The slog run

After a week off to rest my tender left shin, I opted for a morning run under overcast skies, with the temperature ranging from 15-17ºC. There was almost no wind at all, which is unusual. The sun poked out briefly a few times and made me feel like I was wearing a warm, damp blanket when it did, but was otherwise not a factor.

Given that it had been a week, I expected my time to be slower and it was. The shin was not a problem though by about the 8 km mark I could feel it. It didn’t hurt enough to affect me, I was just aware of it. I was both tentative and sluggish, starting out right at the five minute mark but dropping off noticeably each km in the first half. My average pace was saved by a stronger second half again and that much is reassuring.

I didn’t experience any particular problems during the run. The trail was damp but only had one easily avoided puddle. The lack of any breeze made me feel warmer than I would have otherwise but it was still manageable. Overall, a rather dull affair. Total time was 55:03, about a minute and a half slower than my previous zippy pace.

I iced my left shin for 45 minutes afterward and am going to try to run again in two days. We’ll see how that goes!

Chart (red denotes running in especially warm conditions, green denotes cramps during run):

km Sept 13 Sept 6 Sept 2
1 km 5:00 4:56 4:54
2 km 5:05 5:03 4:58
3 km 5:09 5:07 5:03
4 km 5:14 5:11 5:08
5 km 5:18 5:14 5:13
6 km 5:21 5:16 5:16
7 km 5:24 5:18 5:19
8 km 5:26 5:20 5:23
9 km 5:28 5:21 5:26
10 km 5:29 5:21 5:27

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