Sunday – 16.5m
2 weeks left to the showdown, it’s almost taper time and this was to be my last long run, ye long run how I shall miss thee*. Really wanted to get this done without any calf pain so the plan was just to keep the pace on the easy side of comfortable and get at least 2 hours on my feet, I’d be satisfied with that. I headed into the city, a nice pleasant hat-less morning, feeling good for first few miles. I started feeling a slight discomfort around 5 miles and I though here we go, gonna start niggling at me now until I have to stop. Lucky for me that faded and I didn’t feel it again getting 16.5 good miles in and easing up for the last 3, average pace 7:28 min/mile. Heading out the Carrigrohane road I nearly impaled my foot on a huge shard of glass that was millimetres short of piercing my sole, somebody’s trying to sabotage my marathon and that’s not taper paranoia, you’re paranoid. Just at the end of my run I ended up running alongside a 10k BHAA race that was just finishing, seemed like a great race, good field and nice atmosphere so I hope to get a few of these races done after the marathon. Overall was delighted to get to the end of this pain-free but when I got home it did start complaining a little so I iced it and it seemed to behave for the rest of the day, time to put this calf to bed.
Monday – 6.5m Easy
Nice relaxed jog into the city via Blarney street and back. It was a mild, sunny evening, pace was pretty easy averaging 7:24 min/mile even with the 2 mile drag back home, no calf pain but shin splints seem to be surfacing on the same leg so I need to keep an eye on that. It will be mostly easy running this week, 4 x 1 mile has been cancelled tomorrow in favour of an easy 8m to ensure I get the calf back to normal.
Tuesday – 8m Steady
Ah now, that was exactly the run I needed. I have I been pretty frustrated recently, the past 5 runs have all averaged around 7:30 min/mile mainly due to the calf injury I’ve been battling but today I felt back to normal again and it felt good. Paranoia was starting to creep in with hints of OCD, “If I don’t do a session with some pace I’ll lose all my fitness and maybe never run again” etc. The evening itself was horrible, battling headwind and cold rain for the first few miles but was feeling fresh, hadn’t got a particular pace in mind but was feeling good so I went with it. Once into the city I found myself in a comfortable 6:45 min/mile pace and headed out the Carrigrohane road through the park and feeling great, legs felt fresh, no niggles and suddenly I found myself in the happy zone. I wasn’t watching the pace but I hit 6:36 for the 4th mile, too eager so I eased it up a bit after that not wanting to do anything silly. A slow last mile back up the hill that wrapped up a great run overall, confidence still high and the countdown is firmly on, average pace 6:54 min/mile.
Wednesday – 8m Easy
The most impressive thing about this run was the fact my garmin made it through the whole run on just 2% battery, I expected it to die about 1-2 miles in but no it battled through showing serious mental resolve (and power reserve). I think it’s a sign of some sort but I’m not sure what it means, I’ll take it as a good one. Nice easy run today just keeping the legs ticking over, average pace 7:46 min/mile. Headed down to the Mardyke arena with Jenny (welcome to Cork Jenny!!) and she went off to do a session with St.Finbarrs running club who happened to be just starting. I did a few easy laps of the track and headed out the Carrigrohane/Model Farm loop taking it nice and easy, good old run. No pain and probably no gain either, just fine.
Thursday – 6m Easy
Down for a short tempo but decided against it at the last second as shin splints were flaring up after the first mile. Headed down to the Mardyke arena again and stopped to chat with the coach of Leevale for a while but as I was chatting I could feel pain in the shin, probably because of the idiotic pace coming down the monster hill. Taking no chances I just cantered off for an easy 6 mile around the sports grounds, felt no more pain and iced it when I came home. AIS in the evening.
Friday -3.5m Easy
Happy birthday to me, today Conor you only have to run 4 miles since it’s your special day. I had a pressie in the post from the mother that had to be collected from the post office so I made that my lunchtime mission making the short 4 mile round trip and stopping in Lidl also for some miscellaneous items, mainly mint-chocolate rice cakes. Shin is still acting up a bit, was fine on the run but felt slight pain afterwards, hmm. Well time to go spoil myself for the rest of the day!
Saturday – 10.5m Easy
Straight forward get-it-done jog today, a damp morning and feeling quite sluggish so was happy to get it out of the way. The shin felt ok most of the time though I did have thoughts of cutting it short to let it rest but after 5 or 6 miles I felt good so kept going, average 7:30 min/mile pace. That’s almost 60 miles this week, happy with that and now we delve even deeper into taper mode next week, can’t wait.
Weekly Total: 59.5m