A Numbers Game

I had been a bit worried about running back-to-back marathons. Not so much about the running itself, I know I can do that, but about recovery afterwards. I don't want to put myself back into a hole by neglecting my recovery, and I would not like to miss weeks of proper training either due to the body still in bits.

Well, wouldn't you believe it, the numbers this week have actually been nothing short of astounding. I took it really easy the two days after Monagahan, even starting with a 10-minute mile, but could tell as early as Tuesday that my legs were handling this exceptionally well. There was only a trace of stiffness left in the glutes on Wednesday, and even that seemed to disappear after a mile or two. And while I never once checked my watch to see how fast I was going (same as during the actual races, incidentally) I could tell that I was speeding up almost with each mile throughout the week.

On Thursday I posted the best HR/pace numbers I have all year, just 4 days after a double marathon, which absolutely amazed me. I won't get carried away just yet - in April I posted some numbers almost as good, only to get injured a week after the Longford Ultra. It's a lesson I have not forgotten yet. That injury had been caused by one single workout. The workout itself had gone astonishingly well, only for my Achilles to act up a day later, which took almost 2 months to clear up. There is no way of predicting injury but it is safe to say that I was not tempted to do a workout this week, or at the weekend for that matter.

Instead I explored the Cherrywood neighbourhood a bit closer, and I also added a run from work to Phoenix Park (and back) one morning. I'll still go easy on the miles this weekend - well, that's all relative; I won't be doing a long run - but if things are still good on Monday then I'm ready to go back to the mileage I had been doing before Monaghan.

I think I have finally recovered from Albi, both the race itself as well as the misguided training that had preceded it. I haven't felt as strong as I do now for a very, very long time. I fact, I had started to wonder if I would ever feel like that again, or if age had finally caught up with me. I guess there is still some life left in the old dog yet.

3 Oct

5.5 miles, 50:22, 9:09 pace, HR 125(!!!)

4 Oct

6 miles, 49:02, 8:10 pace, HR 136

5 Oct

7.1 miles, 55:44, 7:51 pace, HR 137

6 Oct

8 miles, 1:01:53, 7:44 pace, HR 143