Too confident

My last post proved to be a little too confident - it was another ten days till I ran again - I felt a little sore after Ultimate for the next couple of runs (Saturday runs are always a little easier because Friday's my rest day), and the next weekend I was ill. The Monday after the weekend I was still recovering, and decided to give it a miss, but on the Wednesday I decided to go out for a pre-work run.

Usually that's not a great time to run, because you're dehydrated and it's freezing (in Winter at least!), but I felt that if I didn't go out in the morning, I'd end up working late and not having any motivation in the evening.

So morning it was, and after a gentle warmup I headed out wearing a double layer of t-shirts to combat the weather. I started to get into a rhythm pretty quickly and was soon feeling quite good. Pleasantly surprised at the first checkpoint that I was clocking quarter of a minute below my usual 6:30 - nice! It started to hurt a little not long after, but only in the tiredness sense - the knees held together well.

On the way back I knew I was on for a pretty good time - somewhere around the 28 minute mark (which if you've been paying attention you would know would be a personal best on this track). I hit the last hill in good time and spotted a cyclist half way up. "He's mine", I thought to myself, and started cranking it up.

Every step he drew closer to me, until just as I reached the flat part two thirds of the way up, I over took him. On the final uphill section I powered away, and didn't see him again. I kept a firm, but steady pace for the downhill back to the flat and was amazed to find the time was 27 minutes 31 seconds - almost a minute off my PB.

Let's hope my knee continues to hold out.