A movable feast

Week ending 18^th January

I spent the week grappling with all sort of obstacles to running. I decided that Monday mornings would be put aside for a spot of either recovery running or back to back running. I had a fair bit of latitude in my timetable allowing me to run in the morning and get into work for around 11.30 am. Time is a precious commodity for me as it takes me 75 minutes to get into work but as I was required for cover first thing in the morning I had to rearrange my plans. Normally this would mean a run in the evening but I had no sooner started the car when I realised the front tyre was totally flat. Cue much swearing and cursing. Cue change of clothes and out with the jack, spare tyre and wheel brace. The nuts and the jacking worked fine but the alloys were totally welded onto the wheel. Not a hope of getting it off. I had to ring for assistance and finally after a hour got the spare wheel on (a leather mallet did the trick). When I brought the car down to the tyre fitters a obviously hungover guy who plainly was in no rush told me it would take 2 hours to sort the wheel out and do the tracking!!!! (You having a laugh mate? ).

 This meant that I was late in for work and I used the 2 hours hanging around to get a 45 minute recovery jog in. It also meant cancelling a planned lunchtime meeting with my Dad.

Tuesday evening was more of the same. Getting home around six I had no sooner set my foot out the door for a run when the snow started to fall. After 20 minutes it started getting a bit treacherous underfoot so I headed back and called it a day. The eyes were not protected and I couldn’t see beyond the hand in front of my face. Cue return back home. Wednesday morning the snow had made driving very difficult. 

The 75 minute journey took nearly two hours and the return journey was around 90 minutes. Thankfully the worst of it had cleared up when I got back and I ran 10 miles at a handy 8.09 pace. The momentum was carried over on Thursday evening when I fitted in a 30 minute tempo bookended by a 2 mile warm and 1.3 mile cooldown, giving me 7.5 miles in total. 
The splits for the tempo were 7.04, 7.03, 7.14, 6.59 respectively. The HR was 161. I was happy enough with the tempo as the high winds and rain made running difficult, hence the slow third mile and the fast last mile. Friday evening I went for a rare evening run mindful of a busy day on Saturday. I covered 9.3 miles in a snappy 7.36 pace. I would have covered ten miles but I went for a burton coming into the estate luckily falling in the grass. No real damage done bar a bit of bruising on the elbow and right knee.

Saturday morning running was a planned 150 minute run but the icy paths outside the estate, up the passage and out of the town were quite impossible. I also had a removal to attend up in Cork plus the usual shopping chores plus a bit of work to complete for a upcoming whole school evaluation. The window for running was very narrow as  the frost and ice settled down again at 5.30 pm. Nothing to be called for it but patience.

I headed out for a solo LSR at 1pm on the Sunday afternoon. The temperatures had risen to five degrees celsius just enough to clear the paths. The route I took was dull enough. At times the pace was going a bit fast so I decided to walk for 3 minutes after every hour, a opportunity to practice my run walk strategy. This allowed me to rest the running muscles and get some respite. I also noticed a welcome drop in my heart rate which in turn allowed  me to re energize myself when I started running again. While I covered 18 miles in 2hrs 31minutes 30 seconds at a fastish training pace I was more than happy to see the HR average at a satisfying aerobic level of 148. Nevertheless in terms of ultra running I have only covered less than half the distance of the required 39.3 mile distance. This ultra beast won’t be tamed easily.

Miles for the week 48.8 miles. Monday 4 miles, Tuesday no run worth talking about, Wednesday 10 miles, Thursday 7.5 miles with 30 minute tempo at 7.06 pace, Friday 9.3 miles, Saturday no run, Sunday 18 miles.