Lazy and Insane, Apparently

“Daddy won’t win. He’s not running much.” It looks like Shea has lost faith in my abilities, when Niamh told him about my next race. While the prediction is almost certainly correct, isn’t a dad supposed to be the all-powerful idol for a 6-year old? And what’s that about not running much???

I did another hill session yesterday. Learning from Monday's mistake I took the direct route to Geokaun, paid my 1 Euro toll and proceeded with 3 repeats up that road. The sun came exactly from the side, which enabled me to see my own shadow as I did the steep-hill running. I still can’t lift my knees as high as I’d like to, but I like to think that I’ve improved already. The sessions were tough again, as ever. After the third one all I could mutter was “this better be worth it!”

Two weeks ago I did my long run the day after a hill workout and struggled to make it through. Last week’s long run was a walk in the park in comparison. Today I did the same thing again as two weeks ago, and again I struggled for most of the course. I ran three loops of the Knightstown-Chapeltown-Shore Road loop, but ran it counter clockwise for a change. It was really windy and I hoped that the hilly part might be a tad more sheltered, and then I’d have the wind on my back on the Shore Road. Not entirely surprising, the climb got tougher with each loop, and I sure was glad when I reached the apex for the last time. It was slow progress, but the legs didn’t seem to have anything else in them. After completing the third loop I still had a 3-mile out-and-back section to do to make up 20 miles. This time I ran on the shore road, because that’s the only road where I know where the (imaginary) mile markers are. Either the wind had picked up by now or the shore road really is more exposed, but I definitely had to fight against the wind this time. The turn-around point couldn’t come soon enough, and when I reached it at long last I could finally brush that little devil off my shoulder that had incessantly been whispering “turn around. You’ve already run long enough. Just turn around” into my ear. Running felt so much better on the way back home that I put the foot down and got some decent pace, but of course this was with the wind.

For the first time in weeks, Niamh was up when I got home. “Shea woke at half past six, and I haven’t slept since”. She didn’t look happy, and maybe answering with “so you got a lie-in then” wasn’t exactly the smartest thing to do. She also came up with “Mum and Dad think you’re insane”. “I know … maybe they’re right”. “Maybe they are”.

Well.

24 Jul: 3 hill circuits, 1:31:41, est. 10.5 miles
25 Jul: 20 miles, 2:49:46, 8:29 pace, avg. HR 142; last 1.5 miles in 11:15 (7:30 pace, albeit wind-assisted)