Tuesday morning and I managed to get out of bed for just after half 6am.  Because I swam later than normal, and had my dinner later than normal, I stayed up a little later than normal on Monday night.

I was tired, but managed to get myself up and ready and had a wee bowl of special k to keep me going before I went for my run up to Maxwell Park and back

I checked the weather before I left and said it was 2’C… pretty cold anyway.  I wore my 3/4 length nike trousers, a warm helly hansen top, a t shirt and my high viz orca jacket along with a buff for my ears as usual.

I was warm enough, but not too warm – just right.  The jacket doesn’t have any air vents, so it tends to keep the heat in.  Good in a way that it keeps you warm, but not so good as it makes you sweat!! It was sweat that made my t-shirts soaking the other day.  😦

I think the orca jacket should be for when it’s raining and perhaps for dark mornings/nights.

This morning was great.  I left at 7am…a bit later than I normally would, and I noticed about 10 minutes in the the sky was lighter than it normally is when I do that run in the morning.  The sun was rising and by the time I got round to the other side of Maxwell Park there was a pretty view over it.

It was cold and as a result the pavements were a little icy.  Black ice all over the place.  It made me take it pretty gingerly at some points, but I managed a very steady and comfortable pace for the first three miles I noticed.  Around 8:24 or 7.1mph (marathon pace!).  So on mile 4, the one going downhill I tried to push it a little.

I wonder if I’ll be able to do that kind of pace over 20-22 miles on Saturday?

That Maxwell Park route is becoming like an old friend.  The roads are pretty quiet and it’s got a nice wee incline up to Maxwell Park and back down home.  I’ve been running it so long and it’s nice to see the sunrises coming back!

Run: 4.3M, 35:04, Pace: 8:11, 7.3mph, Calories: 445
Ave HR: 156 (82%), Max HR: 168 (88%)
Time until Lochaber Marathon: 8 weeks 5 days.
340 mile challenge: 111.2 completed, 228.8 miles to go.