From Diary of a rubbish Marathon Runner With the kids returning to school/preschool, it was only a matter of time until they picked up some germs, I just did not expect it to happen so quickly.
Maia had a slight cold last week (with a few rough nights), Shea complained a bit a few days later, and now it seems to be my turn.
I first noticed a sore throat on Sunday; it was a bit worse on Monday, and today, Tuesday, I definitely a bit off. This means a sore throat has now replaced my Achilles as the most bothersome body part.
Sunday was still okay and I did 10 miles at steady pace. It felt better than the 8 miles on Saturday, but maybe that was due to the lighter shoes. Monday’s run was an easy effort, but I had planned some faster running for today.
A sore throat led to a less-than-ideal night and I spent plenty of time staring at the ceiling and listening to the wind and rain outside. This convinced me to reset the alarm from 10 miles to 8, but I got up before it went off and I had time for 9. My route just happened to pass the hill I use for hill repeats, so I did two 30-second efforts, which is the Brain Training book’s recommended way of kick-starting faster running. I will probably use the training plan in that book to prepare for my spring marathon. I used it for Dublin 2 years ago and swore never to use it again because the speed work made me feel exhausted and burnt out. But, two years later, I have never come even close to my Dublin time and am willing to give it another try. The one lesson I have learnt from last time is not to do 2-speed workouts on race weeks, which is the one thing I’m planning on doing differently this time around (that, and running 6 minutes faster during the race, hopefully). The training program is 24 weeks long and won’t start for another 2 weeks, so all I’m doing now is easing into it. The first few weeks of the plan are very low on mileage, which I will “adapt”, especially on the day of the Dublin marathon, which will be a rather long run at easy training pace.
There are plenty of races again in Kerry between now and New Year, especially the Killarney 5k series where I had come an astonishing 4th last year (very much due to a lack of fast runners completing the series rather than my prolific speed). I’d love to complete it again this year, but since the twins will be doing their CTYI courses on most of the same days, I will have to see if I can squeeze in the races.
19 Sep
10 miles, 1:17:10, 7:43 pace, HR 158
20 Sep
6+ miles, 50:19, 8:10 pace, HR 148
21 Sep
9 miles, 1:10:53, 7:51 pace, HR 155
