NOv 13th – nov 19th
Mon: 40 min easy. Hamstring sore. 40 mins elliptical and gym.
https://www.strava.com/activities/10212268121
Tue: 15 min WU, 3k @ 4:10km pace (400m jog) 8 x 400 @ 85 (45), 15 min CD. Hamstring still sore. 60 mins elliptical (15 WU, 30 mins harder, 15 CD) and gym. https://www.strava.com/activities/10218022210
Wed: 40 min easy Complete. 9km + elliptical and gym. Hamstring better but not 100%.
https://www.strava.com/activities/10224423806
https://www.strava.com/activities/10224425174
Thur: 15 min WU, 3 x 10 min @ 4:05 km pace (60), 15 min CD Complete. Ran to feel and reps quicker than prescribed (sorry). 10 min reps were 3:49, 3:44 (downhill) and 3:50 (uphill). 14.36km total.
https://www.strava.com/activities/10230016212
Fri: off. Gym + 30 mins elliptical. https://www.strava.com/activities/10234874949
Sat: 15 min WU, 12 x 30 sec hills (easy jog back), 15 min CD. Complete. Reps at Khyber. Windy. 10.83km total. https://www.strava.com/activities/10237900673
Sun: 85 min Complete. 19km. https://www.strava.com/activities/10244009608
Weekly Total: 53.19km
This week started as the previous week ended – with a sore hamstring. I decided to take Monday and Tuesday off running and instead went to the gym and did some work on the elliptical. It’s not often I go to the gym, it’s not really ever. Any time I do, I tend to just do cardio and will rarely pay any regard to weights. This is a pretty common theme for a lot of runners until such time as they can’t get away with it anymore. I am by no means near that part of my life yet (I’ve other bodily illnesses to be worrying about) but I feel now is the time to really focus on those aspects of it. I have a gym in work that is fully equipped for everything I need and, coupled with it being very quiet on the days I want to use it, I really have no excuse (but will find one if necessary).
Wednesday was an easy 40 minutes up the Grand Canal and the hamstring felt fine. I reckon if it hadn’t of been sore then I’d have paid the discomfort during the run no mind but because I was hyperaware of it, I knew it wasn’t 100%. I went back to the gym in work and did 20 minutes on the elliptical to round out an hour of work.
Thursday was the first session since the hamstring pain and this was really enjoyable. The pace was to be 4:05 per each 10 minute rep but I ran to feel and ended up being a bit quicker than that. Depending on where I was in the park, the pace was adjusted accordingly based on the effort. I felt pretty good after it, and the hamstring had no setback, and I’m cautiously optimistic that there is some sort of base fitness now being formed. It’s a long way to go before I get back to anywhere near where I was but being comfortable in a session is always a good milestone to reach.
Friday was gym and elliptical and uneventful.
I had planned to go and watch the Clontarf 5 mile and half marathon on Saturday so I did my hill session early on Khyber. The reps felt really good and strong and even though I was trying my best to focus on form (lifting the legs high, pumping the arms, shoulders relaxed and head up), the pace was also pretty decent for most of the reps. I have a soft target of trying to reach the first white bench for each of the 30 second reps and I was thereabouts for most of them. What a time to be alive.
I got lucky with the weather on Saturday; I did not get lucky on Sunday. It was miserable. It was grim. There was a strong wind that was cold but then it wasn’t really cold at all so the layers I had worn meant I was overheating. I wore gloves because it was cold and after 15 minutes my hands were sweltering. For some mad reason, Barry and I broke with tradition and did the river run backwards – crazy, right? We took in the hill in Memorial Park and then, for our sins, did the Stoneybatter climb from the Quays to the Garda HQ. There’s only one thing I love more than hating that climb and that is taking the piss out of how much I hate that climb. It is a really difficult pull and just when you think it’s over, after entering the park at the North Circular Road Gate, you have that deceptively steep climb up to the Garda HQ. Every time I forget about it; every time I am angry with it. During the Dublin build up, we made a point of going up this during most of our long runs and it really stood to the race as I think it’s nailed on to catch you out if you’re not ready for it. Overall I felt good during the run but my heart rate is still stubbornly high. I feel like I’m at a conversational pace but maybe I’m just getting better at talking shite when I’m gassing out. Time will tell.
If that wasn’t enough excitement for the week, I took a spin down to the National Cross Country Championships on Sunday afternoon. It was a bloodbath and thoroughly entertaining. I’ll let the pictures tell their own story.
Buckets of Rain 