Sunday run: Upping the pace

I just finished a 11.926km running that lasted about 1hh:6mm:44ss !

We have had another storm (Jorge) sweeping the UK this weekend, but it seems to have mostly gone now. It was cool out with my phone saying it would feel like -1C. No snow today though.

I decided to try and do the sort of pace I need to achieve my goal on the half marathon that is only two months away. This is despite the cold I have had for a month now still making me sniff and cough. It was nice and bright out, but I had a cold wind against me to start with. I also wanted to get to 25km for the week and so was looking to extend my loop a little. I was generally feeling quite good in my running and got up the hill to Fairfield okay. I did have a run-in with a Labrador that was carrying a big branch and decided to cut across me despite the owner trying to call it away. I picked up a small scratch on my leg from that encounter.

There were other dogs and owners out enjoying the sunshine as well as a few runners. I cut through the newish Stotfold estate to get the extra distance and had a red kite swooping just over the houses there. Those are some of the bigger birds we are likely to see around here.

There were a few big puddles and a few muddy patches to negotiate, but nothing dramatic. I was flagging a little on the last couple of kilometres, but I was pretty happy with my run. I was definitely feeling it when I got back. It will be good to get over this cold and get my full breathing capacity back. Strava shows my heart rate stayed fairly high. Does that count as over-doing it?

Podcast listening was This Week In Google (TWIT). That is a long show that lasted the whole run even on 1.5x speed.

Have a great week and run free!

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