I haven't written anything for a while, for various reasons such as work and life getting very busy.
Also, there hasn't been much to report on the running front.
After getting sick with the chest infection a few weeks ago, I found it very difficult to get back into any meaningful training. It was a serious uphill battle trying to get back to fitness, and even now 5 weeks later, I reckon I am only getting back to where I was pre- illness. It hasn't helped that I am now only managing about 30 miles a week, trying to concentrate on quality sessions rather than quantity.
I still get the speed sessions in with Gary on Tuesday evenings, and get a tempo session in on Thursday or Friday.
As I am not targeting a marathon until at least October, my long runs are not that long, no more than 9 to 11 miles really. Last week as a tester, I did the ardgillan parkrun, and while I came second, I was 20 seconds faster than the last time I did it, with mile 1 in 5.20, and set the course record for my age category.
This week, I did the Fr Murphy 5 mile incorporating the Meath championships. We had a good group out, and the men's team took second place. We had two ladies win their categories.
While I went into the race not feeling as fit or strong as I did at the Raheny 5 mile, where I ran my first sub 30 at 29.58, obviously the new focus on shorter training distances is working, as I set a new PB at 29.30, which gave me second ( by one second from a clubmate with whom I ran the race, sorry Stuey ) in my O40 category, and a lovely plaque, together with a silver county medal for the team event.
The downside to the reduction in mileage is the increase in weight. I have gained 5 pounds, which while it doesn't sound like much, when you start at 10 stone, it's almost 5% of your body weight, and I can definitely feel it, so a slightly stricter diet may be required.
I intend to run the Upcoming Boyne 10k, and while I would hope for a new PB, previous 39.00, I won't be targeting it for a flat out effort, if that concept makes any sense. Dunsaughlin will probably be my target 10k.
I am still getting used to not working at weekends anymore, it's great to able to say with some certainty which races I can chose to do.
