Friday, December 28, 2007

Tenerife Day 3: Re-plan and re-stock

So, the day after the nightmare of the previous day

I woke up at my sisters house to the sound of heavy rain outside, much like the day before. I felt quite well rested, but from the sound of the weather knew I would be doing little that day. I stayed in, dried things out, and used the Internet at her house for much of the day.

Camping was now out of the plan. There was no point now. First, the weather was bad and secondly to reach the areas I wanted to train meant driving and there was little point camping next to my car each evening. I took out my tent, sleeping bag, roll-mat and a couple of other bits and pieces from my rucksack and left them out for the rest of the week; losing 2.5 kilos in the process, and quite a bit of the bulk. My New Balance MDS1100 shoes and the orthotics inside were still dripping wet. My Sister had lent me some trainers but they were two sizes too small. Once the rain stopped mid afternoon I went on a shopping trip. I bought a fairly cheap pair of trainers to use for getting around whilst my other dried. I also bought a cheap fleece to replace the one I lost. Finally I bought a big pair of Gore-Tex waterproof/windproof gloves; guaranteed to keep you dry they said. The skies cleared to blue in the afternoon, the sun came out and it warmed back up to 24C. You would hardly have even known that there had been a storm; unbelievable.

I went back to my sisters house. She was still at work. At about 6pm her boyfriend asked if I felt up to a short run with him. I did, so we ran from Adeje down to the beach at La Caleta, down a gradual 2.5 mile gradient, then returned by the same route. So, just a 5 mile run but with 250m of descent, then ascent. Somewhat less than the 20 miles I had planned, but better than nothing. I had to use the new trainers without orthotics, but I got away with it for such a short distance. We then all went out for a meal, after which I dropped them off at their house and drove back to the apartment. I decided that the following day I would drive up to Teide national park and see if I could make a summit attempt on the volcano.

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