I'm feeling great again!
There are no more niggles from my hamstring. I did ice it quite a few times over the last few days, despite initially saying how sceptical I am of that firm of treatment, but it seems to have had an effect, alright.
It really is dark now in the mornings, which has one side effect: I cannot read the numbers on the Garmin, unless I press a button to turn on the light. Since I don't do that unless there is a compelling reason for needing to read the numbers, it means I am absolutely guaranteed to be running by feel.
Monday was easy. Genuinely easy, and the HR was rather low.
On Tuesday I ran at the same objective effort level. It wasn't until I had finished my run that I took my first glance at the watch, and wouldn't you believe it, I had inadvertently run almost at marathon pace for Dublin. I had been too nervous about my hamstring to do such a session, even though I knew it would be a really good idea before Dublin. If you're going to run 26 miles at a certain pace it helps to get some practise at that pace. Well, I guess I won't have to worry about that any more. If I can run that pace on a very relaxed training run I'll be able to pull it off again in Dublin.
Wednesday was slower again, though once more at the same easy effort, running just whatever pace felt natural. In the last couple of weeks, that "natural" pace has come down from 8-minute to 7:30 pace, which is great.
Looking back through my logs I ran similar paces back in February. It really looks like I have gotten over Belfast (and Dingle, I suppose) and the legs have recovered, about a month sooner than expected.
I expect recovery from Dublin won't be much of an issue. The plan is to run the double in Sixmilebridge three weeks later, and once I feel recovered from that I'll add some speed training.
As long as the Gods are willing, of course.
- 13 Oct
- 10 miles, 1:17:37, 7:45 pace, HR 138
- 14 Oct
- 12 miles, 1:27:01, 7:15 pace, HR 146
- 15 Oct
- 10 miles, 1:15:09, 7:31 pace, HR 142
Yes, those bloody Gods... They're always playing games with us... But they seem to favour you, because they admire your consistency!
ReplyDeleteGreat news about the hammy. Keep taking care of it. I see from your training log you might have picked up a bug - hope that doesn't stop you from enjoying and pacing well at Dublin!
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