Cora with Nico

8:00 am start this morning for an easy run to Cora and back with Nico. Woke up again nice and early and the weather is beautiful once more: beautiful blue sky, sun is already out and very pleasant.

We set off easily enough but as we run through the forest, I find that I'm struggling to keep up at 4:30 pace. Nico eases off to run with me and he looks easy while I'm feeling that I'm making a meal out of the whole affair. We run steadily now to the pond, chatting while we run. This is good as it helps keep my mind off how hard this all is.

As we run around the pond, we leave the shade of the forest and immediately the temperature rises by a couple of degrees. Memories of London come flooding back and I can feel the effort to keep up the pace. There is a pain in my left thigh as though I've been stabbed there. Laurence often complains about this after a race but this is the first time that I've felt this. Nevertheless, Nico shows no mercy and we maintain a sub 4:30 pace back to Le Mesnil. He's been suffering all week from what he considers to be disappointing performances in training and I'm sure that the fact that he can see me suffering is helping him mentally !

No records for the course as we finish in 1:08 for the 15km but I'm really glad to be back training. This was hard today and the sweat is already dripping from my head as I get back to the house. I check the thermometer and depsite the fact that it is only just after 9:00 am, the temperature has already risen to 19°C in the shade.