Winter's Last Stand

Monday was a bank holiday in Ireland (bank holiday = public holiday), but, as Niamh said, they shouldn’t have bank holidays in March; they’re a waste of a free day. The weather was atrocious; the storm that had plagued us on Saturday and Sunday kept going, perversely interspersed with periods of bright sunshine. I was resigned to a big goose egg, when the weather brightened and I decided on the spot to head out after all; within 5 minutes I was out on the road. I intended just 5 miles, but it was so nice and sunny that I went on the 6-mile loop instead. Less than 4 miles later the situation had changed dramatically, as I was engulfed in a massive hail shower, by far the worst I’ve had to endure. I got a thorough beaning, but when I came to one particular crossroad decided to add 2 miles nevertheless. I figured that the hail would have abated by the time I reached home anyway, and that I might as well add a few miles after that, because they were bound to be in better conditions. I was correct, when the hail finally stopped it turned sunny again, if rather windy. All in all I managed 8 miles, which wasn’t bad considering all Mother Nature had thrown my way. A work colleague’s car passed me towards the end of the worst weather, and I greeted him with a big smile. God knows what he must have been thinking.

It has gotten rather cold again, temperatures this morning were around 0C/32F, and I dug out the tights form the back of my cupboard. I had hoped they would stay there until next winter, but I’d rather dig them out again than facing the cold in unsuitable attire. Today was the shorted run in a while, just 5 miles. I guess I am really tapering now. I kept the pace at an easy effort but still managed 8:00 pace. I was very surprised to see my heart rate so low at the end of the run, I don’t expect 8:00 pace to be recovery pace. Not that I’m complaining, but that’s the lowest heart rate I managed in the whole training cycle, even though it was not the slowest run by any means. I can only assume that the lack of a long run for more than one week means I’m already better rested than at any time during the previous months. That’s not down to more sleep though – on the 3 days of the long weekend, Shea woke us at 5:30 every single morning, and it took longer and longer to persuade him to go back to bed (and he invariably was back within 20 minutes each time).

Nothing else to report, apart from the fact that I’m definitely in Niamh’s good book for the time being. I think the Mother’s Day treats went down well.

19 Mar: 8 miles, 1:03:07, 7:47 pace, avg. HR 152
20 Mar: 5 miles, 40:00, 8:00 pace, avg. HR 140