Better recovery

I met Nico driving out of his house as he set off to work while I was setting off on my recovery run after last night's intervals. I was doing the usual route around Maisons Laffitte with a slight detour due to the letter I had to drop off en route.

I felt pretty lousy to begin with, mostly due to having eaten a large breakfast with Laurence prior to setting out. This lay heavy on my stomach and I wasn't comfortable in the slightest so it was a bit of a surprise to see the Garmin flash up 4:36 for the first kilometre. I thought that I'd been running slower than Monday as no effort was involved and it was a real boost to see that I was close to the magic 4:30 training speed.

The pace quickened kilometre after kilometre and I felt better after 5k when my stomach stopped aching and I was able to run more freely. I soon hit 4:20 pace and then 4:15 where I stayed until the end of the run. Even the uphill section through the forest was negotiated in 4:19.

A nice dry but cold day and a great recovery run. I felt a lot stronger in my legs during the run (if a little tired now afterwards). 14.5k in 1:01 or an average pace of 4:24 / km.