Stormy Evaluation

My legs felt quite sore all day after Sunday’s long run, something I haven’t really experienced in a while. Of course, I haven’t run 20 miles in a while (since the 30 miles in Sixmilebridge, in fact). I took it especially easy on Monday as a result, probably even more so than usual, which explains the lowest heart rate in a long time, but actually the pace wasn’t bad at all for such an easy effort.

Because the weather forecast had predicted high winds for Wednesday, I played with the idea of swapping round Tuesday’s hill drills and Wednesday’s evaluation run, because windy conditions really can play havoc with the evaluation’s figures. But when my legs were still sore on Monday afternoon I thought an evaluation the next morning might not be the best idea.

So it was back to the hill instead, doing the by now very familiar drills, 4 minutes each. This is the last week of the hills phase, and with good reason. The drills feel a lot easier than three weeks ago, which almost certainly means I don’t get as much bang for the buck any more.

Wednesday morning actually started with a nice surprise; I braced myself for the predicted wind and the heavy rain when I opened the door, but it wasn’t actually raining (that came later). But the gale force wind was there, and I therefore used a different stretch of road for my evaluation. It isn’t as flat as the one I usually use, but the trees provide a decent amount of shelter and I got on ok. The wind did have some influence, but not nearly as much as it would have out in the open.

When I checked the data later on, I saw that the paces had been a tad faster than 2 weeks ago, just the gradual improvement I like to see, but the HR was more uneven. With the windy conditions, that means you can’t read too much into the figures, but I still like what I see. The number in brackets is adjusted pace, 7 seconds for every 2 heart beats off the 161 target, though it looks like overcompensation to me.

       
        Mile 1    6:35   HR 160    (6:32)
        Mile 2    6:45   HR 159    (6:38)
        Mile 3    6:42   HR 162    (6:45)
        Mile 4    6:44   HR 163    (6:51)
        Recovery to HR: 35 seconds

The recovery afterwards was a bit strange, the HR remained at 160 for a long time, long enough for me to wonder if the Garmin was acting up, but then dropped like a stone. The shortened recovery time is something I take as a definite plus out of this session.

The last few weeks I have felt better virtually every day. The legs feel great, every single step is a joy and I can feel myself improving almost on a daily basis. The one thing worrying me is that Connemara is still over 10 weeks away. I don’t want to peak early and then go into the race on a downward slope. How Donadea will affect my legs is a completely different question of course. I’m clinging to the fact that I felt incredible in Sixmilebridge, just 3 weeks after the Dublin marathon, and I have 6 weeks of recovery between Donadea and Connemara.

23 Jan

8 miles, 1:05:02, 8:08 pace, HR 132

24 Jan

10.5 miles, 1:37:46, 9:19 pace, HR 140
    Hill drills: 4x30 sec sprints; high knees (4 mins); ankles (4 mins); thigh drive (4 mins)

25 Jan

11 miles, 1:20:05, 7:17 pace, HR 148
    4 miles eval