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| Turnaround on the Canal at 10 miles - just after kirkintilloch |
Up and on my way by 8.30am this morning for the first of four 20 milers before the Virgin. Schedule had me at a 7.30 pace throughout. The early miles had me catching up to get on target as usual. No great issues as this was reached in mile 3 or 4. Thereafter I found the early pace not too taxing. The achilles was stiff but eased off to such an extent that I did not feel it at all as the run progressed. A real result! It was the first time in a long time that that has happened. Fuelled with a banana and a sports drink carried in the Camelback that I got as a freebie from Boston. The flavour was Blue Raspberry? The colour was more like the colour the water goes when your kids do painting. Although not great to look at it did taste quite nice and more importantly did a job.
The weather was poor at the start and I thought that I had made an error in not taking some rain gear. It turned out that it was a bit cold but the the sun came out and it was a beautiful morning to be out running. Not too many were of the same opinion. No trains of runners today and not too many runners out. The cyclist certainly outnumbered the runners today. There was one guy who passed me at Bishopbriggs going hell for leather. Two thing were odd. The bike was too small for him and he had this manic stare as he pedalled passed me. Must have been let out for the day.
Took my phone with me and my ipod. Was listening to a pod cast on Mussolini and his rise to power before the Second World War. As the narrator was analysing his rise to power there began coming from what I thought was the Ipod - a cock crowing. It was imperceptible at first but got louder and louder. I thought that this was some clever device that the narrator was using as the noise got louder and louder to signify his rise to power. As he became more dominate the crowing would get louder. Then I thought to myself that the the cockerel is associated with France not Italy. I didn't think much more of it until the episode finished but the cockerel did not. It turned out that Amy had set my alarm on my phone for 9am with the sound of a cockerel crowing. I stopped and tried to cancel the alarm. It was bloody loud. No wonder the passers by were giving me strange looks. 5 mins later I was back on my way. It's funny what tricks your mind plays with you when you are out on the road.
I saw a fish being caught! Just after Bishopbriggs there were a couple of guys with rods and I noticed that the angler was reeling in something. A boot, a trolley - no a fish. I saw it with my own eyes. He was so excited as he carefully tried to land this mighty fish. It must have been big as his rod was straining and bending as the fished tried to fight. As he lent back to land his supper, his rod snapped , he let out this "F%$&!n Hell!!!" It did make me chuckle.
At the end of the run I was tired and my legs were stiff but I was surprised how well I have felt this afternoon. No need for a sleep, legs feel fresh and there seems to be no great residual stiffness there. See what I am like in the morning. What I found encouraging was the effort that was needed to keep to pace especially at the later parts of the run 18 - 20 miles was not as great as I thought that it would be. Every time I felt that I was tensing up with the effort I made a conscious decision to relax my shoulders and lower my arms. This had the desired effect and it felt that I was not needing to make a huge effort to keep pace. Simple. In fact there was one mile around 17 that I clocked 7.18 pace. These steady runs at 7.30 are so much easier than the split 8 min pace/7 min pace runs. They really do leave me wrecked at the end. I have one of those next week before the Alloa Half in a fortnight.
Numbers - 20 Miles - 2.29.19hrs - 7.29 pace - 151 avg HR - Cadence 81.5 - Calories 2763
Splits - 7.47 - 7.28 - 7.21 - 7.13 - 7.22 - 7.22 - 7.24 - 7.24 - 7.30 - 7.26 - 7.23 - 7.22 - 7.26 - 7.24 - 7.31 - 7.26 - 7.18 - 7.42 - 7.36 - 7.52
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