Fast recovery

Another early morning run in an attempt to build up the weekly mileage gradually before the marathon. The programme indicated a 50 minutes recovery run for today and I was happy with that after doubling up yesterday.

In fact, despite the early morning start and yesterday's evening run, I actually felt quite good as I hit the streets. Well, not when I started when I still felt half asleep and dawn was only just breaking. After doing the first kilometre in just under 5 minutes, I sped up slowly, bringing down my kilometre times to 4:35.

After 5k like this, I was running through the park in Maisons Laffitte when I suddenly had a burst of energy and lengthened my stride. I felt really good and decided to extend the run through the forest by the railway line on the way back. I ran at about 4:20 pace and even brought this down to 4:16 pace and then finishing with the last kilometre downhill at over 15km/h.

Good run. Felt very good and legs strong. 11km all up in 49:30 (4:30 average pace).