Monday 24th
March,
Heading into
the second week of the taper I was thinking about doing 30-33 miles this week.
Dispensed with the recovery run on the Monday and concentrated on a good
workout for Tuesday. Plan was to a 1 hour time trail and see how far and fast I
would go. The end result was very positive, in keeping with how the fast stuff
has been going since October. The first mile was solid clocking in around 8.13
pace and after that I got faster and faster without actually feeling under
pressure at any stage. Miles 6 and 7 came in at 6.57 and 6.53 with the last
mile around 7.19 or so. In all I covered 8.31 miles at 7.13 average pace on a
lovely spring evening. I did allow myself a little piece of self pity – in this
case had I raced the mallow 10 I suspect I might crept in under 1.09 maybe even
closer to 78 minutes. It’s all immaterial now – i enjoyed the pacing but next
year hopefully I will get a crack at another 10 mile PB. Maybe if I trained
specially for the 10 mile distance but this is unlikely as marathons are the
only races I have actually prepared for.
Wednesday
was another day off. This is my 7th marathon I have trained for and
I rarely feel entirely sure about the tapering side of things. However science
is science and the experts seem to know what they saying – in this reduce
mileage but maintain intensity. What hasn’t reduced is my appetite – need to
keep a eye on that.
Thursday was
a evening of running by myself. I tend to avoid the club sessions as they are
out of kilter of where I am now. This time I ran 8.5 miles or so with 5 x 2
minute sprints (1 minute rest between sets). I had no garmin this time but i
reckon 8.5 miles in 65 minutes was about right. Again the pace and sprints felt
very relaxed. Friday I finished up with a overly long recovery run of 65
minutes (6 miles) in the company of my wife. It was her long run, my recovery
run. The pace was about right for recovery (11 minute pace) but perhaps i
stayed out 20 minutes more than what was required. Aoiffe was happy with her run but is getting annoyed she isn’t getting any
faster. It’s to be expected considering she is only running 7 weeks and we have
done no speedwork. We will probably work on that in May after her work based
charity run is over. I don’t think she need not worry about getting through the
distance.
Another rest
day Saturday this time spent up in Cork city doing the mother’s day thing with
mum. I couldn’t make it up Sunday. That day was reserved for my last long run.
The plan was to run 90 minutes with 1 mile slow/ 8 at sub 3.30 marathon pace
and the last two miles on heavy legs. I hit mile 9 in 70 minutes with mile 8
and 9 in 7.25 and 7.20. I jogged the last two miles on tired legs at 8.25 and
8.15 pace feeling quite comfortable. A satisfying workout. 11.3 miles in 90
minutes
Mileage for the week. 34 miles (Tuesday 8.3 miles,
Thursday 8.5 miles, Friday 6 miles, Sunday 11.3 miles).
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