Where I'd Rather Be

Places I could have been on Saturday:

• -in Killorglin, running a 10k. How typical is that? They finally organise a 10k just outside my doorstep, and I’m not here. I would have won it, too.
  
• -in Dublin, running the half marathon. To be honest, this one was too close to the Loch Ness marathon to be a realistic alternative.
  
• -in London, Craven Cottage to be more precise, to watch the match between Fulham and Man City, for which I had been offered free tickets. A cracking match it turned out to be, too.
  
• -in Tralee, at a colleague’s bbq. Perfect weather they had, too.
  

Instead we had to drive all the way to Slane, County Meath, where Niamh’s brother got married. They were incredibly lucky with the weather, Friday and Sunday were foul, Saturday was perfect. The ceremony was nice, the food was good, the people there were relaxed, happy and casual, and yet … constantly having to keep an eye on your three children means you can never relax and enjoy the party. But, having total strangers come up to you and mention how incredibly beautiful your children are, feels nice.

Niamh’s least favourite moment: her older sister coming up to her, looking at her bump and shouting out loud “Oh my God, you’re so enormous!! This can’t possibly get any bigger!!!” No, Niamh’s sister isn’t very good on tact. She also doesn’t know much about pregnancy, apparently.

Running wise, I went on two runs in Dublin, both by time rather than mileage, but I guess they were all at around 8:00 pace. People in South Dublin are still as aloof as ever, a “good morning” never gets a reply, no matter how cheerful I try to sound. With one notable exception I was completely ignored, but one guy greeted me with something like “Good morning, lad. You’re up very early”, which almost bowled me over because it was so unexpected.

We drove back on Sunday, and I fully intended to run 9 miles today with 4 faster miles in the middle, maybe even an exchange workout of I felt really good. However, the weather overnight was beyond dreadful, I woke up several times and it sounded like the wind and rain were just about to blow in the windows. I decided to skip running in that mini-hurricane and turned off the alarm, but had troubles sleeping in, mostly because Cian was there in bed with us, and he kept kicking me in the kidneys every couple of minutes. I got up eventually, noticed that the rain had stopped, and went out for 5 quick miles. To liven up the time I ran one mile in a sprint/float fashion, which is reported to be a great workout for sharpening. I covered that mile in 6:17, though the time isn’t particularly meaningful when run like that. The legs felt fine but the lungs let me know that this was way beyond the usual limits. It took a long time to get my breath back afterwards.

I realise now that the weather had done me a favour. The marathon is less than 2 weeks away, and I have to seriously cut the mileage. My mind isn’t in tapering mode yet, and somehow still thinks that 10 miles are fine for an easy day. I’m planning on doing another speed workout, probably on Thursday, 10 days out from the marathon, and I’m thinking of 3x1 miles, like Pfitzinger has them in each of his schedules. Having said that, I’ll take each day as it comes, try to relax, and keep an eye on the weather forecast. If there are days of particularly bad weather ahead, I’ll skip a workout.

22 Sep

1:20, ~10 miles, HR 144

23 Sep

1:05, ~8 miles, HR 144

24 Sep

5 miles, 39:33, 7:54 pace, HR 149
incl. 1 mile run/float in 6:17

Weekly mileage: 72