Extra Early Sunday Morning

The choice today was either 6:45 am start for 10 miles with Kenny or 7:30 start for something a bit faster are probably at least as far with Simon and Lee.

I went to bed undecided and still contemplating a 7am solo effort instead.

As it happens I woke early and so decided on the Kenny option...

However, got to the Amble Inn twenty seconds late. No sign of Kenny! But he wouldn't have waited as I hadn't confirmed I'd be coming. Had a good look round for runners disappearing into the distance but none to be seen. Decisions, decisions. Started to slowly head back up Station Road and lo and behold there was tango man thundering down the hill.

If I'd been on my own I would have headed towards Wheathampstead. However, Kenny said something about heading the other way and going up "The Hill" - we headed north.

The sky was clear so while being cold it was nowhere near as dark as Friday morning. In company The Hill was far less foreboding and we summitted with ease. Down the other side I felt compelled to demonstrate my uber fast downhill running technique employed to great effect in last Sunday's race.

From there we took my standard route through Kingsbourne Green past Expensive Christmas Tree Farm but instead of hanging a left onto Roundwood Lane headed down to the golf course following the Herts 10K route in reverse all the way back to Rothamsted Park.

Kenny was master of the mileage and knew how to make the round trip back to his house bang on ten miles. However, having done nothing except eat on Saturday I felt the need to carry on a bit further and threw in a 3 mile loop taking me into half-marathon territory.

Not a particularly fast run but 8:34 average isn't that bad given the bumpy profile.

Early Rain

It might have stopped by the time everyone else got up, however, at 6:10 this morning it was still very much pouring with rain. With the sky full of clouds and an hour and a half to go to sunrise it was also very dark. An ideal opportunity for getting the headtorch out and going for a run if ever I've seen one.

Just did an easy five mile anti-clockwise loop by way of Swan Walk (north) and Cooters End Lane. Didn't follow-up with lunchtime intervals or any other such madness. Only a true loony would think of doing something that crazy.

Back To The Rockets

Thanks to latrine congestion I was late getting to the Rockets meet point. Instead of arriving thirty seconds early I was thirty seconds late which given the speed of their "warm-up" is quite a gap to have to close. Luckily delays crossing City Road worked in my favour and gave the opportunity to catch.

With the Southern Counties cross-country this weekend elites were in in short supply. And of those present only one did the full session. After the usual mutterings the session was called as eight two-minute reps off a minute's recovery.

The session was quite unusual. With the elite(s) taking it easy and jogging back after each effort we ran the reps as a single group. The short fast efforts were a welcome shock to the system after the last three days of little effort. So that's it. Recovery over. Back to training...