The Best Laid Plans

After some fairly brutal training over the last week/weekend, I made sure to take it easy at the start of this week. Monday's run was a 10 miler, going as slowly as I could while still moving. This was actually a very pleasing run - 2 months ago I would have strained to run at that pace, just a tad slower than 8-minute miles, by now this is my recovery pace. I ran at the same effort level again on Tuesday morning but ended up a little bit quicker, probably the extra day of recovery making itself show already. I added a short run on the treadmill in the evening, more to pass the time before a late dinner than any serious training application, but in retrospect should probably have run a little bit slower. I started out slowly enough but steadily kept cranking up the pace over the next half hour. Not particularly fast by any means but it sure wasn't recovery pace any more at the end.

I might have paid the price on Wednesday morning. I expected to feel fresh and recovered after two relatively easy days but reality didn't quite match expectations. It wasn't a disaster by any means but the calves felt a bit tight and the pace was flagging towards the end, which is very unusual for me.

The other mistake I made was going to bed too late. The Christmas holidays had made a massive difference to how I felt, sleeping 8 hours per night instead of 6.5 made me feel much more rested despite an increase in mileage, and going to bed a midnight when you're getting up at half past five just isn't a smart move. I generally don't do New Year's resolutions but maybe I should make an exception and attempt to go to bed earlier.

In my last post I promised to say something about my plans for 2016. I took my times making up my mind, playing around with different options, and finally came up with an outline I'm fairly happy with. The main goal will be the Belfast 24 hours race, moved forwards by 3 weeks compared to previous years. It had been on my initial plan but I hesitated when I heard it was going to be moved from the track to a nearby park because I actually prefer running 24 hours on a track. I find the rhythm of the 400 meter oval almost hypnotic and get into The Zone almost by default, something I found much harder in Turin. Anyway, eventually I decided to keep this as my A goal race.

There will be two B goal races. The first is the Manchester marathon in April where I intent to run sub-3 and hopefully have a go at my marathon PB. Initially I had targeted Tralee but they changed the course yet again and now it resembles a mountain run more than a road marathon and a PB there is no longer feasible. The idea behind targeting a marathon is to get some speedwork done as part of the preparation, which I think I sorely lacked last year. Since this marathon will be a stepping stone for Belfast rather than a major goal in itself I might find out if I'll have the willpower to push myself through the pain barrier - I need to work on my head as much as my legs.

The other B race will be the Spartathlon, thereby immediately breaking the vow I had made repeatedly between km 205 and 245 last year never to do anything like that ever again (let's face it, I was always going to break it) and proving that I really am stupid enough to willingly put myself through that kind of inhuman torture for a second time. I just did not do myself justice in that race in 2015 and want to have another to get it right.

4 Jan

10 miles, 1:21:42, 8:10 pace, HR 135

5 Jan

am: 10 miles, 1:19:24, 7:56 pace, HR 138

pm: 4 miles, 32:28, 8:07 pace, treadmill

6 Jan

15 miles, 1:57:19, 7:49 pace, HR 138

The Best Laid Plans

Training has been rather mundane so far. I've only just started running again and anything fancy will have to wait a little bit longer, so all I did every morning was to run 8 miles. To be honest, I expected to seem some form of improvement by this time already, but so far the pace might have improved but at the expense of a higher average HR. The perceived effort was always the same, so I was a bit surprised by some of the HR readings. I won’t take any real notice of that yet and just have to tell myself to show a little bit of patience.

My next race will be the half marathon in Valentia (no, not the one in Spain) a little over 6 weeks from now, but it will very much be a fun day out rather than a goal race. I really enjoyed the race the last time I did it, 2 years ago, which also happens to be the last time I ran a half. The fact that I set a new PB on a tough course and managed to win my age group helped of course.

After that, well, I will do my annual pacing duty at the Dublin marathon, this time for the 3:10 pace group. In November I will try and wipe the memory of last year’s traumatic finish in Sixmilebridge away (I don’t need to win, just not throw away a winnable race this time) and I am already looking forward to a nice December marathon in Clonakilty, which promises to be a good day already. All of these races are just training runs and there will be plenty more of that in 2014; the plan is to use plenty of marathons as my long runs to whip myself into shape to tackle my next real ultra.

