Recovery

The numbers from the last 3 days shows a very straightforward recovery from the Valentia half marathon. Each run was at the same easy effort, which is borne out by the virtually identical heart rate, but I got faster by a few seconds per mile each day. I'm not far off where I was before the race, so everything is going very well on that count.

What’s going merely ok is my shin. I can still feel a certain amount of discomfort, but get solace from the fact that it is definitely on the “acceptable” part of the scale. I experimented with the shoes and there is a noticeable difference between wearing a heavier, cushioning pair and a lighter pair like the Kinvaras. As much as the Kinvaras have become my favourite trainer, they do seem to aggravate the shin. They are nearing the end of their useful life anyway with well over 500 miles on them, but I haven’t quite got the heart to throw them out just yet. Luckily there is a pair of Lunar Swifts in my cupboard, which will now be taken into regular rotation. I might keep the Kinvaras for the odd run once my shin has recovered, but I'm not rushing to buy another pair, which had been the initial plan when I had started falling head over heels in love with them.

The weather was rather wild on Wednesday as yet another ex-hurricane paid a visit to these shores. It sounded so bad at night that I started to wonder if it would be safe to run, but luckily things did quieten down sufficiently to be able to get out and run and still be confident of a safe return. It really is getting dark now. The moonless nights make navigating through our driveway a bit tricky; once I reach the road, I’m fine. I know the road so well I can almost literally run it with my eyes closed, but the reflective gear has obviously become mandatory. That always happens in the month before Dublin. I’ve still got the same dislike for the headlamp that I developed last winter, which is why it has stayed at home so far.

With Dublin only 3 weeks away, I suppose it’s time to start concentrating on that task. While the vast majority of participants would have spent the last few months concentrating on that event, I have hardly wasted a single thought on it. I know I can run 3:30 pace without having to train for it specifically (Dingle has proven that beyond a doubt) and my shin won’t be an issue, I'm sure of that. I guess the thing I'm most looking forward to is staying in the 5-star Conrad hotel beforehand; incidentally, Niamh feels the same way, funny that.

5 Oct

8 miles, 1:03:08, 7:53 pace, HR 145

6 Oct

8 miles, 1:02:04, 7:46 pace, HR 146

7 Oct

10 miles, 1:16:34, 7:39 pace, HR 146