Kerry Way

Michael just left a very good comment. He thinks with my mileage base it would be time to increase the intensity of my training, to take advantage of those base miles. In all honesty, I have been thinking about that approach myself already. It's not a secret that I would love to break 3 hours in the marathon, and I'm wondering if faster running in training is what's needed to get me there. Of course, I may be wrong. High mileage has brought very good results for me, my times have already come down to a level that I would have put into the realms of fantasy two years ago, and maybe continuing on that approach would do the trick. In any case, I have recently purchased Brain Training for Runners, and a quick peek into the schedules seems to indicate a possible approach. However, all this will not be relevant until after the Cork marathon – and not until I have recovered from that, of course.

The Kerry Way loop is one of my favourites, because it's pretty much my only chance to get off road and onto trails without having to drive. However, I'm definitely still a road runner and don't like playing in the mud, which is why I only run there after several days of nice weather. It was altogether typical that it started raining the very night before my planned venture there. I was ready to change my plans, but then decided to stick with the original route. That was a good choice, it was a lot less muddy than expected, and I enjoyed it. The run starts with a rather brutal climb of over 700 feet (actually I thought it would be more than 800), and then keeps going up and down. The second half of the loop brings me back on my usual Caragh Lake road route, and that's where I tried to increase the pace a bit. I managed 5 miles in 37:50, which is 7:34 pace. Not exactly blazingly fast, but I peeped into my log at some workouts before the Loch Ness marathon, and I hit similar paces back then, so I might be in half decent shape after all.


As you can see, I also started playing around with SportTrack's export feature. Exporting your data and importing into Google Earth is so easy, and so cool, I could have played around for hours. Isn't it great when things just work?

In the evening I played my first hour of football (that's soccer for the uninitiated) since September, and despite fearing that I would have forgotten what a ball looked like, I played much better than expected. The hardest part, however, was cycling back home afterwards. It's tough to use your legs for a different sport after an exhausting hour on your feet, and triathletes have just gained a bit more respect from me.

My legs were really heavy this morning, which I definitely attribute to the football. There's some spot in my legs that running doesn't hit, but football gets it every time. I already had plans for an easy recovery day, and those legs made sure that it would be an especially easy one. In fact I was so slow that I had to cut it short from 8 to 7 miles, or I would have been late for work. I was slower than 9:00 pace on the first section, and while I managed to pick it up a bit on the way home (probably due to the wind assistance), this was by far the slowest I have run in quite some time. My legs are still sore now, and I hope I'll feel better tomorrow. Not only have I got some faster running in mind, I'll be up on my feet all weekend, because it's the twins' 7th birthday, with a big party on Saturday and a trip to Millstreet on Sunday, to see a “Disney on Ice” show. That is always on around the time of their birthdays, and this is becoming an annual pilgrimage for us, it's the fourth year in a row. At least they know that we will not buy any of the ridiculously overpriced merchandise. It's going to be yet another action-packed weekend. There's just to rest for the weary here.

24 Apr

12 miles, 1:38:49, 8:14 pace, HR 154
with 5 miles in 37:50 @ 7:34

25 Apr

7 miles, 1:02:19, 8:54 pace, HR 139