finally a 20 miler.....

 finally a 20 miler...completed this morning...the same route as the 18 miler two weeks ago but I managed to get the final two miles in this time...the run from Corbett Court to Charleville, long pull as they say..The pace was very slow at the end 9.23 per mile and I was cream crackered for the rest of the day but job done.Overall pace was 8.48 per mile.

It was a funny old running week. 4 miles (8 laps) around the town park but I feel more tired than refreshed after it and sure enough I was on the couch all evening the next night. Wednesday I ran around Charleville instead rather than Mayfield and the pace was good, 8.04 average but again wiped out Thursday. I  overdid the sugar intake (something I have been trying to get a handle on since August) and paid the price for it Friday where I was in pretty shitty form and again spent the evening on the couch panned out. Saturday I was feeling much better knocking out a solid 6 milers at 8.15 pace and suddenly the thought of running 20 miler didn't feel so daunting and so it proved. It also helped today that the weather was glorious, ideal Autumal evening and the rest of the day in terms of weather and famly time proved very nice indeed.

I didn't knock out 40 miles as I hoped but considering the ups and down of the running week I did ok.

In terms of the week ahead I'm taking a day off Monday and will aim for 26 miles. After that one more big running week and then taper for the virtual marathon.

September update

 I'm overdue a blog update. Sitting here on a Friday evening at 6.30 pm in supervised study with 3 students and glorious Autumnal sunshine outside. I'm clocking off at 7 pm and should be home by 8.15 pm looking forward to getting home to see my gang. I probably haven't updated in a while probably becuase I was pre occupied getting into a new school / COVID era routine. Seeing all the pupils especially the 1st year's wearing face masks proved a bit disconcerting at first but the new normal has become  (somewhat) normal).

I had resolved last month to get training for the Mallow Ac virtual marathon on October 25th and training is going reasonably well. I say reasonably in the context of how my running form has declined in the last 3 years. Ideally in the period 2010 to 2017 not withstanding injury I would be hitting 50 - 60 miles a week clocking up some handy PB's on the way and well on my way with the high mileage long runs. These days things are different but hopefully I am learning to live with it. Last week was my higest mileage in a single week - 43 miles.

This consisted of 5 miles Monday, 6.5 miles at 7.50 pace on Tuesday, 6 miles up in Mayfield on Wednesday (first run up there since March - had to walk twice) with a 24/26 minute split. I was a beaten docket on Thursday. I ran 7 miles on Saturday with 18 miles on Sunday on the Charleville-Churchtown road. The long run was going ok-ish enough but the legs cramped up at mile 18.07 and I had to walk the remaining 3 miles home. That is something which rarely happened before but is now a feature of the last 3 years. Also true to form I picked up a headcold (from Iseult and running) on Tuesday which has ruled me ut of any running since then. I'm a lot better now.

Accordingly consistency has still become a issue but unlike the last 2 years (2018 and 2019) the resolve to get to the starting line is a lot better. I have 5 weeks to get to the starting line and while a sub 4 hour marathon may be looking unlikely I hope to get a couple of 20 milers done yet even if it won't be pretty.

On the positive note the calorie counting is paying off combined with the running and 3 mile walk to and from the car every day. The kilo's have dropped from a 91.5 kg to a morning standing weight of 87.5 kg. That feels a lot better. It involves a fairly disciplined healthy eating regime and with the running (the good weather helps) I should be hopeful of further drop over the next 5 weeks.

So anyway one week at a time. I would be delighted to get back into the 40 mile range.