Relax? Don’t do it.

Where to begin? Well, firstly, the race is not until next Sunday. Does “Sunday week” have a different meaning on the other side of the Big Pond? Over here it means “Sunday in one week”. Therefore I still have seven day to get ready (and faster).

Secondly, the house is still standing after Friday’s invasion. The barbarian hordes come through, ate the kitchen dry, and left with very little damage. A garden light is broken, and I think that’s all of it. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and the twins truly had a day to remember. Despite all this, Niamh has decided that next year they both can invite a finite number of friends, maybe 6 each. I’ll bet you she’s forgotten by then, though.

We had a big bouncy castle in the garden, and of course I had to test it with Shea (ahem). Let’s call it plyometric exercise. I was knackered after two minutes on it. I don’t know how the kids managed to bounce for the whole afternoon.

This is a running blog, you say? Oh yes, I might have forgotten temporarily. I did another tempo run on Friday, with very heavy legs initially. I did question the wisdom of playing an hour of soccer on the evening before a tempo effort, but somehow felt very good once the faster section started. I managed to surprise myself with 4 miles in 27:20 (6:50 pace), despite not pushing all out. Like on Tuesday I still felt good after 4 miles, but opted to slow down for the cool down anyway.

Saturday called for a slower recovery effort. After all I’m supposed to be tapering now. 5 miles in over 42 minutes were all I had time for, because we had to drive to Millstreet for a “Disney on Ice” show. It’s a birthday present for the twins, especially for Lola. They loved it, even though we had told them they could not have any of the overpriced merchandise. They just enjoyed the ice dancing. Lola was really funny. When she saw Minnie Mouse, she said "That’s just a person dressed up". But when the princesses came on, she commented “so that’s what Princess Jasmine looks like in real life.”

Remember last Sunday’s tempo effort? I wasn’t too pleased with the result. After 5 miles of tempo I felt like lying on the side of the road. Today I repeated the exercise, and was much happier about it. I’d still like to be faster, of course, but I did three tempo runs this week, each one faster than the previous one. The sequence more or less continued (same pace, but on a hillier course), and I felt much better after 5 fast miles than seven days ago, despite running a bit faster (lower heart rate though). The times for the 2.5 mile segments were 17:44 and 16:56 (6:53 and 6:46 pace respectively), giving me a total of 34:10 (6:50 pace) for the entire tempo section. My improvement this week has been quite remarkable. I don’t quite know if it’s because the tempo efforts are getting my body used to the higher effort, or if I’m just shaking off the last effects of the ultra, but I’m pleased all the same.

I still can’t rest, after the birthday party on Friday and the Disney show yesterday we have to go to Killarney where Lola is taking part in a ballet performance (two actually), and we’re making it a family day with picnic and all. I’m sure I’ll get some rest, somewhere and somehow. I just don’t know quite when yet.

27 Apr: 8 miles, 59:27, 7:25 pace, avg. HR 154, with 4 miles in 27:20 (6:50 pace)
28 Apr: 5 miles, 42:12, 8:26 pace, avg. HR 146
29 Apr: 9 miles, 1:05:40, 7:17 pace, avg. HR 160, with 5 miles in 34:10 (6:50 pace)

Weekly Mileage: 56 miles