Ugh

Marc asked a question about my scheduling. Well, for the time being I'm increasing my mileage by about 5 miles/week, and the long run by 2 miles/week, and each week is planned around those parameters. I will continue to do this until I'm around 75 miles, and from then on I intend to run 60-90-60-120-60-120/180-90 minutes each and every week (that's from Lydiard's book) "for as long as possible". If that seems to become too easy I might increase my mileage to pacify Mike and Andrew, but to be honest I doubt it. I might include a hill phase, but I haven't come to a decision yet. That's most of the plan. I don't think I'll be doing much speedwork, if any. I'm training for an ultra, and speed won't be on top of my agenda.

Phil, on the other hand, was more concerned about my far-North geographical location and the cold weather that goes with it. Rest easy, Phil, not only do we get mild winters because we live right beside the sea, we are also bang in the middle of where the Gulf stream hits, thus raising the average temperature to a much higher level than other areas at the same latitude. At the moment the temperatures in the morning are generally around 8C/46F, but that's not taking wind chill into account.

Yesterday the weather Gods had some mercy on us, and while it was very windy, it didn't rain at all during the whole run. I still got wet, because one of the flooded sections in the road that I had encountered the day before was still flooded, and my feet got wet and cold. At least I only had to cross it once on my way around the water witch. And while you should never compare workouts with previous runs, I couldn't resist and look at last week's logs. Yesterday I ran the whole loop 90 seconds faster than the week before, and I don't think I ran any harder. The weather was nicer, but I do think that my conditioning is on the way back up again, and my recovery from the marathon is basically complete. Sunday's race might have had a positive effect on my legs, too.

To describe today's condition, let's just quote from the weather station, shall we? "Stormy over much of the country today, with damaging gusts of 100 to 130 km/h, but not quite so windy in northern parts. Widespread showers of rain or hail, with scattered thunderstorms, and some heavy downpours. Highest temperatures of 8 C to 11 C.

Severe Wind Warning
Gale force southwest winds through Munster, much of Leinster and possibly parts of South Connaught with damaging gusts of 120 Km/h in places."

For once they were right. Kerry is part of Munster, and we took the full force. I have never run in such a heavy wind. I didn't even dare running in the wood because I was afraid of falling branches, and preferred to battle the elements out in the open. I can tell you, when the wind blows the rain into your face at such force, it hurts. On the other hand it was much easier after the turn-around point; I was practically sailing home. Then, back home and in the shower I noticed some minor damage to the skin on various parts of my body. I'll spare you the details, but next time the conditions are as bad as that, I will change two things: I will wear long sleeves, and I will wear a second set of underwear. Let's leave it at that.

6 Dec: 6.75 miles, 55:45, 8:15 pace, avg. HR 155
7 Dec: 9 miles, 1:13, 8:06 pace, avg. HR 161, included 7x100 strides