Evaluation

Evaluate:

1. To ascertain or fix the value or worth of

2. To examine and judge carefully; appraise

This time there was a slightly bigger gap than the usual two weeks between evaluations because of the Dublin city marathon. Of course said race might also have a significant impact on the actual figures. The evaluation workout is very sensitive to fatigue and will show it up straight away. The last few runs last week had indicated that I had recovered remarkably well from the marathon. I was curious to see if the numbers would confirm this.

(The numbers in brackets are adjusted pace, 7 seconds for every 2 heart beats off the 161 target):

       
        Mile 1    6:37   HR 161    (6:37)
        Mile 2    6:50   HR 160    (6:47)
        Mile 3    6:45   HR 161    (6:45)
        Mile 4    6:47   HR 160    (6:44)
        Recovery to HR 130: 38 seconds

The pace is remarkably similar to the last evaluation, apart from a slower second mile. Once I'm settled into the workout, the pace remains remarkably stable. Plus, the recovery time has reduced yet again. I think it confirms that I had recovered very well from Dublin. That's great, especially considering that I'm doing a 30 mile race on Sunday, which I wouldn't fancy on pre-fatigued legs.

The conditions for the evaluation weren't ideal. For some strange reason all evaluations I have done in this training cycle so far have seen plenty of rain and breezy conditions but this time they were particularly bad, which may or may not have had an effect on the numbers. The rain wasn't as heavy as the forecast had indicated but the wind was significant. It's surprisingly tricky to keep an even heart rate if you alternate half miles with and against the wind.

Some toes on my left foot started hurting badly right at the end. When I took off my shoes I could see the damage, the skin on one of the toes had been completely ripped off. I could blame the shoes, which have just over 700 miles on them, but I think the real reason was a hole in my sock, which left the toe rubbing directly against the upper of the shoe. Time for the bin. Should have done this earlier. It was really sore for the rest of the day, but a piece of moleskin eventually made a big difference. Being stupid and hurting your foot is not ideal 5 days before a long race, but I'll manage.

The other runs since Sunday have been easy efforts. My legs had felt tired on Monday, no wonder considering the pace on Sunday's long run, and a few slow miles were exactly what they needed to recover.

Today I got up shortly after 6, got ready, left the house before I was awake properly, hardly noticed the rain and could barely remember anything when I had gotten back home; 10 miles entirely on autopilot. The Garmin confirmed that I had indeed been running, and the pace had been decent enough.

12 Nov

10 miles, 1:18:29, 7:51 pace, HR 141

13 Nov

12 miles, 1:27:05, 7:15 pace, HR 149
   4 mile eval: 6:37, 6:47, 6:45, 6:45; 38 sec recovery

14 Nov

10 miles, 1:16:01, 7:36 pace, HR 142