Speedy Recovery

Oh my God, has it really been basically a week? I think that's the longest break I've ever had between posts. But actually there isn't all that much to catch up.

As good as the legs felt after the Killarney marathon, the cold I acquired had a bit of an impact, even though it was rather mild. It progressed exactly as I had predicted; after it had moved into my chest I had a day or two of coughing and by Friday that stopped. However, I could still feel teh restriction in my chest. It was fine when I jogged along, so actually not that much of an issue, but racing a short race would have been impossible. That actually did cause some concerns because I had agreed to take part in a staff relay on Thursday and I wasn't sure if by then I would have recovered sufficiently for a 5k.

Photo by David Power

In the meantime I cranked up the mileage again. Sunday's long run was a modest 16.6 miles, a.k.a one loop around the lake, but then I did a double on Tuesday and another one on Thursday; the latter one was a 10+ mile run into work in the morning and then a 5k in the evening, but you have to add the cycle from work to Phoenix Park and especially the long cycle from Phoenix Park all the way to Bray with a 5k race in the legs!

The 5k went surprisingly well, even though I never went to 100% effort. I got caught in traffic at the start and then kept overtaking runners by the bucket load until 4k, when the course went on grass. You might not remember but I hate cross country running just as much as cross country running hates me. I cannot keep the pace, and a handful of runners started overtaking me back. But despite that unloved surface and a quite hilly course I finished in 19:14, basically half a minute faster than for the parkrun a few weeks ago, despite the slower course, the initial traffic, and the 10 miles already in my legs from earlier today. Very interesting!

As a team we did pretty damn well as well, 19th out of 833 teams, with an average of basically 20 minutes per runner. However, in my case there will be a big price to pay for all that: on Saturday I have an off-road marathon in the Burren, which I had wanted to do for years. On tired legs, that will be an interesting one!

19 May

11.3 miles, ~1:32:00, 8:08 pace, no HRM

20 May

16.6 miles, ~2:19:00, 8:22 pace, no HRM

21 May

am:2.67 miles, 22:41, 8:29 pace, HR 135

pm:7.47 miles, 1:01:00, 8:09 pace, HR 136

22 May

am:5 miles, 38:25, 7:40 pace, HR 139

pm:10.24 miles, 1:19:39, 7:46 pace, HR 140

23 May

10.23 miles, 1:26:17, 8:26 pace, HR 138

24 May

am:10.2 miles, 1:25:53, 8:25 pace, HR 136

pm: 5+ miles, incl 5k in 19:14, HR 164