Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Another Anniversary

The one of the regular meaning this time, that is. Have we really been married for 9 years? Blimey, it doesn’t feel that long. I really must be getting old! Anyway, we went out for a meal on the weekend; there is a restaurant in Kells that does a Cypriot night, and we very much enjoyed our 15-course dinner (yes, I was stuffed like a turkey by the end).

I expected to feel stiff and tired on Monday after Sunday’s very brisk tempo run, but surprised myself by feeling like flying all the way. The major obstacle I came across was a herd of cows standing in the middle of the dirt road I was running on. What eejit of a farmer left his cows there? Despite the fact that they’re probably 20 times my weight, the animals seemed to panic at my approach and stampeded off along the road. I did follow the rather slow and very smelly creatures for about 5 minutes, but it became clear that they had no intentions of turning off the road as long as I was right behind them. Plus, I noticed that there were a few young bulls amongst them, and I didn’t fancy finding out what would happen once they got tired of running away from me, so I turned around and ran back the way I had come from. As I was unable to follow my planned route, I decided to explore some of the dirt roads between Killorglin and Kilgobnet, where I have hardly ever run before. Of course this meant I was running by time rather than distance again. By the end I called it 14 miles, but I’m pretty sure it was a bit more than that, because I kept going at a fairly decent pace. Never mind, the body doesn’t know what number you write down at the end.

I started August with a 6-mile recovery run today, and once again dropped my record for lowest ever HR during a run. When I started training for Dublin about 10 weeks ago, I just about managed to keep the average HR under 145 for my recovery runs. But it gradually dropped, and today’s HR was 134 – about 69% of my max, despite keeping the pace roughly the same. As long as this keeps going, I know that I’m not overtraining, even though I’m still struggling to get enough sleep (Cian woke at 5 am).

Mileage for July: 285 miles

31 Jul: 14 miles (approx), 1:52, 8:00 pace
1 Aug: 6 miles, 56:28, 9:24 pace

10 comments:

  1. Happy Anniversary! I've never had a 15 course dinner in my life! I can't even imagine what must be in it. Sounds like a fun night though.

    And, you're improvements in hr are great - you are one fit guy.

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  2. happy anniversary! 15 courses?! wow.

    way to go on the hr improvements!

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  3. Happy Anniversary.

    I find it very satisfying to try a new trail every so often, it helps keep the motivation going.

    Great job with your running, you're going to do well with the marathon (and upcoming ultra) at this rate.

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  4. I haven't had to deal with cows during a run for quite a while--since college, in fact. I went to college in the town which holds the second-oldest foxhunt in the US, so besides the cows, we occasionally had to deal with small groups of horsemen galloping through the trails and dirt roads.

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  5. Ha, I was also struck by the cow sighting, mainly because, having moved to NYC just over a year ago, my running scenery is quite different from yours! Ah, to run w/ cattle instead of an ever-present smog cover...

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  6. I'd still be at the table if offered a 15 course meal. That's funny. You'd better run mister...all that food in your gut.

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  7. You're running some great stuff Thomas. Keep this up and you're going to spank your PB.

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  8. Happy Anniversary!

    You out ran me this month Thomas. I guess I better get above 80 a week so I know I will be safe to get ahead of you next month.

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  9. happy anniversary. and way to go toughing out the 15 courses! you are so right about the body not knowing or caring what the number says. i gotta tatto that on my head...

    p.s. a runner here in maryland recently struck a DEER during a run...ended up with a concussion..the runner not the deer. you made the right choice!

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  10. Heh, belated happy anniversary. We celebrated ours on the 31st.

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