26 Aug

8 miles, 1:05:22, 8:10 pace, HR 141

27 Aug

8 miles, 1:04:32, 8:04 pace, HR 144

28 Aug

8 miles, 1:03:38, 7:57 pace, HR 145

29 Aug

8 miles, 1:03:05, 7:53 pace, HR 149

Fun Run

There was a 5k/10k fun run organised locally just down the road from here; had I run it my warm-up would have been to run to the start from my doorstep, and I would probably have had to do a little bit more to be properly warmed up. However, since Niamh is away this weekend I was left in charge of the entire unruly brood (what was she thinking!) and could not have run anyway, and since I am still in recovery from Tralee I had two reasons not to race. But they also had another option, a 1k fun run for children and mine all took part, with enthusiasm levels ranging from "ok, I'll do it" to "fantastic, I'm so excited and can't wait". I did the loop with Maia, the others were well able to look after themselves, and at the end they were all very proud of themselves, and Daddy was, too.

I'm gonna be just like Dad!

I got some slight stick from some fellow club members who enjoyed the fact that their weekly mileage was higher than mine. Keep that going, guys, and you'll do well!

Luckily Niamh is back today and tomorrow I'll start running again, 10 days after Tralee. I started getting antsy by about Friday, but since I could see the end of the idle period in the foreseeable future, I could manage. I find it's much easier to set a fixed date for re-starting running after a break. If I decide to play it by ear entirely, I'm out of the door again after 5 days because I can't stand the idleness and need my fix.

And so training for the Connemara 100 (miles, that is) is about to commence. By coincidence, my training will start for real in - Connemara, where I'll do the 39 mile ultra as a fun run in 2 weeks' time. I could claim that I'm going to scout out the route (the 39 mile loop is part of the 100, except it goes the other way round) but in reality I know the route like the back of my hand already and simply don't want to miss the race as it's my favourite race of them all. I did the Dingle 50 as a fun run last year, enjoyed it and never regretted it, so I'll try and do the same once more. I have no idea what pace I will be doing; obviously all logic says that I should take it easy, but I have to admit I'm tempted to give it a good go, despite being well aware that it could be a really stupid thing to do, especially with my plans for the rest of the year. (Then again, I tend to do stupid things very well).

We shall see. Let the training commence.

From 4:36 to 2:55

A history lesson.

2004 was a very long time ago. I was "only" 34 but might have been heading towards an early midlife crisis. You'd think that the father of barely 3-year old twins and a newborn baby should not have been bored, but for some reason I was looking for a new challenge. I may have muttered the word "marathon" to Niamh before, and one day early summer 2004 she basically told me to get out and train for the DCM later that year, so I did.

Unlike today there was very little information available on the internet and I basically had to make up my own training schedule despite not having a clue. I thought I was doing a lot but actually nowadays I am amazed that I was able to go round at all, 4 months after getting off the couch for the first time, and after a maximum weekly mileage of 15. In light of that a time of 4:06 was actually quite good, certainly better than I thought at the time.

I wasn't happy though and determined to break 4 hours at my next attempt. I increased the training load to almost 20 miles per week, whoop-de-do. The result was sobering, after cramping at mile 12 and somehow, stubbornly toughing it out to the end despite passing the finishing area at mile 15 I had achieved a still-standing personal worst of 4:36. After the initial disgust at myself had worn off I decided that running marathons is a serious challenge and if you're doing it you might as well do it properly. I bought Advanced Marathoning (I was absolutely shocked by the fact that even the easiest plan went up to 55 miles per week and thought those guys were completely mental) and I also started writing a blog - this very one, hence the title which seemed more than apt at the time (it's all relative of course).

