Double Header

After all the excitement of being on holiday and exploring foreign cities and running on completely new roads, I’m back home on my familiar roads around Caragh Lake. While it was great to run in so many new places, I do appreciate being back home again. And I certainly prefer the cooler temperatures in Ireland – it makes a big difference, much bigger than I thought it would.

I headed out yesterday morning with the intention of running one hour at a decent pace. After warming up for the first two miles I sharply increased the pace, and held what seemed like reasonably comfortable tempo pace, though I didn’t really know how fast I was; I didn’t check my watch and my internal tachometer seems to be a bit off these days, and was quite surprised when I calculated my pace afterwards, because I had covered the second half of the run in 7:13 pace. Since I had kept the pace pretty much constant for the two preceding miles, this meant 6 miles at or around 7:15 pace, which is of course my planned marathon pace in October. It certainly felt tougher than marathon pace, but with over 16 weeks of training left I’m not too worried yet. I was really pleased with that effort, and it led me to the conclusion that my mileage estimations during the holidays were most likely a bit conservative – the actual distances were probably slightly higher than the ones I wrote down in my previous entry.

Then another thought struck me. At one point I should start doing those double headers I keep reading about in Mystery Coach’s posts. From some formula that he left somewhere I calculated that a double header for me should consist of 7 miles at 7:15 pace on the first day, and 10 miles at 8:00 pace plus 3 miles at 7:15 pace the following day, and don’t forget to add a few miles of warm-up and cool-down to each run. I had inadvertently covered 6 miles at the required pace, and decided to finish the job on Friday for my first ever double header of that kind. It meant that the first day was one mile short, put I can live with that.

I got up at 5:30 this morning, and immediately started to doubt my ability to run the required pace. I felt really tired, and wasn’t sure if I should even attempt such a tough workout. However, after hanging around the kitchen for ages I eventually gave myself a metaphorical kick up the arse and went out. The first few miles were uneventful apart from a dog nearly attacking me, but luckily he turned the other way when I shouted at him. I chose the same route I always do for a 17 mile run, namely the loop around Caragh Lake plus a second loop around the Devil’s Elbow. This is a rather hilly run, after 3 flat miles it’s a series of up- and downhill for the next 3 miles with a net elevation gain of over 550 feet. Then the road drops back all the way only to go over another hill of about 300 feet. By the time I reached the 12-mile point, I was definitely tired, and unsure if I would be able to do 3 fast miles on those weary legs. The topology of the course presented an additional problem, namely the fact that there aren’t 3 flat continuous miles. I had the choice of doing the fast bit between miles 12 and 15, which would mean a very hilly first mile, or between miles 13 and 16, with a hilly last mile. I chose the first option, and decided to go more by even effort rather than even pacing. Of course there aren’t any mile markers, I just have to go by my own imaginary mile markers, but they should be reasonably accurate; I’ve covered that stretch of road often enough by now. The first mile went by in 7:38, which I put down to the hill. The second mile wasn’t as bad, but it was very slightly uphill, and to make matters worse I had to fight against a headwind, though it wasn’t particularly strong. However, I definitely got the effort wrong and covered it in 7:04, way too fast. I tried to ease up just a little bit for the final mile, but the fact that it was slightly downhill and out of the headwind meant I got it even more wrong and covered it in only 6:54. After that I was seriously knackered and struggled for the remaining 2 miles until I got home.

I don’t think I’ve ever been so exhausted after a workout. Maybe my first 20 miler was as tough, but that was too long ago to remember clearly. My right hip flexor had gotten very tight towards the end, and my left calf didn’t feel good either (I’ve been having problems with that for a few weeks now). But the overwhelming feeling was one of complete exhaustion. I definitely overdid it on the fast 3 miles, and will have to work on better pacing in future. In fact I suspect that the first of those miles was actually a bit long, and that I ran faster than 7:38, which compounds my overall pacing error. There is definitely room for improvement here. But I’m glad to have this workout behind me. I hope to make those double headers a weekly part of my training.

14 Jun: 8 miles, 58:36, 7:19 pace, avg. HR 155 (6 miles at ~7:13 pace)
15 Jun: 17 miles, 2:18:16, 8:08 pace, avg. HR 155 (3 miles in 7:38. 7:04, 6:54)