Slow And Fast(ish)

All the talk about future training strategies will have to be put to the back of my mind for a few more weeks. The Cork marathon comes first, and with less than 5 weeks to go there is not much time left. And of course there is still the half marathon in Bantry, just 5 days from now.

I was thoroughly proud of myself after Monday's workout, but not because I ran it so fast, on the opposite. I ran it really slowly, the slowest I have run in a long time, and I think I really needed that. I had set the alarm a few minutes early to give myself some extra time, to ensure that I wouldn't feel the need to speed up at some stage. The weather forecast had been pretty dire, but it turned out to be better than that, I never experienced more than a few drops of rain; the wind could have been better, but nothing I could not handle. I managed to stay slow for the entire 8 miles. I'm not entirely sure what that does to my form, my stride felt a bit short and choppy, but the heart rate was low, the lowest in quite some time. I can tell that I'm not in peak shape yet. Before Loch Ness, my HR would drop under 130 for such a run, so there is still room for improvement. If said improvement will materialise in time for Cork is questionable, but I'll persevere with my training and see where that will get me.

After the easy Monday, I was all set for a much harder Tuesday. I had my mind set on yet another tempo run, and since I did 8 miles last week I opted for 9 miles today. Initially I found it hard going. I started at measured pace and tried to increase the effort steadily over the first two miles, but somehow it never felt right until about mile 5. I wondered if I'd be better off doing shorter, faster cruise intervals, like 2 or 3 times 2 miles. I think Daniels likes them, but Pfitz, on the other hand, definitely recommends longer tempo runs for marathoners, and I can follow his reasoning. Anyway, the mile splits were 7:28, 7:13, 6:55, 7:30, 7:24, 7:11, 7:10, 6:56, 6:31; the course was reasonably flat, and it's difficult to tell where the wind had some major influence (e.g. mile 3 was with the wind and mile 4 was against it, which explains at least some of the time difference). As I've said, I felt better during the second half, but where exactly my half-marathon pace lies will only be revealed on Sunday. Somehow I find it impossible to hit those paces without a bib pinned onto my shirt. I'm reasonably hopeful to be able to beat 1:30, but not so sure if I can run a PR, and the course is rather hilly. Tomorrow I'll run around the lake for this week's long run, Thursday is a scheduled easy day, and Friday and Saturday will form a mini taper for the race; then I'll get a good tempo workout on Sunday, and then there will be 2 more weeks of full training until the marathon.

Either Grellan is bluffing again, or he really is injured and might have to miss the race in Bantry. In that case I would of course claim victory, and level our race series. Which, incidentally, is the only way I can possibly beat him, but that's the way it is. Who knows, he may well end up on the start line.

Maia, even though she isn't yet 6 months old, has already started crawling, albeit backwards only; but she is definitely mobile. We're clearly dealing with an early developer here, I wonder when she'll join Daddy on his early morning runs. She's also started on solid foods, which finally makes her sleepy enough to spend more than a minute on her own in her cot. Michael, all that fun is in your own near future, too.

28 Apr

8 miles, 1:12:18, 9:02 pace, HR 134

29 Apr

9 miles, 1:04:25, 7:09 pace, HR 156