Comeback

Exactly one week after Connemara, I was out on the road again. We're back in Kerry and the Kerry weather comes with that territory, literally. The warm, sunny days of Connemara are just a memory, as is my performance that day.

I ran much too fast on a seemingly fresh pair of legs, but after 3 miles they suddenly felt like mile 35 again, the quads were quite sore, but just like in Connemara they settled down for the final mile. Sadly it looks like unlike me my Garmin has not managed to recover from Connemara. It was unable to pick up the heart rate strap, the start button did not work, the lap button neither, and the on/off button had been completely work off already. As a result I was frustrated in my attempts to read my resting heart rate, and the run wasn't recorded properly either. It seemed to come together in the last 2 miles, but I think the device is on its way out. I can't complain, really. I've had it for well over 4 years and must have run close to 14000 miles with it on my wrist. I doubt there are a lot of Garmins out there that got better use. But the time for a replacement had clearly arrived. I need a GPS I can fully trust when the pacing season starts again.

Today is of course Easter Sunday and I spent much of my run planning the Easter egg hunt. Not all of it worked quite as seamlessly as planned, but the kids were very happy and Niamh satisfied. Mission accomplished for another year. The one major drawback was that Cian spotted the shop label on his Easter egg and confirmed his already heavy suspicion that mummy and daddy are in fact the real Easter bunnies. He's ok with it. I'm pretty sure he already knew. What it means for the big guy who is supposed to come round 8 months from now I'm not quite sure, though.

And with this, my training for my next goal race begins. I have 13 weeks, first to recover from Connemara and then to get as much endurance into the system as possible.

8 Apr

5 miles, 38:20, 7:40 pace, HR 152