It took another year to start progressing properly, but then it went very quickly for a while. 3:55 in 2005, 3:28 in 2006, 3:12 in 2007 and 3:05 in 2008. Right then I became obsessed with the sub-3 marathon but that's also when progress started stalling for 2 years. It needed divine intervention, or at least a coach, to get me back on track, and I still cannot believe I was fortunate enough to acquire the use of a fantastic coach for half a year completely for free. Despite being generally utterly opposed to any form of authority (teachers, doctors, police, managers, ...) I surprised myself by doing exactly as I was told and never ever questioned his approach, trying to soak up as much knowledge and understanding as I could, being rewarded with a 2:59 in 2011.

However, preparation for that goal had taken its toll, mentally especially, and it took 2 years to get me excited about the marathon again. I used the time to do some serious Ultra racing, culminating in the 24 hours race in Bangor, but eventually regained the appetite for some faster running which led me to the start line in Tralee and the subsequent 2:55 and the M40 winner's trophy.

As for going forward, I'm back to my true love, the long ultra (it's ok, Niamh's not jealous), and my next goal race is the Connemara 100 in August, as some people have already guessed/heard. I'll do a few marathons as training - I'm already signed up for 14 before the end of July. As for the comments that I would be completely mad not to go for a 2:50 in Dublin, I thought that the question of me being mad was put to bed for good when I signed up for Bangor last year. That's not to say that I don't want to have a go at breaking 2:50, I just haven't decided quite when yet. Right now, I am focusing on Connemara and nothing else.

Inspiration

The one thing that had my attention over the weekend was the combined European/World 24 hours running championship race in Katowice, Poland. It featured, amongst many others, John O'Regan And Eddie Gallen who had come first and third respectively in Bangor, just 9 weeks ago. Both had great races and finished with new PBs in 31st and 42nd places in the World championship. However, both results were overshadowed by Ruthann Sheahan of Athenry AC who placed 7th in the World, 5th in Europe with a new Irish record of 229.3 km! I know Ruthann reasonably well (I know all 4 Irish competitors - the ultra running scene really is not very big) and right now I'm really inspired to follow in her footsteps and try and run a similar distance in my next 24 hours race. That's right, I've now moved through the various stages of denial from "I'll never run another step" via "I'll never run another 24 hours" to "sure it wasn't that bad, I'll do that again". I still have to decide where and when, though. I kind of have my mind set on the Connemara 100 next year, which would rule out a return to the Irish championship in 2013, at least as long as I've got at least a couple of working brain cells left.

However, that's still a good bit off. My next target race will be a mere marathon and I still have 6 months to prepare for that. It might well be my last attempt at a fast marathon; age is not on my side, and if I concentrate on long ultras I probably won't have enough time to train for another marathon PB as well. However, before Vienna I was wondering if THAT would be my last go at the sub-3 marathon and here I am now, having another go, so let's not rule out anything just yet.

One advantage of running in Bangor was that I have completely lost the fear of 50 miles races and could regard Dingle as a fun run. On the flip side, the pace required for a 2:55 marathon now seems rather scary. I have hardly run even a single mile at that pace in what seems like a very long time.

Anyway, today marks 10 days of not running since Dingle. After Bangor I made the mistake of saying "I'll run again when I feel like it", with the result that when I got itchy feet after 5 days I was out again on the road. This time I resolved to take at least 10 days off and it was much easier to mentally adjust to that. I also enjoyed the finer things in life, i.e. cake, biscuit and chocolate in generous amounts. I still feel slightly guilty every time I shove yet another motherload of sugar into my mouth, but after a few months of restraint a few weeks of excess just feel right, even if the weighing scales are tipping ever closer to 11 stone.

I'll probably run again tomorrow. I won't set the alarm and if I sleep in then so be it. An extra hour or two of sleep was one of the most appreciated luxuries over the last few days and if my body feels like sleeping in once more, I will let it. If I wake up in time (as I tend to do), then I'll start running again.

By the way, I just came across two interesting race reports, Tom Meany's from Bangor and John Healy's from Dingle. I always enjoy reading race reports (that's why I enjoy writing them, I suppose), if you're interested as well then check them out.

Easy does it

Despite feeling very good, I have been taking it easy this week.

Let me rephrase that.

Because I was feeling very good, I have been taking it easy this week.

