Transition

You might not know that, but Niamh is as obsessed about baking as I am about running. She produces mountains of the stuff and it is all just ridiculously tasty. If I ever stop burning 10000 calories per week on the road I’ll turn into Jabba the Hut in no time whatsoever. Anyway, on Friday evening our (overworked) oven gave up and died. Niamh is still in shock and she keeps telling me it’s the equivalent of someone throwing out all my shoes. I don’t know how long it will take to get fixed, but probably not long enough to make a difference to my weight, which seems to be stuck at 150 pounds (10 stone 10, 68 kg).

I got up reasonably early on Saturday and after spending some time with Shea and Maia managed to sneak out for my long run. The fog was so thick you could have cut it with a knife, but climbing 500 feet on the first hill brought the reward on an absolutely magical scene. The valley to my left was completely hidden in fog, the sky was entirely clear with not a single cloud, just one lonely vapour trail. The Moon was hovering above the horizon, which itself was covered in pink, about 45 minutes before sunrise. Immensely beautiful and pretty much indescribable! It helped that climbing the hill already felt easier than last week, despite the fact that the hamstrings exhibited some leftover fatigue from yesterday’s run. The fog eventually lifted and I was running in glorious sunshine along the lake, until about 2 miles from home when I turned a corner and all of a sudden was right back in the thick fog.

Recovery consisted of 2 hours in the Kerry County Museum. I don’t think there are too many 9-year olds who beg to be brought to the museum, but Lola is one of them and the others did not complain, so that was our afternoon’s entertainment sorted.

I ended the week and base training with a short 8-mile run on Sunday that was supposed to be very easy, but I did raise an eyebrow when I got back and saw the 7:35 average pave on the Garmin. I never checked it during the run and thought I was doing about 8:00 pace. I’ll learn some day, I'm sure.

Maia has turned into an early riser all of a sudden, much to the disgust of her mother who does not particularly appreciate being woken at 6 o’clock in the morning. Preparing first breakfast and then a DVD for the miniature tyrant meant a shortened run for Daddy but thankfully a quiet Monday morning after all for Mummy. Hence the first run of the Transition Phase was nothing but a short, slow 7-mile run on the Caragh Lake Road. The first workout will be tomorrow; I still have to take it easy and gradually work my way up. The efforts will basically consist of short repetitions, usually involving a hill, done every 15 minutes during a medium distance run of 8-12 miles. I’ll let you know how it goes, of course.

22 Jan

18+ miles, 2:20:33, 7:48 pace, HR 146

23 Jan

8 miles, 1:00:43, 7:35 pace, HR 145

24 Jan

7 miles, 55:19, 7:54 pace, HR 139

Weekly Mileage: 74+