Down to earth...

I've been running quite well since our warm-weather training trip to Lanzarote. But I think fatigue might be beginning to catch up with me. I went out yesterday for an easy 4-5 miles, following a lovely, gently undulating, off-road route and my legs felt heavy and listless. Mind you, I did spend the day before yesterday digging a soakaway at Holehird gardens which involved getting through a 15cm layer of tree roots and then levering out boulders the size of typewriters, so I might well have been tired from that.

For the record, I plodded 4.57 miles at a pace of 9:52 mins/mile with 86m of ascent/descent; Max heart rate was 162, average 142 which is about right for this run. I always reckon that, for me, anything less than 10-12 minute miles is an OK pace off-road, but it felt very hard.

The land here at the moment has a bleached, washed-out look because it has been dry for ages and cold enough to stop the grass from growing. On top of that, the farmers have been out spreading muck leaving broad brown stripes contouring over the fields. You just know that, as soon as it rains, it'll all turn lush and green. There are hardly any sheep in the fields. Presumably they are all in sheds somewhere getting ready to lamb.

Smileyrating 5/10