Better

We’ve had some very nice weather over the last few weeks, which is very unusual for this part of the world in April, to say the least. Of course everyone agrees that we deserve a nice spell after the lousy winter, and that it probably means we’ll have a lousy summer, too. Anyway, all good things come to an end, and yesterday was when the nice weather ended, at least for now.

I had planned 10 miles and accordingly set the alarm for 6 o’clock, but when all I could hear was wind and the rain outside I did something I haven’t done in a long, long time: I reset the alarm and went back to bed. I did get up 40 minutes later for a 5-mile run, and somehow the weather didn’t seem as bad then. It was still windy and rainy, but it was definitely manageable. My legs felt very stiff, not surprisingly after Sunday’s tempo run. I tried to run as easy and relaxed as I could. Niamh was still asleep when I got back home, and after breakfast I told her how I had gone back to bed because of the weather. She started praising me for finally showing some sense, but when I told her that I actually had been running, just a bit shorter, she could only roll her eyes. I guess it means it’ll take some more time to develop some sense for me.

Today’s conditions were much more agreeable; the wind was still there but the rain was absent, and I went out for another tempo run. Not as fast as Sunday, I tried to do what I think Lydiard would call a ½ effort in contrast to Sunday’s ¾ effort. The legs still felt stiff during the 2 warm-up miles, but felt amazingly fresh once I started the tempo section. It was quite remarkable, by keeping the effort just a tiny bit lower than on Sunday, with heart rates in the lower-to-mid 160s (Sunday’s were in the high 160s/low 170s, and up to 180 on a steep climb), it felt so much easier! I felt better the longer it went on and I guess I could have pushed for more than the 4 miles, but decided not to overdo it and backed off. I was surprised when I calculated my pace, despite seemingly putting in a lot less effort I was just a handful of second slower than on Sunday.

I feel a lot better about this effort than I did two days ago. As Mike correctly guessed, I’m shooting for 1:30 (how did you know that? Are my training paces so easy to read?), and after Sunday’s run I really did not think I would be able to do it. Today I’m a lot more optimistic. The legs seem to come round to that pace very quickly, and I still have some time to get them up to speed. I’m quite sure I’ll be in 1:30 shape on a flat course, but unfortunately the half is rather hilly. I’m not sure how much that will cost me.

23 Apr: 5 miles, 41:56, 8:23 pace, avg. HR 146
24 Apr: 8 miles, 1:10:12, 7:39 pace, avg. HR 156, including 4 miles in 27:44 (6:56 pace)