My target for this week was 36 miles with a half marathon at the end of the week. I only managed 27 miles, mainly because of a work night out in Belfast on Friday that wiped out my Saturday but also because I got back into the football training.
I play in the Leinster Senior League with Terenure College AFC. Since I got stuck into marathon training my football has taken a back seat but this week I felt the need to kick a ball again. So along with my mileage, I had 2 training sessions on Tuesday and Thursday to contend with.
The week started well with a 5 mile run on Monday followed by a training session with Rathfarnham WASF in Terenure on Tuesday at 6.30. The training involved 8 x 1km intervals run at sub 4min/km pace, tough going especially before football training. I've learned over the last year that joining a running club is by far the best way to improve as a runner. Since I've started training with a group, be it in the Park or with Rathfarnham, my pace has improved significantly. A lot of it is down to intensity of training but also the company of running with others and pushing yourself that bit harder than when on your own.
I ran a 4 mile easy run at lunch on Wednesday. From then on the week went a little downhill. Although I had football training on Thursday, there was very little running involved. Friday was work night out and Saturday was hangover day so a write off. I had all the intentions in the world of running a half marathon race in Carlingford on Saturday morning but that went out the window after we started on shots of sambuca and tequila!
I redeemed myself slightly on Sunday with a half marathon training run. I took on a few hills in this run which, although tough, adds variety to my routes as well as hopefully helping my strength and stamina.
Next week is the big 20 miler...
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