there is no such thing as bad weather only soft people
So I decided to stop whining about the weather, HTFU and get on with it. Training in Irish winters means running a lot in the rain when its dark, as opposed to training in Irish summers when you do a lot of running in the rain when it’s bright instead.
So I dug into my wardrobe until I found a long sleeved technical shirt, put the headlamp on top of my head and out I went into early Thursday’s dark rain shower. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, it even stopped raining at one stage, and I happily ran the 5 miles along Caragh Lake to the turnaround point. I was halfway back when a bright flash from my left caught my interest, and the growling thunder 30 seconds later spurned me into action. Running in the wind and rain is fine, but the one thing I do not want to happen is to be caught out in a thunderstorm, and I accelerated homewards. One mile later another lightning flash, this time straight ahead, almost made me jump. But the sound of thunder again took about half a minute to reach me, and I knew I would in all likelihood have enough time to get home in time. Well, I escaped the lightning but not the hail which started when I was still half a mile from home. By the time I reached our door the worst was already over. At least the conditions ensured the last 2.5 miles were covered at a good clip.
It was a bit friendlier on Friday, but again I didn’t quite escape the rain. I did 8 miles, and in the second half I added a few accelerations for about 30 seconds each, to get the legs spinning a bit more. The rest of the run was at a sedate effort as I felt the effects of Thursday’s run in my hamstrings.
Today, Saturday, it was my turn to drive the kids to Cork once more. Cian did not want to come and stayed home with Niamh, so it was just me and the twins. We delivered Lola to her classes and went to a swimming pool. Last time we went there Shea just swam up and down the whole time, and I hoped I would get some decent swimming time under my belt. But after a lap or two he decided he did not really want to swim and preferred to play around in the water for an hour. That put paid to my plans of a workout, but as Niamh pointed out, it provided some additional father-son-bonding. We stayed in there for ages, until it was time to get home again. I thought about going for a run, but laziness won out in the end.
Because of that trip to Cork I missed my hometown race today. There was a 10k in Killorglin which I had enjoyed a lot last year and which I would definitely have run had it not been on a Saturday. What can you do, family comes first. I’ll make up for it in March.
I’m planning on increasing my mileage next week, which won’t be difficult as my running frequency has dropped like a stone, and then the training for Connemara begins at last. By now I’m finally looking forward to running again. This has taken a long time, Dublin was 5 weeks ago, and that’s how long it took me to recover mentally. With that episode behind me, I’m finally feeling on the up again.
- 26 Nov
- 10 miles, 1:17:36, 7:46 pace, HR 159
- 27 Nov
- 8 miles, 1:05:09, 8:09 pace, HR 155
4x30 seconds accelerations - 28 Nov
- 0 miles, 60+ minutes splashing in the pool
Good that you are coming back after Dublin and are focusing on Connemara. Am sure you'll be back to normal in no time. Good luck with the training
ReplyDeleteIts good to hear that your enthusiasm is back. You will have lost some fitness, but the body needs to cycle between work and recovery.
ReplyDeleteYes, family comes first! Lucho's #1 rule.
ReplyDeleteAfter suffering record high temperatures in November, we're now back to a comparatively chilly 21C today ;)
And, I ran in the rain again yesterday!