Back to it!

I'd decided whilst on the train for 4 hours today that I'd go for a run as soon as I was home. Amazingly the weather had been improving all morning and by mid-afternoon it was positively warm. As it has been quite a while since I ran up Porter Clough that was my goal although I'd forgotten how busy Endcliffe Park would be on a sunny holiday afternoon! The number of strollers became an cute problem as whilst trying to pass two gents having an animated scission with lots of pointing I detoured onto an uneven slope of the path and tumbled onto my hands and knees. I felt it coming and tried to recover and slow down but I still ended up with a bloodied knee and hands. Always the left knee!

There was nothing for it, "injured" within 3km, so onwards to a tap at Forge Dam. I rinsed off gravel as best as I could and pushed on. The run felt very hard and on returning home I was disappointed to see a fairly long time. I suppose I had fallen, stopped to chat and stopped for wash, so each of those would have added some delay. Even the final ascent, where I had no delays was in the slow zone.

I was trialling a Zero electrolyte tablet in my water, hence my reluctance to use it for washing, and found the taste acceptable but not great. I'd made up the basic ratio of 1 tablet to 750ml and estimate that I'd drunk under 200ml despite making quite an effort to sip frequently. I finished it off from a glass once home, so it didn't go to waste.

I'm probably still recovering from the 50km run (the physio suggested a day per mile recovery time) so I mustn't focus on the time. There are two things to look at anyway:

• Drinking more and getting use to the electrolyte taste - perhaps finding a favourite
• Doing some hill intervals to increase my speed and power.