The option of a free lunch at a lunchtime presentation at work was enough to convince me that Friday should be a 'recovery' day, so no running.
My regular(ish) Sunday long run was brought forward to Saturday as I felt that my free time would not permit a run on Sunday. I was right!!
So my long 'easy' run this week was 15.74mile in 1:56:47 i.e. an average of 7:25 min/mile. The sun was shining and it wasn't too cold so I got to run without the need to wear heavy lagging!! It was strange that as I ran north the wind was against me, the route then headed west and the wind was into my face; I then turned east and, yes, the wind was not behind me. Finally I ran generally in a south east direction and, yes again, the wind was into my face. Were the gods telling me something?? I covered the first 10 miles in a little over 73mins, an average of 7:19. At that stage my left shin /ankle region started to hurt so I slowed a little and, conscious of not wanting to overdo things, averaged 7:35min/mile over the remainder of the run.
Despite the deliberate slowing over the last third of the run it was the fastest I've ever completed this course. Over the past 12 months I've only completed this distance & route on 4 occasions. Each day I had planned to run 'easy' and the historic distance / time / pace stats were
7/2/09-15.74miles-1:56:47-7:25 min/mile
25/1/09-15.62miles-2:01:49-7:48 min/mile
31/8/08-15.68miles-1:57:36-7:30 min/mile
17/8/08-15.67miles-2:04:31-7:57 min/mile
So Saturday's run tells me that I'm in reasonable shape....at the moment. But having said that the niggle in my shins reminds me that I must not push myself beyond my elastic limit. After all only a few weeks to go to Ballycotton.
Week Total (2/2/09 to 8/2/09) - 4 sessions
33.70 miles - 4:15:37 - 7:35min/mile - No HRM
A blog about my ongoing attempts to delay the ageing process......
3 comments:
Good thing you take complete recovery days because you seem to have only one speed and that's fast! Good luck holding back till Ballycotton.
There's something very Irish about the idea of the wind in your face no matter what direction you run... kind of like sideways rain or what I spotted last week... snow going up.
4 weeks to Ballycotton is loads of time.
thanks guys. Private - I like the idea of snow going up - now that's Irish....
Mike I'm not sure about the 'fast' bit but I'm trying to fool my body into thinking my 'fast' pace is slow - my own form of brain training!!! Although if I get it wrong it can be a recipe for injury. Hopefully not....
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