Achoo!

The heavy legs that I had feared on Sunday arrived a day later. As soon as I headed out for Monday’s run, I felt like dragging a concrete weight behind me. Despite looking carefully I couldn’t find it, and just had to drag on. The second problem was that I generally didn’t feel too well. I had woken up with a sore throat and a general feeling of feebleness. The run went by, but the fatigue carried on through the day. I thought I had the beginnings of a cold, and it wasn’t until later on the evening that I realised that it’s the first of my two annual bouts of hay fever. I get that twice every year, once in April, and a second, worse, one in July. The timing is right, and the symptoms match. There isn’t much I can do about it; the only anti-histamine tablets that seem to have an effect are also making me drowsy, and that’s not an option during the day. Falling asleep in the office wouldn’t make a good impression, and doing the same on the commute doesn’t even bear thinking about.

However, I felt better today. While the hay fever symptoms are still there the heavy legs have gone and I managed 8 miles at a decent pace with 8x100 strides in-between. I’m quite pleased with the way my pace is developing again, even though the heart rate is still a few beats high. I’m almost half-way between the ultra and the half-marathon in Bantry, and I have high hopes for another PR. I did run that race last year, 5 weeks after running 26 miles in Connemara, and I felt just about recovered by the time I stood at the start line. This time I’m running it 5 weeks after running 39 miles in Connemara, and I’m actually hoping for a quicker recovery. We will see.

16 Apr: 6 miles, 49:08, 8:11 pace, avg. HR 148
17 Apr: 8 miles, 1:02:11, 7:46 pace, avg. HR 152, including 8x100 strides