The Clock is Ticking

I’m just glad I’m not running right this moment. There’s a nasty storm blowing outside, and nobody in their right minds would face that deliberately. I was lucky enough to have somewhat better conditions in the morning; it just started to get really bad when I came home. I can only hope it won’t be like this come race day, or any thoughts of a fast time will go right out of the window.

Since this is the last weekend before the marathon I’m trying to relax as much as I can, as far as that’s possible with my young brood around me. Cian got a special treat yesterday for being such a good boy. I took him to town, just the two of us, for a bit of one-to-one time. He loved the undivided attention, and he definitely loved the smoothie and the biscuit in the café. I just about managed to resist the temptation of all those lovely chocolate cakes and limited myself to a croissant, but if that was any sounder from a nutritional point of view I don’t know. But I’m looking forward to carbo-loading, and I usually start a sweet binge the week after a marathon as a reward for all the hard work during training. I’m looking forward to that as much as I am to the marathon.

There isn’t much to tell about my running. I managed to limit myself to 5 miles on Saturday, and I ran them as slowly as I possibly could. The HR was a bit higher than I would have expected. Generally my HR on those easy runs is a good indicator of my fitness, and I’m a teeny bit concerned about the higher readings I’ve had this week. Let’s hope it won’t mean anything on marathon day.

I had originally planned a loop around Cromane for today but the wind was already blowing at close to gale force and I opted for the only sheltered piece of road and decided to run up and down the Ard-na-Sidhe mile. Since running back- and forwards four times didn’t sound too appealing I though I could run three of the miles at marathon pace and use the three return miles as recovery. However, the legs just took off, even on the warm-up section, and I was already doing MP before I had even started the real workout. I did slow myself down a bit, then ran two miles in 6:52 and 6:45 respectively, but then decided to go home. Not because I was feeling bad, but because I was feeling too good! I did not want to wear myself out by running needlessly fast, and decided to cut the run short before I was tempted to speed up even further. Running MP was entirely effortless today. If I can repeat that sensation 8 days from now, I will be a very happy man. But I didn’t want to use up all of that goodness today, and since the real part of the storm had found its way towards Caragh Lake at the time, it was better to head inside anyway.

If only I could bottle that feeling from today! I could use it on race day and practically guarantee a great race. Or if I could bottle and sell it, I’d be rich in no time at all.

18 Oct

5 miles, 42:23, 8:28 pace, HR 137

19 Oct

9.1 miles, 1:07:35, 7:25 pace, HR 153
incl. 2 uneven miles at 6:52, 6:45

Weekly Mileage: 50+