On The Slow Down

Today's run: 10 miles / 16.09 km in 1:50:26.
Injury check: Knee pain.
Support crew: Robert, on bike.
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Today was a good day. 10 miles at a good pace and I'm actually feeling pretty ok afterwards.

The spring weather undoubtedly helped: bright but not too sunny; mild rather than too cold (or too hot); with a light breeze on the air. 

If I could have today's weather on Marathon Day that would be pretty much perfect for me. I actually ran in only shorts and T-shirt. I couldn't even see my breath on the air! (The contrast with the last couple of weeks is just stunning.)

I'm on the taper down towards the marathon now: my long runs are shortening this week and next, hence only 10 miles today. Robert was with me on the bike today (as a last minute sub) and it was almost - almost - a fun activity. 

It wasn't all completely cool runnings: The Knee was feeling a bit tender before we started and I could feel it from early on. By about 4 miles it was twinging, but luckily it didn't get anywhere near as bad as last week. It was hurting more through the last couple of miles and Robert observed a certain lopsided-ness in my gait, despite the fact that I was trying to keep an even stride. 

Niggling pain aside, most of this run was pretty good. At the end I was tired but not exhausted. Almost as soon as I'd stopped running my knee stopped hurting - although I am icing it up now - and I didn't even need much TLC during my post-run recovery.

As you can see in today's photo, I ran in full race gear: Diabetes UK T-shirt and TEAM! cap. With the shirt tested (verdict: very comfy) I shall now add the iron-on letters to encourage people to cheer my name.

13 days to go...

Inspired By Ennis

Today's run: 6.16 km (3.83 miles) in 46:48.
Injury check: Delayed pain.
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Inspired by all the Team GB Olympic success last night* I got up and went for a nice, long run. "Long" being a relative term, of course.

Realising that running to somewhere worked quite well for me, I mapped out a route around the local streets that was about 5k and would finish in a park only a few minutes walk from home. It felt good, too. I got as far as 4.5k as I entered the park and decided to push for 6k, which is the furthest I've run in five years.

The time is inconsequential really, because it involves pauses at traffic lights and includes a mix of terrain: nothing too steep - as I purposely avoided a lot of the big hills around my part of town - but a lot of long, gentle slopes both up and downhill. The best things about this run (apart from the distance) were that I kept a pretty good average pace and that I actually had a bit of a sprint left in me at the end - only 50m to reach a nearby landmark in the park, but still a sprint. 

The worst thing about this run was the complaining my knees did for the rest of the day. I'd probably have been alright if I'd sat around resting them but I didn't - I walked at least four more kilometres across the course of the afternoon. Both knees were tweaking by the end of the day; I think it was probably exacerbated by the fact that I was running on pavement and concrete instead of grass. 
Pity my local streets are almost entirely made of pavement and concrete...

*but mostly inspired by Jessica Ennis's abs