Happily Ever After
Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, three cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running
Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.
Struggling From The Start
by Russell Turner - 14:23 on 20 April 2021
I’ve been getting over-confident. Recent long runs have been comfortable or at a good pace – sometimes both – but yesterday’s desperate 18 miles was neither.
The temperature was 10ºC higher than last week, with an occasionally nasty wind, I was still lacking sleep, and chances are that my legs were not yet recovered from my 5k PB triumph. Excuses, excuses. And I had to pause the Garmin after less than a mile while I adjusted my new backpack’s straps in an attempt to stop the bladder bouncing around inside, both noisily and annoyingly. When that failed, I had to return home, abandon the pack and decant Tailwind into a hand bottle. Not a good start.
Despite a 6:1 run/walk and a low heart rate it was all a bit of a slog, especially the final eight miles after I’d returned home to replenish the bottle. To cap it all, I had to return again, with less than a mile to go, to use the toilet – something that never happens. At least I completed the distance, including the final mile.
Checking back on my previous 18-mile runs, it turns out that my 10:41 pace (albeit assisted by the pauses) was almost the same as the last two, although I’m certain the effort was a lot greater. Maybe not – it’s easy to forget how hard a run was.
Fortunately I’ve an easier training week ahead, ending with a mere 13-mile long run. I’d been planning an HM PB attempt but under the circumstances I’ll take it easy. With luck I’ll have caught up on some cat-free sleep by then.
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