Achoo

Have I mentioned how much I hate hayfever? It’s the bane of my life, and I get it twice every year. I’m currently in the middle of my first annual stint, and I’m sneezing my way through the day. Last year I only felt it when I was outside, not in the office building itself. Either the airconditioning has changed or the pollen situation is worse this year, because the symptoms are clear for everyone in the vicinity to see and hear. Even Niamh is affected, and she let me know that “every time my nose tickles, I think of you” (how romantic). For reasons unbeknown to me I am ok when I’m running. I don’t understand the physiological background for this but I am grateful; otherwise my training would be severely hampered.

I managed 46 miles last week. This week I’m aiming for about 60, and then, if everything is ok, I’ll try and add about 10 miles per week until I’m at 100 towards the middle of June. If I feel too tried, I’ll scale back. I know I’m not following the 10% rule, but since this is not the first time I’ve been building up to this mileage level (and not the second time either) I think I can be a bit more aggressive. In fact, I’ve followed a similar protocol before, and haven’t got into troubles.

Right now things are still pretty easy going. I ran 6 miles yesterday, and I’m pretty sure the stiffness in my legs was from the hours of gardening work and not from the comparatively tame weekend mileage. I added a few strides, something that I think is very useful, but also something I simply tend to forget. I hope I’ll be able to keep those up. The one thing I noticed was that the heart rate was very low, but since today’s HR was markedly higher, it may have been a false reading from the HRM. I’ll see. Today’s run was a joy. Not a cloud in sight and Caragh Lake was stunning in the early morning hours. Not even the blustery wind could dampen my spirits. Sadly, the nice weather is not supposed to last.

Maia kept torturing us last night. She is a pretty good sleeper for a baby, but there are nights when she prefers to keep herself and us awake, and last night was definitely one of those. Judging form the whoops and giggles she seemed to have a lot of fun and didn’t seem to register that her bleary-eyed parents weren’t quite as enthusiastic.

Oh, and this race was brought to my attention. I have ranted and raved about the lack of ultras in Ireland before. Things are clearly changing. For a while I was really tempted to forget about Dingle and head further northwards, but in the end the head won out over the heart. I don’t think I’m ready for that kind of race, there isn’t enough time to prepare properly, and they might not accept me for lack of experience anyway. But next year, or the year after … let’s put that thought aside for now.

11 May

6 miles, 47:51, 7:58 pace, HR 145
incl. 7x100 strides

12 May

8 miles, 1:01:59, 7:45 pace, HR 153