Techological Breakdown

This must have been the busiest weekend in quite some time, between running, kids, household chores and a few “projects” I didn’t sit down for 2 days. I think normal people use their weekends to relax. What an alien concept.

The weather did interfere with my training over the weekend, but it also taught me a lesson that I won’t forget in a hurry. I awoke on Sunday to the sound of wind and rain, and it really did not sound particularly inviting. I did delay for an hour, and, lo and behold, it got better. The wind was still at or near gale force level, but the rain had eased, and on occasions it even stopped. I have learned in the past that tempo runs alongside Caragh Lake in those conditions are not really feasible, so I thought I’d do the smart thing and adapt to the conditions. A lot of wind means running the road to Ard-na-Sidhe to get some shelter from the trees, and since that road is a bit over a mile until the next big hill the choice of mile repeats seemed a very logical one. Now, as you might remember, I got a new watch for my birthday. With that incredibly advanced amazing piece of technology (ok, ok, a 30 Euro watch) I can finally time my splits. Stunning or what. I have done intervals in the past, but they were purely measure by time, i.e. 6 minutes hard/2 minutes easy, while running continuously on a road. That was fine, but it didn’t allow me to compare splits. I guess being new to that kind of workout should have told me that it was never going to be as easy as I thought it would be. I didn’t want to run foam-at-mouth, hands-on-knees anaerobic intervals, I was rather shooting at tempo run pace, with 2 minutes recovery; that way I would be able to do more that 3. After warming up I started off on the first mile, but got the effort wrong. Too fast. Despite that, it took longer than expected. The splits for the whole sequence were: 6:37, 6:40, 6:45, 6:51, 6:53, 6:45. Neither the times nor the fact that I got slower and slower (apart from the last one) are particularly glorious, and I wasn’t very satisfied, and I tried to come up with excuses. 1 - The distance might have been more than 1 mile (possibly, but it should be reasonably accurate). 2 - Saturday’s “recovery” run was too fast (probably, but Mike’s Mystery Coach seems to think that’s a good thing). 3 - I hadn’t recovered yet from the double header (who knows). 4 – From the third repeat on I tried to concentrate more on relaxed and controlled form than pace (true, but I still got slower and slower).

Whatever, you live and learn. Maybe I should have tried to run all repeats at about 6:45, but since I don’t do a series of 400s on a track it’s very difficult to gauge exactly how far I am into the effort. I might repeat the same workout next week just to have something to compare it to. On the other hand, if the conditions are better I’ll probably opt for a continuous tempo run.

Today was yet another recovery run, but unlike Saturday I tried to keep the pace down and not push myself. It was completely unremarkable until one mile before the end when my nearly new mp3 player gave up and died. One minute Marilyn Manson was sweetly wishing me sweet dreams, the next one all I got was static noise, and then nothing. I changed the battery, tried to connect it to the computer, but it looks like it has gone the way of the Dodo. It looks like I’ll rejoin the silent masses again. I don’t think I’ll have troubles adapting again, but in view of my forthcoming ultra I would have preferred some music in my ears for those long hours. It’s only 2 months old and still under guarantee, maybe I’ll get a replacement in time.

The weather has turned foul again. I hate it.

11 Feb: 10 miles, 1:15, avg. HR 157, 6 “mile“ repeats 6:37, 6:40, 6:45, 6:51, 6:53, 6:45
12 Feb: 10.5 miles, 1:27:50, 8:21 pace, avg. HR 144

Weekly mileage: 84 miles