around 7:20 a.m. I finally push the start button and get underway from a parking lot on the edge of a small town called Aiguafreda. The first part is a long and winding path up that goes up quite steep but is just runnable mostly. I find my way without problems and in less than one hour I reach the top of the Tagamament (1059m). The downhill on the otherside was complete chaos. There was no clear path so I just go down and when I finally reach a bigger path try to find my orientation again, after running a few meters in the wrong direction I understand where I am and turn around and soon I am back on the planned path and picking up pace. The climb to the highest point around 1270m of today is very slow, so I can run at a very decent pace. Eventhough it is still early morning, the sun is out with force already, so it is time to cover my head. This area is called "Pla de la Calma", the plains of peace, and running here is very nice. The path is very easy and wide and there is not many people at this hour. Even near a very well known place that has a small bar, Coll Formic it is not very crowded yet. I reach this point in just over 2 hours. I take of my backpack for a second to change waterbottles and get some food out, and then get underway again, after all the idea is to race today. After some hesitation if I am on the right path and checking my maps I slowly pick up pace when I see that I go in the right direction. Shortly after though the path narrows a lot and I have to walk a lot to avoid being scratched by dense bushes with thorns. After some time the path gets better, but I start to feel more tired now. It is very warm, and my condition was surely not as good as a year ago just before the UTMB. After a short while running on asphalt I take a left turn steep down onto the path back to the starting point. It was still 10k from there and eventhough it was rather flat and at times with shade slowly my pace is dropping and I am really happy to complete the 35k (1060m D+) in 4h21m16s.
All in all a great run, and very thankfull to Tecnirunner to organize the event.
In Aïguafreda, just before my start
The top of Tagamanent (1059m)
The Tagamanent looking back from Pla de la Calma
Collformic, more or less half way.
Back in Aïguafreda, happy and tired.
