Seven Heaven

Good morning!

I really wasn't up for it this morning, had a nice early night last night but was woken up to the sound of a rather inebriated young man effing and blinding at his 'friend' arguing over which hand he had hit his 'friend' with - oh the joys of living in the 'bourne! 

Anyway, as I know i have to do these long runs, I dragged myself out of bed at 6am, got my ever growing running kit together (it includes a kind of utility belt full of water and energy gels these days) and set of looking like some kind pink podgy superhero!  7 miles is the longest i've ever run in my life so it was a little bit daunting but I told myself to take it easy, just get out and run till it's done.  So, that's just what I did!  Had a couple of very short stops for stretching and sucking an energy gel but other than that, managed to knock a couple of minutes off my 10k time from last week and even managed a little sprint at the end after the hill to take me up to 7 miles.  

This week, I have been cross training again with a spin class replacing a tempo run and an hour of swimming on my day off, plus the usual recovery and easy runs.  I can really feel the difference that spin is making now as I know that a couple of weeks ago I know that I would never have managed a sprint at the end of a long run, but the training I do in spin is helping me to get that extra burst of power when I need it!

All in all, I really enjoyed that long run and also loving that camaraderie from other runners/cyclists/walkers that I go past with a breezy 'morning' or a nod from a cyclist!  Nothing beats the feeling of running while the rest of the world is in bed with a hangover :)