Those of you who check out my reports on dailymile will know that this week started with a bit of a mental challenge. Feeling low in all sorts of ways made it very hard to keep motivated, but the continued support of the #run2012miles team and those around me got me out when feeling rubbish. So I must send a huge shout out to the team for keeping me on the road.
After Monday's run I decided that I must have overdone it last week with my epic 60+ miles, so this week I decided not to set myself any distance targets and take it easy. Even so, this didn't stop me thrashing out a quick ish 10+miles on Tuesday when I joined the group run from @Up&RunningBS6 and chalked up my fastest 10 in ages!
Of course, this left me suffering a little and I was back on plan B for the rest of the week, with another tough cold and dark morning run on Friday squeezed in before heading across to London.
But catching up with some great friends and heading along to the bushy parkrun gave me a burst of enthusiasm that propelled me around the course for my fastest 5k (25:29) in almost 5 years. I even then managed a quick swim, although that was mainly to stop me extending the run further as if I'm honest my legs were out of juice and it was quite a chilly morning (they announced -7 at the start of the run!)
I tried not to moan too much but figured I would have to get out early this morning if I was going to ensure my running didn't dominate our weekend and decided I should probably keep it to around 10 miles to not risk feeling rubbish or injuring my already stiff legs.
Well it turned out to be quite a special run. For most of the loop around Bushy Park and Hampton Court I just had the deer and the chilly air for company, although a few marshals started to appear as they were setting up for a 10k race. Dog walkers and a few other runners materialised around 8:30 but I was almost out of the park then and on my way to Richmond.
I took a loop that I think was used mainly by mountain bikers, keeping close to the walls and enjoying the challenges of the frozen wheel ruts and plenty of roots to navigate. The loop ended up being slightly longer than planned, but I was feeling okay so carried on regardless.
As I jogged through Teddington towards the lock a few more folk appeared; off to a coffee shop for a latte or just getting the dog exercise before church maybe? But quite a distinct lack of runners...it wasn't THAT cold was it?
This soon changed as I crossed over the two bridges at Teddington Lock and started off towards Richmond bridge along the Thames. The entrance to the locks was frozen solid and made an incredible pinging sound as you bounced stones off the surface. I just wish I could have recorded it, but I don't tend to take a camera with me.
I was passed in both directions by all sorts of runners pounding the towpath, in shorts, leggings (and even down jackets! Sweaty or what!) and since my pace had slowed quite a bit by then it was lovely to exchange a few 'good mornings' and a big 'thank you' to the team out picking litter from the river bank.
By the time I reached Richmond bridge the day was in full swing and it was obvious that this was going to be a 15+ mile effort. I returned back to Teddington along the opposite bank as much as I could but found it quite frustrating that past Twickenham I had to resort to the pavement along a fairly busy A-road. A real pity a the rest of the run had been lovely.
I'm not sure if everyone appreciated it, but the royal parks are quite an amazing asset to our capital city. It's quite something to find such lovely an large open spaces in one of Europe's largest and busiest cities.
By the end of the run I'd clocked up around 17miles, bringing my weekly totals to around 52 (although I haven't downloaded them yet).
So quite a week. Started off badly, was going to be an easy one and I end up with my fastest 10miler, fastest 5k and my longest long run all in a 50+ week.
If only they could all be like that!
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