Recovery

Running 15 miles downhill might be fast, it plays havoc with your quads and in the days immediately following the race I was as sore as I expected to be. Interestingly, the calves are perfectly fine, which may well be the result of the, err, “robust” massage I received after the race (or maybe the calf muscles simply gave up and died during that torture).

The “training” since has consisted of nothing but slow 5 mile runs to Ard-na-Sidhe. The first mile was generally sore and awkward but once the endorphins started kicking in I enjoyed the rest in peace and quiet. The short runs also mean I get plenty of sleep which is good because we had no less than 20 people in our house on Saturday afternoon and again on Sunday, Niamh’s family are all gathered here for Nana’s birthday and the clan now consists of 12 adults and 8 children. The accompanying dinners meant that my weight has shot up again, but it always does that immediately after a race. Since I am of the opinion that a) refuelling is important and b) rewarding yourself after a race is even more important, this is not going to change in future either.

My agreement for free coaching with Mystery Coach came to an end in April, but he has kept an eye on me since, acting as a Guardian Angel. For the second time in a few weeks I got my knuckles rapped for training too hard, this time with a view of the approaching race season. Expect my mileage to take a nosedive for a while, and if you see it creeping up you have my permission to send a sternly worded reminder.

I used to use John D. as my yard stick for a good race, I always knew that I had a good race if I was ahead of him, since I always argued that I had no real business beating a sub-3 marathon runner. This particular line of reasoning is no longer valid since 17 April, but on Saturday it would not have counted anyway because instead of racing he ran with a camera in hand and the pictures give you a glimpse of the stunning scenery.

I took one more look at Saturday’s results, they had a timing mat at the half-marathon mark and my “official” time for that is 1:23:14, 2 minutes ahead of my previous best. I won’t count that as a personal best because just about everyone who ran this with a Garmin agreed that it had been placed too early, never mind the 650 feet elevation drop that had come beforehand. I decided to keep the 15 mile PB, probably more as a reminder of my placing than anything else. Inconsistent? Sure, but it’s my blog and I do what I want. Strangely enough, the official results have added about 20 seconds to everyone’s time, and I know those posted time are wrong. This really is getting weird, but I think I’ll leave it at that.

17 Jul

5 miles, 40:01, 8:00 pace, HR ???

18 Jul

5 miles, 40:04, 8:00 pace, HR 138

19 Jul

5 miles, 39:43, 7:55 pace, HR 132