Week ending
9th April
A genuinely
good weeks training up on the legs. Monday morning was the AM run at 6.55. I
was short for time this time as I had to head to Mayfield before work to
collect two lovely plates of chicken curry for my Mum (spoiled I know). As a
result I capped off the running at 7 miles at a good snappy 7.37 pace. Again
the effort was easy – I really hope these become a more regular occurrence. Tuesday night
I showed my face up at the town park in Mallow for my first midweek session
there since July 2015.Pretty hopeless appearance record but it was a very well
run session (they always are) but a lot of old familiar faces no longer seem to
be going to them. I can’t talk obviously given my poor apperance record but I have treasured memories of
training sessions when I first joined the club when runners of all abilities would
train and run together. Anyway we covered 6 miles with 5 X 4 minutes in the
middle. I was running on grass in to a headwind but the middle speeds were only
run at 7.05 to 7.10 pace. The first and last were a lot better 6.53 and 6.46
pace. I enjoyed the session and it was good to be there. Aoiffe, my wife did a
great job in cajoling me to go. Hopefully over due course I can start making
one or two appearances a week with the club. The standard has really picked up
there and the benefits of training with a group are obvious but hopefully
(unlike the previous 2 years) I can stick with it (Parent, husband and job responsibilities
come first though).
I took a day
off Wednesday as I was feeling a bit stale so rather than crash and burn I
decided to rest up and focus on a few well needed jobs around work and at home.
Thursday morning was another AM run at 6am and this was a workout I was most
looking forward to. It was a 2 mile warm up and a 1 mile cooldown with a 5 mile
tempo insert. The sunrise came up at around 6.25 just as I was getting into the
tempo portion. It was the same old route I always use. The legs felt good and
the last two miles were run at 7.05 and 6.57 pace giving me a overall pace of
7.10. I felt energised during the cooldown and was in good form for the rest of
the day. Aoiffe headed to yoga that day and I felt no more tired than I would
feel had I ran in the evening. As usual with Iseult gone to bed at 7 I took a
hour nap on the couch before giving Bubbins her bottle at 11pm and settling
down for the night.
No rest for
the wicked on Friday morning with a slower AM run at 6 am covering 7.3 miles
with a few light strides thrown in. That evening I managed to finish off Iseult’s
room and move her cot and bits and pieces into her new room. For the first time
in six months our bedroom was our own. Happy days. Unfortunately I didn’t sleep a wink that night
and was sweating a lot confirmed by the fact I had a stuffed nose the next day.
The cold was caused by two things – not having a hot shower when coming in from
training on Tuesday and also having a cold shower Friday morning (I never
turned the hot water on- Doofus).
We were busy
Saturday dropping Iseult to Aoiffe’s mum (Granny as distinct from Nana) and then
driving to Ballygarvan to collect 300 euro’s worth of flowers in a garden
centre. Aoiffe won the prize in a gardening magazine – interview and photo opportunity
and the whole lot. Still though the cold wasn’t going away so going for a long
run the day after on Sunday morning wasn’t probably the brightest thing. Iseult
was up the previous 2 nights with the teeth so there wasn’t much sleep either.
I set off at 9am thinking that I felt
like crap after a hour I was coming back. What do you know – I ran my best long
run in a long time – covering 13 miles in 1.44.30 with the last 7 miles at 7.50
pace. I wasn’t forcing the pace either. It felt very relaxed. I suppose if it
were a planned marathon pace run I would hope for something faster but it was
enough to be getting on with. The cold lifted too. The rest of the day was good
too – Iseult’s bottom teeth cam down and Everton beat Leicester 4.2.
Now I am
waiting for it to all go horribly wrong pretty soon.
41 miles for
the week. Monday 7 miles, Tuesday 6 miles, Thursday 8 miles, Friday 7.3 miles,
Saturday 13 miles.
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