The reason for this apparently counter-intuitive training is that my former coach’s warnings are still in my ear

When you are in peak shape your mind ignores fatigue, good for racing but not good for training.

Connemara is still 2 months away, I do not want to peak just yet, but the fact that I ran the second half of Sunday’s workout at 7:07 pace without feeling tired, even though I should have started the run with already fatigued legs after a reasonably tough run on Saturday tells me to be cautious. As strange as it sounds, not feeling fatigue can be a real problem in training, leading to overtraining and injury, and it’s a trap a lot of runner fall into. I’d rather not.

So it was a succession of easy runs, all at a HR that was below the threshold the coach had set me last year. I got a bit bored after running like that on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, so I spiced things up this morning with 4 sets of 4x30 seconds sprints, 2 minutes recovery between sprints and about 5 or 6 minutes recovery between sets. That’s a fair amount of sprinting, but the legs took it in their stride, so to speak.

I received an email this morning that cheered me up no end, and which more or less finalised my racing plans for 2012. After Donadea and Connemara there will be my big goal race in July (no further details yet, even though I have told a couple of people already) and then, mostly for fun, the Dingle Ultra in September. Excellent news! I had my doubts if this race would be resurrected, but this has now been confirmed. It’s a fantastic course, taking in Conor Pass as well as Slea Head, staking a big claim for the most scenic road race ever. I also want to improve on my time from 2010, but mostly I want to have at least as much fun as last time round.

Can you tell I'm excited?

30 Jan

8 miles, 1:05:17, 8:10 pace, HR 134

31 Jan

10 miles, 1:18:49, 7:53 pace, HR 137

1 Feb

10 miles, 1:20:17, 8:02 pace, HR 137

2 Feb

10 miles, 1:18:41, 7:52 pace, HR 139
    incl. 4 x 4x30 sec sprints

Home, Sweet Home

Well, it was 25 degrees and beautiful sunshine in Vienna and when we landed in Dublin it was 15 degrees and cloudy and just generally miserable. I ran 6 miles the next morning in Dublin's Deer Park before driving home to Kerry. Tuesday's run was done in very windy and cold weather and it was raining during my cycle commute to work, and I definitely wondered why the heck we are living in Ireland when we could live elsewhere (but then remembered the shocking level of support for the fascists in the Austrian opinion polls and remember again why I left as soon as I could).

There is no doubt that Austria is a much richer country than Ireland. The houses are bigger, the roads better, the public transport clean, efficient and (at least in comparison to here) cheap. I can't put my finger on why that is, though, because I know from personal experience that the politicians there are just the same despicable breed of greedy, incompetent and self-centred bastards as they are over here.

Anyway, I'm still living off the gentle warm glow from my marathon performance, and not even my return to work could change that. I must be experiencing the complete opposite of the post-marathon blues.

Things were much better on Wednesday anyway, a beautiful sunny day, little wind and only half a day's work because I took the afternoon off, because I did not want to miss the twins' 10th birthday party. What do you think of the cake? Cool or what! The party served as a very welcome reminder that other people's children are just as boisterous and destructive as ours, but the house suffered only minor damage and we all declared this a resounding success.

After quite some hesitation, and not without some trepidation, I stepped on the weighing scales again. I was completely baffled when it told me that I was still the same 147 pound I had been when I left for Vienna. I cannot explain this, I have always put on at least 5 pounds immediately after a marathon, and I sure did not hold back when it came to ice cream, chocolate or beer last week. In fact, I was surprised they still had some left by the time we were on the plane back home. Have I inadvertently stumbled over the ice cream-chocolate-beer diet?

One thing I continue to get wrong is the pace of my morning runs. After 6 miles the heart rate rises even when I try my best to slow down, and even though I never push the pace I have been ending up with average heart rates well in the 150s, much too high. I know of course that I'm still recovering from the marathon, even though the soreness is long gone.

