52 Weeks, 52 Half Marathons - Stage 2 #

Stage 2 - Sintra I #

JAN 27, 2024

The weekend could not arrive fast enough for my second stage. On the day before a planned run I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve - excited, but usually that means I don’t sleep as much as I should.

Today’s run took place in the Sintra mountain range. Unfortunately I botched my turnaround point, so I had to cover some extra distance on my way back. 

Interesting fact, I run with Nike Run Club (RNC) on Apple Watch and use Strava on my iPhone. Strava always shows a greater distance covered than the Apple Watch. In this case it was a lot. NRC clocked 21.1 km while Strava showed 22.11 km. Quite a difference! I guide myself by the most conservative one, in this case, NRC on the Apple Watch, but I will provide the route details from the Strava APP.

Run 2 — Sintra #

Start date/time: January 27th, 7:14 AM

I try to start around civil sunrise so that I get to watch the sunrise and have sufficient daylight for safety.Warning 1On that front, most of this run is on the road, no sidewalk, or track, right in the “middle” of the road so one needs to be extra careful and keep aware of the surroundings at all times. It’s not recommended, to run with headphones, if you do please make sure you use something equivalent to the AirPods’ transparency mode so that you can hear cars coming by. On the bright side, most of the road is used as a one way route and I counted 10 cars total over the kms where there is no sidewalk. This another reason why this run needs to start very early in the morning. Four years ago, I did a 10km route up the Sintra mountain range, on the same route, 52 times in the year and never once had any problems. 

Be safe!

The starting point was the parking lot of a local Aldi supermarket

Warning 2This run is hard! You need to be very good shape to climb up the mountain. The total elevation gain is ~500m (1500 ft) and it’s quite steep. There is also a very steep descent that can become quite slippery.Warning 3Sintra has its own microclimate. The temperature can be up to 10 degrees Celsius lower than Lisbon. You can have a beautiful blue sky in Lisbon 25 °C (77 °F) while in Sintra easily will be around 15 °C (59 °F). Running in Sintra when the weather is cloudy or foggy is quite an experience that everyone should enjoy.

The route starts, uphill, a long stretch of road where you can safely use the sidewalk. I was quite surprised by the amount of traffic this early in the morning. However, with the exception of a single spot where the sidewalk becomes very narrow, it is quite safe and enjoyable, especially with the landscape meadows on your right side.

Sunrise is following the run on the right side of the road #

Watchout for the narrow sidewalk right at the start of the run (photo actually taken coming back from the mountain) #

It’s a 2.8 km climb of increasing grade, nearing 15% towards the end - perfect for burning your lungs and waking you up (I started too quickly for my current fitness level).

Short but feisty, this climb puts up a fight, especially since you've barely warmed up. #

The initial effort is compensated by a 1 km, 10% descent all the way to the center of Sintra. But, the saying goes different here. What goes down… must come up :)

The photo does not do justice to the descent, it’s quite steep down #

• Warning: this is the point where the sidewalk mostly ends.

At the end of the descent, 4 km (2.5 miles), we reach the heart of the village of Sintra which is completely empty this early in the morning but will soon be packed with tourists.

Sintra Palace in sight #

I hope you enjoyed your descent because this is where the suffering begins. It’s a 3 kms uphill going from 209m to 393m, 6.1% average grade to get to basecamp. The road is beautiful.

Castelo dos Mouros - Moorish Castle #

At the 5 km you get a magnificent view to the Moorish Castle or should I say the Moops’ Castle (bonus points if you get this reference). It’s a beautiful winding road surrounded by trees and the ocasional palace

The road is predominantely one-way (going uphill) only a few residents are allowed to come down #

I cannot get enough of this beauty #

At the 6.3 km (3.9 miles) you get to a series of switchbacks, which is my favorite part of this climb

The switchback area is now behind me, this is a great selfie spot #

After conquering the switchback, the crown jewel of the climb, you arrive at basecamp. At this point, if you feel like you’ve had enough you can “take the blue pill”, make a left and go back to a total of aproximately 10km (even though there is a steep climb between you and the finish line) or, you can “take the red pill” and continue further into the the Sintra Matrix.

Basecamp, chicken out and make a left, or keep grinding and make a right turn #

I called it basecamp but maybe roller coaster would be more appropriate. It feels like you got to the top, except you haven’t, and there are about 10k ahead on “top” of the mountain featuring several challenging climbs.

Another 600m @6/7% climb starting at km 7.4 (1.6 miles) #

It’s quite common to witness strokes of jet streams paiting the sky #

It’s beautiful up here, you quickly forget that killer climb #

Sintra mountain range is perfect for running, hiking, mountain biking, roadbiking, even rock climbing. Pick your favorite.

The winding road keeps me hipnotized, pain free #

On your way back, at 14.5 km (9 miles), brace yourself for a magnificent view of Palácio da Pena, a must-see spot in Sintra. You should stop for the perfect picture :)

Palácio da Pena #

As you approach basecamp the road changes from asphalt to cobblestone which can get quite slippery.

These basalt roads can be quite slippery, both for running and driving #

I did not call it basecamp without reason. At the 15.6 km (9.7 miles) you face the back-breaking summit ascent, 600 m of climbing at an average 8% grade, but with sections reaching 15%. Your lungs will want to to come out of your mouth.

Getting closer to Palácio da Pena which means, climb, climb, climb #

You can see the “Moops' Castle”, provided you have not fainted by then #

After getting to the summit, raise your fist, you made it! It’s all downhill from here, but not without its dangers, as the road can be slippery and the descent has some -15% areas. One of my favorite 10k runs is about coming up this climb and going down. I call it the “knife-edge run”.

Sintra is packed with humidity and beautiful moss #

Now it’s time for revenge - we’re heading downhill! #

At the end of the main descent, you’ll find a coffee house called Café da Natália. You’ll want to stop by after your run to try the local pastery. One of my post-run “menus” includes an orange juice, a famous Sintra pastery called Travesseiro, a uninque naturally sparkling water, Água das Pedras, and an expresso coffee. It’s mouthwatering (you could also end up running to the restroom :)

Café da Natália - a must #

After this, you cruise down the same road your started on, back to the Aldi parking lot. Since I missed my turning point on top of the mountain, I had to add an extra km after reaching the parking lot to get to 21.1k

Below, the route and the profile registered by Strava

It’s a climb… #

Enjoy your runs, be safe!

-APF