Raw

It's funny how things are developing. Monday's run was truly awful, on more than one level, and left me with the distinct impression that I had lost a serious amount of endurance in the last 5 weeks. Those fears have been slightly put to rest on Wednesday.

Because Niamh is galavanting off to Dublin, leaving me behind without a supervising adult, my training for the rest of the week will be very curtailed at best, completely impossible at worst. I therefore tried to cram more than the usual mileage towards the start of the week, something that's generally frowned upon by people who know something about training (i.e. not me). As a result I retraced Monday's run on Wednesday and ran around the lake again. The weather was truly awful with gale force winds and lashing rain. I was soaked right through within a minute of leaving the house but was very surprised about the fact that I felt much better than on Monday. The climb up to the highest point of the course felt a little bit flatter, though once I reached the top the rain came at me horizontally at such force that I had to shield my face with my hands because it actually stung my cheeks. After a truly awful mile I reached the next woodland, and the conditions became a lot more agreeable. In marked contrast to Monday I finished the run still feeling ok. The pace was slightly slower, but I put that down to the weather conditions. I take encouragement from the fact that two 15 mile runs within 3 days are very much doable, even at this early point of the training cycle.

There was a downside though, running 2 hours in the rain gave me some shocking chafing on my thighs. I was quite literally rubbed raw. I was red enough to be able to work as a traffic light. I had to grind my teeth for the rest of the day to avoid walking like a toddler. It would not have left a good impression in the office. I actually tried putting nappy cream on the affected area, on the assumption that it was a similar affliction to the original use, but it didn't help. Damn. I thought there might be at least one advantage at having a baby in the house as far as running is concerned.

This morning saw my last run while I still could, and the hill repeats were back on. First I had to go through a few miles of a tempo run, which incidentally went much faster than last week. The conditions had improved a lot in the previous 24 hours, but it was still windy; in fact it was very similar to last week's equivalent run. Why the tempo pace improved from 6:53 to 6:45 I'm not entirely sure, not that I'm complaining. It's still not exactly flying. It would be nice if that dropped down to 6:30 this year, which after all is my half-marathon race pace; but I won't whine about my inability to run fast in training again, promised. After an easy mile I reached the foot of the hill, still unsure how many repeats I would do and for how long. Well, I did 45 seconds, which is halfway between last week's duration and where it's supposed to end up eventually. I still had not decided on the number of repeats, but after what I thought was the 4th I was completely knackered and thought it best to leave it at that. It was time to get to work anyway. It was only when I checked the charts on the computer that I realised that I had in fact done 5 hill repeats. Counting and running at the same time is too much for me, apparently.

For the next 3 days this is a pure boys' house. I might not be able to run, but finally we can do all those messy fun things that mummy frowns upon.

27 May

15 miles, 1:59:05, 7:56 pace, HR 153

28 May

9.5 miles, 1:16:36, 8:02 pace, HR 152
incl. 2.5 miles @ 6:45, 5x45 secs hill sprints