Sunday, is for many, the traditional “long run day” and today was my first long run day of 2016. My TrainAsONE plan had me down for a half marathon in 2 hours 30, so I got up at 6:30am to have coffee and a Protein Nuttie for breakfast (if you haven’t used The Protein Works before then sign-up with my link, or use code KM120287 and in January you can get 250g of their Whey Protein 80 or a Protein Snack Box free if you spend 10 quid!). The aim was to get all loo stops done and dusted to allow me to run in peace. I even popped a couple of Immodium as well, just to be on the safe side as my planned route didn’t have sufficient tree cover for any unplanned stops.
Heading out just after 8:00am it was warm enough to ditch my gloves by the end of the road and I was soon on the first part of the trail. Conditions were mostly good, but there were a few mega muddy patches which I took extra care on as I really didn’t fancy an early mud bath. I was settling into things nicely when my phone rang and I had to slow down to deal with an Amazon delivery guy who couldn’t get access to drop my parcels off, a quick call to the Boyf sorted that and I was back underway. It was a lovely morning, just the right temperature for me not to over heat and I tried to keep my pace steady (and at the planned pace of 6:54mins/km). I do have a tendency to get carried away and go too fast so this morning I was consciously slowing down whenever I spotted my speed increasing.
There were plenty of dog walkers out, but all were controlling their dogs well, so combined with me slowing to a walk as I passed them there were no animal related issues (always a bonus). About 7km in I was off the trail and onto the road for what was effectively the return journey. A few undulations kept me on my toes and then about 13km in my stomach gurgles got a bit too much and I knew I would need a loo stop if I was to keep going. Luckily there was a BP on my route so I ducked in there for a speedy pit-stop.
By now the weather had turned a bit chilly so the gloves were back on and I decided to cut out the extended loop on my route and just settle for a 2 hour ish run instead. This decision proved to be a good one as shortly after I reached home the light drizzle turned to rain. The key thing for me was that I could have kept going if I wanted, my legs felt fine and I had no knee niggles….I just feeling a bit lazy and had stuff to get on with at home. So I called it a day at 17km in just over 2 hours and an average moving pace of 7:03mins/km. All in all a pretty good run which had minimal walking in it.
I followed this up with 15 minutes of yoga, using the Runners Stretches session on my yoga app. I really need to make sure I do stretch after running, I have been really rubbish at doing so in the past, so am aiming to do a quick, mini yoga session after each run when I am at home.
A lazy afternoon was spent trying to make fudge using my slow cooker. I am not sure if it is fudgy enough and am withholding judgement until it has properly set in the fridge overnight. So more on that another time. I then rounded out my Janathon exercise for day 3 by doing my mini-strength session while dinner cooked.
It’s back to work for me tomorrow, I am working from home, which can actually make things a bit harder, but I am determined to stick with my Janathon plans and squeeze in the strength work and yoga either before work or at lunchtime.