On Thursday I didn't finish work until late so it was after 6.30pm before I got my run in. It was another wet and miserable night but I wasn't going to give in to the treadmill again. Despite the wind and the rain I hit the streets and I tried to maintain under 9 minute miles. I only managed for the first 2 miles when I ran at 8:41 and 8:56 minute miles and then it slipped to 9:10 and 9:46.
However I was fairly relaxed about this as I really didn't want to push too hard as I wanted my legs to be fairly fresh for the Half Marathon on Sunday! I ended up doing 4.43 miles at an average 9:07 minute mile pace so not too disgraceful!
Friday was my last day at school before the holidays and it was also the day my daughter left on her skiing trip! After our farewells and I had survived the last day chaos I rushed home to set off on my holidays!
We were staying in Liverpool on Friday night and wanted to get there in plenty of time to enjoy a meal and a few drinks! A great way to start the holiday! You can read about the rest of my weekend here!
After having a fantastic weekend we arrived back home on Monday evening at around 5.30pm. There was no way I was going go to Tri Club swimming or running as I thought my body deserved a rest!
Yesterday I had to go to the dentist and then I decided that since I had missed the swimming session on Monday I would go and do some lengths on my own.
I wasn't really looking forward to it as I thought with it being Half Term it would be heaving full of screaming kids kicking and splashing!
However, I was pleasantly surprised. The main part of the pool was busy but the "lanes" were quiet and there was only one other person sharing my lane with me so I could get a good swim in.
I initially did 4 lengths as a warm up before embarking on sets of 20 lengths with 30 seconds recovery between each set then I did 6 lengths to cool down!
In total I did 90 lengths which is 1.4 miles or 2250 metres. I even managed to maintain a fairly consistent pace and did set 1 in 11.31, set 2 in 11.33, set 3 in 11:53 and set 4 in 12.02.
I am really pleased with that as my initial target time (before the April Tri) to do 20 lengths was 12 minutes. I can consistently do that so maybe I need to up the ante!
Today was the day I had earmarked for my LSR for the week! I wanted to get it over with before the weekend as my daughter will be back from skiing with loads of washing and ironing and generally being demanding of my time!
So first thing this morning I had a bowl of porridge and a coffee before getting changed and heading out the door for 8.45am! Totally unheard of for me to be up in the holidays so bright and early!
It was amazingly mild compared with recent weeks and although it was drizzling lightly it was better than the torrential stuff I have become accustomed to!
The plan was to do 20 miles!
The first 10 miles went by fairly painlessly and I took an energy gel at 5 miles and 10 miles. By now the drizzle had stopped and the sun was trying to peak out from behind the clouds and my legs started to object!
We live in a fairly hilly area so it is difficult to do a long run without encountering hills and the hills seemed like Everest today! By mile 14 I was digging deep and at mile 15 I had another gel in the hope that it would inject some energy into my unwilling legs!
At mile 18 I had the choice of two routes, one that would fulfil my 20 miles and one that would get me home imminently!
I really couldn't see me surviving another 2 miles as I was starting to feel woozy and I really didn't want to embarrass myself by passing out in the street!I have never been so relieved to put my key in the door and step over the threshold!
I had managed 18.78 miles at an average 10 minute mile pace.
Not bad considering I was running on tired legs from Sunday and a tired body from swimming yesterday!
Luckily I had all afternoon to recover and even managed to fit in a Nana nap before heading off to Yoga at 6pm.
I was very conscious about not falling asleep at Yoga like I did last week and the way my body felt I thought this was going to be the probable outcome!
My body was well and truly ready for a stretch, and boy did it feel good after the initial ouchyness wore off!
I think I was too self-conscious to totally relax this week so thankfully I didn't fall asleep!
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