Week ending 29th March.
Week one of the taper has just passed and all things
considered it went reasonably well. I’m still a bit disappointed about picking
up the knee injury last Saturday and not getting a chance to take part in the
Mallow 10 . I am also disappointed about
not getting a chance to hike up the mileage in the mid 70’s in my last week of training.
Anyway it’s all done now so move on and keep the legs
fresh and keep on a eye on the knee thing. Monday morning the knee was sore ,
now it just feels stiff though only intermittedly. Walking up and down stairs
isn’t as much of a issue as it was Monday and Tuesday so that I will take that
as a positive sign. The school stairs was tricky at times. Much of the week has
been spent applying a ice pack to the afflicted area and performing leg raises
and reverse knee squats.
Running wise I ran 4 recovery miles on Monday – jog a
mile , walk 2 minutes and repeat 4 times. There was a bit of a reaction on
Tuesday so I rested up and spent the day doing the DIY – physio thing. Wednesday was a bit of a
risky one , running 7 miles up and down the hills in Mayfield but again it went
well and I ran at a nice clip at 7.45 pace. Were I at full fitness I would have
liked to go faster but it had to do.
No chance of running a planned tempo run on the
Thursday but ran 10 miles in Charleville at 7.50 pace. I was happy with how the
run went ,very comfortable and cruising along.
Friday I took another day off purely as a precautionary
measure. I would have liked to knocked out another 10 miles but completed
another 10 miles on Saturday morning instead at a slower relaxed pace of 8.30
per mile. Again the legs were nice and loose. The knee was ok enough but I was
always constantly conscious of it especially on the downhills on Love Lane and
Manor Hill.
Saturday was a
busy day spending a further 3 hours digging out a new bed in the garden, it
probably wasn’t the cleverest idea but it was a job that was long overdue.
Sunday was a long run in the company of my Mallow
clubmates. We ran the traditional Ballyclough loop and I tacked a few miles
beforehand giving me 16 miles in total. I deliberately ran at a very slow pace mindful
of the 3 mile descent from Newtownpothouse into Annabella. Again the knee felt
ok but I was very conscious of it. I’ve a physio appointment tomorrow. I booked
it a while back with the aim of getting a rub down on the legs but maybe John
(O’Sullivan) can take a look at the knee as well. However all things considered
I am in 80% shape. During the week of the Tralee marathon I would have said I
was closer to 95 % fit and ready. Time will tell.
Mileage for the week – 47 miles. Monday 4 miles,
Wednesday 7 miles, Thursday 10 miles, Saturday 10 miles, Sunday 16 miles.
The
training breakdown.
Training started on the 29th December. 12
weeks not including taper. Total mileage 653 miles.
Average mileage 54.41 miles. Highest mileage weeks 75
miles and 70 miles.
I ran 6 X 20 mile runs- - 21 miles, 22.8 miles, 21 miles, 24 miles,
26.2 miles, 20 miles.
In terms of back to back runs I covered the race
distance twice- 24 miles/15.3 miles and 26.2 miles / 15 miles. The most
pleasing aspect of the training was my willingness to go out and tackle a
second shorter long run the day after a long run. The only forced exception was
last week.
No PB’s. I entered 2 races – Dungarvan 10 miles and Tralee
marathon.
Two more weeks of tapering left.
My immediate goal is still the same. Get to the
start line fit and ready and take it from there
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