Michael, and a few others, have asked me what's next. The answer is, I don't know. I deliberately only set one goal for this year as I wanted to make sure I would not be distracted. Now that I have achieved my sub-3 marathon in April already, I'm a bit at a loss. Had I not managed it in Vienna, I would have aimed for another go in Longford in August, partly because it is supposed to be the flattest marathon course in Ireland but also because it is the only traditional Irish marathon still missing on my list. But things changed in Vienna. I am tempted to concentrate on shorter distances over the summer; after all, I have voiced my regret that I never got the chance to have a go at my 5k to 10k times. I have not decided about a marathon or even ultra later in the year; Dublin will always be a possibility, but if the opportunity arose to run it again as a pace maker, I would probably do it that way. I really enjoyed it last year, and I felt it was a rare opportunity to give a little bit back to the running community.

25 Apr

6 miles, 46:57, 7:49 pace, HR 148

26 Apr

8 miles, 1:02:05, 7:45 pace, HR 154

27 Apr

10 miles, 1:17:45, 7:46 pace, HR 153

That Was 2010

This was supposed to be a post about my latest evaluation run, but that had to be postponed. Sunday's 20 miler was one of the toughest training runs I've done and left me severely exhausted (though I'm mostly blaming Saturday's run); when I inquired what to do the coach told me to run easily until the legs feel better, and that's exactly what I've done since. I left for 10 miles on Monday but cut it down to 8 after the legs felt really tired. I followed that with 10 on Tuesday but was knackered after 7 – though since I was already on my way back home there was nothing I could do but run home. I initially thought I felt better at the start of today's run, but after 4 miles into a strong headwind felt tired enough to turn around early once more and cut it down to 8 again. Funnily enough, the return leg felt much easier with the blustery wind now on my back, but I decided not to re-extend it. The last thing I want is to dig myself into a hole of exhaustion, and erring on the side of caution is definitely preferable. Later on we all jumped into the car and drove to Dublin to spend New Year with Niamh's family. I have started to wonder if the recent feelings of fatigue are just in my head. Maybe a change in scenery will do me good.

Since the year is almost at an end, I might as well do a review, and quickly look forward to 2011.

Miles so far: 2918, with about 20 still to come. That's actually the lowest mileage in a long time. I reduced my overall mileage when training for the ultras, otherwise the long weekend runs would have killed me. I'd try a different approach next time, to be honest.

Highlight: Running 5:15 in Connemara. It had taken me 3 tries to get that race right and it felt all the better for finally achieving what I felt was a very good time.

Single Best Moment: Crossing the finish line of the Dingle 50 mile Ultra. The euphoria of that moment cannot be surpassed. Better than sex. Better than drugs.

Lowlight: Getting injured twice in the last few months, first the Achilles, then the knee. I always prided myself in my very low injury rate for a marathon runner. Taking days off was a blow.

I'd set 4 goals for 2010: The major ones were a new PB in Connemara and finishing Dingle. Both were a complete success. The two minor goals were a new PB at one of the shorter distances and writing shorter blog entries. I failed in the PB task, but came reasonably close, missing my 5k time by only 7 seconds twice. Ewen will undoubtedly tell you that the blog posts one was an utter disaster.

I also did 2 triathlons, which were great fun, but they reinforced the fact that I'm a runner, not a multi-sport athlete. I still would love to do an Ironman one day, but I would have to figure out a way on how to do the swim training. Driving more than one hour from and to Killarney for each swim day is just not on.

I'm more than happy with how the year has gone and I really think it was a good idea to step back from the marathon and concentrate on Ultras. Now I have gotten them out of my system for the time being and will have one more go at the marathon.

I have only one goal for 2011, and that is to break 3 hours. No other goals, no detractions, no excuses.

27 Dec

8 miles, 1:03:05, 7:53 pace, HR 141

28 Dec

10 miles, 1:18:40, 7:52 pace, HR 146

29 Dec

8 miles, 1:02:06, 7:45 pace, HR 147

Spring Marathon

Not only have we just spent several thousand Euro re-building our house (roof repairs, new heating system, wall insulation, attic insulation, plumbing, ...), now the most incompetent government in history decided we all have to pay a few thousand Euro each per year to chuck them into the Black Hole those wbankers have created. After initially being all gung-ho on a foreign trip for my spring marathon (she even checked out apartments in Barcelona), Niamh sensibly decided we can’t afford a family trip to the continent. After playing around with the idea of running either Limerick or Belfast, I rejected them both (the first got really bad reviews for last year, the latter one I swore never to run again [though I reckon I'm quite likely to break that oath one day]) and decided to fly to Rotterdam on my own. After all, that was my preferred marathon all along, due to its reputation as a fast course. And then .... then I came up with one more destination.



