Like a drowned rat

The heavens opened and I got thoroughly soaked while cycling home today. Add the wind to the equation, and imagine the misery. And while I am moaning already, am I the only one who got increasingly tired of the lame April Fools jokes on just about every web site two days ago? I didn’t see one that I thought was actually funny.

Never mind, that’s still a running blog. After Tuesday’s epic 20 miler I set my sights on recovering and slowly getting into taper mode. The 8 miles on Wednesday followed that blueprint surprisingly well because I ran the slowest pace I can remember in a long time. Funny that, as my workouts became harder my easy days became easier. Another lowest HR was duly recorded, but I thought afterwards that 6 miles would have been plenty, because I had started dragging after about 5.

Before I knew that I would be racing this weekend, and before I had decided to start my taper a bit earlier, I had pencilled 8 mile repeats for this week, but I cut that down to 6. I also decided not to go all-out (well, I decided that during the warm-up), but still give it a half-decent HM effort. I surprised myself by running about a second per mile faster than last week (which itself had been a second per mile than the week before) even though I always felt I had a bit more in me. The temperature didn’t help, it was about 2C/35F, and I was freezing. Nevertheless, it was a decent workout, and I was happy enough. It’s more about keeping what I’ve got rather than trying to squeeze out some extra fitness.

Another easy (if very windy) day today will be followed by an even easier one tomorrow, and I guess I will be fairly rested for Sunday, even taking Tuesday’s run into account. The strange thing is that I tried to find any sign of that race on the web and came up with a complete blank. Not even the Kerry Athletics web site, that supposedly organises the race, does mention it. I’m not entirely convinced that it will indeed take place, but I’ll go there and have a look anyway. If I can’t see any other runners we’ll declare it a family outing instead.

1 Apr

8 miles, 1:09:42, 8:43 pace, HR 130

2 Apr

10 miles, 1:13:14, 7:19 pace, HR 154
incl. 6xmile @ 6:31, 34, 28, 32, 51, 22 (6:33)

3 Apr

8 miles, 1:05:54, 8:14 pace, HR 140