A Week To Go

On Saturday, with just a week to go to the half, I went out for my last weekend run.  The plan was to run 12km at a comfortable pace and not to goo to fast.  Again I drove to work as the road options are great from there, lots of twists and turns so you can make any road run longer or shorter quite easily.

I ran out the gate up a slight hill, down another and at the 1km mark stopped to stretch out.  After stretching it was back on the road and I continued the 5km loop.  The legs were very sluggish and I felt very slow.  I began thinking maybe 10km will be enough, I can stop if I get to ten.

As I came back to work and the end of my 5km loop I turned around and ran the loop backwards.  I had read that when runners get used to running a certain direction they find it harder to run the opposite direction at the same pace.  It was nice to change it up.  As I got to 9km I decided that I would continue to 11km, maybe.  At 9.75km my legs seemed to wake up and I felt better.  I completed the 12km and felt very comfortable at the end.  Breathing was good, legs felt good and I still have life left in the body.  I stretched out and drove home.

At home checking the run on my PC I noticed that I ran my fastest ever 10km.  From the start of the 2nd km to the end of the 11th km took 53:36, a good pace.  Now If I can bring that into the race next week.