It was always on my mind to do the Achill half marathon. it has being there for awhile, well before i became sick. I have told myself on many occasions that time has got the better of me and i can't be expecting to do that distance with a short time of training.
The Achill half takes place in 4 weeks time. My max distance so far is only 10km. i have looked up online and most comments suggest that undertaking that distance with little amounts of training could lead to injury. I am going to have to accept that risk and just say I have already had enough bad luck for one year.
I still haven't officially put pen to paper in taking part in the race but if I get some good session in would be great. I would like to get up to around 16km and might walk the rest of it. I completed a 10km yesterday. I felt I had some energy to put in an extra km or two but i decided to leave a long run till the weekend. I am aiming for a 14km over the weekend.
Today, I was looking to increase the pace and take on my usual 7km route in order to beat my previous time of 42.12. I suppose the 7kms were usually my long distance runs but want that distance now to be my Tempo runs. Run a bit faster was the plan and get home quicker. By the first km, i could already feel the lungs were working harder then usual. I said I will slow down around half way.
Along the route, I had checked the time previously and hit it around 19.3mins This time around i hit it at 16mins and that was the first time I looked at the watch and it gave me a boost to keep motoring. I was plodding along and got a stitch but I kept motoring to beat that 40min mark and even shouted out 'Come on Paul'. only the cows heard me I think. the course I took as pretty much flat and little downhills but the final part makes up for one big uphill. Not to sure on the length of it, maybe 200meters. i got to around 150meters of it but I just said I have to walk for a minute, let the heart-rate drop a bit and get back to my 40min target.
Rest lasted for 45second, took some deep breaths and got them legs going again. Was still annoyed my stitch did not go away. I said I was running home no matter what. I continued through it for the last 1.5km and got home in a time of 38.05mins. Was very impressed with that result and hopefully there will be many more results i will be pleased with.
Must look into doing some strength training especially for the core area. Since I will be doing more running, I must get into the habit of doing my pre and post stretches. Try and remain injury free.
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