A good running week to cap off a pretty brutal working week. Least said about the working week issue but dealing with pillocks of different types had affected the long run the week before on the Sunday. I had hoped to get a 20 mile in but the work related stressors had taken its toll as I couldn't tune correctly into the effort. I tried one visualization and concentration aid after another but no luck. The legs or the mind gave in after 17 miles and I simply walked home the last 3 miles.
I resolved this week to focus completely on the running and to not allow intrusive thoughts into the head. This did the trick and I ran 7 miles on Tuesday,Wednesday and 7.4 on Thursday. In work we had a sports day on the Friday and I didn't do any more rigorous than the egg and spoon race. I excused myself a hour early as the tummy wasn't feeling great and I feared the worse that night. HR was elevated too around 90 beats instead of the usual 70 beats. Queasy.
Nevertheless on the Saturday morning I felt and went on my run. It was the usual route but despite one enforced pit stop in the railway road I was feeling very relaxed. Again I substituted negative thoughts for a positive one (and for some weird reason kept singing Iron Man in my head). My pace was very solid and after 20 miles I kept chugging away for another 2 miles. The garmin died at 16.2 miles but I knew the route well enough to pretty much guess the distance left. It was my best long run since the 18 miler I did with Aidan on the 2nd of September. The 13.1 race in Charleville on the 10th September was solid affected by the high humidity.
The rest of the day was great. 22 miles in the bag, 43 for the week, up to my Mum's for a social chat, nice dinner in the evening and wins by Everton in the football and Ireland in the rugby.
I was proud to wear my running top given to me by 6th years last May. It's good to remember the positive stuff - that's what matters.
35 days to the Dublin City marathon.
