Recovery (!) run

Today is Armistice today when the country remembers those that died in the first world war. This gives me the chance to have a lie in for once and then to fit in a recovery run before Laurence is fully up and about.

What a difference a good sleep makes. Despite my tiring session from last night, and an initial stiffness in my right knee, I soon found that I was covering ground at a decent pace and breathing very easily. My heart rate must have been low as I was very comfortable and enjoying the usual route in the daytime for once.

The Garmin played up for the first kilometre, refusing to beep at the kilometre marker and forcing me to run another 150m before finally declaring that I'd covered 1km. I ignored this, havinf looked at the watch and seeing that I'd run at 4:55 pace despite it feeling a much slower. The next kilometres went by in 4:30 in average and they felt slow too. I upped the pace, but still kept well within my comfort zone and was soon running at 4:20 pace for the remainder of the course.

The bank holiday and the late starting time meant that I was not alone in the streets and there were plenty of joggers cluttering the pavements and park paths as I ran around my usual course. I felt great all of the way around and kept the pace steady to the end.

12.8km all up in 56:07 or an average pace of 4:23/km around the circuit. I think that this is a new record for this run, despite the fact that it was supposed to be a recovery. If I can get a good week's sleep before the marathon, then I'll be onto a winner.