Monday, 10 February 2014

Another week of decent mileage with a slight easing of intensity

Monday, 3rd February 2014 – Rest Day
Energy levels were at an all-time low this evening and my second rest day in a row was called!

Tuesday, 4th February 2014 – 11.0km Distance (5:19/km)
Busy after work this evening so decided to run this morning before work. Nice crisp, calm morning out there which made for a very pleasant run. One thing I noticed though was my left thigh was a bit tender and could only assume it was DOMS fallout from Saturday’s Long Run, and more specifically the quick downhill running for almost 5km. Hopefully it will be fine for tomorrow’s 3 mile race in Raheny where I will be hoping to go sub 20 for sure but would like to get close to breaking 19:30. I did 20:14 on this route a month ago so will be good to see if I have improved since then. I’d better!!

Wednesday, 5th February 2014 – 17.2km MLR (5:05/km)
I left it late when making my way over to do the Raheny 3 mile race and then managed to hit every possible red light along the way, so when I arrived in the village it was already 7:58pm. Disappointedly I made the executive decision to detour away from the race and go for a coastal run instead.

Then, when I was getting ready my 310XT decided to go on the blink which meant that I had no watch either – tonight was turning out to be far from a great success! I noted the time on the car radio before I headed off along the coastal path. Initially I turned north and was with the breeze for the first 3.6km. As ever, it was only when I turned to come back south that I realised just how strong this breeze really was! My pace felt like it was hovering about 5:10/km throughout the tough 8.8km southbound. Thankfully, when I turned around again, just past the wind monument, the running felt much easier. The final 5km home passed much quicker and the pace picked up for its duration.

When I returned to the car I checked the time again and worked out I was approximately 87mins running, which works out at about 5:05/km. Quite happy with this given the wind was trying to slow me down for much of it. Still would have liked to have done the 3 miler though…!

Thursday, 6th February 2014 – 11.9km Distance (5:20?/km)
My Garmin is still on the blink so had to run this ‘naked’ again! After a gentle first km I upped the effort to what felt like about 5:20/km pace. Kept this steady for the rest of the run while throwing in 5 sets of 100m strides towards the end. Lucky with the weather that it was a nice night. Just starting to feel a little niggle at the bottom of my back on either side - time to start doing a few planks again!

Friday, 7th February 2014 – 36.4km Distance & LSR (5:20?/km)
AM: 6.5km Distance (5:15/km)
Managed to get out early for this run for my second morning run of the week!! Again, very lucky with the weather and even though I took it easy it felt slightly quicker than last night. Threw in 7 strides this time and overall I’d estimate a pace of about 5:15/km.

PM1: 18.0km Distance (5:25/km)
Stopped off in the PP after work and went for a long run. Started from the Castleknock roundabout and made my way in a counter-clockwise direction along the south of the Park before crossing Chesterfield and over along the North Road to complete a large lap. When I returned to the Castleknock roundabout I ran down Chesterfield Avenue before taking a right and repeating the South side of the park, but in the opposite direction.

This run started off in lovely Spring weather but towards the end it was getting pretty cold and windy with showers not far away. I had intended doing more but an hour into it I was feeling the old Kayanos being heavy compared to the new Mizunos so I decided I’d take a spin home, change clothes and shoes and go out for my local 11.9km loop…

PM2: 11.9km Distance (5:20/km)
I was back on the streets within an hour and ran my local loop. Wasn’t sure if I’d manage the whole thing but the Mizunos just felt so much better that I was through 5km in no time and continued on for the full route. Felt quite tired towards the final 5km and definitely very hungry but managed to get round in one piece!

So, 36.4km in total for the day and over 48km in 24hrs so that sets me up nicely for the 50km next weekend. Unfortunately the Garmin is still on the blink so I am only stabbing wild guesses at those paces but through some nominal calculations I reckon they shouldn’t be too far off. Rest up now for the evening!

Saturday, 8th February 2014 – 7.4km Distance (5:15/km)
Only managed to get out at 8:30pm this evening after a day of watching sport on TV! Good result in the rugby but the sooner the soccer is forgotten the better – just lucky it’s only 3 points and that City merely drew! The run itself was a fairly relaxed leg loosener after yesterday. Felt a bit tired but that's to be expected.

Sunday, 9th February 2014 – 21.5km MLR (4:53/km)
Met up with Philip and his club mate Peter for this run down in Sallins/Naas. Thankfully he had a spare Garmin which I got the loan of for the next week or two until my own watch gets sorted/fixed. This will be a relief for faster sessions. Anyways, today's plan was two loops both of approximately 10 miles each but I wasn't sure how long I'd last with them after Friday's miles. The first loop turned out being a few km longer and a little faster than I wished for so by the time we returned to our starting point we had covered 21.5km at 4:53/km pace. Both pace and distance were enough for me so I finished up and let the lads off for their second route. 

So, a good week considering I took last Monday as a rest day and I still managed 105km which was more than satisfactory. I eased off on the intensity this week and next week I'll probably just do a MTP run on Mon or Tues and take it easy for the rest of the week with the 50k on Saturday. No intention of racing this but simply getting around 50km demands respect so hence the planned 5:15/km max intended pace. This should have me home in just over 4hrs 20mins which I'd be happy with.

Week 5 Summary:
RTW: 7 from 7 days
DTW: 105.4km
DTY: 565.9km

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