London Redux

Everyone agreed that it had been a very successful holiday, but everyone was glad to be home. After a stressful week full of action it was nice to sleep in our own beds again. I was so worn out that I slept for 9 hours, went for a run this morning and went back to bed for another hour or two of sleep, which was thoroughly needed.

Saturday was my last run in London. Usually I do a fairly long marathon pace run on Saturday but I really didn’t feel up to it, so I just ran for about an hour at a much easier pace. I still felt worn out. Something's not right, but after the week I’ve just had, that probably explainable.

We arrived back in Caragh Lake at 9 o’clock in the evening and nobody had troubles falling asleep. The kids have the advantage of being on their school holidays. Poor Daddy on the other hand has to be back in the office on Monday; I really could do with another few days off, just to relax. That feeling of being worn out was reflected in today’s run. I did the workout I had skipped yesterday, and at first it went well. I might have started a bit too fast, but was soon back on pace. But after 7 or 8 miles I was wiped out. I could hardly keep 7:30 pace, and even that was a struggle. The end could not come soon enough, and when I finally got back home after slightly over 11 miles I showered, ate something and collapsed back to bed.

Lola has been complaining about a pain in her stomach as well as a headache. My head is fine, but the stomach feels slightly off, and I’m utterly knackered. Of course there is more than one theory for the way I’m feeling: we could have picked up a bug in London, we’re worn out after a stressful week, I could be overtrained or just tired from the travelling.

My original plan was to go straight back to my 100 week mileage, but with the present level of fatigue that might be madness. Tomorrow’s run will be reduced from 20 miles to something more manageable, and then I’ll wing it for the rest of the week. There’s a 5k in Killarney on Friday, and I intend to run it on rested legs, which might give me some feedback in comparison to last week’s race in London. Then I’ll have to make a decision on my further training load.

In the meantime, here are some photos from London. We’ve seen the following things: Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, Science Museum, Legoland, London Dungeons, Westminster with Big Ben, London Eye, Greenwich Park, Greenwich Observatory and the Greenwich Meridian, the Planetarium, the Monument for the Great Fire of London (as well as the sign on Pudding Lane where the fire had actually started), King’s Cross and Platform 9¾, Coram’s Fields, the Lion’s King Musical, the Natural History Museum, the IMAX, and probably something I’ve forgotten. And half a dozen friends from old times. The packed program was only possible because Niamh and me knew the place very well.

27 Jun

8.5 miles, 1:06:54, 7:52 pace, HR 144
incl. 9x100 strides

28 Jun

11.25 miles, 1:20:18, 7:08 pace, HR 157

Weekly Mileage: 76 miles