Evening run with speedy bits

11.19k
Start 18.10

Nesting herons and free books

10.33k
Start 7.00

 

Early River Run

12.46k
Start 6.50

 Progressive run, starting slow and getting faster towards the end.  

Short Sunset

6.67k
Start 17.40

Short run after getting back from shoe exposition in Rotterdam.

Gouderak

20.61k
Start 16.25

 

Drizzly 10k

10k
Start 8.45

600m straights

10.11k
Start 17.50

Found a new place to do 600m straight sprints along the river.  (Not a new place, more the realisation that it was a non-muddy straight bit I could sprint on without falling over.)  Also did a mile in 8:57 so well under my 10k/p/h pace

Dying Camera

14.32k
Start 6.58

 

Lens on my camera was struggling to open and shut this morning.  I suspect it may be on its way out.  Finally time to get a phone with built in camera for running purposes maybe...
Don't know if it's because my legs were still tired from Sunday but no real speed at all this morning.  Back to 10 and 11 minute miles instead of heading for under the 9 as I thought I was last week.

First lambs

17.97k
Start 15.45

  
Good run in springlike temperatures.  

Scaffolding

11.24k
Start 7.10

 

Grand shepherd's warning of a sky and one of my mile repeats was 9:06, which gives me hope that I may just be able to start heading some way back towards my once-upon-a-track best Cooper Test time of 8 minute miles (for 12 minutes then). Well, under 9 min seems a definite possibility anyway. It's nice to have a wee bit of a goal to keep me out of plod mode. (Some days anyway - other days I'm quite happy to plod.) 

Took some photos of the roof from the neighbours-across-the-canal's scaffolding. (Preparation for solar panel application.)

PreStormRun

10.23k
Start 17.20

Photo of my bruised bits.  Decent run, got home just as the rain was starting to get serious.

Reeuwijk circuit

10.72k
Start 7.20

First run with the huge huge bruise on my thigh that came from falling through the hatch to the cellar I hadn't got around to closing.  Wasn't so much painful as... making its presence felt with every step as my flesh jiggled.  (Why do my thighs still jiggle after all these years of running? Life is unfair.)  

Windy 22+

22.13k
Start 7.00

 

Long run with a strong headwind and rising sun on the way out and a following wind with occasional needly drizzle on the way back.

Slow and sorish

7.56k
Start 17.20

 Legs felt like overstretched rusty wires so cut short the planned 10k.  The tendons in the back of my legs are not feeling 100%, impossible to get any speed going and I needed to pee too so it was all too easy to decide to take the shortest route home and just be pleased I at least got out.  

Windmill visit

17.39k
Start 7.10

 

 

Long run with rising sun to my left.  On the way back along the dijk in Gouderak I remembered I still hadn't visited the woman who contacted me recently about occasional dogsitting and lives in an old windmill there so dropped in on her to meet the dogs.  

Red post run

10.22k
Start 7.10

 Slowish recovery run - some of it on a new route through the polder. 

Half Marathon AV Gouda

21.58k
Start 11.17

Race exceeded all my (careful) expectations.  I'd have been happy/surprised enough with a time somewhere between 2:15 and 2:20 so when I saw when I was on the last 5k that a sub 2:10 was a possibility I thought there must be something wrong with my Garmin measurements.  Came in at 2:09:53 with the help of intermittent injections of AC/DC and Dextrose.  Weather was perfect, dry and sunny, 7 degrees and only a mild bit of headwind once we were past the half way mark.  (So definitely no negative splits.)