As both Ant and I were working today, we didn't get out until almost 4.00pm. That's a little later than we'd like to head out, but now the evenings are drawing out it's not been an issue today. It was a touch chilly though, but the new layers I bought last week did a good job of keeping me warm. I was also rather glad that I remembered my gloves, as Ant was a bit annoyed that he couldn't find his pair.
One thing I had forgotten, both to use and to bring along, was my inhaler. I've been thinking about how to best experiment with my asthma, and how to get it to play ball with the running. During the warmer weather, I don't know if it'll be much of an issue as the cold is my main trigger. But warm weather is a little way off yet!! I have seen suggestions of a hard, short run to trigger things and then going for the actual run once it's calmed down. Others suggest very gentle warm ups, but that would mean actually doing a warm up as it's not something I bother with. Still others suggest further options, like careful pacing, or a set way to vary your pace.
I have been considering a different approach, which will surprise no-one that knows me! I've noticed that my chest seems to feel coldest on the runs where I have used my inhaler, but on the few times I've forgotten it I've had less of a problem. So my initial experiment is to not use it at all. If using it causes my chest to get cold and grumpy, but not using it gives me no obvious ill effects then it seems a logical first choice. I had intended to do this another time, but as I'd left it at home, today turned out to be the first go!
As usual, we set off at a fair pace, heading downhill. The ground has thoroughly thawed from the recent frosts, and there had been a group of horses out earlier too. So the going underfoot was very sticky or very slippery. Ant likened it to running on deep, wet sand. As I've never done that, my best version was running on pritt stick. There's little quite so annoying as having to pull your feet out of the mud with every step. It's also bloody hard work, and was making my ankles ache. This was especially true on the big hill. For every step forwards, it felt like I'd slip half a step back before my shoes bit into the ground enough to support me. I still managed to make it to the top in hit though, which I was pleased with!
The low point of the run was being beaten across the last field by a herd of sheep. Having just come off the last ploughed field, I was struggling a bit and dropped to a walk whilst the sheep chased Ant to the gate! From here it was the final hill, and the bit I look forward to the least. The first hill is hard, but there's no-one to see you. This hill is both steeper and longer overall as well as having the added bonus of being in the village. Equally, the training must be paying off as I only had to drop to a walk once this time round. Normally, it would be at least twice, so another thing to be pleased about!
I had hoped for a sub-40 minute time, but the conditions meant that was never going to happen. The last time we did this route, my time was 42 mins 30 secs but the ground was frozen solid. For some reason, when I hit the stop button, the timer kept paused then kept going but I do know that the time was 42 mins 21 secs. So not quite what I was hoping for, but still a touch quicker than when the ground was hard! That puts our pace at 6:42mins/km. To get under 40 mins I need to get this down to 6:20mins/km, so not a lot faster than today's pace really!
Just to finish things off, Ant has once again managed to thoroughly capture my inner beauty! At least I'm smiling this time at the end of the run.
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