And now for the weather...

Maybe it's that I'm still a newbie wrt to blogging but I find it amazing that since I started this blog I feel compelled to post even though I've not got much to report. Anyone who knows me (in the real world) would be surprised by this because I'm generally not the most talkative of people. Maybe it's that I feel that if I don't post I might forget critical details of my previous runs or maybe it's just that I like talking about running and this is a good way to spend some time in the evening. It certainly beats watching the tv!!

So enough rambling and on to what I've been up to since my last post. Monday was meant to be an easy run at lunchtime. I had good intentions I woke up, packed my gear bag (with clean gear as opposed to the usual...) and went to work. At lunchtime I put on my gear but when I got to my socks... they weren't there... I contemplated running sockless but last time I did that the blisters on my feet lasted 3 weeks!! Not a good idea before next Sunday's race. So off with the gear and back to work again and I promised myself that I'd get out after the girls had gone to bed i.e. 8:30 or 9pm that evening. For once, I stuck to my plan and headed out at approx 8:50pm. BTW I've noticed a trend on the running blogs from Ireland in recent days - almost everyone has mentioned the weather and I'm not going to buck the trend. It certainly has become cooler here - I've even thought about putting on my 'Skins' for the first time this Autumn. But at least we don't have to deal with any hurricanes on this side of the Atlantic!! Anyway back to my run which consisted of a 5.5mile easy 40:59, 7:27 pace (153bpm) - really exciting. The pace certainly felt faster than 7:27 maybe it had something to do with running in the dark with poor street lights. Still though this is my 'taper' week so 7:27 is OK.

Pamela had an 'obs' appointment on Tuesday afternoon so that meant a late lunch for me and no running so I planned to run that night. But the rain didn't have to be very heavy for me to successfully persuade myself that I'd benefit from a day off - so I did.

Today was a different matter though. I made sure that I got out for my "tempo/interval/fartlek" run at lunchtime today despite the wind and rain. I realise that a "tempo/interval/fartlek" run is an unconventional description but that was the plan in my head before I started - essentially no plan other than to give the legs a good "blow out". In summary, the run went well enough with 6.45 miles in 43:13 (6:42 pace, 160bpm).

For those who are interested, and for the record, the blow by blow version is:

2.65miles - 17:32min - 6:37min/mile (151bpm)

1:04min recovery

0.56miles - 3:14min - 5:49min/mile (160bpm)

1:27min recovery

0.56miles - 3:10min - 5:38min/mile (170bpm)

0:56min recovery

0.28miles - 1:37min - 5:51min/mile (167bpm)

1:15min recovery

0.93miles - 5:59min - 6:28min/mile (167bpm)

1:25min recovery

0.11miles - 0:39min - 6:01min/mile (164bpm)

0:52min recovery

0.55miles - 3:34min - 6:28min/mile (169bpm)

0:23min (cool down!!)

So that's it for today. Two more easy runs planned between now and race day and all this weather talk reminds me that I must check the weather forecast for Sunday...