Lonely Encounters

I guess I'm tapering now, though I still have to find that switch in my mind; I'm still thinking of miles, lots of them, and then have to scale down. I did 15 miles yesterday, just like I had planned, on an icy cold day. It was below 0C when I left and the ground was covered in frost (NO!! MY POTATOES!!!) but I quickly warmed up over the first miles, and especially on those wicked climbs that followed. I kept the effort reasonably easy, but accelerated over the last 5 miles, like I used to do. I didn't manage better than 38:16 (7:39 pace) for those 5, which initially pissed me off until I remembered that I had run 27.5 miles only 3 days previously. I have recovered amazingly quickly from that, there's no soreness in my legs at all, just in my right shoulder, but of course there's still some residue of fatigue in there.

I encountered a curious mix of lonely animals on the road; first a hare, then a cow (which ran away from me despite the fact that she could trample me to death), and young puppy dog that kept jumping right in front of me and a rabbit. All of them were on their own, which was a bit curious with the cow. I hate it when farmers can't keep their animals behind closed gates. Accidents happen rather easily that way.

There are probably as many ideas about the taper as there are runners. I intend to cut down on the mileage (70-ish this week, 50-ish next week, very little in the last week) but increase the intensity, so there will be a tempo run or two as well as an initial speed session. This will be unlikely to help me much for the ultra, but I also have an eye on the two races after that, and maybe, just maybe, doing a few faster sessions now will reap some rewards later on. In any case, the idea of increasing the intensity during the taper isn't just my own madness; several well-known coaches work that way (though you can find plenty who disagree, of course).

The weather has turned sour again, but I got away with it this morning; it was windy and the sky was covered in thick grey clouds, but luckily it didn't rain. I started at about 8:30 pace, added a few accelerations, ended up getting faster with each mile, got to 7:50 pace average, and it all felt really easy. I think I won't be quite in peak shape for the ultra, I simply did not have enough time after my pneumonia, and another 3 or 4 weeks would get me there, but I feel great nevertheless; and there's still hope that I will be in top condition for the Cork marathon, as long as I manage to recover in time.

19 Mar

15 miles, 2:01:03, 8:04 pace, HR 143

20 Mar

8.5 miles, 1:06:31, 7:49 pace, HR 142