Getting Old

I seem to be having the same discussion again and again:

"Did you run the Dublin marathon?"
"No, I decided on no more marathons for the rest of the year because I'm still recovering from my last race"
"How long was that?"
"153 miles"
"Over how many days was that?"

(big mistake - it gives away the fact that they don't read my blog).

Anyway, training. It's still stuttering along. I keep thinking that I'm taking it easy and my body keeps telling me that apparently I ain't.

The issue this week seems to be with Wednesday's run. I wanted to run just a little bit longer so I ran 12 miles instead of 10. No big deal. I kept the effort easy, at the same easy RPE that I run on most days. Apparently I wasn't: the HR that day was 148, about 5 beats higher than I would have thought and the pace was slightly below 8 minutes, again a bit faster than I would have thought but I only gleaned both bits of information when I checked the watch after the run. During the run I could have sworn I was running as the same level as usual. I did notice the legs getting a bit tired towards the end but since this was the longest run since Sparta this was only to be expected.

Well, wouldn't you know it, I have felt tired ever since. The legs felt stiff on Thursday but got gradually better as the run went long. On Friday it was the left hip that felt off and resulted in the slowest opening mile in weeks (and that says something as I always start very slowly - the first mile is my warm up) before gradually getting better. The weather didn't help, there was plenty of wind and rain on both days but that definitely doesn't explain the high HR on its own. I'm guessing that Wednesday's run inadvertently pushed the level a but too much and I had to pay the price.

This sucks. I hate having to run slowly every day. Recovery is so slow - I must be getting old.

Maia just had her 8th birthday. I called her old. Of course she corrected me: 8 years is not old, 40 is!

4 Nov

12 miles, 1:34:53, 7:54 pace, HR 148

5 Nov

10 miles, 1:22:57, 8:18 pace, HR 143

6 Nov

10 miles, 1:21:41, 8:10 pace, HR 148