Thursday 4 September 2008

Happy Beginnings and Sad Endings

The title of my post has nothing to do with running but does accurately reflect my week thus far. On Monday Saran had his first day at School and from the minute he went in the door he didn't look back. "I want to go to school for ever and ever" is what he said after his first day. Lets hope the sentiment lasts.
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On Tuesday I went to Dublin to attend the funeral of a colleague's wife who lost her battle with cancer at the age of 45 - very sad occasion. So heartbreaking to see her Husband, Tony, and 2 young daughters (10 & 15) say their last farewells.
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On the running front I covered 10 miles on Monday at base pace (07:44) following Sundays day of rest.
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I was overnight in Wexford on Tuesday night (work related) so did not get to do my mixed intervals at the track and instead covered 10k on the treadmill at the Hotel I was staying in. I had it in my mind to do a 5k race in Cork on Wednesday evening in lieu of the mixed intervals but decided against it as I was tired when I got home and Abina was heading out to work.
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That left my legs fresh for this mornings 2 x 3.75 miles @ HM pace - although I felt less than fresh hauling my sorry ass out of bed at 0530hrs. The route was fairly flat (same route as last training cycle) so that I would have a fighting chance. While McMillan gives me a 06:30 HM pace my HM PB pace is 06:52 - so anywhere between the two would mean a satisfactory run.
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Last training cycle I extended the first leg to 4.25 miles in 06:34 pace to get the pain over with early and the return 3.25 miles in 06:31 pace. This time round I wasn't too far off that with the first 3.75 miles in 06:32 pace and the return leg after half a mile at recovery pace slightly slower in 06:35 pace. The splits
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06:36 06:38 06:23 04:48 (06:24 pace) . 6:33 06:45 (partly uphill) 06:33 04:48 (06:24 pace) .
Mon 1st Sept a.m. 10.18 Miles in 01:18:43 (07:44 Pace) p.m. 2.5 Miles in 19:50 (07:56) treadmill Legs: 7/10 Sleep 6.5 Hrs: 7/10 .
Tue 2nd Sept 6.2 Miles in 47:20 (07:38 Pace) treadmill Legs: 7/10 Sleep: 6hrs: 6/10 .
Thur 4th Sept a.m. 12 Miles in 01:25:49 (07;09 Pace) with 2 x 3.75 @ 06:32 & 06:35 Pace. p.m. 2.5 Miles in 21:50 (08:44 Pace) treadmill - recovery. Legs: 8/10 Sleep: 5.5hrs: 5.5/10

6 comments:

  1. Looks like your son will be an 'A' student. Good stuff.

    Yes, that is sad.

    Your running is going well - esp at such hours of the day. Good to see.

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  2. All the best to Saran. I hope the enthusiasm is still ongoing.

    Grellan, how come you easily outperform me in training but only once managed to beat me in a race?

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  3. Thomas, the simple answer is that I don't like the pain of racing and you don't like the pain of losing. Hopefully I'll learn to endure and you'll learn to accept.

    The only reason I won in Ballycotton is that you were still recovering from pneumonia.

    BTW I don't outperform you in training.

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  4. Yes you do. Any tempo runs or intervals of yours are quite a bit faster than mine.

    Btw, I'm on my own version of the Brain Training program. I've swapped workouts around, and always do a long run after a tempo run (or other fast workout). The idea is to start with already tired legs in order to get additional benefits of those long miles. It's like running miles 5-25 instead of 0-20.

    Learning to accept, eh? Continue on your present trajectory and I just might have to.

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  5. Good luck to Saran in school. Just remind him forever and ever is a long time!
    Some nice runs again. Looks like you are getting tuned quite nicely for your next marathon.

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  6. Keep up with the training, it looks like it is coming along well. And best of luck with the weather, yesterday and today it has done nothing but rain buckets. I should've brought my winter running gear over:) Oh, and you're bang on about the drivers and not the roads... Ally and I loved the country lanes in Cornwall and in Ireland, we have nothing like it back home.

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