Wk7/D4 - 13K

13K @1:35:57

Avg. Pace 7:23/km

Avg. Moving Pace 7:14/km

It was a glorious day for a run! :)

I do not usually run after a race. I always take the next day off. However, with a LSD of 13K scheduled for the weekend, a 'shorter' race of 5K, and having family over for Easter Sunday dinner, it just made better sense for me to complete fit my run in the day after. I am so glad I did! :)

The weather was amazing. I could happily live in 17-18 degree Celsius weather for much longer than we experience it here in southwestern Ontario. :) The sun was shining after a heavy rain overnight and it was impossible to be in a bad mood on a day like this. My sister and brother-in-law went out for their run together and had a great morning. Karen's 5K at race pace went so well for her, she decided to run an additional 5K following it while her husband ran home. :) They both encouraged me to get out for my run soon because it was so lovely, but wear shorts. :) So after my hostessing breakfast duty was completed, I put on my new tech shirt from yesterday's race (a new favourite! love it!), shorts, my new water belt, sunglasses, and we were off.

Ben drove our running group to the Pottersburg sewage plant - LOL! Sounds odd, but this is where the Thames Valley trail begins on the east end of London. It makes one appreciate more what s/he is running away from! :) It is approximately 8K along the trail through the eastside to downtown/Ivey Park.

After giving Angus a stick to distract him from all the dogs playing in the dog park, we walked to warm up and I took a few photos to share in my post today.

I was feeling very good as I started my run; it made think that I was going to have a very good 13K today! But no sooner had I thought this when I rounded a corner and saw the HUGE, DEEP water puddle in the path with no possibility of going around it. :( I had a few split seconds while slowing down slightly to make a decision. I couldn't go back because it was the opposite direction of home, and I did not want to try running home on the sidewalks along a very busy, unattractive street ...

As it turns out, it was the best thing I could have done because there were soooo many puddles just like it along the way. I lost count at ten (!!). All the low-lying areas of the bike/running path had collected rain run-off from the night before so this became a puddle run. I actually ended up having fun, choosing to run through them like a kid, rather then trying to tip-toe through them in an effort to keep my shoes drier. Angus loved it was well, but William Wallace ... not so much. :)

I was very pleased with how I was feeling after yesterday's race. I usually have a little stiffness/soreness the next day, an after-effect of pushing myself during a race, but I didn't feel this way when I woke up nor at the start of this run. Hindsight is 20/20, but I think I could have pushed myself a little harder during the race. However, I would not have been convinced of this yesterday morning ... and hindsight is a wonderful thing! :)

But as it turns out, I was a little dragged out from yesterday because little hills and inclines along the path felt more tiring than usual, and I was recovering more slowly than usual from them ...

1K - 6:58

2K - 6:59

3K - 7:15

4K - 7:28

5K - 7:36

I started to realize then that perhaps it was wiser for me just to focus on completing a nice, easy LSD, as per my training program, then trying to run a 13K faster than my previous times ...

6K - 7:13

7K - 7:14

8K - 7:21

By the time I reached downtown London, and started heading east toward Gibbons Park, I really started running out of gas/steam:

9K - 7:28

10K - 7:42

11K - 7:39

And it is at this point, dear reader, I came to a full stop and stopped my Garmin. I was spent and said, no more! I took a few swigs of water while walking, but within a few minutes, I decided that I really should run another 1/2K so that I could "officially" say that I "swapped" last week's 13K "back" to my originally intended 11.5K ...

Then, once I reached 11.5K, I started thinking that perhaps I should add just another 1/2K because "12K" was a better compromise between my intended 13K and my brief stop/refusal to run more at 11K ...

12K - 7:27

I should probably stop thinking so much because while running my 12th km, I thought about how I had added another 1.5K to my run while running in the rain, and how sad it was that I shortening my scheduled run on such a beautiful day ... so I ran for another km ...

13K - 7:30

And then I walked home .... :)

Another good long run (for me), another successful week of training, and more lessons learned. :) Week #8, my final week of Road Work before I start the 3-week Strength Training portion of my training program, begins on Monday.

Happy Easter weekend everyone!