Long run that wasn't so long

Sunday 17th August
Long run today. Decided to add several of my routes together to make a long one. Starting from the gym, take the Blagrove route backwards, and then pick up the Lethbridge route. Up the railway path to the top, through Old Town, along Marlborough Road and then back along Queens Drive. Back through the town centre, but picking up the Cheney Manor route via the church.

I imagined this would take a good three hours and was surprised when it only took 2 3/4 hours. I wasn't sure if I was going along at a good pace, had missed a bit somewhere, or it just wasn't as long as I thought. Very confusing - without the Blagrove and Cheney routes the run would normally take the best part of two hours so how come I only had to run another 45 minutes?

Maybe my legs were fresh from a few days off, I don't know. Still, it's another long run in the bank.

Monday 18th August
Running club tonight, 6-7 miles approx. Up the railway path and took a slightly confusing way back through the town centre. Ran with Andy and tried to motivate him, was glad to see he wasn't struggling as much as he has been of late.

Tuesday 19th August
Speedwork with Andy on the treadmill tonight. Was going to do an interval session at the lake but was curious to find out how he does speedwork on the treadmill. This was worth doing in the end as he uses a speed interval function where you programme your running and jogging speed, but you have to time your efforts yourself.

We did 10 * 2 minutes @ 14 kph with one minute recovery. Andy struggled a bit and we had to have a couple of two minute recoveries. He actually wanted to give up after 7 reps but I told him not to, better to do the last 3 reps at a slower pace and finish the session.

Could have done with a longer session but the good thing is I know how to use that function on the treadmill now, so can regularly do speedwork indoors when it's raining.

Did some carb-loading at the cinema later, went to see "You don't mess with the Zohan" with Andy and Steph, which was very funny indeed - recommended.

Wednesday 20th August
Just body pump tonight, no cardio as I had a prospective lodger coming round.

Struggled a bit, but not as bad as I did at the weekend. Ali did some older tracks which made a welcome change, interesting that on the tricep push-ups he shouted at me to do deeper push-ups - he knows how important it is to me to get the most out of the class.

The lad coming round to see the room decided to take it, which is very good news - with my new salary and two lodgers I should be able to improve my financial position substantially and can afford the Nike Pegasus on offer on dorunning.com after all :)