Screw the government and screw Europe’s worst finance minister for the second year in a row. We might as well spend the last of our money on ourselves before it gets completely wasted on yet more banking dept. Vienna is where Niamh and I met 17 years ago and it’s going to be where I’m going to break 3 hours in the marathon on 17 April 2011, ojalá. And Niamh and the kids will be there with me.

The knee is in a funny state. It does not hurt any more but the last couple of days it was still slightly swollen, though today I can’t make out a difference to the other knee any more. I’m wearing a €6 knee wrap from the pharmacy, just in case, but if that makes any difference I can’t tell. Then again, I have run through plenty of pain in the past, especially where my Achilles is concerned, and that always turned out well. So I’m running with a possibly wonky knee, even if I don’t entirely trust it.

I have definitely lost some fitness over my 3 days of not running. I have a spreadsheet that I'm using to compare HR/pace combination from day to day, and the figures are definitely worse since my little break, though the graph is pointing upwards again and I’ll get back to where I used to be in no time. Since Vienna is 4 weeks later than Killarney would have been I have time for a longer base phase, giving me more than enough time to catch up.

Thursday’s run was a little bit better than the previous ones and today was better still as my fitness is picking up again. It was “Fast Friday”, but I made sure to run slower than the 6:51 from a fortnight ago when I definitely pushed too hard; setting the HR alarm on the Garmin helped, though ideally I should be able to tell from listening to my body alone but unfortunately I'm definitely not that much in tune with it. I lost concentration between miles 6 and 8 and let the intensity drop but picked it up again for a stronger finish. The temperatures today were no less than 10 degrees higher than before (from -4 to +6C) and all the ice is gone from the roads. I’m curious where my marathon pace is going to end up; it should definitely be faster than those runs with the HR in the mid 150s. The coach is promising gains of 15-20 seconds per mile during the peaking training. That would be scary fast and almost too good to be true. But he’s been right about everything so far, so I'm definitely looking forward to it. At the moment things are easy. The hard work is yet to come and I'm actually looking forward to it.

9 Dec

10 miles, 1:16:00, 7:36 pace, HR 149

10 Dec

10 miles, 1:11:39, 7:10 pace, HR 156

Budding Artist

With only 3 weeks left until Connemara I thought I had taken it relatively easy with my 22/15 workouts this week. What I had not quite factored in was how stiff I would feel after running the last few miles of both runs at a significantly faster pace. Well, I hadn’t exactly planned on doing it. But I’m dealing with the fallout now, I was quite sore yesterday and I really did not enjoy my swimming workout, which was a first. Things did improve today, but not by an awful lot. First of all, I overslept. I can’t even remember the last time this happened. I always set the radio alarm on my side of the bed to a barely audible volume. That ensures that Niamh doesn’t get woken but is sufficient to wake me – until today that is. I must have slept deeper than usual (in fact, most days I’m awake before the alarm anyway) and when I opened my eyes at 7 o’clock I realised I had slept through it.

It didn’t help that both Shea and Maia were awake as well, and I had to fix up breakfast before I was able to leave, but I still had time for 5 miles, as long as I hurried afterwards, getting ready for work. The first mile was still rather stiff and sore, but things improved and I included a set of strides towards the end. I should have done those much more regularly, but I simply don’t think of it most of the time.

Enough of that, have a look at this:



I think we have yet another child prodigy on our hands, Maia drew this picture of a “crawly, crawly spider”, and she’s still well over half a year away from her third birthday (no, Ewen, don’t make the joke about the signature even more impressive for a 2-year old). I had to scan it to preserve it through the ages. It’s at least as impressive as Cian’s early work.

