Various

I'll keep the running bits short, or this will be a very long entry. I woke early yesterday, and eventually got up 20 minutes before the alarm went off because staring at the ceiling was starting to lose its lustre. I got slightly delayed because I had to fix some breakfast for the boys, but still managed to go out early enough to add one mile to the scheduled run, not that one extra mile 4 months before the race will make any difference whatsoever. The run would have been nice had it not started raining with a mile to go. I was drenched by the time I got home.

Today was the second "fartlek" workout of the program, but this time it included 6x30 seconds of fast running rather than the mere 2 of last week. I programmed the Garmin to help me count the repeats (the interval workout feature on the Garmin is a godsend), because I tend to have trouble counting to 3 when I'm running, never mind all the way up to 6. The pace during the speed sections on the average was faster than 5:30, which is a little bit quicker than I was supposed to go, but not by much. I can tell you that running 30 seconds on reasonably flat road is a lot easier than 30 seconds of hill sprints! I still cannot imagine running an entire mile at that pace, though. My legs are sore from that workout, and that was only about half the distance with big long breaks in-between. The run would have been nice had it not started raining with a mile to go. I was drenched by the time I got home. Again.

At lunchtime today a colleague asked me out of the blue "if there is a 10k road race and it's only 9.6k, would the runners be upset?" After some discussion, where he kept skirting around the issue, he eventually believed me that yes, a fair amount of runners might end up being a bit upset. Eventually I found out that he is organising a 10k road race on the Dingle peninsula, and I think he will try and find an extra loop for his route. In any case, I've added that unexpected race on July 13 to my schedule.

Niamh might have been right with her baby genius comment. Yesterday she carried Maia into the kitchen, and as soon as she saw me she said "dada". Coincidence? Well, possibly, except that she did the same again today. Maybe Niamh is secretly coaching her. Of course, being the subject of the only word she can say is flattering. Especially since that girl is so gorgeous.

We're heading off to Ennis in county Clare tomorrow afternoon for a family weekend, and, not entirely coincidental, there is a 10k race on Saturday. When I wrote my training schedule, I tentatively put that race into the spreadsheet, for no other reason than that it was held at that date. I did not really expect to actually go there, because driving more than 2 hours each way for a 10k run might be a bit excessive. However, when I mentioned it to Niamh the other day, she was suspiciously enthusiastic. Of course, what we ended up doing was booking a fancy hotel for the entire family, and she has every intention of being pampered for a day, in exchange of me being able to run the race. She's cunning, that woman. Anyway, my target for the race is "to suffer as much as possible". If that yields a good time, it would be a welcome bonus.

25 Jun

7 miles, 55:04, 7:52 pace, HR 150

26 Jun

6 miles, 46:33, 7:45 pace, HR 156
incl. 6x30 secs @ 5:26 pace avg