The lads go for a run

It's been a little while since I've done any real cross country running, four weeks in fact. So now that Ant is back from his honeymoon we could get back to some high effort running. Alex (the one from New Year's Day), was also about for a run out again. Back when we were at school, Alex and I were the ones dragging along at the back of the cross country runs, rugby training etc. We took part, but not willingly. And not with much effort if we could get away with it!

Annoyingly, he's all healthy now and has entered for his first triathlon. So he's much quicker than me, the git. Thankfully, he wears proper running tights/trousers/what ever they're called. Why thankfully? Well, I've been getting crampy calves recently and in an effort to reduce this I too now own a pair of running tights. I was always going to have to ditch my big heavy shorts at some time, but I hadn't thought it would be so soon. I was going to wear them first on Thursday for an evening run with Hannah and Kate, but the weather was too bad so we didn't go. On balance, I'd rather wear them for the first time when it's just us lads out running. That way I could re-adjust what ever was needed without feeling silly in front of the girls. Daft I know, but I'm still a bit worried about what I look like when running. That will change with time though.

So Saturday afternoon came round, and I'd figured out how to wear my running shorts and trousers without anything being in the wrong place. Off I went to Ant's, passing the local hunt on the way. I mention this as they use the same fields we do so I was expecting the tracks to be either cut up or frozen solid as it's been so cold at night recently. It was gong to be hard work running with Ant and Alex, but this wouldn't help.

Once we got going, the run started well and my new trousers were doing a good job of keeping my legs warm in the cold breeze. £20 well spent it seems! But the pace we were going at was hard work. And the tracks were as cut up as I had expected. A couple of dozen horses leave quite a mark! At least the ground was dry thanks to being frozen. I was struggling to keep up with the other two though, but I was able to keep them in sight. The gap was verging on going from encouraging me to give chase to bollocks but they're miles away. But it stayed just the right side of the line. Alex clearly got bored of waiting for me to catch up for the final hill, as he finished over two minutes ahead! Maybe it's his really bright top that makes him fast? It certainly messes up Ant's iPhone camera!

Despite the hard work, it felt good to be out and better to finish! Initially, Ant said it wasn't a great time as we'd done our second best time. This confused me a bit, as I knew Alex finished in a touch under 40 minutes, and I didn't think he was that far ahead! Turns out Ant thought we'd done a 40 minute run before, when our previous best was 46 mins 09 secs. That means that today's time of 42 mins 30 secs is my new PB for this run, and another good step forward.

Looking at the run info above, I really need to cut back on the fast starts. Whilst the first bit does have a good downhill section, which will always be quicker, I shouldn't be setting off at a sub 9 minute mile pace when my average pace is 10 mins 51 secs for the run. Keeping things even will help with my long distance runs, as I was struggling to keep going at times today. Equally, soft fields are slow, hard going!