Turning point?

August 23^rd 2015

I managed a rescue of sorts this week after what was a very tough opening few days of training. The stomach bug was in my system until last Wednesday but energy levels were pretty dismal to the point I took 2 days off on Thursday and Friday.

 The first 3 days of the week were not good at all. Basically the running day consisted of me going for a hour jogging or so in the morning, breaking into sweats and heavy breathing after maybe 10 minutes and then suffering for a further 45 minutes, stopping for a 3 minute walk doing another few minutes of light jogging before having to stop a mile out for home for a 15 minute walk back to the house. I then would get in the door empty what was left of my gut lie down and drink a glass of dioralite.

Pretty crap (if you excuse me) to be honest. Tuesday was only marginally better – 2 mile warm up 15minutes X 2 at 7.30 pace and a 1 mile cooldown before panning out again. I thought I was over the worst of it by Wednesday but after coming back after another walk run hour I nearly passed out after coming out of the shower. Common sense prevailed and Aoiffe swore me not to run for at least 2 days. It was a easy promise to make. I was a spent force. The gains I had made up to the August weekend were being undermined.

Thursday night I must have slept 12 hours waking up at 10 am. I took another day off Friday and decided to see if I could do a hour light jog on Saturday. Adopting a very slow and cautious approach keeping the pace down to around 9min to 9.15 for the first hour I was feeling pretty ok , all things considered. I decided to keep going. I was feeling ok after 2 hours covering 13.5 miles – a slow pace. A sensible me should have left it at that but I decided to loop back around Pikes Cross and back down the Railway. These last 3 miles were a struggle. I was stuck in the one gear and there was a definite sense of effort involved. The legs were feeling tight and my head was getting tired. I had to stop for a gulp of water in the railway station but these hardships were good things. It meant my body was readapting to the notion of the long run. In all I ran 18.1 miles in 2hrs40minutes – average pace was 8.51- slow and I suspect the Hr wasn’t particularly low either. However I was delighted to have got the work done even if I was wiped for the rest of the day.

We headed up to see Kevin Bridges do a gig in the Opera House – not one of his best gigs and I was wiped out again the next day after a 3 hour round trip to Cork to see the man perform a very odd show. However rather than go for run On Sunday I went for a 40 minute 2.8 mile walk with Aoiffe- the quads and muscles were achey, a feeling that persisted until Monday.

I had plans to run the Ballycotton 5 mile race and the Tullamore half marathon on the following Saturday. I also had plans to run the Liscarroll 10k and the Clonmel 13.1 the week previously. These races were to play a part in my training but maybe a more back to basic approach might be required.

Miles for the week – Monday 7 miles, Tuesday 7 miles, Wednesday 6.2 miles, Saturday 18.1 miles, Sunday 2.8 mile walk. 41 miles in total.

 Holiday photo taken with Toledo in the background, probably one of the nicest places I have ever ran (or visited).