20K

This one was better than I thought it might be. My legs were pretty darn sore yesterday, and were still sore this morning when I woke up, though a little better than yesterday. I thought this might be disastrous, but it went OK.

The weather was chilly but lovely: calm, clear, and 45F (7C) to start and 55F (13C) when I was done. I wore capris and a long-sleeved shirt but wished I'd worn shorts and a short-sleeved shirt, because the sun was warm. It was a gorgeous day, though!

I felt very good to start, and was surprised at how fast I was going for an easy effort. I was concerned that I went out too fast, but it IS a slight downhill, and I really did feel I took it easy. I didn't slow too much later, so I think it was OK. I felt a bit tired around 8K or so, but then perked right up and felt my technique really kicking in. I don't know how else to explain it, but I just felt like it was suddenly more correct and more fluid. It was great! I felt pretty good until 17K and then the wheels fell off a bit, and I was pretty tired on the last 3K, which was a slight uphill. My 5K splits weren't bad at all though: 29:41, 31:17, 30:50, and 31:41. Total time was 2:03:28 for 6:10/km with ave HR 148.

My hip was mostly OK; I did have to stop and stretch a lot but that was more for my glutes and hamstrings than for my hip, for which I was thankful.

All in all, a pretty good workout. Whew. Only 3 weeks until the 30K - it's coming up so fast. I'm not sure I'll be as ready as I want to be, but it's not because I didn't try.

Garmin data here.