Back to it again

We finally made the press!! This was our team (Grellan, Tony and me) at the recent HSE 4-mile road race. John Walshe took our photo before the race (as you can tell from the relaxed faces!!) and jokingly said 'you'll see yourself in the Evening Echo'. We didn't believe him but look what turned up in last Thursday's edition.... Thanks John.

After my short break I managed a massive 2 sessions last week. I was a bit surprised waking up on Saturday. My quads were sore / stiff and there was a slight tenderness in my left calf. On the plus from my joints were fine!! I had only run 6 miles on Friday, could an 11-day break really make such a difference? Obviously yes!

I went out on Saturday for a 6.59mile (47:41) run at much the same pace as Friday. The route was a little bit flatter so my average pace ended up being a bit quicker (7:14 vs 7:19). Allthough the hegs felt heavy all in all I felt good. Interestingly, some of my fitness must have returned overnight! Even though I averaged 5 sec per mile quicker my average heart rate was 161bpm compared with 163bpm on Friday!!

Family commitments meant that Sunday became an unplanned day of rest!!

Week Total (10/11/08 - 16/11/08) - 2 session
12.83miles - 1:33:20 - 7:16min/mile - 162bpm


Today I went back to work so my lunch time run returned!! An easy/steady 5.68miles (40:13) that's an average 7:05min/mile without really trying. I must remind myself to take some more rest days 'cause my average heart rate took another dip today to 157bpm. That's a 14 sec per mile and a 5 bpm drop in 4 days. At this rate I'll be 140bpm and 5-min/mile in no time!! :)

Tomorrow will be another 'off schedule' rest day as my other sporting love (Munster Rugby) will take precedence. I'm off to see Munster take on the All Blacks in the new Thomond Park. It's 30 years since Munster beat the mighty New Zealand (12-0) side on a day that has since gone down in Irish (if not World) rugby folklore.. It seems that everyone in Munster was at THE game on Tuesday 31 October 1978 (even though the capacity was only approx 13,000!!). Tomorrow's the chance for 25,000 fans to be there and see Munster do it again and truthfully claim 'I WAS THERE...'!! C'MON MUNSTER

Here's dreaming....