July lockdown half

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I just finished a 21.469km running that lasted about 2hh:8mm:44ss !

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Well that was hard work. It may well be that my not parkrun yesterday took more out of me than I assumed. As I got up the wind was howling and my legs were still sore, but I decided to do it anyway. I had some breakfast first.

The wind was actually not too bad when I got out, but I had to battle it over the exposed railway bridge. At least it was not too hot. I took the back way past Champneys spa and the Henlow fishing lakes towards Langford. I then took the path along the river which is very nice. Some people have the little river at the bottom of their gardens and some have boats. There was a family of swans whose cygnets are getting quite big. Also saw an egret taking off.

Langford has a scarecrow competition and I saw lots of examples including the Wizard of Oz (Zardoz!) group pictured. There was also a large set of key workers, Paddington Bear and a mole coming out of the ground. These made me smile.

My intention was to get to Biggleswade, which is about 10km from home, but I had not planned the exact route. From the rugby club near Jordan's Mill (where the cereals come from) I took a track which crosses the railway as part of the Green Wheel. I followed this open track for some way until it crossed under the A1 road and into the outskirts of town. Then it was a matter of heading into town and out the other side near the station. I was feeling tired by then, but at least I was on the way back.

I followed the road back to Langford and picked up the river path again near the old mill (now homes). I was feeling quite thirsty and had not brought a drink with me. I took a different route back to Henlow to join the path by the lakes and was soon back to Arlesey with a very dry mouth. I did walk a few short stretches to recover a bit, but ran most of the way. It was not going to be a quick one. Strava says it is my third quickest half, but it will also be the slowest I have logged with that app. I do not mind that. All three have been run during lockdown as I was due to run the Greenway half in May and decided to do the distance anyway.

A full marathon still does not feel possible. Do halfs get easier over time? It is mainly a matter of tired legs and sore feet that limits me. I will keep doing them and perhaps try to stretch the distance out a little more. I think some new shoes may help as mine are all getting a little worn. They offer less cushioning over time.

After a shower then coffee and cookie I feel better. Got some chores to do. Just wondering if I can make it to the meetup @nathanmars is organising in London.

Run free and stay well.

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20 comments
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You have uploaded 159 running activities, and 3 of them have been of similar distances (within 10 percent)!
Here are your 5-fastest running activities of a similar distance:

Over these 3 similar activities, you have travelled approximately 64.20 kms at an average pace of roughly 5:47 min/km!
Your latest run was at a pace of approximately 5.996min/km!
Looks like you went a bit slower this time! Remember that it's important to take some rest days, and do some rehab / prehab / strength and conditioning training too! If you weren't intending to go slower, take a moment to listen to your body, and see if you need something. Check in with yourself!

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The important thing is that you did it!

Just watch for signs of strain and don't get belligerent is my advice.

Someone really went to town with that impressive Wizard of Oz display!

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I'll rest for a couple of days now. It was good to get it done.

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Yes do rest, and watch that 'it's good to get it done' attitude - If that turns into a 'glad I've got that out of the way for the day' it's defo time to have a few days off even!

At least in my experience.

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Just reading your post now.

See you shortly for our first HIVE London Meet-up :)

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It was fun to meet you guys. I know @adetorrent quite well, but not met @sergiomendes before. Not sure if I knew he was on tsu too. A fair few people came to Steem from there as it shut down around the time Steem started.

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That is interesting that they have all of those scarecrows. I kind of think it is cool when little towns and communities do that sort of thing. I can't give you any advice on a half marathon. My body is sore pretty much every morning when I get up and I am lucky to do a couple of miles of walking!

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Scrarecrow festivals seem to be a popular event these days. People get quite creative with it. I'll be sore tomorrow. Done some cycling too.

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You need to stake more BEER (24 staked BEER allows you to call BEER one time per day)

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Consider it as good hard training. I am sure you would do it much better if you would not run yesterday's park run but still a great training.
!BEER

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I really ought to space the runs out, but I get carried away. Done a load of cycling today as well, so I'll sleep well.

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Well done on your half! Brilliant running.
If you start to run the distance 2-3 times a month it becomes easier & then you can up the distance by about 10% per week. When doing long runs, do them slowly, pause to refuel. It will then take so much less out of you. Oh & don’t do them the day after a hard 5k!

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I can be a little lacking in common sense sometimes :) I'll look at doing longer runs more often and try to take some drink and snacks along. Thanks

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Sounds like there's plenty of interesting stuff to seek to keep you entertained along the route. You must have a good few miles on those trainers of yours now? Does Strava enable to log your shoe usage? I seem to recall this being a good feature of Runkeeper back in the day.

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Strava lets you log distance for multiple pairs of shoes. Mine had a log of miles before I started using the app. I am due for a new pair. Already chucked one old pair that were falling apart.

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