I'm back (again)

Amazing what a good siesta can do. I went home at half time yesterday and slept most of the afternoon. Got up to have a bit of dinner, see the family for a bit and then went to bed again. I made sure that I drank loads of Aquarius to rehydrate (I'd noticed that my pee was a disconcerting brown colour during the lunchtime run).

I wasn't sure how I'd feel today so I tried coming in on the bike but I didn't tell my colleague he could use my parking space as I usually do, because I wasn't sure if I'd make it... I made it in OK and so I felt like I could try the 80 minute run I had programmed. It's amazing how when you are sub par you feel like you will never regain that fitness, that to run another kilometer is a pointless nightmare and you start to dread your next outing. So I was a bit nervous before setting out because, only the day before, I had attempted a shorter run and it felt horrible. This time it was a completely different story. It felt so easy and enjoyable. I did allow myself to listen to music to motivate me when I normally run without music partly because in the race itself you are not allowed to listen to music and partly because if you can hear your footsteps you tend to run more lightly. I ran the whole thing at 4:30 pace (if I'd carried on another 15 minutes, that would be a Half Marathon in less than 1 hour 35) keeping my heart rate in the aerobic zone (145bpm average) and it was about 24 degrees and cross country. Not a record for an aerobic run but good enough to prove that I am still in good shape for Lisbon in a 2 and a half weeks. In the end the collateral damage of the sunstroke or whatever it was was only a weights session, half a swim workout and a 20 minute run, so pretty minimal.

Tomorrow I have to run 40 minutes at aerobic pace and then 40 minutes at Half Marathon intensity with a weighted flak jacket... One of the more sadistic workouts.