A long week

Week beginning 16^th December 2013

Heading into Xmas. Always a good time of year for running. Actually not entirely true, the weather is not always great. Freezing cold and snow two years running and wet weather last year, the new trend this year is windy weather and strong gusts. Possibly a consequence of global warming? I leave such debates to failed acid popping presidential candidates. Just me call me Al..

Anyway Monday I reverted back to the traditional walk. I had intended to walk for 4 miles at a reasonably faster pace. That plan went out the window when the wife starting filling me on the latest news and drama- so much so I forgot about my original plan. 2.5 miles covered, it helped the legs feel a little less achey.

Tuesday was more familiar fare. 7 miles with 6 miles at a fast though not a tempo pace.  I would hope to build these marathon pace runs up to 10/11 miles. I was happy with how it went. Mile one was the uphill run up Love lane at 8.20. Mile 2 and mile 3 the pace was still slowish enough 7.30 and 7.34- possibly down to the gust i was running into. By mile 4 I had picked it up to 7.18 pace. I ran the last 3 miles at around 7.35 pace or faster. A satisfying run with the marathon pace portion completed in 7.35 average pace. I contemplated running another fast mile to get a hour up on my legs but thought better of it. Perhaps next time.

The Wednesday  run up in Mayfield was meant to be run at a casual easy pace. As usual I didn’t look at the garmin- I just ran at a pace that felt comfortable. To my delight and surprise i saw that the first 3 miles were run in 24 minutes (took a sneaky look). It felt all very effortless. The harder 4 mile section up hill (and it is hard) was run at a slower pace but the overall time was 56minutes56seconds. I was happy with this. The last mile was tough but the effort didn’t feel as hard as the same workout last month at a slower pace. Again the weather conditions were awkward enough.

Thursday was even better. Weather was brutal, so much for a mild winter. Came home after work spending the first 40 minutes running in sleet and wind. Funnily enough i didn’t mind. My legs felt fresh running at a relaxed un planned pace. Again I didn’t look at the garmin but after doing the usual 7 mile route around town i was fresh enough to tack another 2.3 miles. Maybe I should have tacked on a bit more to get the 10 done. 9.3 miles in 1.18.30.

Friday marked the last day of school before holidays. It’s a pretty hectic time in the school- a couple hours of meetings before playing my part in the school mass, As it was i had a few jobs to do in Cork city afterwards and I was awaiting confirmation from the buddies if we were meeting up for drinkies or not. Anyway rather than hang around waiting for a phone call I headed up to Mayfield to do my planned long run. Last nights effort counted as the first half of planned sandwich. The main filling was today. I was quite apprehensive about it- 2 X 7 miles around my traditional Mayfield route. Facing into the run at 3 in the evening was bad enough but the weather had denigrated pretty badly. Rain, cold with the element i hate most of all – driving wind. I knew this wasn’t going to be a quick one butIfigured mentally it would stand to me. Running in bad weather in loops facing a lot of up and down hills was as tough as it would get. I ran the first loop (7.07 miles) in 1 hour. That was the easy part, it was the other part that was going to be hard. I walked for a few minutes swigging water before trotting off again. The weather had worsened again (think Cork marathon 2010). As I jogged past the bus shelter I was thinking the passengers were a bit crazy waiting for a bus in the rain but then again the y thought the same about me. I finished the second loop (7 miles) in 1hr03mins- a disappointing second 7 miles but still a reasonable 9 minute pace considering the course and the conditions. As it transpired the meet up with the lads was postponed until Saturday night so hopefully a good nights sleep awaits. No chance of making the 5k race in Newmarket on Sunday though.

14 miles in 2hr3mins (8mins45second pace)

Rounded off the week with a 4.2 mile recovery jog around Charleville at 9.22 pace. Total mileage for week 44 miles (2.5 walk, Tuesday 7 miles, Wednesday 7 miles, Thursday 9.3 miles, Friday 14 miles, Saturday 4.2miles)