Now I Know What a Slice of Lemon Feels Like

Distance: 13.5 miles

Time: 2:02

No more details unfortunately - I used my watch to time my bath afterwards, and lost all the data :o( Still - I started with a high HR, possibly shouldn't have run (it was 91 as opposed to 71 the other day), it was windy, and there were a lot of hills. I decided to try to stay around 155 but didn't manage it on the hills, which were long and plentiful, and all into the wind! Add to that I had some twinges from the Saturday BodyPump class, and was feeling really sluggish for some reason, and it all made for not a good day to run! Still - I did it, and I'm glad I did too, as it's the longest run so far this campaign, and until the last couple of miles actually felt pretty good.

I did nearly give up near the start - the right adductor was tugging quite badly after a hundred yards, which was a left over from the BP class, but I kept going and it eased off. My right ankle got sore, and somehow didn't seem to be moving right, but this went off after a couple of miles, and I started the first long climb. This certainly got the heart rate up, and I stopped to walk part way, and then started again slightly slower. The next climb was a lot easier, as although it's another one over a mile long, it's shallower, and I managed to cope with it better. There was a half mile downhill next, which was a chance to free-wheel, and then a steep climb of a similar length (what would I give for a JCB to make that one mile of flat road - just move the earth around!!), and then a real breather as the next couple of miles are flat or downhill. Things were going well at this point, and I was about ten miles into the run and flowing nicely, if at a faster pace than the last few weeks. HR was hovering at mid 150s.

After about eleven pretty comfortable miles, my legs started to feel tired (fair enough really!) and my pace dropped. The last few miles were quite a hard slog with the pace dropping from what was probably about 8:30 to 10 min/mile plus, givign an average of 9 and a bit min/mile. Too slow really, I need to be able to do 7:50s consistently (for 26.2 miles), but it's early days and I'm just getting used to the miles again.

Then after that I decided to try my first ice bath. Not having a fancy ice maker, I'd bought 2kg of ice from the local Supermarket (at 85p that's pretty cheap). I wasn't sure how cold it would be so I ran my usual cold bath and climbed in, and then after a minute added half the ice. "That's not very cold", I though, and so added the rest. What I hadn't bargained for was that it takes a while to take effect!!! Within a couple of minute sit had definitely got cooler! Not drastically badly though, and a mug of hot tea, a bobble hat and a radiator made it feel not too bad.

Today the legs feel just a smidge tired - not too bad at all considering. I could do a recovery run even, but since I only actually did two runs the last few weeks, maybe running consecutive days this soon would be daft. I can do three runs this week without doing that.

Still - because my long run last week was a Monday, my total for the last seven days is - 30 miles :oD