By now, I’ve settled into a routine of sorts. The weather has also cooled down, so it’s not such a shock to leave the apartment in the morning. It’s in the 70’s (25 or so C?). In the afternoon it’s still up into the 90’s. My runs are along the Pearl River Promenade unless otherwise noted. Here’s the promenade. It’s deserted because this is a mid day photo taken on Ersha Island (note the new TV tower under construction). In the morning, there are more people out and about:
Monday: easy run of about 6 miles
Tues: Very long run…this is where my marathon training focuses. Last week was a 14 miler; this week 15.
Wed: rest, teach class in a.m.
Thu: easy 8
Fri: 4 miles at the track (usually just 4×400…lazy me). My 440-yard/400m intervals are about 1:45 each (on the cinders track), so I’m doing OK on the leg speed (I say hopefully).
Sat: 5 or 6 mile hasher run/hike, usually hilly and on trails outside of the city (and at 3pm in the afternoon).
Sun: easy run of 2 to 6 miles.
My last 14-miler was my slowest long run ever (10:43/mile pace), but my shorter runs are finally speeding up to “normal” easy run pace, which is a bit under 10 minutes/mile. I’m reluctant, as always, to do any true tempo running, but at least I’m speeding up, adding a few uptempo miles at the end of easy runs, and so forth. What I need are some local races, but — alas! — there are none. Nike’s Human Race 10K is coming up (in Guangzhou!) in a couple of weeks and I’m hoping to participate if I can register online; their system is very glitchy.
Also coming up: A run around “University Island.” I looked at my map and the island (where Zhongshan University’s East campus is located — along with nine other universities) seems to be about 9 miles (16 km) long…and asked my students if they thought I could run around it. I am most concerned about getting lost or not being able to run around it due to construction sites. They said sure, but some students are worried that it would take 3 or 4 hours (!). Um, I don’t think so… Still, it’s helpful to get guidance for a run in a completely new location. I am only vaguely familiar with ZhongDa’s portion of the island. I hope to start, perhaps, a trend of students competing to run around their island, or just enjoy a long run there. I hear that students often run the inner ring (about 5K) in the evenings. The island has little traffic, yet little shade, too.
More views from the promenade — this triangular building seen from the South side of the river is the Xinghai Concert Hall (on Ersha Island):
And another thing nice about running in China is seeing ueber-heroic statues such as this one (located next to the Xinghai Concert Hall in the above photo):
Onward!
Great pics! Keep up the great running.