Nationale-Nederlanden San Silvestre Vallecana: Course, Route Profile & Map

Course & Elevation

The start is on Calle Concha Espina at the Plaza Sagrados Corazones, right beside the Santiago Bernabéu, at about 710 metres above sea level. From there the course runs south along Serrano and past the Plaza de la República Argentina straight through monumental Madrid: the Puerta de Alcalá, Plaza de Cibeles, the Paseo del Prado and Neptuno, then out east across the Plaza del Emperador Carlos V.

The profile is unusual for a 10K. More than half of it descends, barely a quarter is genuinely level, and over ten kilometres the course sheds around 72 net metres. There is no climb worth the name, just a steady gentle fall that makes your rhythm quicker than your breathing suggests. What is striking is the change of city around you: the opening kilometres run through prosperous Chamartín and Salamanca, while the final third heads along the Avenida de la Albufera into Vallecas, the working-class district the race is named after.

The finish is on Calle Candilejas at the Tiempos Modernos corner, right beside the Estadio de Vallecas – the same street where, a little later, the international field turns into the stadium instead. Starts are staggered at 16:50, 17:00, 17:15, 17:35, 17:55 and 18:20 by declared time, with the first wave reserved for handbikes and racing chairs. The cut-off is 1:20 from your own start.

Pacing Strategy

The gradient is not incidental here, it is the central pacing factor. More than half the course descends, so in the opening kilometres around the Bernabéu you run noticeably faster than the effort would suggest. That is the trap: pace the start by feel and you will easily be ten to fifteen seconds per kilometre quicker than you can hold for ten.

The second factor is the field. With 42,000 starters the first two or three kilometres stay tight even inside your own wave. Budget them as lost seconds rather than trying to weave them back – on a measured course every swerve is extra distance.

The race is decided in the final third on the Avenida de la Albufera and the streets of Vallecas. That is where the course flattens out, the field has thinned and your opening decision becomes visible. Deliberately keep something back for it: on a net-downhill course a fast start costs twice over, because your quads are already loaded from the descending.

Training plan for Nationale-Nederlanden San Silvestre Vallecana: 12-week build

Expect 40 to 75 minutes as an age-group runner; the cut-off is 1:20 from your own start. The demand is one continuous block around anaerobic threshold, but muscularly harder than a flat 10K: more than half the course runs gently downhill, which loads the quads eccentrically.

So the training emphasis is speed endurance plus downhill tolerance. Threshold runs of 20 to 30 minutes and 1,000-to-2,000-metre intervals at race pace form the base; add brisk running on gently falling roads so your body knows the higher cadence and harder footstrike before you meet them for the first time in the race.

The race-deciding phase runs from kilometre seven to the line, when the gradient eases. Rehearse that with sessions that start downhill and end flat, deliberately placing your fastest segment at the end. Train only on flat loops and that transition will catch you out.

On conditions: the race starts late on the afternoon of 31 December, and Madrid sits at over 650 metres – late December turns cold quickly there once the sun goes down. Practise your pre-race routine for a late afternoon rather than the usual morning, plan eating and warming up around it, and expect a long wait in the start area if your wave does not go until 18:20.