Dodgy Gut

Week 14/24 started out poorly, dropped to a few zero days before recovering at the weekend. As Monday was a Bank Holiday (Paddys Day) I opted for a short 6.7 mile run in the evening after spending the afternoon downtown with the family. Throughout the run I felt tired and lethargic with no energy and what felt like a lump of lead in my stomach (I blamed it on the unscheduled stop at McDonalds earlier) On Tuesday I felt no better heading out to the track in the evening to run 5 x 1k intervals with Pat next door. Only for Pat I think I would have stopped after a few reps as the effort coupled with stomach cramps and general aches and pains all over was such that I was ready to throw up if the pace/distance increased by 1%. The recoveries between reps were (thankfully) well over the 3 minutes scheduled for (al lot of walking involved). With a target of < 03:54 I just about managed it - 03:51 03:50 03:52 03:52 03;53 Why I went for an 8.6 Mile recovery run on Wednesday morning I will never know. It was one of the worst runs ever - I felt absolutely terrible throughout. This run is normally tiring coming as it does less than 12 hours after the track session but when shivery aches and pains and stomach cramps are thrown into the mix it make for one hell of an experience. While the shivers and stomach cramps affected my running they were not sufficient to warrant time off work as I could function reasonably well when my heart rate was in double digits. Needless to say Thursday's tempo run (4.5 miles @ 10k pace) was initially postponed until Friday and then cancelled. The additional sleep I got Thursday and Friday mornings did not appear to boost my energy levels though. However I did feel sufficiently well to head out on my long run on Saturday morning. All things going well I planned on going longer than 20 miles (23+). Heading out the door I was met by a strong cold northerly wind and so my first 2.1 miles consisted of a loop back to the house to fetch gloves and hat - and off I headed again on my usual 20 mile loop, throwing in a 1 mile diversion on the way (I'd do the same on the way back to get 24.1 Miles in total - assuming I didn't bail in the meantime). The first 5 miles were not the most comfortable starting miles of a long run I've ever had but the discomfort did not subside or intensify as the miles increased. Knowing that I would be out for in excess of 3 hours I concentrated on time left as opposed to how far from home I was so that I was less concerned with distance and kept an even pace/effort. Towards the end I was beginning to tire but still threw in the 1 mile detour on the return leg and briefly thought about repeating the 2.1 mile loop from the house to give me a Marathon training run like Thomas did last week. but decided against it for the following reasons:-

1. Thomas is training for a 39 mile ultra in 2 weeks (compared to my 10k)
2. I wanted to recover reasonably quickly (If I had planned a 26.2 miles I should have at least headed out at a slower pace)
3. I was already well above the scheduled 18 mile long run in my programme.

I completed the 24.1 miles in 03:15:40 (08:07 pace) which wasn't bad given my form earlier in the week. However, on checking my log, this time last year I completed similar long runs at slightly faster paces (07:59) - albeit at marginally higher heart rates 137 compared to 133 yesterday - doesn't look like an awful lot of improvement in a year.

This morning I headed out for an 11.4 mile recovery run which was taken at a slow pace (the only pace available this morning) - no thoughts of extending it like last week - probably still not 100%.

Mon 17th Mar

6.7 Miles in 56:53 (08:29 pace @ 117 HR???)

Tue 18th Mar 7.0 Miles in 01:03:08 (09:01 pace @ 132 HR) with 5 x 1000m @ 03:50 to 03:53 (5k pace) Wed 19th Mar 8.6 Miles in 01:12:46 (08:28 pace @ 127 hr) Sat 22nd Mar 24.1 miles in 03:15:40 (08:07 pace @ 133 HR) Sun 23rd Mar 11.4 Miles in 01:38:54 (08:41 pace @ 121 HR) Total of 57.8 Miles for week 14. Happy Easter to all.