Happily Ever After
Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, three cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running
Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.
Hammered By The Humidity
by Russell Turner - 17:54 on 13 June 2021
Five weeks done, four to go to the Leamington Spa HM. Assuming it’s not cancelled when Boris unveils his gloomy news tomorrow.
If it does go ahead I’m not expecting a PB, especially if the weather’s as hot, humid and windy as it was today. My 10-mile run was a bit of an effort.
As usual, I set off slightly too fast so after two miles I put in walk breaks to bring the pace down. This worked but, despite that, by four miles I was still covered in sweat and the water bottle that’s got me around in the past was almost empty, so I made a brisk pit stop at The Rural Retreat for more water and a change of shirt.
More walk breaks, more humidity, and by seven miles I was ready to cut short the run at eight. Instead, I began a more structured 4:1 run/walk and completed the ten miles. Maybe I should have done that from the start.
Struggling around the Black Isle.
The bonus was that I was home, and post-run stretches, eating and showering done, in time to see England’s triumphant opener in the Euros. A further bonus was that the Inverness Court Jurors’ Infoline informed me that I need not attend tomorrow, although I have to be available for a phone call between 9 and 1.15, which is a nuisance. The judge obviously wants to watch Scotland’s big game.
Yesterday’s run was equally ragged, although I can blame my map-reading skills. The schedule called for three 7min tempo runs with 5mins easy, plus warm-up and cool-down, so I drove to the forest roads, not wishing to incorporate the huge hill as a warm-up, to enable me to run a flattish route. Unfortunately, my start point was on the wrong track (it was the next one) as I discovered when it petered out after three-quarters of a mile, leaving me facing impenetrable pines.
The tempo runs abandoned, I returned, found more tracks, and turned the session into a 5.5-mile trail run – good practice for the Dava Ultra. The shirt I wore for the run had arrived the day before along with my medal for the recent record-breaking Virtual London 10,000. The collection continues to grow.
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