Green shoots or a false dawn?

 43 miles this week so that is a positive . Probably my highest weekly mileage since Janruary. 4mls recovery on Monday at 9.20 pace. 6.2 miles at a good 7.50 pace up and down to Pikes Cross on Tuesday evening. 7.5 miles at 8.20 pace on Wednesday again in the evening. No run Thursday - two reasons - storm Helen and I was tired. Friday morning 7.5 miles at a slow pace around 8.35 pace, that run was tough but getting through the mentally tough patches stood to me. Saturday no run, up to Cork with the family. 

Sunday I ran 18 miles with the Mallow gang. I ran the last 7 miles on my own and while the last 3 miles were a bit messy it was a case of mission accomplished. I was delighted with the run overall pace was 8.45 per mile. Hopefully this week can serve as a turning point. Weight wise I am very heavy these days - 14stone 4 pounds but trying to get a handle on the calorie intake. I have taken to calorie counting. it's not easy and requires a fair bit of discipline so I am hoping the counting with the running and the motivation to train for a marathon will have the desired effect. I am back in school/work next week and in this COVID world it will be interesting to see how it all ties to life and running. The reality is it's all interconnected - eating well, losing weight, staying fit, good running, positive mental outlook, happy personal and work life. They all feed into each other but one must keep it all in perspective. 

August update

 The long run last Sunday went better than I hoped. It wasn't fast at all (16 miles at 8.50 pace) but what made it encouraging was I went out and did it on my own. It was my longest long run since February and I was happy with my effort and solid pace. The Sunday previously I just did a easy 5 mile effort, the legs were very tired after a Thursday trip up to Mangerton mountain with the lads and I also had a fair bit of power washing to do on the house using the 62 foot cherrypicker to get up to the chimney breast.  The mileage for that week  was 23 miles.The mileage for last week was high too , 34 miles (4mls + 7mls +7mls + 16 mls) so I finally felt I was getting somewhere, This week started off slow . No run Monday (family trip to Fota). 4 miles Tuesday (family trip to Granagh pet farm). No run Wednesday as we headed to Ballyheigue beach, 7 miles on Thursday evening (very humid) and 7.2 miles today (very humid again). The weather has been great but my sleep has been very broken due to high humidity at the night meaning I am running in the afternoon. Hopefully I will get a few more miles in over the weekend though I might just take it easier on the Sunday run.

.....the Sunday run had it's good and bad points. The bad points were that I was too wrecked to arise to head down to Mallow for the club run heading out myself for a planned 10 mile "8.30" pace run, up and down to Ballyhea. Mission accomplished but the humidity proved difficult and the extra stone on the belly limits me a lot. 28 miles for the week ok i suppose should be better.