Training: too fast to maintain

After a decidedly slow wander through the woods yesterday, I figured it wouldn't hurt to get a run in at lunch today. And for once I'd go for a flat route on the quayside.

Almost as soon as I'd started, I had to wait for traffic before I could cross Mosley Street and again when I wanted to cross to the quayside itself. I was stood limply on a traffic island for a good 20 seconds at the latter, as I'd badly misjudged my timing. 🤦‍♂️ So it was with some amazement that I heard the first 5 minutes being called out at a pace of only just over 5:00/km. Wow. Was my body willing and able to go for a quick run?

I continued upriver trying to just maintain my natural pace and after the next 5 minutes, I was up to 1.99km covered. I turned back downriver shortly after that and slowly started to catch another runner who'd been going the opposite direction a moment earlier. He became my pacer, though I swear he was gradually speeding up himself.

After 15 minutes, I'd hit 2.99km, which really annoyed me. I'd hoped I'd be averaging under 5:00/km by that point. However, I was really struggling now and making little headway against my pacer. Deciding to quit early rather than maintain another 2km of this, I made one last push to catch him and then stop. Just as I was on his shoulder... he crossed the street! 🙄 But I stopped anyway.

If I'd not fumbled with my phone trying to stop the timing, I'm sure it would've been under 5:00/km overall. Regardless, despite doing only 2 miles, I was pleased with my pace out of the blocks. 30 seconds walking later and I resumed the run, taking in the Millennium and Swing bridges (another 1.3km) before properly calling it quits. An enjoyable but rather short lunchtime run. Next time, I think I need to focus on getting out for longer.