Should I mention the change of plans I hinted at last time? I guess so. Sorry John, still no Fling this year. See, I drew up my plans for 2010 about half a year ago. I would run Connemara in April, a charity marathon (only one!) in July as a training run and Dingle in September. When I started contemplating racing the charity marathon rather than running it as a training run I knew I would be asking for trouble, 2 months before Dingle. Anyway, I decided to add an extra marathon there, 3 months before Dingle, which conveniently happens to be Cork. And I’ll race it. When I went through my old training diaries after Sunday’s tempo run I realised that I had never even gotten within 10 seconds per mile of that pace for a tempo run. I must be in good shape, not just for an ultra but also for a marathon, and I want to put that to the test. I know I can handle Connemara and Cork in the same year, because I did just that 2 years ago and had a great marathon (still my second fastest).

18 Mar

45 minutes swimming

19 Mar

5 miles, 40:32, 8:06 pace, HR 137
incl. 6x100 strides

Utterly Random Thoughts

The rain fell hard against our window at 5:10 Wednesday morning, and the noise woke both me and Maia. Miraculously, both of us managed to fall back asleep, but unfortunately my alarm went off just 15 minutes later, and I got up, cursing the weather. Why did it have to start raining on the day of my long run? I was lucky though, the worst of it had stopped already by the time I was ready to go, and I never got more than a few drop at the time. The run went very well, I did the 15 hilly miles in a bit over 2 hours, and felt good all the way. I was a bit wistful, why oh why did I not feel like that during Connemara? By mile 15 my right quads had already been hurting for 5 miles and the left ones were about to join the misery. On Wednesday, in contrast, I felt like I could run the same loop immediately again.

Due to the race on Sunday I'll have a mini taper, but I thought 8.5 miles on the Devil's Elbow wouldn't do any harm. Alas, the rain shower started just as I was about to leave, and I delayed my departure for 10 minutes, which left me short on time, so I settled for 6 very slow miles. The rain returned shortly before the 4 mile mark, and I felt a bit cold and miserable, but that, too, passed. I want to keep those slow runs in my repertoire, especially if I include some harder runs on a regular basis. The toughest part is to persuade the mind that they are good for you. I'll try and follow Andrew's example. He's a much better runner than I am, and yet his recovery runs are slower than mine. I'm sure there's a lesson to be learned.

I checked the results of Saturday's Highway Fling, which I had considered doing this year, but it didn't fit into my schedule, and I couldn't have run it anyway, because it coincided with my twins' birthday. My running buddy from the Loch Ness marathon, John, had an absolute stormer and finished in 14th place in 9:44:41. It was won by Jez Bragg, the same guy who had won Connemara against tough opposition only 3 weeks earlier. How impressive is that! I compared Jez's time for Connemara and the Fling, and if my times would have shown the same correlation as his, I would have ended the Fling in 10:10. I guess that could set a target if I ever make it across the Irish Channel, I should try and stay under 10 hours.

Because today's run was so slow, I had plenty of time thinking about races I'd like to run in years to come. In distance-increasing order, there's Boston, the Jungfrau marathon, the Ausserfern Challenge, the Highland Fling, Comrades, the WHW, and, in the realms of fantasy, Malin Head to Mizen Head. Throw in an Iron Man as well, while we're at it. I can't help but detect a certain leaning towards the ultra distance here. I guess that's what I want. In case you're wondering, the one in Austria is in there because that's where I spent several (miserable) years, and I guess I'm feeling a bit sentimental at times. The rest should be self explanatory.

After all the trash talk about claiming victory in Bantry if Grellan doesn't turn up, things might actually be the other way round. Everyone in the family is sick with flu-like symptoms, even Maia, and Niamh is especially under the weather. I haven't got any symptoms at the moment, and I completely avoided the last bug that went round a few weeks ago, but if I get sick now then the race will most likely go ahead without me. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

30 Apr

15 miles, 2:02:12, 8:09 pace, HR 149

1 May

6 miles, 54:01, 9:00 pace, HR 135

April milage: 221 miles