Too much work, too much stress

Tue 31 Jan St Mary's Lighthouse 4.9m 35:27
Sat 4 Feb Delaval Arms 6m 41:31

A tough week at work as semester 2 begins for the students. On top of that it was bloody freezing at the beginning of the week. I went out on Tuesday in almost all of my running clothes (2 pairs of pants, 3 shirts) and ran a pretty decent run out to the lighthouse. Too cold to check the watch until the end and to be honest I was a bit disappointed with my finishing time. It felt like I was going so much faster but I'd had a hard day and it had obviously taken its toll.

The week at work got steadily harder and the planned Thursday night run became a caasualty. Disappointing because I hadn't skipped a planned run for over two weeks. However, the Saturday morning run more than made up for it. I extended my long run to 6 miles and despite battling a stitch for the last 2 managed to run a steady pace of around 6:55 per mile. It was tough coming back but I worked hard to maintain the pace and it paid off. To be running consistently in early February is a rarity for me and to be running a decent pace is more than pleasing. It bodes well for the year ahead and I'm already looking forward to my first goal of a 10k PB in May at the Clive Cookson NSP race.

From now on though its less work, less stress and more running. Probably a good idea to cut back on the alcohol which has risen in the past couple of weeks.