Still Recovering

I completed 26.7 Miles in four runs since Tuesday and still feel I am recovering from last Sundays' race. On Tuesday I stayed overnight in Dublin and completed an 8 mile run through the streets with Brendan from work (He did the Great North Run in 1:34:50 or thereabouts - as he started at the back of the 50,000 taking part he met heavy traffic all the way particularly after 7 miles and therefore did not get close to his target of sub 1;30 which he is well capable of). The pace of the run was hard enough - between 07:00 & 08:00 however it was interrupted with numerous stops at traffic lights giving an overall pace of 08:04 pace - Brendan's convinced we ran closer to 9 miles but I'll stick to 8. 8 Miles in 01:04;32 (08:04 pace : 135 HR) On Wednesday I did not get an opportunity to run and had a long day not getting home from Dublin until after 11 pm. I went on a 6 mile run in the park with Brendan at lunchtime Thursday. As I should have been getting some speedwork in I decided to run two hard laps of the soccer pitches (1,300 m) with an easy lap in between. As we set off on the first hard lap I knew it was going to be difficult. Brendan eased ahead finishing the lap about 15 seconds ahead of me - I finished in 05:05 (06:17 pace). Following an easy lap in 07:40 we set off on the second hard lap with Brendan pulling ahead immediately leaving me to believe that this lap would be much slower. I finished in 05:01 (06:12 pace) about 20 seconds down on Brendan - he certainly got more fast twitch fibres than me. We ambled back to work finishing the run in 48:47 (08:08 pace @ 134 HR) As this is my last week of long runs/high mileage before I begin to taper I got 11.4 miles in this morning before work and another 1.3 miles on the threadmill after work (hardly worth counting). While the pace was relatively easy my legs felt tired and heavy - still recovering from Sunday. 11.4 miles in 01:34:29 (08:17 pace @ 141 HR) HR monitor must have been malfunctioning as max HR was 222. My last 22 miler is due tomorrow. However I'll play it by ear and see how I get on over the early miles and may postpone the longer run until Sunday morning if I feel anyway tired - no point in pushing it. Good luck to all those racing this weekend. The results of the Cork to Cobh 15 Mile road race are in. I came a respectful 64th out of a field of 599, which isn't bad. My time last year got me 234th. The winning time of 1:22:20 is slower than previous years.