Sunday club run

I was getting fed up after a week of inactivity. It wasn't that I was eager to get out as I had plenty of work on my plate and other things to think about, but I began to feel guilty. I felt bad about not going out and getting some mileage in.

Monday and Tuesday were spent coping with the aches and pains in my legs. The recovery was easier than the last 3 marathons and I wondered whether this was due to the massage at the end of the race or the higher level of training and preparation. By Wednesday I wondered if I couldn't fit an early morning run in. I actually told Laurence that I'd be going for a run Thurday morning but she talked me out of it. A week of late nights didn't make me push the subject any further. Saturday and I was back to doing DIY and a meeting with the bank put pay to any thoughts of going for an easy run. So a sunday run with the club was the ideal opportunity to get out again and meet the others.

I initially thought about running to the club, but a late night Saturday night convinced me that this was unnecessary (together with a few whiskies and some light rain on Sunday and I was more than convinced). I turned up at the club to see a large turnout and plenty of congratulations from everybody on beating my objective.

The plan for the session was hills. 11 x hills to be precise and Miguel took us out to the Princess Road to do them. I know this section very well from my long Sunday runs so there were no surprises. We had a 300m section of uphill to run and then jog back down for the recovery. Thierry, José, Eric, Bruno and Bertrand were all there and they led the attacks on the hill. I was between the group of 3 at the front and just in front of Bruno and Bertrand behind.

So much for an easy receovery run to get over the marathon. I could feel my hamstrings tightening to begin with and a pain in my right calf. In fact, I could feel small aches and pains all over my legs and I knew that you can't under-estimate the damage that a marathon does. My legs hadn't recovered still and I was glad when the hills were over and we could just jog back easily. Still it was good to be out and I was pleased that I managed to stay in front of Bruno until the last 2 hills.

16.3 km all up in 1:37. The hills were run at above 15 km/h at just under a minute for each rep. Tough but good to be back.