There's an unrelated bit of news though; I've gotten rid of my car. It had 15 years and almost 100000 miles of service under the hood, and was definitely nearing the end of its life. Yesterday the insurance ran out, the road tax would have been due next month and the mechanic had already told me that the NCT (National Car Test) in December would be the end of the vehicle, so I decided not to renew insurance and tax and got rid of it entirely, without purchasing a replacement. I started cycling the 5 miles to work, and while the beginning of November might not be the ideal time to start cycling, that's the way circumstances have worked out. If I like cycling I'll purchase my own bike in due time. At the moment I'm borrowing Niamh's cheap and cheerful lady bike (as well as her purple cycling helmet).
The last two runs have actually been very good. On Wednesday I headed out to the trails of the Kerry Way. This is one of my favourite runs; usually I only run there after at least one week without rain, but decided to give it a go anyway. The loop is something over 12 miles long, I usually call it 12-and-a-quarter miles, which should be reasonably correct. More important to me are the 800 feet of net elevation gain and subsequent drop over the 4-5 miles of stony/muddy trail. Running the climb in the dim early morning light was a new experience, but a very nice one. When I came out back on the road on the other side, I cranked up the pace a bit for the return home. It wasn't anything too strenuous, just a bit under 8:00 pace. I think it was the fastest I've ever run that loop, not that I have any intentions of racing my training runs.
For some reason I felt even better today; I started fairly slowly at the outset of my 9-mile run, but gradually got going. I reached the turnaround point only 35 minutes later and thought "that was quite fast. The return might take longer". I was wrong. I want to stress that at no point did I press the pace. In fact, I spent almost the entire run thinking about the babies and/or cars, and the legs did their own thing. Well, I was back home less than 33 minutes later. Despite running faster than on my idiot day 11 days ago, I felt absolutely fine, and my heart rate was 10 beats lower than back then. I just had a very good day, and took it while I had the chance.
I have noticed that my runs have been a good bit faster than comparable ones at the same stage of the last training cycle, despite my assurances that I'm running easy all the time. Maybe I'm just feeling good at the moment, or maybe I'm subconsciously banking on the fact that I might be in for an enforced break very soon, and will get the recovery then. But I'm still running well within myself, honestly.
- 31 Oct
- 12.25 miles, 1:39:44, 8:08 pace, HR 154
- 1 Nov
- 9 miles, 1:07:45, 7:32 pace, HR 153
half splits 35:05, 32:39 (7:47, 7:15 pace)
With those solid runs recovery appears to be well over. With winter base-building commencing you must be thinking of a spring target - even if you haven't said it out loud. Very risky to mention anything like that at this expectant time.
ReplyDeleteI'll write more later, but I too just started cycling to work, just shy of 6 miles. Victoria is a fantastic place to ride but as you mentioned, this is not the time of year to convince yourself you’re doing to correct thing. We just moved and as we’re a single-car family, I bike, and Ally drives (it’s only fair given where she works… and the fact that there is a bike path just yards from our doorstep).
ReplyDeleteExciting times at your house Thomas! Eric used to ride his bike to the train, take it on the train, then from the end of the line to work. Except for crazy drivers, he liked it. He rode year round - in the dark, in the snow, in the rain. I hope you like it too!
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