Maybe

Maybe I should whine more often! It might annoy everyone else but as soon as I got into some serious whinge-and-whine, things suddenly improved!

Ok, so that's a case of counting your chickens before they hatch but right now I;m more hopeful and optimistic than I've been since Belfast.

On Tuesday morning I laced up my shoes and went for a run, like I do virtually every morning. But compared to any run over the last 2 months, this one felt different. Right from the off, the hamstrings felt different. On Sunday the first step felt like I had run 20 miles already. On Tuesday I suddenly felt - well, fresh.

The run was nothing to write home about, 5 easy miles and 2 at marathon pace. That was a bit of an issue as going into the run I wasn't even sure if I would be able to run a marathon at 8-minute pace, having been knocked back quite a few times in training recently. So I ran that segment just be feel and without looking at the watch. Well, what I got was 7:32 pace. 10 days earlier I had tried to run 12 miles at marathon pace and after 2 miles of pretty much the same pace as I did on Tuesday I was already in big trouble. On Tuesday I ran the same pace but could have held it for much longer (if I could have held it for an entire marathon is a different question altogether, of course).

Just looking at the HR data you wouldn't notice a difference from my other training runs - the difference was entirely with how I felt subjectively.

Of course I was immediately prepared to go crazy and aim for a 3:15 marathon this Saturday in Dingle after all but I do have a coach right now, and any coach's main job seems to be to stop me from doing the really stupid stuff. She immediately ordered me to put on the brakes. I am to run the first 20 miles at an easy pace and only if things are still looking bright then am I allowed to pick it up for the last few miles (which include a monster hill, so there won't be much acceleration anyway). And since I just wrote this down here I guess I can't change it now without looking like an idiot (then again, that never bothered me before ...)

Having said that, with Chris and Fozzy being the 3:30 pacers there is no way I can finish behind them. I'd never hear the end of it. I might pretend I'm there to supervise them.

30 Aug

7 miles, 59:02, 8:26 pace, HR 144

   incl 2 miles @ 7:32 pace (HR 157)

31 Aug

0

1 Sep

5 miles, 46:25, 9:17 pace, HR 137

   with strides

2 Sep

4 miles, 36:46, 9:11 pace, HR 133