Coming back

Distance 35.2km [total: minimalist 285.6km: Barefoot 3965.4km] Week46

Saturday, 17-Nov. 7km

I'm writing this a week late after resting for most of last week and only venturing out for a run on the Saturday. I ran 7km along the beach at an easy pace to see if my calf would behave itself. The tide was low and the weather perfect for running. Plenty of people walking along the beach. It is tough getting the distance into the legs back again. A 7km run feels like a 15km run, hopefully my fitness should return quickly.
I made the distance without any soreness which was a good sign.

Sunday, 18-Nov. 3.5km

Just an easy run at around 1pm with a friend from jetty to jetty, once again no problems to report.

Wednesday, 21-Nov. 3.5km

A short run after work on the soft sand, the calf was fine on this low stress run. THe beaches are starting to gain the summer populations of sun bathers an swimmers and also lots more runners than I will see in the winter

Saturday, 24-Nov. 13km

A warm weekend was forecast so I used this as an opportunity to see how an early morning dawn breaking run would go. I decided to give this a trial in case I get the hot days during high summer when it is far too hot to run in the afternoon. I got up at the usual time I would for work 5.45am. I wouldn't be able to have any breakfast as that would stop me running so I had a carb energy drink, some Vitargo, a non sugar based drink.
I got to the beach just before 6am, the sun would have risen 5 minutes earlier, the houses by the beach would block the sun for another 30 minutes. The temperature was around 20C but would climb rapidly as the sun rose.
My body started running slowly, I think it was a bit shellshocked to be doing exercise at that time of the morning. After around 3km I started to feel a bit better, it was just the distance I had to contend with now. I limited the run to 13km. At the halfway point the sun had risen above the houses but there was enough cloud cover to keep the temperature down. It wasn't a fast run, around 37m in both directions. When I got back to the start I soaked the calves in the seawater to cool them off. I was home and showered by 7.30am then relaxed and had some breakfast.

Sunday, 25th-Nov 8.2km

Two days in a row when I get out of bed at 5.45am to go for a run. This was my standard 8.2km lake run, I ran it a couple of weeks ago with John but rested mainly since then. At this time of the morning the lake was dead calm, the sun was just rising and most of the households around the lake were still asleep as I padded silently past. It is a very appealing time of day to run.... if you can get up. Next week most of the days are above 30C so morning running may be the best option.

Neil