Rob's Running Blog

A Leisurely 5 miles in mixed, but cold weather, 52:20

Having already run 11 miles this week, I could have been forgiven for staying in and reading, or eating carrots, but I felt like at least doing an easy run and getting some more miles on the clock!

Had been sunny earlier but as I stepped outside in my shorts I felt chilled to the bone and there was an icy edge to the wind, especially apparent when the sun went behind some very dark clouds. Undaunted, I donned my shades and set off at a leisurely pace and just elected to run random streets with a vague aim of an easy 5 miles in my head.

Before I reached 1km I was feeling some kind of weird sensation around my lower calf, and figured this might be due to the chill in the air, so stopped for a few moments and gave it a good rub. I kept the pace to a minimum, and almost decided to go back home, but figured I would keep going and just monitor the leg without doing anything heroic. There were a few odd slight twinges here and there, but figured it may well have been down to the muscles getting a bit chilled – it was pretty cold, so cold it wasn’t until about half an hour into the run that I broke into a sweat!

I felt pretty good all the way round and barely got out of breath, there were a few hills which I coasted up and thought were pretty easy compared to how challenging I was finding the same hills last year. This year my running seems to be coming much easier, possibly because I am not as obsessed with times or pace.

Accelerated a little in the last 2km but nothing crazy, and coasted to a stop with my breathing barely stretched above normal, making for a very easy and enjoyable 5 miles, and nicely warmed up by the end!