Change of plan

Week beginning 30^th June

I won’t be doing the Dublin marathon after all. A chance to run the Amsterdam marathon had arisen and it was a opportunity too good to turn down. There is a very big crowd from Mallow Ac going and the wife also saw it as a great opportunity to get a mini break in. It’s on a week before the Dublin marathon (19^th October) so it doesn’t throw out my training schedule by much. The only awkward point will be weather or not to do the Cork Cobh race but aside from that no real problems.

My weekly mileage up to this week has picked up a bit too. 40 miles last week and 41 this week. The long runs have been of identical length – 14 miles. The only difference has been in terms of pace. The long run last week was with the club at a slower average pace of around 8.35-8.40 per mile. The Hr was around 145. Yesterdays run was in Charleville – 7 miles at 8.43 pace and a restrained marathon pace effort of 7.45. The Hr for the latter part of the run was 149 which is spot on for me. Hopefully further improvements await.

I also ran the usual mid week stuff. Two weeks ago was a 7 mile run with a 4 mile tempo inserted in the middle part. Average splits for the tempo were 7.19 but the HR was a very solid 165. Again I hope this picks up over time. I also ran the second race of the Ballycotton summer series in Shannagarry during the week. This time I started closer to the start line. It was probably the toughest 5 mile race I have ever done but despite running too fast in the first two miles I was glad to sneak in at 34.36. Not hugely fast and a lot slower than most of clubmates but solid enough. I ran 2 miles in the warm up and 1 mile cooldown.

On we go.