Insane In The Membrane

With only 2 weeks left until Bangor I'm trying to keep sane* but at times it seems like a losing battle. On the one hand time seems to be flying. Are we really that close to the race already? On the other hand, I just can't wait. The closer we get to the date, the more I keep thinking about it. At least I'm still able to sleep soundly. I don't expect that to be the case the last 2 or 3 nights before the race.

I'm trying to do a few little things that might make a difference. I stopped drinking coffee a week ago. Caffeine is a stimulant, but it works much better if you're not used to it, so I'm weaning myself off the stuff until after the race. To go from 4-5 cups a day to 0 isn't pretty and my first thought as soon as I enter the kitchen is still to grab a cup, then I realise that I will have to go without and I don't like it.

One slight bummer about the race is the fact that I'm going to miss an awesome event in Killorglin. This would have been right up my street. You might not think it if you saw me, but I love food.

Maia has graduated from pre-school. They had a great little ceremony, funny and well done. All the kids apart from one shy boy seemed to love it. Ours sure did.

The legs have felt very good following Wednesday's tempo run. I'm cruising at 7:30 pace again, totally on autopilot. Actually, I felt a bit lethargic at the start of today's run, but felt better the longer I went on. i also did a few strides at the end.

I've decided to jump into one more race. There is a 10k in Tralee on Saturday evening and I'm going to do it, just for fun and to get the legs moving fast one last time. I'm not in 10k PB shape, even though my existing PB is very soft (I ran the first 10K in Ballycotton faster than my official 10k PB). With all the training for ultras I haven't done much racing this year and that's not going to change for the rest of 2012 either; I'm seeing tomorrow as a little bit of fun before the real, earnest, proper race.

21 Jun

8 miles, 1:00:35, 7:34 pace, HR 145

22 Jun

8 miles, 59:59, 7:29 pace, HR 146

* I'm talking about a certain, relative, degree of sanity. I am perfectly aware of what most people think of someone who wants to take part in a 24 hrs race.