Run Forest, Run

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I decided to include an extra rest day in over the weekend, AS I said before my legs were tired, I felt drained so Friday and Saturday became rest days for me. Call me lazy but I haven't had 2 days off on the trot for as far as I can remember (before January 2011).

I haven't been running far enough for my liking lately, so I though I'd get in a 8 miler for the session which involved a 3 mile run though the forest.



It was a really humid day, so I knew it was going to be a tough one on the lungs as the air was going to be "dirty", no fresh cool air for me to breath, but muscle on and stop being a big fairy.

 

My legs felt great after the extra day off so I made every effort to give this session my all and try and get a personal best for the route. As I hadn't done this route for some time I had forgot how hard this route actually was. I compared it to the last time I did this route and I was over 4 minutes quicker, I was amazed how far I've come in a few months. I need to crank up my mileage in August so I will be completing this one a few times over the next month. I was very please with mile 4as I broke the 7 min mile marker and clocked in a 6:59 which is my fastest to date on a long run.



I did work hard on this run and stayed in that intense zone throughout the run, I had to stop once to cross the road (that's the dip at 30 minutes) but apart from that my heart rate stayed between 160 and 180 averaging out at 164 beats per minute.

The second half of the run is mainly uphill which is a killer, I didn't wear compression calf socks so im guessing im going to pay for it on Monday. I did slow towards the end of the run, and I'll have to work on this over the next month to keep the same pace throughout the run no matter the gradient.

It was the Tuska triathlon in Swansea this weekend, it wasn't on my training plan, but part of me wishes I had done it as it wasn't raining! Oh well roll on my next race in Pembrokeshire, location of Ironman Wales.

Todays session

Duration 01 04 29
Distance 7.92
Calories 1098
Average HR 164 BPM
Max HR 179 BPM
Average Pace 08.02
Best Pace 05.28

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