A decent long run at last

I've been able to build on last week's 20km and today managed to do 23km and thus exceed a half marathon distance comfortably. Of course the pace was slow as I was working on limiting my heart rate but it felt great to be out for over 2 hours.

The route was my Blacka Moor half marathon as described in the (almost 3 year old) video above. The day started a little cool but with the ascent onto the moor the sun came out and I was plenty warm enough for the rest of the trip.

Last week I complained of feeling tired as soon as I left the house and today it was apparent that I was on the cusp of being ill last time. Today I was negligibly faster but found the run far less 'work'. It's also been an easier week physically as I've not done a swim at all.

A rather sparse week due to feeling lousy

A hard rest week

Tuesday was a rest day but I was stuck on a train. Yesterday I had a swimming lesson and then circuits - never very much so today I felt like a decent run. I went out on the road for 11km and it felt fine although my legs were a bit stiff. Yesterday's squats had made their mark.

Looking back on my times for the Dore road loop I'm a lot slower than I was 2 years ago. I'd like to recover some of that pace but I'm acutely aware that injury came soon after the spell of best ever paces. I was instructed not to race every run! I'm using the HRM on every run now and it is clear that this run is at or above classic tempo run pace and  as such must be handled carefully.

Slow, windy and wet

So now it's storm Barney and this time there really is something to notice! Even with foul weather I felt I had to go out as I didn't do any exercise yesterday and hadn't today, up until now. A road route seemed reasonable but as it's a while since I've done that I shortened my usual Dore loop a little and that also meant that I didn't need a head torch.

All along Abbeydale Road I was into the wind so there was no way I'd achieve a 4minute km, even if I tried. The ascent to Dore was relatively sheltered and on the  way home the wind was behind me so gave a little advantage. My pace was very steady and for some of the sections I was at the bottom end of my previous performances. I'd put that down to a combination of foul weather, lack of practice on road, not making too much effort and finally, running in trail shoes.

At least I returned home without an overt injury although my left patellar tendon groaned a little on the descent and I was conscious of my gait for most of the circuit.