Taper boredom

I came across a few photos on Facebook of last weeks Parkrun (photos courtesy of Peter Veale/Flickr)

 

Monday, 30th September, 2013 – 11.9km Easy/MP run (4:49/km)

I was feeling remarkably fresh after yesterdays run so when I went out this evening the plan was to run at easy pace, 5:00/km +/- a few seconds. However, by the end of the first warm-up km I decided to push it on a little faster and before I knew it I was effortlessly running around 4:50/km. Very pleasantly surprised at this so maintained it for most of the remainder of the run. The legs were feeling fine and the HR averaged at 142bpm so that was very positive. Noticeably, the temperature out there felt perfect for me so no doubt that aided the relaxed HR. 

Nice to string two positive runs together after a bit of a crap few weeks. On that note, with September now completed, I ran 333.4km (207 miles) for the month. I also seem to have finally dealt with the niggly, floating injury. I was doing a bit of foam rolling on the hamstring last week when I decided to do a bit on my left calf also. It was only then I realised how tight and sore it was to roll it, something that I'd not noticed while running or walking. After a few evenings of just 5 mins work on the calves to loosen them up I seem to have become much more flexible all over! I suppose it goes to show a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link...

Tuesday, 1st October, 2013 – 7.4km Recovery run (5:21/km)
I still felt pretty fresh going out for this run so I'm beginning to get a little more optimistic about Chicago at last. The evening was nice and mild but the rain was still quite heavy through parts of the run. Nothing much more to report really apart from I got back in time to savour Arsenal's excellent win against Napoli. It's funny how £42million can be a steal, yet it's true! 
Mesut Ö-zil, Mesut Ö-zil,  olé, olé, olé!

Wednesday, 2nd October, 2013 – Rest Day
Tonight was crappy weather so decided to log this as a rest day!

Thursday, 3rd October, 2013 – Rest Day
Busy day with work and when I got home I was a bit jaded so took the guilty step of a second rest day in a row!

Friday, 4th October, 2013 – 11.9km Easy run with 10 x Strides (5:04/km)
This should probably really be described as Fartlek given I started with a recovery 2km, followed by an 'easy-to-MP' 3km before I threw in 10 sets of strides for the next few km. Finished off with 4km @ recovery pace.

Saturday, 5th October, 2013 – 18.6km MLR run with 9km @ MP (4:42/km)
I was planning on getting up for the second St. Anne's parkrun this morning but when i hit the snooze button for the fifth time in a row I gave in to the fact I was far too tired to get up so three hours later I actually got up properly! 

With my initial plans now up in smoke I decided to watch a bit of footie and then go for a MLR in the evening. The day was absolutely perfect for running and the first 5km of easy running was getting faster all the time (helped in no small part by the descending profile but really easy regardless. Once I turned on to the Royal Canal my plan was to up the pace to MP while away from road traffic. By the time I got to my turnaround point in Ashtown I had about 4.2km @ MP completed and the return was a little easier given the slight breeze was now on my back. I added a little extra on when I got back onto the Finglas Road to bring it up to 9km @ an average of 4:42/km. The effort was spot on though as my average HR ranged from 148-150bpm with it never going above 153bpm. The legs however felt a bit jaded and slightly niggly which was a little cause for concern. Hopefully the next week will leave them totally fresh.

Sunday, 6th October, 2013 – 7.4km Recovery run (5:26/km)
Just a nice short recovery run tonight on another beautiful evening. Could easily have gone bare-chested around the place it was that mild (plus in the dark my pasty white skin would be more reflective than any man made material!!). Initially contemplated doing a 12km instead but I soon realised I was in the middle of taper and that an extra 5km of slow running would do me no good now!

Week 40 Summary:

RTW: 5 from 7 days

DTW: 57.2 km

DTY: 3,182.8 km

Chicago - 6 days

So, with 1,977 miles it looks as if I'll pass through 2,000 miles for the year in or around the start of Chicago on Sunday. A PB would be a nice way of marking the occasion!

As an aside, my hopes for the end of October for 2 marathons (MCM + DCM) in 24 hours are up in smoke as I worked out this afternoon that our clocks change a week before USA's so therefore 25 hours will have passed between me starting off in DC and finishing (If I manage it!) DCM in 3h55m at 12:55pm. Oh well!