We're having a Heatwave

These past few days have been very rare, and very enjoyable, in that we have been "suffering" a heatwave here in Ireland. Now, I appreciate that many who read this will be used to hot summers, with temperatures well into the 90's and breaking the 100 mark. But here in Ireland, we have street parties when it hits 60 :)... OK, maybe that's not quite true, and despite what people think we actually get pleasant summers, with average temps in the high 60's most summers.

Well these past few days have seen the 80's hit, and across the Irish Sea, England has seen temps soar into the 90's. It's not so pleasant at work, but the weekend and evenings have been glorious, and I'll enjoy it while it lasts.

It has been good for my running too. I was up at my mums in the North on Saturday and drove over to Castlewellan and the Forest Park for an exceptionally enjoyable early evening run around the Lake. It was only 3.5 miles, but you know that feeling when everything falls into place - The surrounds are briliant, your running is smooth - Well this was one of those runs, everything clicked and it was a joy to be running. Managed 23 miles last week, running 6 days out of 7, and yesterday saw me extend to 5 miles, clcoking 39:21 for the run, and this was after a timed 5K on Monday in 23:18 - all times heading in the right direction.

Took time out last night to head to the cinema. It was Superman Returns! It passed a few hours. It's not a bad film, but neither was it brilliant. Just about worth going to see, with some great special effects, but the script left a little to be desired. Nice little homages to Christopher Reeve in places, and good to see they used the John Williams score - I'd say to anyone thinking about going, yep, go - it won't blow you away, and it's exactly what you'd expect a Superman Film to be, Good V Evil, Good winning out in the end, after the usual pitfalls along the way, and Kryptonite playing it's part as ever - You'd think Lex would learn a trick or two for all his alleged brains :)

Back to running, and will hope to build from the base I'm starting to create. I know others who are training for a fall marathon will be well ahead of me in preparation, with their mileage up over 50 per week. I'll be looking at stabilising around 30, and increasing my long runs, building up over the next ten weeks, peaking at around 40 to 45 mpw - I've never been a High Mileage runner, using quality and rest to help me prepare - I'll keep you posted.