Progress Report

The good news first, the running is getting better each and every day. I’ve managed 5 runs in a row so farm, all of them 5 miles and on the same route. I thought about a change of scenery but decided against it to be able to compare each run with the previous ones. My heart rate had dropped every day, and while it still isn’t at the level it used to be before the marathon, it has already reached the level I typically ran in before starting training for Dublin. The pace has unfailingly slowed from day to day as well, which I take as a good sign, because at the very least it tells me that I can run my recovery runs without feeling that I have to match yesterday’s performance. At some stage today I did think “that feels a bit slow”, and this was confirmed when I got home and checked my time, but I never felt the need to accelerate. Oh, and on both days it was cold and raining. Today it was only 4C/40F degrees, and if it drops any further I’ll have to swap the t-shirts for something with long sleeves. The short can stay on for a bit longer.

The bad news is a bit of a twinge in the left Achilles. On Thursday’s run twice I felt like someone was poking my Achilles with a needle, not overly painful, but not particularly pleasant either. I made my long-awaiting comeback in the soccer circuit as well, and again could feel that something wasn’t quite right. Today again, over the first one or two miles I had a bit of a twinge in the same area again, but it disappeared after a while, and in fact it felt better than the day before. I don’t think it’s serious, but it’s something I will keep an eye on.

After becoming more and more frustrated with the hopeless state of Google Maps in Ireland (anywhere outside Dublin it’s utterly useless, only the major roads are in the database), I found a much better database on ask.com. I started playing around with it and put the loop around Caragh Lake into the system. I once measured the distance in my car, and it was 15.5 miles, but ask.com says it’s only 15 miles. Interesting, and I don’t know who’s right. Funnily enough, the 5-miles-out-and-5-miles-back route that I usually use for a 10-miler seems to be accurate both according to my car and that map.

I do have to admit that google maps are the only ones that have a picture of my house. I guess that counts for something. But as long as your database is so hopelessly outdated, guys, your product is unusable.

16 Nov: 5 miles, 46:13, 9:14 pace, avg. HR 149
17 Nov: 5 miles, 48:20, 9:40 pace, avg. HR 145