Feeling the strain

I don't feel fully recovered from Sunday's race. Although the general level of fatigiue I am feeling is not down to the race alone but has probably been building up for a while. My resting HR last Saturday was 42 (should be sub-40 if I am firing on all cyclinders) and this morning was 43. While it is only a marginal increase it's enough to tell me that I might be over-reaching a little. My body certainly has demanded more sleep this week - twice I failed to respond to the 5:20 alarm preferring to turn over and go back to sleep until the rest of the house rose shorly after 7. However on those two days I still managed to punish myself by running with Brendan at lunchtime, sqeezing 8 miles into an hour on Wednesday and just under 6 today. While I thought the average 7:27 pace felt tough on Wednesday the shock and awe of the progression run today was enough to force me to bail out early. The first five miles went 07:31 - net downhill 07:17 - flat 06:55 - net uphill 06:40 - net uphill 06:34 - net downhill after that Brendan upped the pace towards 06:20 and beyond for a 7 mile total run whereas I warmed down at just over 7 minute pace for 5.6 miles. With runs like this twice a week I can certainly see why Brendan is performing so well. Certainly Speed/Endurance runs are what has been missing from my training so far this year. Those 2 x 3 mile tempo runs @ 06:35/50 pace last year certainly helped me to a PB or two at the mid-distance races. I tested my new Nike Zoom Vomero 3 shoes today for the first time and all appears well so far. Although the inch of cushioning felt strange at first. Halfway through the run Brendan asked me how they felt - between gasps I managed to mutter "they're fine - it's the rest of me that's fu#k*d". I'll give them a good test tomorrow morning at Eagle AC's hilly long run (at least an 8 minute pace is on the menu - unless Pat Twomey shows up!) Wed 11th Mar 8.05 miles in 59:57 (07:27 pace @ 144HR) Thur 12th Mar 8.61 miles in 01:08:24 (07:57 pace @ 134 HR) Fri 13th Mar 5.67 miles in 39:39 (07:00 pace @ 146 HR) with 5 mile progression run 7:31/7:17/6:55/6:40/6:34