I finished off my 4th marathon recovery week with back to back 14 mile runs. The first on Saturday was a very hilly solo run through strong winds and intermittent rain. After the heavy rains and recent flooding there was a lot of runoff from the land and the road was more like a river in places. Sunday's club run, by comparison was a relatively flat run through the city to inspect flood damage. At least some people were having fun.
The track was closed on Tuesday due to a public sector strike over impending wage cuts so I managed to get out this evening instead to get some more of those 2km intervals in, this time 4 no. with a target 6:40 pace (08:20 overall). I didn't want to push the normal 6:20 pace after my MP run yesterday although I came pretty close during the last rep.
With the marathon four week behind me I should be able to push a little harder over the coming weeks with my distant targets likely to be the Barcelona Marathon on 7th March and the Connemara Ultra 5 weeks later (which I signed up for last night). I know the advice from those who have gone before is to pick one or the other but not both. So I run the risk of hearing the words "I told you so" from a certain Kerry runner on April 11th. What can I say I like the odds.
Thur 19th Nov
2.5 miles in 19:49 (07:56 pace - Treadmill)
Fri 20th Nov
5.22 miles in 37:02 (07:06 pace @ 142HR) Progression run - 7:55/7:18/6:41/6:26/7:06
Sat 21st Nov
14.23 miles in 1:57:54 (08:17 @ 140HR) Hilly run
Sun 22nd Nov
14.82 miles in 2:08:05 (08:39 @ 125 HR) Club Run
Recovery Week #4 - 45.28 miles
Tue 24th Nov
2.5 miles in 19:49 (07:56 pace - Treadmill)
7.29 miles in 59:49 (08:17 pace @ No HR Monitor) with 5 x 15 sec hill sprints
Wed 25th Nov
5.99 miles in 41:59 (07:01 pace @ 146 HR) Steady (MP) Run
Thur 26th Nov
8.3 miles in 1:04:45 (07:48 pace @ 134 HR) with 4 x 2 km in 8:11/17/07/7:57 w/2 min recoveries
Who needs a beach?! I remember doing that down the coast when I was a whippersnapper ;)
ReplyDeleteNice going with the double and the 4 x 2k. Any major races prior to Barcelona?
Woohoo!!! Connemara is an absolute blast, you'll love every single step of it - until the time when the pain sets in, and then it's a bit of a drag for the last 5, 10, 20 miles.
ReplyDeleteGlad to share it with someone, but I wouldn't do it in conjunction with Barcelona. When my troubles started in Dublin at mile 15, I only had 11 to go. In Connemara you're still 24 miles short at that stage ... (will have told you so!)
Frankly I'm surprised you managed to do any running at all last week, after all the things I've been hearing about conditions in Cork. Make the back-to-back 14+ milers even more impressive!
That is some nutty weather! Great job on the running despite the elements.
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