On the mend

I wrapped up warmly this morning as the recent cloudless days have brought some much needed sunlight to the land but also mean that it is cold first thing in the morning. Yesterday, it was -2°C when I left for work in the car. I wasn't going ot be caught unawares when I left the house so I prepared some long running tights, a running top, a long sleeved polar fleece, and a windbreaker to put on over the top. I needn't have bothered: it was 6°C outside and after 200m, I realised that I was going to be too warm.

The achilles felt far better than it had done in recent days. The first couple of kilometres were really pain-free and I only felt a slight niggle at the top of the tendon. I had set off at a reasonable pace since now that I'm only running every other day, I feel that I have to make the most of it and I have more energy compared to when I was training every day. I went down to the river and ran hard along the road from the 1st kilometre marker to the second. It was just after this point that I began to lose my energy and get out of breath. It was no longer a question of the pain in the achilles, but lack of training and endurance that was taking its toll.

My pace dropped from 4:24 then 4:18 to 4:35 - 4:38 over the next 3 kilometres. I felt dreadful and it was if my legs were laden with lead and I was running in deep water. Obviously, my thoughts were black as I remembered my training sessions where I would run faster than this pace with ease and over longer distances. Still, I consoled myself with the thought that my first objective is to get better and to build back up the mileage gradually. The pace and the stamina will follow automatically. The good news is that the achilles is on the mend.

At least the 3 layers I was wearing kept me so warm that I was sweating profusely by the time I got back and able to measure a small weight loss since last weekend. Thank god for small mercies.

7.6km all up in 34:15 so 4:30 per km exactly.

Will run Rambouillet this weekend with Laurence and hopefully we'll set a new PB for her over the half-marathon. I couldn't help wondering whether I'll be able to keep up with her after this morning's performance.