Healing Powers

No sooner had I written a long, whining rant on how my recovery from running 28+ miles was taking too long than my body turned the corner. I have felt great at all runs this week, and the HR/pace ratio has reached new heights. Maybe I should investigate the healing powers of whining, you never know, I might be on to something.

As stated I have cut my mileage down ever so slightly at the beginning of the week, only running 8 miles instead of 10 in the morning, though I'm pretty sure that slight reduction did not make all that much of a difference.

I felt good enough to go back up on the Kerry Way this morning. The only disappointment was the weather, while I had been looking forward to a beautiful sunrise and some stunning views I got low-hanging clouds instead. Ah well, can't have everything. The legs felt good and I'll take a good run in cloudy weather over a miserable one in sunshine any time.

I'm all set for Saturday's 50 mile race in Staplestown, county Kildare. I'm quite looking forward to it, even if the mileage is ever so slightly daunting. I keep telling myself that it's only 10 miles more than Connemara and on an easier course. Plus, since I don't have any plans of going for a top finish I can run relaxed for the entire distance. The one downtime is that I'll be missing the Lakes of Killarney marathon, which would have been 30 minutes drive from home rather than 4 hours, and in a nicer setting to boot. I only realised the clash of dates after I had signed up for Staplestown. From a training point of view it's probably a good thing because I need some long training runs for Belfast, so I stuck with that race. There will be dozens of friends form the marathon club there, which always guarantees good fun.

I'll take it very easy for the rest of the week, basically doing a 2-day taper similar to what I have done before Connemara or the Wings for Life run. With 50 miles on Saturday the weekly mileage will still easily go over 100 - as long as everything goes to plan, of course.

12 May

am: 8 miles, 1:02:59, 7:52 pace, HR 131

pm: 5 miles, 37:55, 7:34 pace, HR 137

13 May

am: 8 miles, 1:01:23, 7:40 pace, HR 133

pm: 5 miles, 36:16, 7:15 pace, HR 137

14 May

12+ miles, 1:49:49, 8:57 pace, HR 141, Windy Gap x 2