It's all on the wrist.

Yesterday was one of those days that could have made or broke my summer. After completing the half marathon last Sunday, I rightly or wrongly took my foot off the gas for the bones off a week. I had been sleeping even worse than usual which didn't help the motivation and I think I as had been looking forward to some down time after the marathon this played into it as well.
So I decided to make a fresh start Monday, with a session of 400's. To cut a long story short it didnt happen but I managed to get 10 miles easy in. I followed this with an easy 45 minutes on Tuesday with the view to do a proper session of 400's yesterday (Wednesday).
As the day wore on though I was feeling less and less inclined and was looking for all sorts of excuses to get out of it. I ended up writing 'mansuit' (or HTFU in cycling speak!) on my hand to try and bring my head back to the right place during my weaker moments!
When I got home from work I had a brainwave - why not do mile repeats instead of 400's? 6x1mile is always easier than 16x400m. I also decided to set the bar low, start off with a 6.00 pace & stay there if necessary! I think part of the problem after Limerick last year was expecting too much too soon, and despite not having 26.2 miles in my legs I still thought it better to aim low.
I got through the first in 5.47, feeling grand and as a result my recovery was probably the shortest ever, being a tad under 2 minutes. At about midway through the second I decided under 5.40 for all of them would be a nice target to aim for. The next 3 were all 5.38 although the effort was increasing but was still reasonably comfortable. Recoveries were still short - just over 2 minutes. I managed to pick up the pace over the last 2 (due in no small part to some fit4life ladies turning up) with a 5.34 & a 5.30 dead for the last - pushing hard over the last lap. OK it was slower than I was back in Malaga the week before Ballycotton but hopefully it's the first step towards a productive summer, so long as I keep writing things on my wrist! Conditions were pretty close to perfect btw.
Have slept OK all week, until this morning so did a ridiculously slow 4 miles to work at 4am!. Havent crashed and burned yet though. Pacing the 1.30 half marathon group in Limerick on Sunday and as tomorrow is a day off here I will try and go to the track again in the morning. But we shall see...
Monday:10miles @7.31 HR135
Tuesday: 6.3miles @7.26 HR134
Wednesday: 6x1mile (12miles total)
Thursday: AM: 4miles @8.36 HR120

DNS

So haven't been blogging of late, mostly due to the erratic nature of my running. In 6 days I am due to toe the line outside The so called theater of dreams but unfortunately my preparation has turned into a nightmare of sorts. 

While my chest infection almost cleared I headed to Mallorca on holiday with the intention of putting the finishing touches to my preparation. I had had 2 very light weeks and so decided to ease my way into it. Had hoped to do an easy hour the first day, but after 45 minutes felt wiped and as I was planning on going to the track the following day I finished up with that. 

Felt pretty crap on the way to the track where the plan was for mile repeats but when the first lap was 90 seconds and I was struggling at that I decided I wasn't ready. This was particularly frustrating as the track was buzzing with athletes and I felt a bit of an imposter failing to perform. 

Decided to test the water the next day and I was flying. I was effortlessly running along at 6.30 pace, although my HR was up in the high 140s it felt grand. I guess it made sense that the muscles had enjoyed the 2 easy weeks more than the heart and lungs. Did an hour and went back for a session feeling a little more confident the next day.

While it wasn't the best session ever I managed 5x1mile starting with a 5.30 before slipping back to 5.40 by the end. I was just happy to get something done by the end.

Was up early the next morning and knocked out 10 miles pre breakfast and felt pretty good. Was really getting the feeling I had cracked this goddamn infection. 

I had found a race for Sat morning and was debating all week whether or not to go for it. I did a very easy 30 minutes on Friday and decided to give it a lash. I found the town where it was on no problem, a gorgeous cobble stoned called Soller in the Mallorcan hills. Unfortunately finding the race was a little more difficult. I walked up and down the town but saw no sign of any runners. As I headed back to the car to get my gear before resuming the search I met some girls in running gear. I asked were they going to the race and they said yes but were as in the dark as me as to the location. I decided to tag along as they spoke the lingo and could run back to the car as my warm up. Or at least that was the plan. We didn't get to the start until about 15 minutes before the start so I resigned myself to racing in a cotton t-shirt but thankfully I had my running shorts on under my regular shorts.

After barely a mile of a warm up I was thankful that the first half mile was downhill. Wasn't feeling great though and had settled into a group with 3 guys ahead of us. Slowed as the race progressed, it was a reasonably hilly course with 3 laps so by the end we were catching some of the back markers. Can't remember my time but came 6th at 5.51 pace

Which is pretty shocking for a 7.5k race. 

Managed to spot my new friends on the jog back to the car so offered a 'vamos' which no doubt inspired them!

Got out for another run that evening just because the sun was shining. My long run Sunday morning was 11.5miles and I don't think I could have managed another step. 

Arriving back in Denmark on Monday (without my trusty massage boule, taken from my by an over zealous security in Eindhoven airport) my plan was to head to the track.

Within the first mile I knew it wasn't happening so I turned around. Fuck it anyway I thought. Maybe I did too much too soon. Did nothing for the rest of the week except cycle to and from work. And make a pig of myself! I think there was more cake at work this week than I'd ever seen before and I think the fact that I resisted any indulgences in Mallorca, got the better of me.

Was in Ireland for the weekend so went to the Mardyke Sunday where the session was 4x 1mile. These ranged from 5.38 to 5.55. Didn't push it, hopefully can start building up again from here. Planned an hour pre breakfast but only did 45minutes as again wasnt exactly firing on all cylinders. It was just as well as I had slightly misjudged the time and needed to head to Dublin for a flight on which I'm writing this.

Manchester is off the cards BTW!!