I did a very easy 10 miles on Monday and even though it was pouring down with rain I really enjoyed my run home. In fact for some of it I'm fairly certain I was smiling because the poor, drenched cyclists grinding away towards me in the horrendous weather gave me puzzled looks as they sped by. I think part of the reason I was enjoying it so much, was because I had decided not to look at my watch, but just to run at a comfortable pace. My calf muscles were still pretty stiff and sore, but I didn't mind. I just ran, happy to be doing so.
That evening I had a deep tissue massage with Kirsten. Kirsten has been taking good care of my Achilles over the last two weeks and so I was pretty pleased when she told me that my Achilles now looked pretty strong and there was no noticeable problem or weakness. Generally my legs are tired and stiff, but this simply due to the hard training I have put them through over the last few months. I am hoping my taper will help sort that out as I will ease off on the mileage and quantity of my training.
Today, Tuesday, I was back to interval training. My planned session was to do 800m reps in the Meadows and Seamus, who is due to run the Dublin Marathon the week after I run Amsterdam, decided to join me. Last Tuesday I did some gentle mile reps to ease my Achilles back into it, so this Tuesday the aim was to do something a little quicker.
It was extremely windy and not in any one direction. It was constantly swirling around the fields and the trees hitting us in the chest wherever we turned. We used the triangle route, which measures between 840-860 meters, and because of the wind we changed directions for each rep to try and get some shelter. It didn't help, whichever way we went we hit strong winds. Seamus was feeling a little tired and heavy today, so he wasn't quite able to keep up with me for each of the reps. I could tell he was more than a little frustrated by his lack of pace. I too, wasn't entirely happy with my times. My first rep was 2.58, but my second one was better and down to 2.52, my next eight ranged between 2.51 and 2.45. With my legs still pretty stiff and heavy and my mind still cautious about picking up an injury I decided to stop after 10 reps. Seamus agreed. Like me he too had been getting faster with every rep, but he didn't want to push it either. I had originally planned to do 12 reps, but I knew the last 2 would do nothing for me.
I was pretty pleased after the session, as I had come through it fine and at the end felt better than I did at the beginning and was faster. What made me even happier was that when I checked my watch afterwards and looked at the data on the reps, it showed that my pace was faster than I thought it was. My minute per mile pace ranged between 5.37 and 5.07 with nearly all of them at 5.20 and quicker. Considering the strong winds, which must have cost a few seconds every rep, I was quicker than I had hoped. Tonight's session is the fastest I have run since my injury, so I feel (touch wood) as though I am getting back to where I need to be and that perhaps I have not lost too much in terms of training and progress.
I have noticed that I am now counting down the number of days until I start tapering. The stiff and sore legs that I have felt for 2 weeks now have taken a bit out of me mentally, so I am trying to stay focused on these next couple of weeks to make sure I don't ease off and that I put in the effort I need to get the result I want at Amsterdam. If I can finish off these two weeks well, then I am sure the taper will take care of itself and me, so that I will be fresh for the marathon.
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