Un jour sans et un jour avec

My plan for wednesday was a 10 mile steady state run @ 6min/miling based on the 8 miles I did at similar pace about a week and a half before Ballycotton. I felt it would set me up nicely for the half marathon next weekend. Unfortunately it just didn't come off. I managed the first mile in around 5.56 before turning into a 19mph wind. I tried to comfort myself in that it would be at my back for the last few miles, but to no avail. Added to the wind my stomach was a little dicky so in the space of about 3 metres I abandoned.
This gave me a conundrum, do I attempt it again on Thursday or do I do a long run instead? Now I had to get a long run in anyway before Saturday (as I'm heading home) so could attempt the steady state and risk not managing a decent long run Friday either because of my leg and/or excess fatigue. I decided to go for the long run as I know on Sunday evening I will have some time to kill as I'm not flying until 10pm so all going well will get to the track. So even if it went ok by leaving the long run until Friday the chances are it would have lessened the quality of the session. Or maybe I just over plan things!
So onto the long run. As I got my gear on I prayed to the leg gods that my calf would hold up and got going. The plan was to go for at least 20 miles and a little more all going well. It was the warmest day of the year (around 13deg C) so far but due to a wardrobe malfunction I had to wear my jacket so I was a little hot under the collar. Yet again I had neglected bring liquids which to be honest is just plain stupid when going out for 2.5hours plus. None the less I was quickly down to 7min/miling and even though I felt the effort was slightly higher than usual, still felt comfortable. The wind had abated somewhat so it was all quite pleasant. Felt the miles passed quickly and my pace had quickened to about 6:52per mile. Still felt very comfortable. My HR was a little higher, stuck in the mid 140's but I didn't really see too much harm in that. It was only when I got to a hill at mile 17 that my legs felt a little tired but they recovered again on the downhill. Going by my pace, which I was maintaining at 6.52 I would need to run 22 miles to go over 2.5 hours so said sher why not? Stupid Garmin acted up just before hitting 21miles so it said I had passed a mile when I had only covered about 0.75 & it repeated this on the next mile before seeming to settle back. Other than this minor inconvenience a very satisfying run. Well my hip/calf leg in general started to hurt after about 15 miles but hopefully it'll loosen out with an easy run this evening. Went to the physio this morning & whilst it felt great after, it has stiffened up again during the day. Weight back to 62kg this morning after last weekends excesses!
Wednesday: 6.3 miles (abandoned steady state run)
Thursday: 22.2miles @ 6.54 HR145
  

Gold in dem there hills

If there was any negative to take from Sunday, other than where I could have found 5 seconds, it has to be my fade over the last 2 miles. I had felt so comfortable for so much of the race I really didn't think I would die so badly, especially since I've been doing so much endurance work of late.
My personal theory is that it was the hill at 1.5miles that done it. This was the first winter ever I did absolutely no hill work and most of my runs are done on fairly flat ground. My theory gained some weight this morning as I did a hilly hour pre breakfast. I wasn't pushing it but I was still as slow as I've ever been which doesn't add up as my normal runs have become gradually quicker at the same heart rate in the last few weeks. So I guess the solution is easy - do some hills. I don't think I'll do any actual hill sessions but I will try to find hillier routes for at least some of my runs and hopefully it'll have the desired effect.
Finally stepped on the scales this morning and was happy to see 62.1kg. Curious to know what I was Sunday morning, didn't eat too much yesterday and had bagged 30miles in the two days since, but I'm still glad I resisted.
I was surprisingly fresh yesterday morning as I headed out for a dawn run, with at least a small drop of alcohol in my system, although definitely not enough to upset Al or Kay Guy in the unlikely event they should have swung by. I think part of it was the absolutely beautiful morning it was and heading down ballinamona beach for the first time in an age.
Had some power washing to do for the day and this took infinitely more out of me so was fit for bed in the after but as soon as I laced up my runners again I was in flying form again.
Went for the aforementioned hill run this morning and followed this with an ice bath. Always found once the first cold sensation was overcome ice baths are grand, and wondered was the (disputed) benefit diminished. I discovered today that by moving around in the bath made it impossible to get comfortable. Really noticed the difference when I got out so think this is the way forward - no pain, no gain! Went for a recovery run in the evening and felt drained. Psychological perhaps but looking forward to hitting the hay.
Monday AM: 8.2miles @7.21 HR 134
PM: 7.1miles @7 .06 HR 132
Tuesday AM: 8.5miles @7.37 HR 133
PM: 4.8miles @ 7:40 HR 120

Cheated a bit again last evening by not exactly following my traditional recovery week of no runs longer than an hour. Decided to make it a bit longer so I could make friday's run a bit shorter and still average 8miles/day from Monday to Friday. Had planned on around 9.5 but miscalculated my route & ended up doing just over 10.5. But what harm, still 4 days out from Ballycotton. Weight coming back slowly but surely  - 64.4kg this morning. Wednesday is Cake day (Onsdag kage) at work and I planned on resisting but they were the most beautiful custard filled pastries with chocolate on top. I thought I did well to stop at one!!

Bit the bullet & took the offer of the Half Marathon entry. Must say I'm excited about it now, I wonder is there a chance of a PB? It would be about time (obviously) with my 76.10 being nearly 5 years old, although I did run 76.18 about 18 months ago in a brief spell of form.

Wednesday: 10.65miles @ 7:16 HR 135BPM