I'm Back

"You're not giving up sugar for lent this year". It almost sounded like an accusation. Niamh has gotten used to my yearly sugar cleanse and had obviously noticed that I had not spoken the words "I won't be having any desserts for a few weeks" yet. Truth is, I basically forgot; the start of lent more or less passed me by. I'm not religious, so that can happen, I suppose. I dropped a few pounds during my last sickness, so there is not much reason to try and lose some more weight at this stage. Also, I have been sick far too often and right now, for the first time in months, I am feeling really good and I am loath to change anything.

After feeling absolutely brutal on Sunday's mountain run I expected to be tired and sore for a while. The complete opposite happened, the legs haven't felt so good in ages. That's actually not a new phenomenon, I have noticed a few times in the past that a mountain run can have me dog tired for the rest of the day at times but it does not seem to have any effect on subsequent days.

I took it very easy on Monday with only 5 miles but ran a bit longer the following days, feeling good with basically every step, despite the weather not being particularly helpful with gale force winds blowing every morning. Luckily I missed most of the storm at the start of the week, running on Monday morning before the worst was yet to come and Tuesday morning after it had mostly blown itself out.

I did toy with the idea of another evaluation but with those high winds that was never going to happen - I have seen what wind does to the numbers during an evaluation, they are basically worthless and I can't read anything from them. So I just ran 12 miles on Wednesday at a fairly easy effort, though I have finally turned off the Maffetone HR alarm on my watch and am running a bit faster as a result, though the effort is still rather easy. After my experiences over the last 2 months I am actually in two minds about the MAF training. It did not feel like I was progressing at the time, though I do still think that it may have created a very sound foundation for any subsequent improvements. However, with Turin only 6 weeks away there is not much time left to realise those potential improvements.

One bit of improvement will hopefully come following this weekend, with back-to-back marathons. I am rather relaxed about the whole thing. For someone who has done a 10in10, back-to-back marathons don't feel like a big deal. I am determined, however, to force myself to run slowly, especially on day one. I know I have been guilty of running training races at too high an intensity on quite a few occasions. I find it very hard to keep myself in check if there is a number pinned to my chest. This time, however, it will be different. Don't ask me how.

23 Feb

5 miles, 41:13, 8:14 pace, HR 141

24 Feb

8 miles, 1:04:13, 8:01 pace, HR 144

25 Feb

12 miles, 1:33:08, 7:45 pace, HR 145

26 Feb

8 miles, 1:02:49, 7:51 pace, HR 144