Friday the 13th

Unlucky for some, unremarkable for most. My training is going pretty well and I’m happy with it. I admit I did exaggerate a bit in my last entry when I said I deliberately tried to break my knee. It was more a rigorous test rather than a calculated ploy to cripple myself, but I was definitely happy with the result. A few people have cautioned me because the hill circuit and the following long run were two had runs in a row. That is true, but I think they were stressing two different parts of the system, which is why I think I can get away with that sort of behaviour. It’s all part of testing my boundaries. I’m sure I’ll cross the line eventually if I go on like that, but I should be able to learn form that experience. I have found that I’m much more capable of withstanding heavy training than I used to think. If I had never tried to test myself I would never have found out.

Nevertheless I took it easy on Thursday. Since I’m commuting from Valentia it meant that even a 12-mile run necessitated an early 5:30 wake-up call, and coupled with a feeble attempt at something resembling a social life the evening before it meant a rather short night. As soon as I got up I noticed the calves were quite sore, much more so than the day before. Tuesday’s hill run had finally bitten, DOMS be cursed. If I needed another reminder to take it easy, that was definitely the most effective one. I consequently ran the 12 miles at leisurely pace, and I did two out-and-back samples of the flat shore road rather then the much hillier loop through the island. My knee started playing up with a few miles to go, so I accelerated a bit, which always brings relief. This worked again, at the expense of a slightly higher heart rate.

I felt much better today, both from a fatigue as well as a soreness point of view. Which is good, since 18 miles were on the program. This is the run that was originally pencilled in for Wednesday, but I ended up swapping those two round. Again I didn’t get more than 6 hours of sleep, but somehow I felt rested enough. It was still quite dark by the time I hit the road, 5 am. The streetlights were still on. Yesterday I had not met a single soul on the entire workout; the only living creatures I came across were birds, cows and rabbits. Today it was a bit busier, mainly because I ran the entire loop, which incorporates the “main” road through the island. From our house that means about 2.5 flat miles, 1.5 miles of climbing, 1.5 miles of downhill and another flat bit to complete the loop at 5.7 miles. I did that 3 times, and added just under a mile to the end of the workout to make up 18 miles. It went pretty well. Towards the end of the second loop my knee started hurting, but not the same way it usually does, a sharp pain rather than the familiar dull one. The pain went away again half a mile later, and I had forgotten all about it at the end of that loop, which is why I didn’t hesitate to go out a third time. I think it was not related to my already established knee problem, at least I like to think so. It totally cooperated during the third loop, which encouraged me no end.

I ran into a herd of cows just before the end of the third loop, almost literally. They started coming out of a field just as I was passing by, and I ended up surrounded by approximately 30 of those big beasts. They stank!!! Most of them were completely undisturbed about my presence, but a few of them seemed to panic and ran off. God knows why, they each weigh about 10 times as much as I do. Luckily the leading cow in the herd seemed to know where to go and walked into a side path and even the panicky ones followed her off the road. The whole encounter probably lasted less than a minute. That's my third close cow encounter in short succession.

My mother-in-law remains unable to comprehend the level of training I’m doing. Last night she suggested turning on the oven before I go out running so that it would be nicely warmed up on my return to bake some bread. I really didn’t want to tell her that I’d be out for 2 and a half hours, and therefore it didn’t seem such a good idea to me. I just pretended to forget in the morning.

On Thursday I forgot the key to the house and inadvertently locked myself out when I went for my run. The whole house was still asleep at the time of my return, and I really didn’t want to wake the kids by ringing the doorbell. I managed to crawl through the bathroom window like a burglar, and nobody woke. In fact they were all still asleep by the time I left for work. Lucky for some.

12 Jul: 12 miles, 1:39:28, 8:17 pace, avg. HR 141
13 Jul: 18 miles, 2:28:51, 8:16 pace, avg. HR 146