Barn, Hay and 2 weeks to go

13^th May

Start of the taper. The first week of the taper is always tricky one. In my mind I feel I am finished but thinking that is a dangerous thing as you will find yourself less inclined to what to do any more hardworkouts. By week two it’s easier and good design to cut back, that’s easy. The trick is maintain the intensity. It’s the first week of the taper that is tricky. I have also spent a lot of time comparing this training schedule to last years training for Dublin and the results aren’t favourable. Races have gone well, very well but as you know by now the long runs have been a problem. It’s a mistake however to dwell on it anymore. Positive thinking all the way.....

Monday afternoon went for my now traditional relaxed 3 mile recovery walk jog with my wife. Then that evening we headed down to the local hotel to donate blood to the blood bank. This (to my shame) is only my second time doing it but while it’s a perfectly safe and easy procedure it really left me tired the next day. No chance of doing a planned tempo run, that’s for sure. I was pretty shattered sleeping for a hour in the evening in the couch and this time it was better to take a rare Tuesday off. Days off running send me into a type of panic, doubly so when i am starting a taper. Therefore by Wednesday I resolved to do my planned tempo run instead and push my workouts by a day. The workout was a simple one- run as many miles as possible in a hour. I hoped to run at 7.15 pace and cover 8.4 miles in a hour. I dispensed with the warmup, which probably wasn’t a good idea but i was so anxious to get started off I went. First mile passed in 7.30, mile 2 in 7.15, mile 3 in 7.20. The gusts were a problem so there was little chance of reaching my target but I was coping reasonably well at the hillier sections by Pikes Cross. At mile 7 coming up the railway road the legs were a bit rubbery but i was glad to have the strength to keep going. The alarm sounded after a hour and I was nicely cooked. 8.2 miles in a hour, 7.19 pace. Hr 164. Not bad mileage and about the same as last year but a much higher HR, (Ooops – must stop doing that comparison thing).

By Thursday morning I headed out the door planning a long medium run around 10 miles or so but the legs were heavy . Did the sensible thing and did a easy 5 mile jog at 9 minute pace with a further 2 miles in the evening with the couch to 5K group in Mallow. Paudie, John , Sharon at al are putting in massive voluntary work there. I wouldn’t be able to have the same commitment. Would have loved to complete the training session with the regular group but thought better of it. Looked like good fun.

Saturday morning I was up and out the door by 7 am, hoping to avoid the predicted heavy rainfall. I had it in my head to run this at a sub 8 pace but not any faster than 7.30 pace either. A controlled run I  suppose. Mile 1 was the usual uphill run up Love Lane at a steady pace 8.16. After that each mile was in the 7.36 to 7.40 range, again all very controlled with the last mile pulling back slightly . That made it 7 miles in total bang on in 54 minutes. Happy with the effort, the legs felt solid all the way through. Again though the average heart rate was high (159) which would suggest a possible blowup later on if i was running at a longer distance.

The Sunday long run with the Mallow group went well enough compared to previous log runs. Met up with Dermot for a 6 mile run around the town before joining the main group for a 12 mile effort. Did the whole thing in around 2hrs32mins or so at around 8.30. Legs were heavy at the end and the average heart rate was 154 but was over 160 for the last two miles. Anyway that’s it as far as marathon training goes. The first week of taper is over and with it any hard training. Hay’s in the barn and all that.

Mileage for the week 44 miles (3 miles, rest day, 8.2 mile run with 0.8 cooldown, 7 mile easy run, rest day, 7 mile run, 18 mile run)

Below image is from the Limerick 13.1 courtesy of Paudie Birmigham. It's the only running photo of me I actually like!!!