Indian Summer close to winter

Distance 47km [total: minimalist 285.6km: Barefoot 4567.3km] Week 19

Monday, 6-May. 11km

After some early morning rain the afternoon turned out quite nice. We always get to see some sun at sometime during the day in Australia where as in England I could spend weeks and not see the sun. Today on my run I passed a UBR and Unidentified Barefoot Runner, not on the beach but running on concrete, so, a genuine one. I was in the last 500m of my run, it was near dark and I was sprinting the last part when I spotted another runner coming in the opposite direction, it was only as he was about 5m away that I noticed he was running without shoes. I should try to recruit him into our running group for the regular monthly runs.

Wednesday, 8-May. 11km

The warmest May day we have had on record apparently as it hit 32C today, no wonder my throat felt dry as I was running today. It also elevated my heart rate past my target band for the session. There are some fantastic sunsets to see at this time of year with the sun setting shortly after I start back on the home leg of my run. I take more care as the light fades and I can't see the ground as well but I can still keep a good pace. I recorded around 63 minutes for this run.
During this run I spotted another barefoot runner, an older guy with a bushy white beard, moving at a slow pace in the opposite direction to myself. I thought I could get to the halfway point on my run and catch him on the way back but I didn't see him. I assume he must have turned off at some point.

Friday, 10-May. 10km

The end of a warm week where the temperatures have been hitting the high 20's, today was 29C at it's peak, at the time of my run probably around 25C. Legs a bit stiff today in the calves but still able to run at a good pace.  I wish they would hurry up with the road landscaping along the Esplanade south of Henley Beach, the road and pavement has been dug up for ages while they add a new footpath to the west side of the road. The have also dug up the other side where I ran along so I have to keep crossing the gravel road to run along the bits that are completed. There is lots of lose gravel all over the pavements so I have to pay attention to where I am running. Most of the time if I am relaxed enough, running on bits of stone is not a problem, it is only occasionally when I can't shake a piece off from under my foot that I have to stop and brush it off with my hand. I saw the same barefoot runner I saw on Monday evening as I sat on the beach wall after my run. He went past too quickly for me to grab his attention.

Saturday, 11-May. 15km

Here it is, the last of the good days before the rainy weather heads in. I did a beach run today from Grange to Semaphore jetty. When I started the wind was blowing from the north east, it began to switch around as I ran and by the time I got to the jetty it was blowing from the west, the start of the change. During the run I kept the heart rate down at 130bpm for the entire run and when I finished I didn't feel the least bit tired. So there is a correlation between the distance you can cover and the speed you can cover it at, if you want to go further you have to slow down. I'll have to start dressing warmer next week, get the legings back out from where they have been gathering dust since the spring.