Monday, June 20, 2011

Personal Best - 14.4Km at 5:00/Km in Luanda, Angola


I took my energy drink 30 minutes before going out and actually felt pretty good after the initial stretches and first 1Km.  As you can see from the incline map above, there was a slight uphill incline at first but from Km 2 to 3 it was all downhill, which was appreciated. From Km 3 to 8 it was pitch black, and I could only see when the odd car would drive by.  I must admit I was a but scared here, hence the fast running pace :)  I was jogging against traffic and a couple of massive 4x4s almost took me with them so good thing I still have my quick reflexes.

At Km 8 I rejoined traffic and the roads where lit, but the mad traffic was still quite scary, specially since I was going against it. The photo on the left was taken at Km 9 to show the heat at 7pm here in Angola. I will not complain as barely have that heat in London during the day... in the middle of the Summer, let alone winter!
I really picked it up from 10 onwards since I was chasing various groups of slow joggers and, as you know, its always great to have targets to go for on a jog or bike ride.

 At Km 12 a young chap caught up to me and I was pretty pissed about it so I changed gear to stay with him and let him pull me.  We went at it for about 1Km and then I had him bite my dust... as you do! :) At this time it was just a matter of getting home with no injuries, and I was pretty amazed I did not stumble upon anything with all the darkness of this jog.  I was trully lucky.

All in all, it was a great jog.  Taking into account I must have stopped for about 40 second to take several photos with my iphone on the temperature sign, and I then had to put my iphone on the jogging strap again, the 1h:12m is actually not accurate because I did not take this time into account so it whould have actually been a bit better, but hey...I'll take a 5:00/Km pace any day of the week.

5 comments:

  1. Great job on the personal best! However, I wouldn't hesitate to get out in 30 degree heat. Where I'm at (US - Texas) it has been 38+ degrees!

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  2. Felicidades, yo el calor lo llevo fatal y acabo siempre fatal!

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  3. Hey Tri4Success, I know TX has killer heat. My sister is an Aggie alumni (http://www.aggieathletics.com/sports/w-tennis/spec-rel/052505aaa.html) and everytime I went over to visit I suffered with the heat. I have major respect for TX athletes who go out everyday under that heat.

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  4. Pablo,
    Yo nasci en Africa y cresci en Florida, USA, así que llevo vantaja con esto de la calor. De todas formas, si puedo entrenar en el fresquito mejor que mejor!Un abrazo

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