The Long Weekend

I continued being annoyed with myself after Friday's race. Had I run the first 3 miles like I had in Killarney a week before, I could have run a final 6:30 mile and still averaged 6:00, but I didn't. Even with a slower start, I still slowed down with each subsequent mile and I ended up missing a new PR by a few seconds. Since there aren't any other 4 mile races around, that's my chance gone for another year. But it wasn't the missed PB that annoyed me, it was the fact that I did not run as hard as I could have.

I had hoped my legs would feel sharper after last week's race, but if the mind does not play along, a new PB is simply not on the cards.

Anyway, after one final run in Valentia, where I felt surprisingly good, less than 12 hours after the race, we returned back home to Caragh Lake where we can enjoy the trappings of civilization again, like TV, internet, telephone and, this year, drinkable water. I prefer home, but of course I understand that Niamh wanted to spend some time with her parents. The older generation likes being off-grid. I ... don't.

DOMS inevitably hit me on Sunday, as expected, but actually I felt pretty good. Thankfully this was a bank holiday weekend, with Saturday taken up by our return from Valentia I needed the extra day off, and it felt like a normal weekend to me.

It was a good weekend football-wise, for both codes. City beat Inter, Kerry won and Cork provided the comedy factor. It did put a smile on my face, even if it meant they will miss out on the annual footballing lesson at Croker this year.

Back to running, since I have agreed to pace the 3:30 groups both in Dingle and Dublin it means I'm getting my marathon fix without putting myself through a training cycle that I could not face up to a couple of months ago. Hopefully this will then lead straight into training for 2012. I pretty much decided what I'm going to aim for. It won't be a new marathon PB, I'm afraid, but it has me excited all the same. I need to figure out how to convert the Lydiard training for longer distances, but I'll give it a go.

30 Jul

6 miles, 46:53, 7:48 pace, HR 146

31 Jul

5 miles, 39:21, 7:52 pace, HR 141

1 Aug

5 miles, 39:42, 7:56 pace, HR 139

Monthly Mileage: 264+