I may be an idiot but sometimes im a quick idiot

I can’t help it, I meant to take it kinda easy as tide was in so cliffs were only option and legs were a little sore I’m guessing from the hill repeats. And as I hit top of the cliffs and stopped to watch the surfers I realised there was a runner behind me. No problem he can pass me easy enough but he didn’t.  So I figured if I wanted space I’d have to make it. Which I did at 6-7 min/mile pace along the cliffs which actually felt fantastic to put the hammer down and fly without stopping.  Yeah ok maybe not sensible but it felt good to breathe hard but not blow up and the cwm’s were so much fun to fly up and down (well the first was a 200ft mudslide but hey its all foward motion  right)

By Witches Point I was expecting to be half dead but I still had it in the legs to do the climb to the top. Recovery was fast and so I decided on the longer extremely wet and muddy route home.

Not so much a path as a stream

The gatehouse thingy at Derval Woods

Awwwwwww – They were playing together like you’d expect puppies to do. It’s easy to forget they just want to have fun too. STOP EATING THEM

The usual. I never get bored of the usual

Fuelling strategy – The school I worked in that afternoon had just gone through inspection so the staffroom was full of shit food! I love shit food but rarely eat it these days so when I get the chance … So kids if you want to run far and fast eat shit food when the sun shines!

 

Mixing it up

Running with someone else has given me a bit of a jolt in that since …. I’m not actually sure when …. I’ve been running in a bit of a comfort zone. It’s been a case of mileage being king, more miles the better and thats it. Time on feet is important but I’ve realised I’ve been doing most of my training in a relatively easy zone, how often am I really training “hard” I’ve slipped into the habit of slow hills and nice easy runs.  If I was recovering thats fine but all the time?

So a little speedwork here and there, some of the old fartlek type things have come into play plus hill sprints.  Speedwork I quite like, hill sprints I do not. But I think all these things easy, fast and fuck hills need to come together if I want to make the improvements to run well for the rest of the year.  Oh and listening to my body (before it breaks down not after)

More Speedwork under blue skies

Back to my weekday runs, feels so good not to have to rush home in the cold and dark. I’m sure that each run gets microscopically easier. It’s almost impossible to gauge progress but I think the secret like many things in life is to stick at it until something gives … its either survival or ignomious collapse in the sand

The gulls just watch me these days and dont even bother flapping away unless I get much closer. We have learned to co-exist, I give them room and they dont fly about shit on me.

Liked the way this one turned out