One Year Older - Again!

The age is in the photo!

When you're 16 years old and look about 4 years younger, that really sucks. Take it from me. However, once you reach an older age, there are some benefits to that genetic disposition. I've long reached the point where I appreciate looking younger than my age, and the surprised look at people's faces when I tell people I'm almost 50 isn't getting old either, excuse the pun.

Obviously, having kids means there are some who won't let me get away so easily. My youngest, 10 herself, never misses an opportunity to let me know how ancient I am. Mind, my wife does the same and she has much less of an excuse. Never mind, being a competitive runner actually means I'm looking forward to a new age group, where bling comes a bit easier to achieve. Still a bit to go, though.

Training is going very well. I think I've given up trying to run faster and increased the mileage again, and this time I fully intend to crank thing up to serious levels. I'm in the 90s at the moment and feeling good, and with 1 or 2 additional doubles a week I'll easily go into 3 digits. I can already feel the legs getting stronger and there are other signs that the body is adapting: yesterday morning the weighing scales stopped at 142 pounds (10 stone 2, 64.4 kg) and the resting HR at 37, both the lowest values in years. I'm aware that neither number automatically means a high level of fitness but since they are coming together with feeling ready good I am reading them as meaning exactly that: I'm getting really fit.

Not that things are going smoothly all the time. On Friday I stumbled over some invisible obstacle on the Carrickmines M50 bridge in the dark and did a full body flop, scratching my right leg quite badly on the concrete. I didn't even notice at first but the stinging sensations from my right side soon became impossible to ignore.

I'm also running into troubles when running into town as part of my commute. My glasses have started rubbing against my nose, so much so that it can bleed quite a bit, definitely not a look I favour when getting into work. So I run without glasses, which means I'm running half-blind as I'm very short sighted. That's not a problem running through the parks near home but in the city centre with all those people, very uneven sidewalks and heavy traffic it can be downright dangerous. On several occasions I have almost stumbled onto the street because I did not see where the sidewalk ended, I once crossed a road just a couple of seconds before a bus because I simply had not seen it and last week I once inadvertently crossed a road on red because I mistakenly thought that green light ahead of me was meant for pedestrians. Not good. But if I survive 3 more weeks of that commute I'm good because I'm changing jobs yet again, and my new one is in Sandyford and I no longer have to head into Dublin centre.

Let's hope they'll be as tolerant of my running lifestyle as my last 2 employers!

24 Jan

9.7 miles, 1:15:03, 7:44 pace, HR 141

25 Jan

12+ miles, 1:40:08, 8:18 pace, HR 140

   incl 2+ miles of sprint the straights and jog the curves

26 Jan

10 miles, 1:22:45, 8:16 pace, HR 132

27 Jan

10 miles, 1:16:06, 7:36 pace, HR 144

28 Jan

18 miles, 2:24:29, 8:02 pace, HR 138