Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Flying High Again

It is amazing what a recovery day and better running conditions can do for you. After Monday’s horror show, I wasn’t exactly looking forward to today’s repeat performance; I really didn’t want to go through the same experience again.

I ran Tuesday’s recovery run at the same pace as all the other recovery runs I’ve been doing lately, but was very pleased with myself when I discovered that I had done it with my lowest heart rate ever. My heart rate on those runs (actually, on all runs) has been dropping steadily over the last few weeks. I guess the higher mileage is boosting my endurance, and I expect this effect to continue for a while. At the very least it’s a sign that I’m not over-training.

Anyway, I woke up this morning at 5:54 am - one minute before the alarm would have gone off. My body clock seems to be working very well at the moment. A look out of the window didn’t reveal the expected sunshine but instead a country covered in a blanket of very dense fog. This of course meant that running on the road would be a bit more dangerous than usual, but it also meant I would be running in lower temperatures that usual, and that definitely suited me. Well, as on Monday, I’m not entirely sure what caused the change in effort. Whether it was the easy day on Tuesday or the more agreeable conditions, or, most likely, both of them together, I felt much better. M-u-c-h better. In fact, I was flying down that road. I would never have thought it possible that I would be able to run completely relaxed and without too much effort, and still run at sub-8:00 pace. I did the outwards leg at pretty much 8:00 pace, and the return leg at about 7:40, and felt very good about it. Of course this means I’ve shelved the idea of an extra rest day. Who needs rest days when you’re on a high?

Lola has pretty much recovered from her chickenpox, and now we’re waiting for the boys to catch it. Niamh had it when she was a child. And I – don’t remember. I asked my mum, and she thinks I never had it. Uh-oh!

Cian has been is usual destructive self. Since the last time I’ve reported about him he has (deep breath):
  • spilled Niamh’s foundation cream over the rug
  • eaten her last lipstick
  • covered himself with a thick layer of green paint and left his prints all around the sun room (he looked like a leprechaun)
  • eaten some paint (non-toxic, thankfully)
  • and delivered his so-far destructive masterpiece: I had to separate the boys at bedtime, and put Cian into our bed. He was totally quiet for 20 minutes, so I naturally assumed he was asleep. When I finally checked, he had taken some bleach, some cream, some make-up and a generous amount of water, mixed them all together and had great fun while covering the floor in a thick layer of his concoction. Oh the mess!!!!!

Sigh. I’m sure he’ll grow out of this. The twins were pretty bad at that age as well. I just hope the house will still be standing by the time he’s matured.

6 Jun: 5 miles, 47:17, 9:27 pace
7 Jun: 11 miles, 1:26, 7:49 pace

9 comments:

  1. Glad you felt better with your run today. I hope you survive parenthood ;-)

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  2. Great to see how the good work is paying off!!

    Also ask your mother if you were like Cian... this behavoir should come from somewhere:)
    Just can´t imagine how you guys react when you discover his adventures!!:D

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  3. oh my goodness. i don't know if i could have stopped laughing long enough to clean him up after painting himself green.

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  4. Glad your amph is back, but...your kid is a disaster! How does he manage to get to those things? Hmm, if I try to remember my babies, they simply had nothing to play with:) Empty walls and some knitting yarn. May be cereal. Pour kids...

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  5. Good deal on the run Thomas, glad you got your groove back.

    Hilda might be on to something here. Does your Mom laugh wildly and mutter things about payback when you recount the Cian stories?

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  6. Have you thought about a child sized straightjacket for Cian?

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  7. Glad your running is going smoothly, not quite the word to use with regard to Cian :).

    You say you had similar problems with your older kids, and you decided to have more kids - why? :)

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  8. can't you just keep him in a cage or something?

    or how about just not having any 'stuff' in the house at all?

    or are you saying it's just not that easy???

    glad you had a good run =)

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  9. he *ate* the lipstick. ate it?

    glad you felt better after the death-march run.

    yuck, chickenpox. my mom thinks I *may* have had it when I was three, and got all of three dots on my body. I'm not sure.

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