Training: South Bank (of the Tyne) 6K

With the weekend in London rapidly approaching, and only one run in the bag this week, I definitely felt the need to do another meaningful one before it was too late.

Thoughts of doing 8km fell away as I worked too far into my lunch break, so a mere 6km would have to suffice. A little bit of route planning (today without the suggestion of a direction from a random spinner on the web) and I was off. It had been a while since I last went downriver on the Gateshead side, so that was my plan: get to the green bit. And given it was going to be an out-and-back, I only needed path the first half up to 3km.

3 kilometres planned out, taking me to an unnamed bit of... grass(?) opposite St Peter's Basin

The run itself wasn't especially notable. Perfunctory, if anything. (Love that word.) Newcastle and Gateshead were looking a bit grim today with heavy, unbroken cloud and wet pavements making it especially dull. There was the opportunity for a semi-reasonable photo of the bridges on the return leg, but typical me, I forgot because I was more focused on my pace and just getting back by that point. Instead, have this, taken at the furthest point out, looking back towards the city centre:

God, is that my finger obscuring the top left? What an amateur!

Speaking of splits, I nearly did it again. Slow out of the blocks but gradually building in pace, my first four kilometres were negative splits. The fifth, however, was 7 seconds slower than the one before. I hadn't actually realised, while I was on the run, that negative splits were on the cards; if I had, you can bet your bottom that I'd have gone for it. Never mind; and the sixth kilometre was awful, as it was nearly all uphill. 😂

Oh, one last thing worth a mention: I got an actual high-five from another runner as I crossed the Millennium Bridge on the way out. Normally, the best you get is a brief nod of acknowledgement from someone going the other way, but this guy made my day. Good on you, mate; spread that joy. 😁

Oh, all right, two other things worth a mention. (Spanish Inquisition, anyone?) First, I actually got sweaty in this run. Nice detail, yeah? But seriously, does this mean my body's getting used to managing its temperature on runs again, at last? Hope so. And secondly, I opted for an indoor bike session yesterday lunchtime instead of a run. So go me for putting a rarely used icon in my running... errrr... exercise calendar. For now though, that may be it till next week. Adios!