RIP Curley

I was totally shocked and saddened to hear those awful news. I regarded Mike Curley Cunningham as a friend of mine. He was a fantastic running who represented Ireland on the international stage, but much more so he was a friendly and always supportive human being, a true gent.

I have come second to Mike in more than one race, and it was never a close call. But he never failed to compliment me on my own race, no matter how much slower it had been than his. I will miss him.

After that, my own running doesn't even seem worthwhile mentioning, but I'll post details anyway just for sake of this being a running blog.

Despite expecting a few more easy days, the coach gave me a workout on Friday, 2 x 4 times 1-1.5 miles at faster than marathon pace interspersed by a mile at 40 seconds slower. The loop behind the in-laws' house, seemingly known by everyone as the St. Raphaela's loop after the nearby school, officially named Clonmore Park (not that I have every heard that name mentioned), is very well suited to such a workout. 3 laps constitute 1.4 miles, and that was my workout segment, with 2 laps for the slower segments. It saved me from having to check the watch to see how much was left, I only had to count to 3, though that was a challenge in itself at times. During the first segment I tried to pace myself off the HR (supposed to be 165-168) but that was slow to come up so I ended up running a bit faster than expected even though the HR was lower. The "recovery"segments in those workouts aren't much for recovery but they help psychologically as the end of a segment is never too far away.

Despite the fast start I got on just fine and braced myself for the full 4 segments when halfway through the third I seemed to have run out of energy. I kept that segment going until the end, waiting to see if I would recover, but didn't, so I called it a day. That's why the coach prescribes a 2-4 intervals, it's up to me to see what number would be best (it tends to be the middle one). I was tired afterwards but happy with how the run had gone,

I was back in Kerry for the weekend and managed to catch up with my old route along the lake, something I had missed more than I had realised. I did 15 miles on Saturday on whatever pace came easily. The legs were fine but I could sense that if I ran any faster they would not be. Even so, after 13 miles I pretty much had enough and dragged my backside back home.

Sunday's 8 miles, just the run I used to run all the time, was on fresher legs, even with the blustery wind,

I'll run the next few miles for you, Curley.

19 May

9 miles, 1:07:47, 7:31 pace, HR 155

   6:45 (161), 7:29, 6:55 (165), 7:28, 6:52 (167)

20 May

15 miles, 2:03:05, 8:12 pace, HR 144

21 May

8 miles, 1:03:20, 7:55 pace, HR 143