Week
beginning 23rd December
The “run
–in” to Christmas (bad pun). Had to awake Monday morning at 6.30 am and run
once again in the lashings of rain. Getting up at 6.30am is my problem as is
running in the rain however the poverty of street lighting and number of
potholes certainly wasn’t. Maybe the Council and / or the ESB can get off their
butts and sort it out. It can be really dicey out there and considering I was
running in the town rather than country roads you would expect a lot better.
Run was solid enough run at a easy pace. I spent the rest of the day up in Cork
shopping with my wife doing the xmas shopping thing. All very non eventful (bar
the expensive purchase in Keanes jewellers...) but I did call into Mahers
sports to support and gave a few quid to Joanne Feron. She is a ultra runner of
note and was on day 11 of running 12 marathons in 12 days on a treadmill. Some
runner to be sure and very helpful with passing on a few words of advice to me
as well. In case anyone is interested in contributing a few more euro to this
great cause (neo natal ward in CUH) please do. (5.5 miles at 8.29 pace)
Xmas eve was
more of the usual driving around Cork. This time I collected my Dad and we
headed up to my sister’s in Watergrasshill to exchange pressies and get a sight
of her new born daughter Phillippa and catch up with her older sister (by 18
months) Charlotte. I dropped Dad home and then back up to my mums for more
exchange of presents and then back to Charleville to meet up with my in laws
for a few xmas drinks. Before the drinks I headed out for a 7 mile run (in the
pitch dark again!!!) with a 4 mile tempo portion. Splits were a improvement on
the last tempo workout – 7.27, 7.27, 7.26, 7.22. I probably might have run
faster but running in a totally darkened road lead me to hold back somewhat. (7
miles with 4 mile tempo at 7.25 pace)
Running on
xmas day was a non event. Icey footpaths saw to that. I ended up jogging the
first mile but nearly fell on my rear more than once and simply walked home.
Than onto xmas dinner in the in-laws surrounded by lots of hyper kids pulling
apart Christmas paper and hitting grown adults with plastic toys. To be fair it
was great fun. The evening was spent with adults then behaving like children as
they attempted to play Cluedo and Monopoly.
My wife being the most competitive of the lot!!! (2.5 mile walk)
St Stephens
day I headed up to Caherdavin to take part in their annual 10 mile road race. I
figured I would use this as a training run but was disappointed to see it was called up because of ice on the
course. Cue much grumbling on the way home. However I pulled myself
together by the time I got home to do the 10 miles around town. I ran the
first mile in 8.29 uphill but ran the rest at 7.43 pace. In a race situation I
may have at most taken 2/3 minutes off my training time but it was a very satisfying
run. It did require a bit of concentration for the last mile and I also noted I
covered 7.70 miles in the first 60 minutes. This is far from my best form in
training but is a step in the right direction. (10 miles at 7.47 pace).
We will see
what awaits the rest of the week..
Monday 5.5 miles, Tuesday 7 miles with 4 miles tempo, Wednesday 2.5 fast walk, Thursday 10 miles
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