Saturday - Parkrun

Had to simply go down to set a baseline today, so no pressure at all to perform, which was nice in a way. Met Darren and Erika at the pool at 6:15am and did a nice and easy 5km warm-up to the start line. It was pretty cold this morning, good running conditions though. The plan was to simply try and follow Darren the whole way - but then heard he was trying for a sub-3:15 first kilometer, which is way beyond me at this point in time. So just went out there and ran my own race, running purely on feel. Felt consistent the whole way, with Darren and the other guy in front pulling quite a big gap over the first kilometer or two. Beyond this, the gap remained steady until the end (about 20-25 seconds). Enough that I could see them the whole way. Didn't look at my watch until I finished, getting across in just under 17:50. Way off my 15:55 when I was at my peak, but to be honest, I'll take today's time - especially in light of how I was feeling only two weeks ago. Darren had a great run, running just under 17:30 for the first time. Erika was also strong, although I know what she can do to run even faster! To me, it was a great solid session - a good way to throw myself back into the pain chamber and toughen myself up psychologically so I can get back into the hard and faster stuff. Just 5km cooldown back home with Darren and Erika again for just over 15km all up. Planning for at least 2 hours tomorrow (hopefully 30km if all goes to plan), so the potential for just over 110km this week! Getting there slowly. Hopefully that will help me drop those extra few kilograms I am currently carrying (oh yeah, that's another excuse that I can use)!